Cathay Pacific donates travel package to Los Angeles music charity

by Melanie Nayer on

In celebration of Cathay Pacific Airways’ 20 years of nonstop flights between Hong Kong and the United States, the airline is awarding an Anniversary Giveaway package to Education Through Music – Los Angeles. The prize: 200,000 Asia Miles, a Business Class dinner for 20 volunteers, and $2,000 in cash.

Charities from throughout the greater Los Angeles area were invited to participate in the “Giveaway” by submitting something creative that shared how they could benefit from receiving a Volunteer of the Year Hong Kong air and hotel package. Education Through Music took home the prize after submitting a DVD presentation for the judges that included how the giveaway would benefit the organization, and creating an airline poster that inspired children to ‘soar to new heights’.

Education Through Music – Los Angeles provides quality in-school music education to support both creative and academic achievement. Through its programs, children become more proficient in music and work to boost their academic skills, as well as focus on self-esteem and self-motivation.

Cathay Pacific Airways launched nonstop flights from Hong Kong to Los Angeles on July 1, 1990.

Virgin Hotels? Sir Richard Branson’s newest project gives travelers a ‘suite’ escape

by Melanie Nayer on

Nothing is out of reach for Virgin-founder Sir Richard Branson. On yesterday’s inaugural flight from Los Angeles to Toronto, Branson dished on all things Virgin, including the upcoming ‘rumored’ Virgin Hotels.

Our friends at HotelChatter.com report that Branson is close to making an announcement about Virgin Hotels, a new luxury hotel option for travelers that will likely compete with top players in the boutique market. Branson was pretty vague about the Virgin Hotel concept, and wouldn’t give any information on when or where the first hotel will launch, but he did say the announcement will be soon.

While we wait with bated breath to uncover this secret location, we’re pretty certain on one thing: like everything Branson does, the Virgin Hotels are sure to make a statement!

We want to know: What would you expect to see inside a Virgin Hotel?

Scottish police called to calm and feed rioting Ryanair passengers

by Scott Carmichael on

Once again, Irish low cost carrier Ryanair is in the news with a story involving passenger mistreatment. Yesterday, police were called to assist in calming 168 passengers on a Ryanair plane at Prestwick airport in the UK. The plane was bound for Girona, Spain, but had been stuck on the ground for six hours.

With a wait of that length, the passengers were naturally becoming quite annoyed, but to make matters worse, the flight crew were not willing/able to serve any food or drinks. Because of EU tax laws, the bar carts on the plane are sealed until the plane is airborne, which meant passengers would have to sit the wait out without anything to drink.

Since Ryanair is a pay-for-everything airline, passengers are not allowed to bring their own food or drinks on board, and at the six hour mark, this proved to be too much, and some passengers began to riot. When local police arrived, they didn’t arrest anyone, and did the right thing – they went into the airport and purchased water and chocolate for the agitated passengers.

Ryanair apologized for the incident, blaming striking French air traffic controllers for the delay. Still, it may be a good idea to stock an unsealed bar tray on their planes, because keeping passengers locked on board a plane for six hours without anything to eat or drink takes customer service to new lows. Then again, Ryanair does seem to excel in finding those lows whenever they can.

[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]

Open skies agreement between EU and US signed

by Sean McLachlan on

The United States and the European Union have signed an open skies agreement that makes it easier for airlines to buy one another.

This is the second open skies agreement between the two governments. The first open skies agreement took effect in 2008 and opened up transatlantic routes to all carriers. Previously some routes were limited to specific carriers.

This new agreement will allow foreign owners to have a majority stake in an airline. Until now, European airlines could only own 25% of a US carrier, and US airlines could only own 49.9% of a European airline. The new limits have yet to be set and the move still has to be approved by Congress.

The deal also equalizes rules on emissions, fuel, and noise, and establishes a closer cooperation with the carbon trading scheme. European airlines will also now be able to fly in and out of the U.S. without first landing or taking off in the EU. Expect more services to non-EU destinations by EU airlines in the near future.

New Spirit Airlines promo invites you to check out the “oil on our beaches”

by Scott Carmichael on

The cheeky ad designers at Spirit Airlines are at it again – after their “Muff Diving”, “DD” and “MILF” promotions, their newest stunt invites you to check out the “oil on our beaches”.

In this case though, the oil does not show the BP spill, but scantily clad women covering themselves in “Best Protection SPF 50″ sun tan lotion.

The promotion is actually not bad – and offers $50 off a variety of flights ($25 off each way), but as usual you’ll want to pay close attention to the fine print and other details of the promotion.

And of course, this promotion wouldn’t be a Spirit Airlines promotion if it didn’t create some major controversy – their PR department has had to issue a statement explaining that they are not mocking the oil spill, but pointing out that there are still plenty of beaches that are not impacted. Whether or not that was their actual intent, the promotion seems to be working, because it got our attention!