Traveling to Asia next year? Keep your eye on AirAsia for great deals

by Jeffrey White on

Asia’s largest budget airline announced this past week that it was abolishing its fuel surcharge and giving away 500,000 free tickets for travel beginning halfway through next year.

The airline is called AirAsia, and it is the first airline in the world to do away with fuel surcharges.

What’s more, the free ticket offer doesn’t appear to be the usual budget carrier scam, in which free tickets suddenly end up costing a few hundred bucks when you tack on taxes.

AirAsia’s CEO Tony Fernandes tells the Associated Press that the tickets “will be completely free. Passengers will only have to pay airport tax.” Ok, I know that isn’t ‘completely’ free, but those taxes are out of airlines’ hands anyway and should increase the base price too much.

No word yet on when the free tickets will be available, but they’ll be good for travel between June 22 and October 24 next year. Moreover, the offer is good for both AirAsia’s domestic routes (in Malaysia) and its international destinations, including China and India.

So, if you’re planning on bumming around S.E. Asia next year, keep an eye on AirAsia as a way of snagging some cheap tickets to get you to a few places faster.

What strange things have been found on planes?


North America to (slowly) update Air Traffic Control

by Grant Martin on

The long and hard fought battle for landing slots rages on in New York and London, where airlines like Virgin Atlantic and British Airways squabble over who gets how many slots and when they’re allowed to leave and depart from their airports.

Landing and departure slots are tightly controlled at these airports, and the already high volume at New York is the cause of over 70% of delays in the United States. So it’s obviously a sore topic with consumers, politicians and carriers. Passengers and airlines want more departures, but the current infrastructure can’t handle it, resulting in the delays.

To exacerbate the problem, earlier this year, congress pushed through legislation capping the maximum number of departures from the New York airports, effectively requiring any airline that wanted extra permission to leave during peak periods to pay extra. Naturally, the airlines are up in arms, saying that they’re just reacting to passenger demand.

How does one thus fix the volume problem? Airlines and analysts alike agree that the solution is in a better air traffic control system. The current technology used only allows for simple control of surrounding aircraft — but advancing this technology would allow for better stacking and management of traffic. Problem is, all of the aircraft in the skies currently work on the antiquated system — so you can’t just switch everything over.

Slowly, however, we’re starting to make progress, starting with the lower volume system in Canada. Next year, small sections of the country will implement a new system called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B, and if that’s successful the model will spread all over North America.

Don’t plan on the volume increasing at JFK any time soon though. With all of the equipment in the skies and in airports across the US, some predict that it could take another decade before everything is up to snuff.

Toilet overheats and causes an emergency landing

by Jamie Rhein on

You may remember Heather’s post about smelling something weird on a flight when she was popping open a can of cranberry juice. She took off her shoes to see if heat was coming from the floor. In the case of this particular flight, nothing was amiss. The smell eventually went away.

In the case of one of yesterday’s Virgin Atlantic flights, there was heat coming up through the floor. An overheated toilet pump was the culprit. I wonder if there was heat coming through the toilet as well? That would give a passenger a start, wouldn’t you think? Puts another meaning into hotseat.

According to msnbc.com, the 331 passengers on the flight, hoping to make it to London from Miami without mishap, ended up in hotel rooms in Wilmington, North Carolina this morning because the crew thought there might be a fire in the cargo hold.

I’ve been on two flights when an engine went caput–but never a toilet pump. I wonder if that’s what makes the toilets go whoosh! when you flush. I hope the Virgin Atlantic passengers in Wilmington have managed to make the best of it and will be rested up by the time they make it to London.

I’m also wondering if any passengers noticed if the flight attendants had taken their shoes off and were walking slowly down the aisles before the announcement that the flight was being diverted. [photo by Cubbie_n_Vegas]

Small yet significant tips to make your long-haul flights better

by Abha Malpani on

All my life I have traveled Economy Class (only once did I get lucky and got an upgrade to Business Class). In my opinion, flights of up to 7 hours in Economy are tolerable, but more than that and the all the fidgeting and frustration starts getting to you.

Having lived in Australia for 3 years, I dreaded the 14 hour flights to and from Dubai (30 hours if you include transfers and waiting); that’s when I realized how seemingly trivial things could drastically change the quality of your flight.

MSN just published an article listing some of these small yet significant tips, of which I think these are the most important:

Be comfortable: Wear loose, warm, long, comfortable clothes. Stick to flat shoes, preferably ones you can wear socks with. Being warm and comfortable in your clothes will change the nature of your flight. (It’s such a basic point, I don’t understand why so many people choose to make a fashion statement on board at the expense of being comfortable. Perhaps they should stop making movies that make people believe they will find “the one” mid air.)

Bring lip-balm: Even if you have never-cracking lips, on a long-haul flight darling, they will crack! I carry lip-balm everyday, everywhere I go, and always have it on a flight. Once I forgot it and my lips chapped like tree bark. (Yes, ouch). I kept going to the bathroom and putting that disgusting hand-lotion they keep in there on my lips. Didn’t work, and yuck, never again.


Trail-mix: I never thought of carrying trail-mix on a flight, and I am queen of trail-mix! I always have some on me. Muesli, raisins, walnuts, and M&M’s. Simple, energetic, healthy, and tasty — it’s a great idea to carry some on a flight.

Meal choice on board: I eat everything and am generally easy with food. But on a flight I always get the not-so-good option (or maybe it’s just that the other food looks better because I don’t have it?). So the MSN article suggests to ask the air host/hostess to pick for you. Why? Because they eat that food too so they have a good idea which meal is better. Doh!

Here are some other tips from my side that are also gold for long-haul flights:

Choose a plane with Video-On-Demand: If you can watch movies whenever you want, and can start them anytime you choose, you will not realize how quickly time flies. Video-On-Demand is becoming more and more common in-flight these days, but it’s worth double checking whether your flight has it before booking.

Don’t put the hot towel on your face: Yes, yes, I know it feels awesome, but don’t forget how your skin feels after! It gets super dry and unless you have moisturizer or very greasy skin, the towel on your face can leave your skin quite uncomfortable for a while.

Chew gum to keep your ears from blocking: Well, they will still block, but to a lesser extent if you chew gum as you take-off and when landing, so keep some handy!

Getting into Business/First Class when you have an Economy ticket: Caution — try this at your own risk. I have never done this and cannot guarantee results, but I have a friend who does it often and he often gets away with it.

Wait till the last, last, last boarding call. Then go running in pretending you are late. When you enter the flight, everyone has taken their seat and if there are empty seats in First Class or Business Class, odds are that those seats are free. That’s when you go and sit in one of them. If you are unlucky, it could be that the passenger who should be in that seat is in the bathroom before take-off, but key is to think positively and act confident. What’s the worse thing that can happen? You will be asked to go to your seat and you will suffer 5 seconds of embarrassment. No big deal.

Hope these tips help! Happy long flight!

Plane rams luggage tug in Detroit

by Jeffrey White on

The Associated Press is reporting that a small, regional jet collided with a Delta luggage tug while it was taxiing to the terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport today.

The jet was a Northwest Airlink plane, and incident happened early this morning, before 6.

The flight was carrying 21 passengers and three crew members from Grand Rapids. It struck the tug, damaging the plane’s left wing and causing it to leak fuel. The vehicle’s driver, who was taken to a nearby hospital, was reportedly treated for only minor injuries. No passengers were reportedly injured.

The cause of the collision is still under investigation.