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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

How to get to | Austria

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.




Austria

Source: Lucian Ilica


Austria is easily reached by train, car or boat (along the Danube with canals connecting to other rivers). Many airlines fly to Austria (mainly Vienna) including:
  • Star Alliance - Adria, Austrian, Croatia, EgyptAir, LOT, Lufthansa, Swiss, Turkish
  • Oneworld - British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Royal Jordanian
  • Sky Team - Aeroflot, Air France, KLM, Korean
  • Other selected - Emirates, lots of low cost airlines

TIP Many European low cost airlines fly to Bratislava in Slovakia, from which it is a fairly short bus train or boat ride to Vienna.

TIP Vienna has excellent flight connections to most places in Eastern Europe.

Monday, March 30, 2009

How to get to | Angola

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Angola

Source: Silje L Bakke


Most visitors to Angola arrive by air, with the only safe land border (at time of writing) being with Namibia and involving a long journey by car. A handful of airlines fly to Angola (all to Luanda) including:

  • Star Alliance - Lufthansa (from Frankfurt), South African (from Johannesburg), TAP (from Lisbon)
  • Oneworld - British Airways (from London LHR)
  • Sky Team - Aeroflot (from Moscow SVO) , Air France (from Paris CDG)
  • Other selected - TAAG Angola Airlines (from Dubai, Lisbon, Paris CDG, Rio, and various African cities)

TIP Fares to Angola are very high - hopefully this will change as more airlines begin flying there. Book as far ahead as possible. Try to get on an award.

TIP On Star Alliance and Sky Team round the world fares, Angola will use a considerable portion of the mileage allowance. On Oneworld Angola is not possible to include in an around the world ticket (without an African surface segment) due to back-tracking rules, and with some exceptions will require entry or exit to the continent through flights between Johannesburg and Hong Kong or Johannesburg and Sydney.

Friday, March 27, 2009

From Newcastle to the End of the World by Twitter

Paul Smith, aka the twitchhiker, set off from Newcastle, UK on 1 March to see how far he could travel in 30 days solely on offers made to his twitter account. Along the way he hoped to raise a lot of money for charity:water.

The spot of land furthest from Newcastle is Cambpell Island far to the south of New Zealand's main islands at the end of the world. At the time of writing Paul has reached the nearest significantly sized land to Campbell Island (green pin on the map below), namely Rakiura or Stewart Island (blue pin). There are a few more specks of land in between - The Snares and Auckland Islands - you'll need to zoom in a lot on the map to find them.


View Larger Map

Even by reaching Stewart Island, a place that very few visit and even fewer live (are there even any tweeters on Stewart Island?), Paul has ably demonstrated the power of social networking. I played my very minor part in meeting the twitchhiker at a tweetup, and by contributing a flight from Auckland to Wellington. Getting to Campbell Island, visited by a mere handful of people (mostly scientists) a year during the brief "summer" of the sub-antarctic, is probably too much to hope for in the couple of days remaining of his quest.

The media reporting has been interesting. Initially there was a sceptical tone and as much emphasis on the charity aspect as on the journey. More recent media attention has paid little attention to charity:water and been more on introducing twitter to a wider audience and about the journey itself. New Zealand tourism organisations and providers have latched onto the global attention as a means of cheap publicity.

A similar shift has happened in the offers of help, although perhaps in part this is explained by population (much more in Europe and USA than in New Zealand) and perceptions. For the early parts of the journey offers were made mainly by individual tweeters. As the trip has progressed travel-related business have recognised the publicity aspect and made more offers of help. Without Air New Zealand's gift of a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland would the twitchhiker have made it beyond US shores? I'm not sure.

Social media will continue to evolve. This has been an interesting experiment to follow (and play a teeny bit role in). It feels a long way from my first post on the first twitchhiker.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

How to get to | Dubai

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Dubai

Dubai in United Arab Emirates (UAE) can be reached by land from other UAE Emirates. There are also a limited number of ferries crossing the Persian Gulf to UAE. Many major airlines fly to Dubai International Airport, including home carrier Emirates which flies to 6 continents. A large new airport is under construction at time of writing. When it opens flyers will need to check which airport their flight uses. Airlines flying to Dubai include:
  • Star Alliance - Air China, Austrian, EgyptAir, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore, Swiss, Thai, Turkish, United
  • Oneworld - British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Royal Jordanian
  • Sky Team - Aeroflot, Air France, China Southern, Delta, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean
  • Other (selected) - Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, most airlines from north Africa, Middle East, western Asia and Caucasus.

TIP There are a number of fifth freedom flights between Dubai and other places in the Middle East and south Asia, eg Swiss between Muscat and Dubai. These can be relatively inexpensive.

TIP It may be relatively cheaper to fly via Dubai with a stopover than to fly a simple round trip, whether on a paid ticket or an award ticket. For example Australia to Dubai is often not much less than Australia to Europe via Dubai.

TIP If visiting somewhere else in Middle East and flying on Emirates it is usually worthwhile on paid tickets to make the other place the destination with a stopover in Dubai. The cost is the same or very little extra compared with Dubai as destination. The opposite applies if flying other gulf airlines (ie if flying Gulf make Bahrain the stopover and Dubai the destination).

TIP On Star Alliance round the world tickets (which are mileage based) use a combination of Asian (eg Singapore) and European (eg Lufthansa) to visit Dubai and avoid high mileage wastage of back-tracking. On Oneworld round the world (continent based) tickets you can backtrack with British Airways (limit one visit to Middle East though). In both cases backtracking to Asia is not allowed because Middle East is in IATA TC area 2 and Asia is IATA TC area 3.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

How to get to | Timor Leste

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Timor Leste (aka East Timor)

Source: J Patrick Fisher



No major airlines fly to East Timor, and the few airlines that do fly have low frequencies and fares are very high. The options change from time to time. At time of writing this post the following fly to Dili:
  • Airline alliances - none
  • Other - Airnorth from Darwin, AustAsia Airlines from Singapore, Merpati from Denpasar (Bali)

TIP Airnorth is a partner of Qantas Frequent Flyer. If you can get to Darwin cheaply (easy enough from Singapore and Australian capitals on low cost airlines Jetstar and Tiger, difficult & expensive from elsewhere) and manage to get an award Darwin to Dili return, then this is by far the cheapest way to get to Timor Leste / East Timor.

There are no other ways to redeem miles for these flights, or include them on round the world or similar tickets.

Incidentally for those readers who are following my Flyer Tip series, AustAsia Airlines Singapore to Dili route is a classic example of where very limited number of booking classes are on offer. There is one price in business class, and just 1 or 2 prices in economy class.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Flyer Tip #3 - booking classes

This is part of a series of blog posts on tips for flyers.

Why might this post be useful to you?

Booking classes are a key tool which airlines use to manage their revenue. As airlines try to maximise their revenue, while passengers try to minimise their spending, it is useful to understand booking classes. The previous post in this Flyer Tips series introduced some basic airline revenue management concepts. This post builds on that information by explaining how booking classes control the availability of the millions of airfares that exist.

What are booking classes?


For airlines to maximise revenue they need to limit availability of their cheaper fares. They do this by way of booking classes. Every single fare has within its rules a constraint that it books into a particular booking class. Every booking class is designated by a single letter.


Booking class is not the same thing as class of travel or cabin. Every class of travel may have several booking classes associated with it. Some are for expensive, super flexible type fares. Some are for cheap fares. Some are for frequent flyer awards.

Example booking classes

Unfortunately booking class designations are not standardised across all airlines (although alliances are trying to make these more aligned within an alliance). Some common booking classes (although not universal) are:

F = first class
J or C = business class
Y = economy class

As an example, here are the booking classes for Lufthansa. They are listed in order of class of service, and then flexibility within each class of service.

F = first class full fare
A = first class discounted fare
O = first class awards and upgrades to first
C = business class full fare
D = business class discounted fare
I = business class awards and upgrades to business
R = business class industry travel (not available to general public)
Z = business class sale fare
Y = economy class full fare
B = economy class very flexible fare
M = economy class fairly flexible fare
H = economy class fairly flexible fare
X = economy class awards
Q = economy class moderately flexible fare
N = economy class industry travel (not available to general public)
V = economy class fairly inflexible fare
W = economy class fairly inflexible fare
U = economy class fairly inflexible fare
S = economy class inflexible fare
P = economy class inflexible fare
G = economy class inflexible fare
K = economy class inflexible fare
L = economy class inflexible fare
T = economy class inflexible fare
E = economy class sale fare

Not all booking classes are offered on all flights. As well as the obvious cases where no first class or business class exists, some routes may not offer some of the more heavily discounted fare classes (eg longhaul tends to have less economy booking classes than shorthaul due to more competition on shorthaul/domestic translating into a greater need for differentiation on price and terms). Codeshares often have a narrower range of fares. Some business-oriented shuttle flights may be restricted to just a few flexible booking classes.

How can booking classes be used?

The fare rules determine the booking classes, usually from the first letter of the fare basis code (a series of letters and numbers that are the "name" of the fare in the rules). For those that look at fare rules, knowledge of booking classes helps inform where in the hierarchy a fare sits and gives clues as to how likely it is or isn't to be available.

There is a gotcha to watch out for. Airlines have their own tables of booking classes and mappings. These differ by airlines and sometimes an airline will change theirs (eg Air New Zealand added a new booking class code "A" for premium economy last year). The online travel agents and booking engines can sometimes be caught out by these differences or changes and describe a fare as being for a wrong class of travel. Eg "A" is used by many airlines to designate discounted first class and thus some websites showed the new premium economy code for Air New Zealand as first class instead of premium economy. This one was easy to spot as an error - Air New Zealand removed first class some years ago. Other similar errors may not be as easy to spot.

A later post in the series will explain availability tools and show how you can look up this information.

Friday, March 20, 2009

How to get to | Tonga

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Tonga

Source: Chris Fleizach



Some cruise ships and freighters visit Tonga from other South Pacific islands and also Australia and New Zealand. However, most visitors to Tonga arrive by air at Nuku'alofa airport on the main island of Tongatapu. Airline options are limited to regional carriers. Note there are no flights on Sundays and Tonga is west of the international dateline (despite being in the western hemisphere) - thus almost a day ahead of USA.
  • Star Alliance - Air New Zealand from Auckland and from Los Angeles via Apia (Western Samoa)
  • Oneworld - none
  • Sky Team - none
  • Other - Air Pacific from Fiji, Virgin Blue subsidiaries from Sydney and Auckland

TIP Fares from Auckland, Fiji, Sydney and Apia are relatively cheap, except in school holidays or if there is a major event on in Tonga.

TIP Air New Zealand has through-fares from UK and USA to New Zealand and Australia that allow an en-route stopover at Cook Islands, Samoa or Tonga for little or no extra $.

TIP Awards in business class between USA and New Zealand are easier to get via the islands than on non-stop flights.

TIP On a Star Alliance round the world fare, which is distance based, it is much more efficient to fly Auckland to Tonga to Los Angeles or vice versa than doubling back via Auckland (Los Angeles to Auckland to Tonga to Auckland).

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

How to get to | Cook Islands

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Cook Islands

Almost everyone arrives at the Cook Islands by air at Rarotonga airport. Options are limited:
  • Star Alliance - Air New Zealand (from Auckland, Christchurch and Los Angeles)
  • Oneworld - none
  • Sky Team - none
  • Other - Air Tahiti* (from Papeete), Pacific Blue (from Auckland)

* Note Air Tahiti is the shorthaul Tahitian airline, not Air Tahiti Nui which operates longhaul.

TIP Fares from Auckland are relatively cheap, except in school holidays or if there is a major event on in the Cook Islands.

TIP Air New Zealand has through-fares from UK and USA to New Zealand and Australia that allow an en-route stopover at Cook Islands, Samoa or Tonga for little or no extra $.

TIP Awards in business class between USA and New Zealand are easier to get via the islands than on non-stop flights.

TIP On a Star Alliance round the world fare, which is distance based, it is much more efficient to fly Auckland to Rarotonga to Los Angeles or vice versa than doubling back via Auckland (Los Angeles to Auckland to Rarotonga to Auckland).

Monday, March 16, 2009

How to get to | Argentina

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the contact me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Argentina

Source: J Kikuchi


Argentina is a huge country, accessible by land, sea and air. There are buses from all neighbouring countries. By sea there are ferries from Chile in the far south and Uruguay across the Rio del Plata, plus cruise ships on the Patagonia and Antarctica circuit.

Flights to Argentina include the following airlines (mostly to Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport)

  • Star Alliance - Air Canada, Continental, Lufthansa, South African, United
  • Oneworld - American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, LAN (including subsidiaries), Mexicana, Qantas
  • Sky Team - Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, Delta
  • Other - most main South American airlines including Aerolineas Argentinas

Note flights to/from Uruguay and domestic use Buenos Aires Newquay airport.

TIP Intra-South America air travel sold in South America is cheaper than the same flights sold on US or international websites or travel agencies.

TIP While air fares to South America are often high, there can be some great savings during sales from USA and Canada in particular.

TIP South America is difficult to include on a Star Alliance RTW due to lack of a connection across the Pacific Ocean. Consider taking a side-trip (separate ticket) from USA.

TIP With LAN Argentina now a member of Oneworld and the resumption of Qantas service, Buenos Aires is almost as good a hub as Santiago for intra-South America travel. This applies for both awards and around the world tickets.

UPDATED November 2009 - Mexicana joins Oneworld and Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.

Friday, March 13, 2009

How to get to | Portugal

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Portugal

Source: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

Portugal is easily reached by road from Spain, with plenty of bus services. Many airlines fly to Portugal (Lisbon except where stated):

  • Star Alliance - Austrian (to Faro and Funchal), Continental, EgyptAir, Lufthansa (to Faro Lisbon and Oporto), SAS (to Funchal), Swiss (to Faro Lisbon and Oporto), TAP (based in Portugal), Turkish, US Airways
  • Oneworld - British Airways (to Faro and Lisbon), Finnair (to Faro Lisbon and Funchal), Iberia (to Lisbon and Oporto)
  • Sky Team - Air France, KLM
  • Other - many European low cost airlines and charter airlines (to Lisbon, Faro and Funchal)
TIP It is about 8 hours drive from Madrid or Sevilla to Lisbon, so check fares to Spain as an alternative to Lisbon, Oporto or Faro.

TIP Faro and Funchal are highly seasonal destinations. Fares should generally be lower outside the summer peak.

UPDATED November 2009 - Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Whether to fly on one ticket or separate airline tickets?

One comment I see frequently is how travellers can save money by buying separate tickets to cover their flights. Eg instead of say (made up example) USA to Prague on one ticket, buying one ticket for flights between USA and London and another for flights between London and Prague.

While it is true that separate tickets can save money, in some cases a lot of money, over buying a single air fare, there are some downsides that most people gloss over. Even if it costs more to fly on a single ticket it can be worthwhile doing so.

4 advantages of using a single ticket

  • Protection for misconnection. If the first flight is so late that you miss the onward flight then the airline has to find another way to get you to your destination. This is the biggest advantage.
  • Protection in the event airline schedules change materially. If you have separate tickets and the schedules change to force a misconnect, then it is up to you to find a solution which will likely cost money to change one or both of those tickets. When travelling on a single ticket the airlines have to find an alternative that does not misconnect. Airlines change schedules frequently (and this year more than most due to plummeting travel demand).
  • Ability to through-check bags to the final destination. When flying on one ticket you can check your bags through to the final destination, whereas on separate tickets you might be able to or may not ... at the airline's discretion. Note you may still need to collect bags and take them through customs at some intermediate airports.
  • Better service in the event checked bags get lost. If the airlines temporarily lose or delayed delivery of a checked bag they have an obligation to deliver it to you at your destination (airport at a minimum). On separate tickets this is your transfer point not your final destination, thus it may take further time, money and inconvenience to get your bags back.

Misconnection costs

As alluded to above, misconnections on separate tickets can be very costly. You may have unexpected accommodation costs at the transfer city. The second ticket may have been voided by your no show (ie failure to check in or board in time), thus requiring a purchase of a new ticket at a high walk-up fare (or rebooking fees for a flexible fare). There may be no flights scheduled or with space available for some days, causing a lengthy delay and further costs.

In other cases a misconnection may be almost costless. If the second ticket is flexible, there are frequent later flights and these are not full the impact may be merely a delayed arrival.

7 ways you can manage misconnection on separate tickets

Despite the potential costs and risks, I often do travel on separate tickets - up to half a dozen on a single trip (albeit with a complex itinerary). Here are some ways to reduce the risk of misconnecting, and mitigate the effects if you do misconnect.

  • Build in lengthy connection times. Take the time you think you need to transfer on a bad day, allowing for check-in requirements for the second ticket, and add a healthy margin. Add some more time to allow for possible schedule changes. A large buffer if travel is far in the future (more opportunity for change), or if there are few alternatives (if a route is currently 3 flights a week and could change to 2 a week you may want to allow for a day or two at the transfer in between tickets). On some of my more complex tickets I may build in a stopover once a week purely to allow room to get back on schedule if I have a compounding misconnection.
  • Travel light. With carry-on only you have more options to fly standby or make last minute flight changes. It also allows you to check in later than with checked luggage in some circumstances. If your carry-on luggage is not too heavy, running for the onward flight may be the difference between making it and not.
  • Use online check in. In conjunction with no checked bags this may enable you to simply arrive at the gate when the onward flight is boarding. Compare this to a need to check in at the airport and deposit bags, both of which have a cut-off well before departure.
  • Buy tickets that are as flexible as possible/affordable. Higher fare classes give more options to switch flights than cheap fares. This may negate the benefit of cheaper separate tickets though.
  • Have frequent flyer status with the airline(s). This helps speed processing at the airport check-in and possibly security. Some airline agents may be more willing to try checking you in late or rerouting - ie bending or waiving some of the rules.
  • Where possible have a back-up routing or flight options. Perhaps you could switch from an indirect to a direct route if there is a problem? Eg I switched from San Francisco to Seattle via Portland to a direct flight when weather in San Francisco caused long delays meaning I'd misconnect at Portland. I was able to do this because my tickets were flexible enough and I had high frequent flyer status with the airline.
  • Be prepared to walk away if it goes really bad. A year ago the big storm that hit San Francisco caused delays of many hours. I was booked on Virgin America for a day trip Los Angeles to San Francisco return, and that night flying to Sydney on United on a separate ticket. Rather than risk misconnecting and losing a day (no later flights to Sydney), I opted to cancel my Virgin America ticket and stay in Los Angeles until my evening flight out. The consequences of missing the onward flight were worse to me than missing a day in San Francisco.

Is a single ticket better than separate tickets?

The answer is it depends. In some situations it is and others it is not. Only the person flying can weigh it up. Consider the risks of separate tickets, and the consequences if something goes wrong. The points above are some of the main factors and hopefully will assist readers in making their own decisions.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

How to get to | Sudan

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the contact me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Sudan

Despite having land borders with 9 countries, most visitors arrive by air due to safety concerns in some parts of the country, large distances involved and a lack of public transport. A surprising number of airlines serving Sudan (all to Khartoum), although some have a limited frequency of flights:

  • Star Alliance - bmi, EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Turkish
  • Oneworld - Royal Jordanian
  • Sky Team - Kenya Airways, KLM
  • Other - Emirates

TIP Due to significant UN and oil business, fares are fairly high. Thus Sudan is a good place to use either awards or round the world tickets.

TIP While several airlines fly via Khartoum to a destination in a country that is not their base, or to Khartoum via a third country, there are no traffic rights. This means you cannot, for example, fly between Beirut and Khartoum on bmi unless you originated in London.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Un(der)appreciated Travel Gems

The other day a couple visiting New Zealand asked me where I thought they may like to go. The first place that popped into my head was an unappreciated gem of a place called Wharariki. Very few tourists go there and even most New Zealanders do not know the place exists.

One reason few go there is because it is located at the end of the world - you have to go out of your way to go there.
  • New Zealand itself is a long way from most other countries.
  • Nelson at the top of the South Island is a tourist town, but not one of the top places those with short stays in New Zealand typically go to.
  • From Nelson it is an hour to Abel Tasman National Park (another stunning place to go with great seascapes and kaarst limestone cave systems, but this one is really appreciated especially in summer).
  • From Abel Tasman there is a moderate drive over Takaka Hill to the quiet rural valleys of Golden Bay. Golden Bay has just one significant town, Takaka.
  • From Takaka it is about an hour's drive to the base of Farewell Spit.
  • Farewell Spit as seen from Puponga
  • To get to Wharariki from the base of Farewell Spit, there is a short drive down a gravel road followed by a 20 minute walk across farmland and bush to reach the coast at the northwestern tip of the South Island.Wharariki beach looking to Archway Islands



View Larger Map


I love Wharariki because, despite the surrounding farmland, it is a wild place that fills my soul. The strong winds and seas have shaped the land into amazing forms, caves, dunes, archways and wetlands. The exposed trees are on a permanent lean while in sheltered valleys they stand tall.

This is but one of my unappreciated travel gems. While Wharariki is essentially hidden away from the rest of the world, others may be out in the open. Like the bridges of the Sumida River in Tokyo and how each has a different colour and look. Not as famous as the Tower Bridge in London or the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but I like it.

What are your un(der)appreciated travel gems?

How to get to | Yemen

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the contact me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Yemen

Source: Wikipedia

There are limited options for travel to Yemen. There are no regular passenger boat services, land crossings are restricted to Oman, and flights are relatively limited. Airlines that serve Yemen include (all to Sana'a except where noted):

  • Star Alliance - EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Turkish
  • Oneworld - Royal Jordanian (to Aden and Sana'a)
  • Sky Team - none
  • Other - most airlines of Arabian peninsula countries

TIP Visas can be obtained on arrival (a slow process). If you have Yemeni riyals it will likely be cheaper than if you pay in US$ or euros.

TIP In the unlikely event you are transitting a Yemen airport (ie connecting to another country) then you will need a visa to transit (as I recently discovered).

TIP Longhaul flights to Yemen can be not much more than the fare to one of the major Middle East hubs (eg Dubai for Emirates). The extra short flight to Yemen costs less than being purchased separately.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Oneway vs return fares

For the most part, airlines price oneway fares at significantly more than 50% of the return airfare. In some cases it can even be more than 100% of the return airfare. The reason airlines do this is because by definition 2 oneway tickets are more flexible than a single return ticket. With 2 oneway tickets you can avoid minimum stay requirements, book circle trips (A to B to C to A), and other useful stuff.

If travelling oneway, or on an itinerary where a series of oneway tickets may be sought, it is a good idea to check return airfares even if you think you won't need the return flights.

  • The return fare might be cheaper due to airline pricing policy, or alternatively you may be able to buy a higher fare category for similar amount as a oneway. A higher fare category means easier and cheaper (or free) to make changes, and lower or no cancellation fees.
  • The extra for the return flight may be relatively low if taxes are higher in one direction than the other (eg taxes departing Australia are much higher than arriving, similarly for UK).
  • Some countries require a return or onward ticket in order for visitors to enter.
  • Even if the return fare is slightly more expensive than one-way, it may be a cheap insurance policy against the need to buy an expensive last minute one-way flight back (eg if your circumstances change or a family or other emergency).

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Avoid the Qantas Frequent Flyer join fees

Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) has a fee to join, but only if your address is in Australia or New Zealand. However currently there are two promotions providing free joining.

Australians can join QFF for free by transferring credit card points in by 31 March.
New Zealanders can join QFF for free by joining before 31 March.

Since a QFF account, even if empty, can be used to look up Oneworld award availability, it is worthwhile signing up even if you do not intend collecting QFF miles.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Flyer Tip #2 - the basics of airline revenue management

This is part of a series of blog posts on tips for flyers.

Why might this post be useful to you?

Airline revenue management is the art of applying economic theory in setting fares. It is a very complex area. For flyers who wish to save money (isn't that all of us?) it is helpful to understand the basic concepts in order to find better prices. This post includes practical examples to illustrate the ideas.

But first a light introduction.

If airlines sold paint

Customer: Hi, how much is your paint?
Clerk: Well, sir, that all depends.
Customer: Depends on what?
Clerk: Actually, a lot of things.
Customer: How about giving me an average price?
Clerk: Wow, that's too hard a question. The lowest price is $9 a gallon, and we have 150 different prices up to $200 a gallon.
Customer: What's the difference in the paint?
Clerk: Oh, there isn't any difference, it's all the same paint.
Customer: Well, then, I'd like some of that $9 paint.
Clerk: First I need to ask you a few questions. When do you intend to use it?
Customer: I want to paint tomorrow, on my day off.
Clerk: Sir, the paint for tomorrow is $200 paint.
Customer: What? when would I have to paint in order to get $9 paint?
Clerk: That would be in three weeks, but you will also have to agree to start painting before Friday of that week and continue painting until at least Sunday
Customer: You've got to be kidding!
Clerk: Sir, we don't kid around here. Of course, I'll have to check to see if we have any of that paint available before I can sell it to you.
Customer: What do you mean check to see if you can sell it to me? You have shelves full of that stuff; I can see it right there.
Clerk: Just because you can see it doesn't mean that we have it. It may be the same paint, but we sell only a certain number of gallons on any given weekend. Oh, and by the way, the price just went up to $12.
Customer: You mean the price went up while we were talking?
Clerk: Yes sir. You see, we change prices and rules thousands of times a day, and since you haven't actually walked out of the store with your paint yet, we just decided to change. Unless you want the same thing to happen again, I would suggest you get on with your purchase. How many gallons do you want?
Customer: I don't know exactly. Maybe five gallons. Maybe I should buy six gallons just to make sure I have enough.
Clerk: Oh, no sir, you can't do that. If you buy the paint and then don't use it, you will be liable for penalties and possible confiscation of the paint you already have.
Customer: What?
Clerk: That's right. We can sell you enough paint to do your kitchen, bathroom, hall and north bedroom, but if you stop painting before you do the other bedroom, you will be in violation of our tariffs.
Customer: But what does it matter to you whether I use all of the paint? I already paid you for it!
Clerk: Sir, there's no point in getting upset; that's just the way it is. We make plans based upon the idea that you will use all of the paint, and when you don't, it just causes us all sorts of problems.
Customer: This is crazy! I suppose something terrible will happen if I don't keep painting until Sunday night?
Clerk: Yes sir, it will.
Customer: Well, that does it! I am going somewhere else to buy paint!
Clerk: That won't do you any good, sir. We all have the same rules. You might as well just buy it here, while the price is now $13.50.
Thanks for flying -- I mean painting -- with our airline.

Perishable Capacity

Once a flight takes off any empty seats represent lost opportunity for income for the airlines. That is why you sometimes get last minute bargains - any money is better than none for an empty seat.

However, in general, fares do not become cheaper closer to departure. This is because airlines know if they did then people would always hold off buying until the last minute (same thing happens on a larger scale with deflation in the economy). Airlines need to be reasonably certain in advance that a flight will generate a minimum level of income to cover most of their costs, and in order to make decisions on whether to operate or cancel flights, aircraft orders and positioning, staffing, etc.

Highly Generalised Pattern of Fares

As no-one wants to pay more than they have to, the general pattern of fares is cheap initially and gradually rising until departure. However this pattern is interrupted by sales, and does depend on the view of airline analysts as to how many more seats they will sell and at what prices. The analysts are continually updating their predictions and airlines may raise or lower fares as a result.

These forecasts also means some specific flights and/or dates may be cheaper than others. Flying at the start and end of a holiday weekend and the fares are normally higher because there is high demand. Similarly shorthaul flights at start and end of the typicall business day are pricier than in the middle of the day or evening. Longhaul flights midweek may be cheaper than at weekends, to summer destinations cheaper in winter, and so on.

Maximise Revenue by Differentiation

Long words, but what it means is the airline tries to get the highest fare from each type of passenger.

A leisure passenger who plans their holiday a year in advance is typically price sensitive. In exchange for lower fares they need to pay well in advance, and the fares have conditions limiting flexibility. Some examples of constraints include being fully or partly non-refundable, high fees to make any changes, minimum stay and advance purchase requirements, and limited availability on flights especially closer to departure (more on this in another blog post) and direct routings.

On the other hand, a business traveller who needs to fly to a meeting arranged at the last minute is not very price sensitive. They may also be happy to pay more for some perks (such as onboard food and drink, more space to allow work or better sleep on longer flights, lounge access, availability on non-stop flights). Often they want or need flexibility (eg if the meeting end time changes they can change their flight back to suit). The fare that allows all this may cost 20 or more times the lowest fare paid on the same flights.

Airlines each create dozens of fares for every route each with different rules, availability and benefits, in order to increase their revenue.

Effect of Airline Competition

Most regular travellers know that competition brings cheaper prices. On US domestic markets an example is called "the Southwest effect". On routes where there are lots of options fares may be low (eg many Trans-Atlantic routes) and on routes where there are few options fares are generally higher (eg between USA and Australia or between Australia and South America). This also applies to sales - when one airline has a sale their competitors often follow suit.

Competition also applies more subtly. Take this example of indirect vs direct routing. For Germany to USA, British Airways is a competitor of Lufthansa. This means their fares on this route need to be no higher than Lufthansa's (and possibly lower to compensate for the time & hassle of transferring through London). The fares from Germany to USA may be lower, or not much more than, the fares from UK to USA even though they are for the same Trans-Atlantic flight.

Incidentally, this is why the US-EU Open Skies agreement was such a big deal. It allows airlines to compete head to head on nonstop routes which in theory allows them to sell more higher revenue fares in their home market (see also point of sale differences below).

Point of Sale Differences

Point of sale is where the fare is sold. Airlines don't like to sell all their seats to one market (for flights between UK and US, UK to US sold in UK is one market and US to UK sold in US is another) as this leaves them vulnerable to shocks (eg due to an exchange rate fall travel by UK individuals and business drops sharply) and it also increases the odds of having empty seats (see perishable capacity above).

On some routes, especially domestic, the fares may be similar sold from each end - the fare from A to B is the same as from B to A. On other routes considerable fare differences apply.

These fare differences may be due to differing levels of demand for the particular route and airline. For example between Singapore and Australia, due to home airline bias (travellers preference to fly their home airline), Qantas is usually cheaper from Singapore but Singapore Airlines is usually cheaper from Australia.

The fare difference can also be due to differing income levels. For example between Australia and New Zealand fares are lower sold in New Zealand than sold in Australia for the exact same flights. Likewise between USA and Indonesia flights are cheaper sold in Indonesia than sold in USA.

These point of sale differences can sometimes be so big as to generate savings even if you take extra flights to the cheaper origin. Eg from Australia it can be cheaper buying a separate ticket to New Zealand in order to buy ex-New Zealand (ex means from) to Asia or Europe.

Wrap Up

This post has touched on just a few of the basic concepts of airline revenue management. There are some tips here which can be used to find better fares. Some of the later posts in the Flyer Tips series (in particular ones on booking classes and availability) will use these concepts and some additional ones to provide further ways to save more. There is a lot more information on Flyer Talk, but this info is not easy to find.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

How to get to | Laos

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the contact me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Laos

Source: Kevin Lang



Many visitors arrive by boat up or across the Mekong River, or by bus, both of which are cheap and easy. Very recently a train track has been opened crossing the river and connecting Bangkok with Laos by rail. However, the tracks stop not far into Laos. There are only a few airlines which fly to Laos, all from within the region (all to Vientiane unless otherwise mentioned):
  • Star Alliance - Thai
  • Oneworld - none
  • Sky Team - China Southern
  • Other - Air Asia, Lao Airlines (to Vientiane and Luang Prabang), Vietnam Airlines (to Vientiane and Luang Prabang), Bangkok Airways

TIP Flights within the region are relatively cheap, especially from Bangkok. These are normally cheaper bought locally (eg in Bangkok) than bought remotely or as part of a longhaul ticket.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Using tools for different purposes than the designed one

Twitter has been mentioned in media a bit lately as being a social networking phenomenon in part because it is being used in ways never envisaged by the creators.

I must admit I have an inquisitive mind and I've spent a bit of time on various sites seeing if I can adapt them to other uses. One site I've been looking at recently is Jetrecord - an online flight log for pilots. I'm no pilot but I'm playing with it to see if I can use it to keep track of my many flights and at the same time provide customisable maps of my travels. Here is an example map page I have set up.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

How to get to | Niue

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the contact me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Niue
Source: Niue Tourism

Not many people get to Niue (or even know where it is!). The map below (courtesy of Wikipedia) shows Niue as a rock in the South Pacific.

Unless you have your own yacht, the options for travel to Niue are extremely limited - an occasional freight ship from neighbouring island groups (Samoa, Tonga or Cook Islands) and a once per week flight from Auckland on Air New Zealand. Even other Pacific-based airlines do not fly to Niue.
TIP Fares to Niue from New Zealand are cheap, except during school holidays. In most cases it will be cheaper to have the flights on a separate ticket from New Zealand than added to a longhaul ticket.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Flyer Tip #1 - Seat Maps

This is the first in a series of blog posts on tips for flyers.

Why might this post be useful to you?

Seat comfort is important, especially on long flights. A more comfortable seat can be a big help to make the flight more enjoyable.

Airlines have different seat layouts (called configurations) for different aircraft types (eg the layout for a 737 is different to the layout for a 747), and sometimes a single aircraft type can also have different layouts (eg Qantas currently have half a dozen layouts for 747 aircraft). Different airlines have different layouts (eg Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa have different layouts on 747 aircraft).

This post covers how to find the seat layout on your flight, and how to select a good seat and avoid a bad seat. It also covers some useful tools for travellers that are related to seat maps, how to use them, and some limitations.

Seat map type 1 - configuration

The first type of seat maps are those showing seating configurations. Many airline websites have seatmaps available online, although in some cases airlines have multiple seating configurations for the same aircraft type, when it can be difficult to deduce which applies for a given flight. An example is given below from British Airways.While these may show the seat layout, they generally do not provide much information on the best and worst seats, other than by location of emergency exit rows, toilets and galleys. Some airlines show the seat pitch, but many do not.

Seat pitch is the distance between the same part of the seats but one row apart, and thus is an indication of legroom.

More useful configuration maps

There are some websites that provide much more useful information to assist travellers in selecting good seats and avoiding bad seats. Two examples are Seatguru and SeatExpert. These sites are easy to use and generally reliable, but do not cover minor airlines and may take some time to fully update for new configurations.

These sites allow you to work out which seats you want, or want to avoid, based on your own criteria (for instance some people wish to be a distance from the galley to avoid noise whereas others have a stronger preference to be as forward as possible). However, the sites do not tell you which seats are free on a particular flight or allow for factors such as whether or not you might get a row to yourself.

Seat map type 2 - available and unavailable seats

All airlines that offer online check-in, and some that offer manage my booking, display seat maps with seats marked off as available or unavailable (and in some cases as missing due to being reserved for a codeshare partner if booked on the operating airline or vice versa). Sometimes some seats are marked as preferential, which means only passengers who qualify can select those seats. Qualification for preferential seats may depend on airline frequent flyer status, paid club membership, fare paid, or possible a surcharge.

However, even when these type of seat maps are not available at the airline website it may still be possible to access via a CRS website such as checkmytrip.

For information on CRS websites including which one to use for which airlines, please see my previous blog post on airline CRS.

Where you can online check-in or request seats before check-in opens, simply have the other seat map (eg SeatGuru or SeatExpert) open in another window. With many airlines you can also call to select a seat (but not all airlines do this eg Qantas domestic). Failing that, you could take a note of good seats and ones to avoid and ask which seats are available at check in.

Seat availability fallacy

It is commonly thought that a seat availability map showing lots of unallocated seats indicates an empty flight or low load. This is not generally correct. Some airlines do not allow passengers to pre-select seats. Or they may allow pre-selection only for half of passengers in order to maintain flexibility in seating families and groups together. Even when airlines do allow seat pre-allocation, many passengers simply do not bother.

The converse is also a fallacy - that a seat availability map implies a full flight. It might, but is not necessarily so. Airlines may block off sections of seating for a potential group sale, or if they think another flight may be cancelled. They may also block seats for their codeshare partners to allocate (eg on LAN flights between Santiago and Auckland/Sydney some seats are specifically for LAN passengers and some for Qantas passengers).

More tips

I'll cover some other tools which provide a better indicator of whether a flight may be full or empty (and why this matters) in another post.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

How to get to | Mexico

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the contact me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Mexico

Source: Wikipedia



Of the countries and places I have covered so far, Mexico is the simplest to get to. Plenty of land and sea (mainly Caribbean but also some Pacific Ocean cruises) options. By air there are also lots of options including:
  • Star Alliance - Air Canada, Lufthansa, United, US Airways
  • Oneworld - American, British Airways, Iberia, Japan, LAN, Mexicana
  • Sky Team - Aeromexico, Air France, Continental, Delta, KLM
  • Other selected airlines - Alaska, Cubana, most main Central American airlines

TIP If longhaul fares to Mexico are too expensive or don't have awards on the dates you'd want, consider travelling to USA or Canada and getting a separate ticket down to Mexico (fares from USA and Canada are cheap).

TIP For those wanting to avoid USA visa issues, it isn't easy to avoid flying via USA (except from Europe). However, from Asia Japan Airlines fly from Tokyo via Vancouver, and from South Pacific you can travel via South America (no direct flights).

TIP As a consequence of the above two points, around the world fares are not that useful for Mexico - they either require some back-tracking, or have limited options for travel within North America, or are not cost-effective (Mexico side trip is cheap).

UPDATED November 2009 - Mexicana joins Oneworld.