Reminder UK Tax Increase November 2009

As announced last year UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) goes up for travel from 1 November 2009, and there will be a further increase next year. APD applies to all flight departures from UK, except for connecting international or domestic flights after an international arrival. The exemption covers transits on a single ticket within a prescribed time (a day or less in some circumstances). The exemption rule is not changing.

Until 31 October 2009 APD is £10 or £20 for "European" destinations and £40 or £80 for other destinations. The higher rate applies for premium economy, business and first class.

From 1 November 2009 APD is £11 to £55 in economy depending on country and £22 to £110 for all other classes of travel.

As it is a bit complicated I've prepared a summary (see map below). For convenience I list the economy rate of APD. For other classes of travel the Air Passenger Duty is twice the economy rate.

UK APD Zones 1 Nov 09

Map Legend:

Europe-A

Other-A

B

C

D

UK Air Passenger Duty Zones and change in APD 1 November 2009

Europe-A £10 -> £11

Other-A £20 -> £11 (NB Russia east of Urals in B)

B £20 -> £45

C £20 -> £50

D £20 -> £55

© worldmapmaker.com Travel Insurance

For more detail, continue reading.

"Europe"
Currently on the lower rate and will be in new Band A.
£10 → £11
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (incl Faroe Islands), Estonia, Finland (incl Aland Islands), France (incl Corsica), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy (incl Sardinia & Sicily), Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, (FYROM) Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway (incl Svalbard), Poland, Portugal (incl the Azores & Madeira), Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain (incl Balearic & Canary Islands), Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK (incl Channel Islands, Gibraltar & Isle of Man)

Other Europe
Currently on the higher rate and will be in new Band A. APD decreases at 1 November 2009.
£20 → £11
Belarus, Greenland, Moldova, Russia (west of Urals only), Ukraine

Northern Africa
Currently on the higher rate and will be in new Band A. APD decreases at 1 November 2009.
£20 → £11
Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara

Midhaul and shorter longhaul
Roughly USA & Canada, most of Africa (north of Equator except those above), Middle East, Caucasus, central Asia, west Asia.
Currently on the higher rate and will be in new Band B. For some a large difference in APD compared with neighbouring countries in Band A (see underlined entries).
£20 → £45
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Benin, Bermuda, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia (east of Urals), St Pierre & Miquelon (France), Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda, UAE, USA (incl Hawaii but excl Puerto Rico), Uzbekistan, Yemen

Longhaul
Roughly Mexico, Caribbean, Central America, northern South America (above Equator plus Brazil), southern Africa (below Equator), eastern (except Taiwan) and southern Asia (except southeast).
Currently on the higher rate and will be in new Band C.
£20 → £50
Angola, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Ascension Island, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Burma, Burundi, Cayman Islands, China (incl Hong Kong & Macao), Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Mongolia, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, North Korea, Panama, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Rwanda, St Barthelemy, St Helena, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Martin, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Longer longhaul
Roughly southern South America (below Equator except Brazil), Taiwan, southeast Asia, Oceania.
Currently on the higher rate and will be in new Band D.
£20 → £55
American Samoa, Argentina, Australia (incl Christmas Island, Cocos Islands & Norfolk Island), Bolivia, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Cook Islands, East Timor, Falkland Islands, Fiji, France (New Caledonia & French Polynesia), Guam, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Taiwan, Tonga, Tristan da Cunha, Tuvalu, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands

Frequent Flyer Friday #2

Celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.

Brett - Cranky Flier

Brett is a proud airline dork who writes the popular consumer air travel blog, The Cranky Flier. He has worked for several airlines in revenue management, marketing and strategy. Through his blog he shares his industry insight with a snarky twist.

First, some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer Brett is.

What is your home airport?
Brett - Long Beach, but I fly out of Los Angeles LAX just as often.

What is the airline you usually fly?
Brett - At Long Beach it is JetBlue more often than not. My wife is from Indiana, so we usually take the Northwest, er, Delta nonstop from LAX on that trip.

Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
× jetsetting for pleasure
- frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
- mileage runner- I live on planes

How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
× credit card spend
- business and leisure travel
- taking extra flights on trips I need to take
- mileage running

Please describe how you travel in 4 words
Brett - nonstop, good value, convenient

Travel would be very different today if it always matched those four words! Now for some advice from Brett.

What is inside your carry-on bag right now?
Brett - I've used the same bag for 5 years now - a soft-sided gym bag that can fit under the seat or in the bin. It's mostly full of clothes, but you'll also find my flight log, a book or a magazine or two, headphones, and a couple of ziploc bags with my toiletries.

Please give a tip on travel.
Brett - Pack light. That's probably the best tip I have, because the tendency is always to overpack when you travel and its a waste. Just pack light and you'll be just fine. It'll make for easier travel.

What is your preferred airline for regular travel?
Brett - I like flying JetBlue because I can fly them out of Long Beach and that makes life much easier for me. Plus, I love the TV and the extra legroom. When it comes to the big guys, I like Delta these days. The TV on longer flights is nice, and the buy on board is really good. I'm looking forward to trying wifi sometime soon. They can also fly me from Long Beach, and connecting in Salt Lake City is fine. The nonstop to Indianapolis is a big bonus for us.

What is your preferred airline for a special trip?
Brett - One of my favourites is Air New Zealand. I've flown them once between London and LA, and it was a special experience. I really like the whole onboard product, the concierge, the more casual kiwi style, and the New Zealand wine. I like British Airways as well. I'm kind of an anglophile and the proper British service always appeals to me.

What is your preferred frequent flyer program?
Brett - I actually don't have one. I keep my points with Starwood, and I have my SPG Amex by my side at all times. When it comes to airlines, I'm miles agnostic. I make my choices based on a combination of schedule, onboard product, and price.

Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
Brett - Don't get hung up on them. If you're a super frequent flyer, it makes sense to get elite status, but if you're not then you're much better off just looking for the best experience. Stick with a program like Starwood and you can use your points with tremendous flexibility.

Finally, I have to ask about some posts on your blog. You've given Alitalia the tagline of "worst airline ever". What would it take for you to fly Alitalia?
Brett - That tagline is mostly about the way the airline is run and not necessarily their onboard product. I actually want to fly them in Europe just to say I've flown them. I don't think I'd fly them over the Atlantic because there are better options. I prefer to fly with airlines that don't experience random strikes.

Thanks Brett for sharing some great advice. I haven't given up hope on reading a future Alitalia trip report on The Cranky Flier. Have a great weekend.

Editor's note - SPG has a very wide range of airline partners. Gary Leff of View from the Wing describes SPG Amex as the single best all-round mileage earning credit card.

For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.

How to get to | Maldives

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.




Maldives

Source: Shahee Ilyas

The only practical way to visit Maldives is by air to Male (then boat or air to one of the islands). Airlines flying to Maldives include:

• Star Alliance - Austrian (seasonal), Singapore Airlines
• Oneworld - British Airways (starts October 2009)
• Sky Team -
• Other selected - Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Indian, Emirates, Qatar, some European low cost carriers

TIP Maldives are difficult to use on around the world tickets. On Star Alliance a long back-track to Singapore is required (except when Austrian operates a seasonal flight). On Oneworld (from October 2009) it will be possible to include Maldives but only with a surface sector between Male and Sri Lanka, India, Singapore or Malaysia.

TIP Similarly award tickets are difficult unless flying from Europe on Oneworld or Asia/Pacific on Star Alliance. Some programs will not allow the backtracking required from other origins.

TIP Several airlines operate a triangle flight with short hop between Male and Colombo in either or both directions connecting to a longhaul destination in Europe, Middle East or Asia. If fares to/from Male are high check them to/from Colombo instead with a separate ticket for the extra flight.

TIP With more than 70 resorts on the tiny islands business class discounted paid fares and awards go early.

How to get to | Belize

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.

Belize

Source: USGS

Many visitors to Belize arrive by cruise ship. There are limited land border crossings with Mexico and Guatemala and few international buses. Airlines flying to Belize include:

• Star Alliance - Continental, US Airways
• Oneworld - American
• Sky Team - Delta
• Other selected - TACA

TIP - some fares to Belize are common-rated with other Central American destinations. This means if there is a cheap fare advertised to say San Jose (Costa Rica) or Managua (Nicaragua) there may also be cheap fares to Belize.

TIP - the market is fairly competitive from many major US cities. When TACA has a sale other airlines typically match.

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

Flyer Tip #5 - booking class availability myths

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

Why might this post be useful to you?

Previous posts in this series explained what are booking classes, and how you can use tools to look up their availability. This post helps you to interpret booking class availability by explaining away some myths and fallacies.

Fallacy - add up available numbers

An easy mistake to make is to add up the availability in a class of travel based on the availability of individual booking classes.

For example a flight may show the availability in business class as J4 D3 I0 - this does not mean 7 business class seats are available. It means the airline is willing to sell 4 seats (at least) in full fare business class, 3 in discounted business class and none in sale fare business class. I say at least 4 seats in full fare because this particular airline only shows a maximum of 4 in availability tools for first and business class. However, in this case it is probably 4 or 5, rather than a higher number, because the airline is not willing to sell many discounted fares.

Myth - from the availability numbers I can tell how full the cabin is

While low availability does suggest a full cabin this is not always so, for several reasons.

An example is a flight with 12 seats in business class. If availability shows J2 D0 I0 then it is intuitive to think 2 seats are available for sell means 10 seats have been taken - the cabin is fairly full.

The first reason this might not be right is that it ignores oversell situations. Airlines sometimes sell more seats than are physically available because they know a percentage of passengers fail to take the flight (called no show). If say more than 5% of passengers are expected to no show for a given flight, then they can make more money by selling say 2% extra seats. The extra revenue from the 2% more than offsets any costs if there are fewer no shows than expected. The no show rate varies a lot by route, class of travel, day of week, time of day, number of full fare/flexible tickets sold. Airlines monitor no show rates quite carefully and have models to predict the numbers.

The second reason is the schedule may give the airline flexibility to oversell, or to undersell, a flight. If a flight has a light load and there is another flight by the same airline a little earlier or later they might combine them. If the airline is planning for this event they may undersell close to departure to allow the 2 flights to be merged. Qantas is well known for doing this on their golden triangle route between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Similarly if there are two (or more) flights with varying loads they may oversell more aggressively one flight knowing they can switch some passengers to the other flight. British Airways and Qantas sometimes do this on the Kangaroo route between London and Sydney.

A third reason is allowing for the ability to move some passengers into a different cabin (usually higher cabin in an op-up or operational upgrade because a downgrade needs to be compensated for). If the first class cabin is fairly empty then an airline may allow business class to be oversold, similarly for empty business class and full economy class. Interpreting availability for business class and premium economy can be particularly tricky as you need to look at the cabin above and the cabin below since there may be cascading op-ups. This is where some passengers are moved from business to first to make room for other passengers being moved from economy to business, on a flight where economy is oversold and business class moderately full but first class is fairly empty. A number of airlines are taking this approach more this year than previously as it is proving to be much easier to get high loads in economy than maintaining them in first or business class.

See also below about the effect of codeshares on availability.

Fallacy - once availability is gone from cheaper booking classes it does not return

Availability isn't static or constant. It changes over time.

Availability reduces as people buy tickets. Someone buying a cheap fare reduces availability in that booking class. Someone buying a more expensive fare may reduce availability in all booking classes.

Availability may increase when people change their tickets, or the airline may decide not to release the seat back. This can produce odd results such as recent posts on Flyer Talk discussing saver awards on Singapore Airlines being available when standard (more expensive and thus higher booking class) ones were not available. In that case a cancelled award seat was re-released in the same booking class because it was close to departure and the flight was not full. However if the flight was full Singapore Airlines may have chosen to not add back an award seat and instead sell an expensive paid fare.

Airlines also review loads and bookings and tweak availability. Sometimes the airline's predicted patterns of sales do not eventuate and they may need to add more cheap availability or take it out if things are going better (from the airline's point of view) than expected.

Myth - a codeshare will show much the same availability as operating airline

It is easy to assume that availability of a given flight will be roughly the same for the operating airline as for the codeshare airline. After all, why would someone pay an expensive fare when they could get it more cheaply with a different airline on the same flight?

The reality is there is the relationship between availability of operating airline and availability of codeshare partner(s) depends a lot on the nature of the codeshare and several other circumstances.

Some codeshares are of the form of profit shares and work much how you'd expect in that availability is close or even identical. Examples of this include Lufthansa and United on their trans-atlantic flights and Qantas and British Airways on the kangaroo route. Note if the codeshare airline booking classes do not mean exactly the same thing as the booking classes of the operating airline (eg booking class E on one airline is the same as V on the other), availability tools may show an apparent difference that is not real.

Some codeshares are commitments to sell a certain number of seats on a flight. In these cases availability can differ widely between operating airline and marketing (ie codeshare) airline. Sometimes the operating airline will be cheaper (or have availability) and sometimes the marketing airline will be. A recent example was a friend looking for an AAdvantage frequent flyer award between Sydney and Auckland on Christmas Eve - the LAN flight had no availability under the Qantas code but did have availability under the LAN code. It is normally the other way around on this particular flight but because it is Christmas Eve all the Qantas award seats have long been snapped up. LAN does have many frequent flyers based in Australia or New Zealand and thus still had award seats available.

The codeshare airline may or may not have the ability to release unused seats to the operating airline, or get extra seats. Any inventory changes between the airlines may be at certain times (eg one month before departure) or it may be at any time. It depends on the (unpublished) details of their agreement.

Where there isn't an adjustment clause the difference in availability can be enormous. I've been on flights between New Zealand and Japan (operated by Air New Zealand with codeshare by Japan Airlines) where almost every passenger onboard was on a ticket by the codeshare partner.

I've also been on flights were it is impossible to buy a seat from the operating airline for some weeks before departure until the inventory adjustment was made a week out and suddenly cheapish fares are available. In those cases the codeshare airline had not sold many seats and the operating airline went from having no seats for sale to a lot available to sell close to departure.

A more technical issue that is relevant in some circumstances is where the operating airline and codeshare airline use different CRS (see this post on CRS for an explanation and summary of which airline uses which CRS). In this case the availability showing may not be quite in sync making it possible to nab a seat when the flight is full.


This post is long enough I think, and so I'll save some more flyer tips for another post. Happy travels.

How to get to | Ukraine

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.

Ukraine

Source: Dmytro Sergiyenko

There are trains to Ukraine from Belarus, Hungary, Poland and Russia. There are a couple of ferries to Ukraine on the Black Sea. Lots of airlines fly to Ukraine including:

• Star Alliance - Adria, Austrian, bmi, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, Turkish
• Oneworld - British Airways, Finnair, Malev, Royal Jordanian
• Sky Team - Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Czech, Delta, KLM
• Other selected - Wizz, most eastern Europe and Russian airlines

TIP Ukraine is generally more expensive to travel to/from than western European countries. However on many frequent flyer programs it is part of Europe and thus the same mileage cost as the European hubs.

TIP Some European airlines have longhaul fares with relatively small add-on cost to fly to Ukraine.

TIP Visiting Ukraine on an around the world fare is quite practical. Ukraine is on the list of countries for which only 2 flights from UK is allowed on Oneworld explorer RTW, but this is easily avoided by flying via Helsinki, Budapest or Amman.

TIP The Trans-Dniester region between Ukraine and Moldova has disputed status. Travel between Moldova and Ukraine through Trans-Dniester is subject to varying degrees of disruption from inconvenience to border closure.

How to get to | Swaziland

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.

Swaziland

Source: Trevor Dougherty

The easiest way to visit Swaziland is by road from South Africa. Buses run from Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Maputo to Mbabane. There are also flights, but only on Swaziland Airlink from Johannesburg to Manzini airport.

TIP most border crossings close at 8 or 10pm. Some close at 4 or 6pm.

TIP South African Airlines codeshares on the flights, and these are available for award and around the world tickets.

TIP see also how to get to South Africa for further travel tips.

Upcoming Airline Alliance Changes

There are a number of upcoming changes to the three main airline alliances, so I thought it would be useful to summarise. I've included known changes but excluded speculative future members - only those confirmed by the alliances to be joining are mentioned below.

Airline	Oneworld	Sky Team	Star Alliance
Continental		out 24 Oct 2009	in end Oct 2009
Copa		out 24 Oct 2009
Brussels			in Oct 2009
Mexicana	in Oct 2009
TAM			in early 2010
Aegean			in mid 2010
S7 (of Russia)	in 2010
Vietnam		in 2010
Air India			in 2010, maybe

Continental has a few days in between leaving Sky Team and joining Star Alliance - it was a bit too hopeful to have a seamless transition.

Air India was originally scheduled to join Star Alliance in March 2009 but is reportedly nowhere ready (alliances have a long list of criteria which new members need to comply with).

Confirmed future alliance members sometimes become partners of some airlines within that alliance ahead of the join date. This means codeshares, mileage earning (although not necessarily status mileage), and award redemption. It doesn't usually extend to status benefits. An example of this is Brussels Airlines is already a partner of Lufthansa and Miles & More frequent flyer program.

Partnerships with non-alliance airlines also sometimes change when airlines join or leave an alliance. For example Continental ends it's OnePass partnerships with Alaska, Horizon and American Eagle on 24 October 2009.

Frequent Flyer Friday #1

Welcome to the very first Frequent Flyer Friday - celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.

Ben - One Mile at a Time

Ben is a college student who flies over 200,000 miles a year. He writes an informative blog at One Mile at a Time, which is a must-read for many frequent flyer mileage addicts. Ben tries to maximise the value obtained from his frequent flyer programs by redeeming international awards on the best carriers possible.

I first asked Ben some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer he is.

What is your home airport?
Ben - Tampa

What is the airline you usually fly?
Ben - United Airlines

Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
- jetsetting for pleasure
- frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
× mileage runner
- I live on planes

How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
- credit card spend
- business and leisure travel
- taking extra flights on trips I need to take
× mileage running

Please describe how you travel in 4 words
Ben - Quick, light, spontaneous, profitably*

* editor's note - if you read Ben's blog you will understand how "profitably" is a big part of his travel (search on "bump")!


Having established that Ben is a mileage-savvy masochist for flying a lot on United, I then asked him to share some advice.

What do you use for a carry-on bag?
Ben - Right now I have a Tumi T-Tech bag.

What is inside it right now?
Ben - Always a change of clothes, toiletries, noise canceling headset, camera (you never know what you'll see), laptop, something to read, some packaged snack in case of a delay, and an itinerary of the current trip.

Please give a tip on travel.
Ben - As simple as it might sound, just be nice. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think they’re going to get favors by being rude to customer service representatives. Smile and say "thanks" and you’ll be surprised at how far it can get you.

What is your preferred airline for regular travel?
Ben - I normally fly United Airlines because I find them to have the best mix between decent onboard service and a good frequent flyer program, at least among US-based airlines. Furthermore, I love their membership in the Star Alliance which gives me access to 20+ airlines.

What is your preferred airline for a special trip?
Ben - Tough to say, there are quite a few. If I can find award availability on them, I would have to say Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific for their amazing service, great seats, and awesome food. When going to Europe my favorite airline is Swiss, for similar reasons as above, and the fact that they have great award availability.

What is your preferred frequent flyer program?
Ben - My favorite is by far Aeroplan, Air Canada’s spun-off frequent flyer program. They have the most favorable redemption rates, generous rules, no fuel surcharges on partner awards, and (unlike United Mileage Plus) have access to the whole Star Alliance network.

You've given a couple of reasons for using a different frequent flyer program than the home one of the airline you fly the most. Have you experienced any downside or problems as a result?
Ben - You do miss out on some airline specific benefits at times, like upgrades, special seating arrangements, sometimes bonus miles, etc.

Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
Ben - Try to focus all your travel on one program so that you can build up top tier status with that program. If you travel enough to achieve top tier status with multiple airlines, diversify a bit between different alliances. It’s great to have options when it comes to earning and redeeming miles and reaping the benefits of being a frequent traveler.

Thanks Ben for being my guinea pig first interviewee. You have shared some useful advice, and I enjoy reading your One Mile at a Time blog. Have a great weekend.

For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.

Frequent Flyer Friday

To celebrate Fridays I'll be interviewing some frequent flyers. They'll share some travel and frequent flyer program tips with us all.

If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.

I'll update this post with a link to each Frequent Flyer Friday post to have a handy index for easy reference.

Ben - One Mile at a Time
Brett - Cranky Flier
Megan
Seth - Wandering Aramean
Darren - Travel Rants
Keith
Felix
Anglo Large Clawed Otter
Steven Frischling - Flying with Fish

Free flight quasi upgrades

On some flights on some airlines there is an opportunity to get a better seat than the one paid for, without requiring any upgrade instruments (such as miles or vouchers).

For example, on Air New Zealand shorthaul flights premium economy is not sold. On flights operated by 747 or 777 aircraft the premium economy seats are free for Star Alliance Gold status economy class passengers. There are a few of these flights scheduled every day. You get a much better seat, but with the same economy service.

Sometimes airlines have to use an aircraft with additional cabins than the ones they are selling on a route. I've been in international first class seats when flying business class on several airlines over the years. Sometimes this is by pure luck and other times it was a result of spotting the opportunity from published aircraft type and/or seatmap configuration info. In these cases the service is usually of the cabin paid for rather than reflecting the cabin you sit in.

It can work the other way too - get improved seating when an airline has less cabins than the ones they are selling.

For example, Qantas' Los Angeles to Auckland flights used to be sold as 2-class and earlier this year started being sold as 3-class (business, premium economy and economy). They have not yet installed the premium economy seats into enough of the originally 2-class configured aircraft to guarantee premium economy seating on all flights. Instead some lucky travellers get to have business class seats on a premium economy fare on the days when premium economy seating is not available. Both Qantas and travel agents have been promoting this opportunity. It is a great deal, because not only do you get business class seating but also business class service.

There is, however, a catch.

Airlines can and do change aircraft due to operational needs, sometimes at very short notice. If you've booked a flight just to get a better seat than the one you paid for (and possibly better service too) there is a chance it may not eventuate. If it doesn't happen you don't have any recourse. The risk of this happening may be small or not so small depending on circumstances.

I generally try not to pay extra for these kinds of opportunities. That way I won't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out. Most of the time it does work, and it is a nice bonus to get a more comfortable seat for the sake of a little planning.

Here are a few circumstances where you might find free improved seating:

• longhaul aircraft being used on shorthaul routes (many airlines)
• when an airline is in the process of adding or removing a cabin from some or all aircraft (eg Qantas adding premium economy)
• when a small airline has borrowed aircraft used by another airline (eg when Air Pacific's 747 was getting maintenance done they borrowed a United 747 - which has first class seating whereas Air Pacific does not)
• a premium cabin is not being sold temporarily (eg Qantas not selling first on Melbourne to Hong Kong & London, Sydney to San Francisco and Sydney to Buenos Aires)

What tips do you have to find better seating for free?

How to get to | Singapore

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.

Singapore

Source: Bjorn Christian Torrisen

The easiest way to reach Singapore is by air, otherwise there are buses and trains from Malaysia. Lots of airlines fly to Singapore, including:

• Star Alliance - Air China, ANA, Asiana, Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai, Turkish, United
• Oneworld - British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan, Qantas
• Sky Team - Air France, China Southern, Delta, KLM, Korean
• Other selected - most Asian and Persian Gulf airlines, most Asian low cost airlines

TIP There are a lot of airlines flying between Singapore and Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur including several fifth freedom flights. Fares are low especially on these routes.

TIP Singapore is relatively expensive place to buy longhaul tickets, compared with the rest of Southeast Asia. Other nearby cities (the 3 mentioned above) are significantly cheaper.

TIP Book well ahead if travelling to or from Singapore around Chinese New Year or major events (such as the F1 race).

How to get to | Puerto Rico

This post is how to get to Puerto Rico. There is also a post on how to get to USA.



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.

Puerto Rico

Source: Wikimedia

There are two very easy ways to get to Puerto Rico, by cruise ship or by flying. Airlines flying to Puerto Rico include:

• Star Alliance - Air Canada, Continental, United, US Airways
• Oneworld - American, Iberia
• Sky Team - Delta
• Other selected - Virgin Atlantic, various North American and European charters

TIP American Airlines has a significant hub at San Juan. Fares from continental USA to various Caribbean islands mostly travel via San Juan and often allow a stopover here.

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

Swine flu update #7

I previously blogged on the impacts of H1N1 (swine flu) on travel, what to do about the potential impacts and how savvy travellers can benefit.This is an update on how the potential impacts are developing.

A reminder that for medical advice or up to the minute information on the spread of swine flu, check out the World Health Organization (WHO) website. Note they call it H1N1 Influenza A instead of swine flu.

Current swine flu status

WHO has acknowledged swine flu is both widespread and not particularly severe. The requirements on countries to report cases is gone. The data from the past few weeks has been poor in any case due to significant under-reporting of the number of cases.

Current impacts on travel

Not much has changed since my last swine flu update 3 weeks ago. China is still quaranting both travellers who are sick and those travelling with them. Some airlines are denying travel to those who are obviously sick - that is not unique to flu and is normal practice.

Airfare and accommodation sales continue unabated. It is a great time to be booking trips.

Tokelau has introduced a compulsory 1 week quarantine on all visitors arriving from Samoa. The only way to get to Tokelau is by boat from Samoa.

Outlook

As long as swine flu doesn't strengthen significantly I think those who have been put off by travel (or ordered to by their companies) due to H1N1 will return to traveling within 6 months. When the number of travelers increases materially the bargains will start drying up. Act now and book some more travel.

How to get to | Albania

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.



Albania

Source: A Dombrowski

There are buses from most neighbouring countries to Tirana, or you can drive (check that insurance covers Albania). There are no trains. Flight options to Albania include:

• Star Alliance - Adria, Austrian, Lufthansa, Turkish
• Oneworld - British Airways, Malev
• Sky Team - Alitalia
• Other selected - Albanian

TIP there is not much competition for flights to Albania, other than from Rome & Milan

TIP if driving or taking a bus allow plenty of time - roads are not generally as good as in other Balkan countries

Here is a link to a post about my visit to Albania earlier this year.

How to get to | Lesotho

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.

Lesotho

Source: Tim Sandell

Lesotho is the highest country in the world, with minimum elevation of 1400m (4600ft) and is completely surrounded by South Africa.

The easiest way to visit Lesotho is by road from South Africa on the Guateng side. Sani Pass on the Kwazal-Natal side is a very difficult road. Buses run from Johannesburg and Bloemfontein to Maseru. There are also flights, but only on South African Airlines (a Star Alliance member) from Johannesburg to the airport outside Maseru.

TIP most border crossings close at 4pm - Maseru Bridge and Ficksburg Bridge are open 24 hours.

TIP if flying to South Africa on a Star Alliance award, it is worth adding the extra flight to/from Lesotho.

TIP see also how to get to South Africa for further travel tips.