We get a lot of press releases in our inboxes and while most of them are credible, quite a few of them have nothing or very little to do with travel. Depending on our mood, the latter kind either causes us to laugh or to curse the high heavens that created spambots. But every so often there is one from a credible source that makes us go, "Seriously?"

Like this one from Air France which just announced that their airline ranks first "in the 2009 Top 50 Most Attractive Employers for Junior Executives from business schools."

Apparently, over 7,000 junior executives were polled about the most attractive firms they would like to work for, among 136 firms that were proposed. These junior executives were graduates from major French business schools and universities with one to eight years of working experience. (Note: it did not say if they still had jobs in this down economy.) However, when the IT and science engineering school graduates wee polled, they ranked Air France in 8th place.

Perhaps this special announcement was a distraction from the whole pilot insensitivity that made the news last year. And we're not so sure we'd put much faith in these results. Afterall, business class tickets are pretty pricey these days and people would do all sorts of things for a free ride.

Related Stories:
· Air France Pilots Having Trouble Focusing On Priorities After Criticism Over Safety Practices [Jaunted]
· Air France [Official Site]]]> juliana 2009-11-02T16:12:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/27/165226/16

The blame game in that horrible crash of Air France Flight 447 is intensifying, even while everyone admits they still have no idea what caused the disaster. The latest dust up involves management taking some potshots at Air France pilots for their attention to detail, and the pilots responding with angry statements.

Now it's unseemly enough to have the parties involved publicly bickering with each other in full view of the nation and the victims' families. But it's not a real party until self-important unions get involved and start talking about the pilots' hurt feelings. And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what's happening:]]> Omri 2009-10-27T17:04:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/8154/0885

Time to check the balance in your PayPal account, because there’s only a few days left until bidding ends for the inaugural flight of the A380 on Air France. Prices for the economy seats start at just $380—clever—every day and slowly begin to creep up. However, as of this morning, we were able to see a couple seats that were still $380-ish and several more between $400 and $500. Fares like that are decent deal for a transatlantic crossing on an old plane, but flying across the Atlantic on a jumbo-jumbo makes it almost a steal. Too bad the bids will likely keep on rolling on.

Bidders can choose between the Paris to New York launch on November 20 and the New York to Paris journey on November 21. All proceeds from the auctions will be donated to humanitarian organizations supported by the Air France Foundation. We’re not totally sure if that means you can use your trip as a tax deduction, but we’d definitely check with an authority a little more reliable than TurboTax. ]]> kjb 2009-10-19T10:25:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/1/14193/1496

Details are finally here for that Air France auction we gave you the heads up on in August. Starting today and going through October 21, Air France will be auctioning off tickets for the maiden voyage of their new A380.

The flights will go from NYC to Paris on November 20th and then back on November 21st, but of course the auctions are starting well in advance. Each round of bidding will last 3, 5, 7, or 10 days and all proceeds will go to Air France Foundation charities. You can go to the main auction site for more details.

Ticket winners will be eligible for an array of perks collectively described as an "itinerary of cultural activities and shopping." For the NYC-Paris flight that basically means they'll take you to all kinds of small stores where you can drop your devalued USD's, the upshot being you can tell people their Christmas presents came from "Parisian boutiques." The Paris-NYC flight will also have three "key figures in the world of art and culture," the presence of which will presumably be a boon to star-struck passengers.]]> Omri 2009-10-01T14:48:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/3/111218/5677

What's the reason to buy and fly one of the giant Airbus A380s? Well, profit of course; more seats jammed into one flight means more paying passengers. Alas, this won't be the case when Air France becomes the third airline to trot out their A380.

Just like Singapore Airlines before them, Air France is using their first flight—from Paris-CDG to New York-JFK on November 21—to mainly get publicity by auctioning off 380 of the 538 seats on the flight and the return for charity. We can expect the rest of those seats to probably be press and airline officials. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-08-03T12:29:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/21/105354/027

With just over a week left to retrieve the black box of Air France Flight 447 before it gives up the ghost, search teams and airline authorities are beginning to wind down and instead turn their focus onto the families of the victims.

Although they've recovered approximately fifty bodies of the 228 on board and whole sections of the aircraft's galley, CNN reports that the "head of the French accident investigation board, Paul-Louis Arslanian, said this week that there is a chance the entire aircraft may never be found." Aircraft wreckage or not, Air France will begin compensating the families of the deceased, to the tune of $24,500 per victim regardless of class flown.

In addition to the money, Air France has sent counselors to the aid of some 1,800 relatives of the victims, who were of 32 different nationalities. The Wikipedia page on the tragedy has a graph of these nationalities and how many were on board, showing some from Gabon, Estonia and Lebanon even. This next week should bring the conclusion of major searches, but we're far from having questions answered.

Related Stories:
· Air France pays $24,500 to crash victims' families [CNN]
· Air France Black Box Search Borrows The Titanic's Sub [Jaunted]
· Flight 447 Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: AP]]]> JetSetCD 2009-06-22T08:47:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/11/73148/3582

It's a crazy world out there, complete with wild animals on planes and trains racing each other through tunnels; all stuff which once belonged to action films.

We recently mentioned that Europe's high speed train systems are deregulating—which should lead to more competition and cheaper train fares for zipping across Europe. Well, there's even more good news for the budget traveler now.

The High Speed One track, which links London's St Pancras Station to the Chunnel, is about to be sold off and it's expected that the new owner will open up the track to more than just Eurostar. The word is that at the least, both Air France and Germany's Deustche Bahn are keen to set up rival trains to make the crossing between Britain and continental Europe.]]> amandak 2009-06-11T11:12:55-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/