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Tags: US Airways / Airline News / Websites / → All Tags

US Airways Upgrades Website, Service To Remain The Same

Last week we found out that US Airways was saying goodbye to its club in Sin City, and that 600 employees would be laid-off. But they must be reallocating more cash to their IT department, because soon after the bad news, there was a little bit of good news. They’ve revamped their website, hoping that a fresh new image on the web will boost sales and put some butts in the seats.

Next time you access their website you’ll probably get the choice of whether or not you’d like to see their new site. Definitely accept their offer, because the new site is cleaner than the old one and features graphics that are much more up to date. There’s even snazzy graphics to help you understand how much your checked baggage will cost, and a friendly reminder that checking it at the airport will cost you $5 more.

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Tags: Rental Cars / Zipcar / Zimride / Websites / Social Networks / → All Tags

Zipcar Partners With Zimride, Creates Ridesharing Awesomeness

Hallelujah, someone has finally merged ride sharing and car sharing to create one seamless, social network-based partnership...almost. Zipcar, the online car rental group with their vehicles "living" in neighborhoods, has just joined forces with Zimride, a virtual memoboard of carpool pleas and offers, which narrows in on available rides within your region, university or work network.

Launched at Stanford earlier this week, the Zimrde/Zipcar partnership means a bevy of easy access to information with the combined bonus of automatically vetting your tripmate: "[it will] allow Zipcar members getting a car to broadcast the time, date, and final destination of their trip - and also a estimated price per rider. Zimride's software then takes care of matching ready riders to the members." For now, Zimride's Zipcars are sadly only open to select public and private colleges, but hopefully one day its tiny green footprint will tread all over our social networks.

Related Stories:
· Zimride and Zipcar Partnership [Official Site]
· Zipcar and Zimride - Carshare Marriage Made in Heaven? [Treehugger]
· The Cult of Car Sharing Grows at Zipcar Open Bar [Jaunted]
· France Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Image: Zimride.com]

Tags: The Medium's the Message / Xiaonei / Lufthansa / Websites / Social Networks / → All Tags

Do You Xiaonei? Lufthansa Does.

Despite some less than desirable results, airlines have started wading into social networking. Lufthansa got a half-hearted "meh" out of us earlier this year with the debut of GenFlyLounge, its brand-specific social site aimed at college kids. But now that the carrier has launched a group on Xiaonei, a 15-million strong network that calls itself the Facebook of China, we're starting to think they're more savvy than we first thought.

You can't check out the group without creating a Xiaonei profile (or signing in), but Lufthansa's Chinese marketing manager explained the new effort to aviation obsessive Brett Snyder:

We have identified students as a new target audience for us in China. Apart from introducing a flexible student fare that allows students to have additional luggage allowance and open returns, we are positioning ourselves on the existing popular networking site Xiaonei as a travel facilitator, putting like minded students in touch with each other, providing them with visa and country information, offering constantly updated advice from other students currently studying in Europe, offer links to relevant sites.

Participating in the network and adding value for users instead of walling them off from their existing contacts? Lufthansa really does do things differently in China!

Related Stories:
· Lufthansa Joins Social Network Xiaonei, “Facebook of China” [BNet]
· Lufthansa Getting in the Facebook Game. Without Facebook. [Jaunted]

Tags: Laptop Travel / Queensland Travel / Facebook / Websites / Tourism Boards / Tourism Marketing / → All Tags

Queenslanders Not Backward in Going Forward With Facebook

You might not know about the cheesy 1980s marketing pitch for the north-eastern Australia state of Queensland: "Beautiful one day, perfect the next."

While tropical storms and embarrassing politicians might have spoiled this image of perfection, you can't say Queensland's not trying in the tourism game. They've even got an official Facebook page and we actually like it.

It's a lively page with people leaving messages on the "wall" (usually Queenslanders giving a really biased opinion), competitions to enter and useful info on festivals and events taking place around the state. And last time we checked, Queensland was the proud owner of 2,128 fans.

According to this Facebook page, Queensland's current logo is "Where else but Queensland?" A risky marketing strategy because actually, there are plenty of alternative answers to this rhetorical question. We'll be generous enough to leave it unanswered.

Related Stories:
· Queensland on Facebook [Official Site]
· Queensland Travel Guide [Jaunted]

Tags: Skiing / Ski Resorts / Websites / Travel Websites / → All Tags

Lift Ticket Discounts Thanks To Liftopia

We've already jinxed ourselves with our early winter wishes this year. But since the cold weather is inevitable, we might as well embrace it. This year, finding that ideal mountain and lift ticket is going to be a lot simpler thanks to Liftopia.

Liftopia is similar to other travel booking sites but with a specific focus on lift tickets and other ski related products. There's also a lot of information on what's happening at your favorite resorts, including conditions and trail openings. Users are also welcome to chime in and share their experiences direct from the slopes.

Of course the best reason to search Liftopia is for discounts of up to 70 percent when buying tickets in advance. Right now you can get a lift ticket at Windham Mountain in the Catskills for just $24, just days before Christmas. It may not be the peak of ski season, but, hey, 24 bucks. With more than 80 resort partners and growing, Liftopia's a travel site to keep your eye on.

Related Stories:
· Liftopia [Official Site]
· Windham Mountain [Official Site]
· Skiing coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Tools / Websites / Late Night Eats / → All Tags

2ITCH: Who's Open 24 Hours A Day?

It's 3 am, you're hungry and in an unfamiliar city: What are you going to do? You could aimlessly wander the streets hoping to stumble upon someplace still open, or you could surf on over to 2ITCH.com, a Google Maps mashup that aggregates stores, restaurants and services that are open all the time. So whether you need late night food, have to pick up medicine or just need to find a club that's still going, check this handy site for the info you need.

Just type in an address, city or postal code and both a map and location list will pop up. You can also narrow down the search based on any of 15 categories. Keeping with the crowd sourcing, web 2.0 spirit, you can also easily add your own 24-hour finds as well.

At the moment, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Chicago are the most heavily mapped, but more places are being added daily, including international cities. A mobile version also exists, and a fancy iPhone app is coming soon.

Related Stories:
· 2ITCH [Official Site]
· Late Night Eats in LA [Jaunted]
· Late Night Eats in Manhattan [Jaunted]

Tags: Sex / Sex Travel / Websites / Travel Websites / → All Tags

Affairs With Business Travelers Made Even Easier

On the internet, it's a given that any website with the word "encounters" in its name is either about casual sex or aliens--or both. So we were, uh, delighted to learn that there's a new way to meet lonely road warriors that doesn't involve skulking around the hotel bar.

Reports Gadling:

The new site, Travelencounters.com, allows users to create a profile in their home city and then calendar up to four business trips. Once calendared, the user's profile shows up in searches for the other cities, as well. According to the press release, "A member's private profile focuses on intimate topics such as health, grooming and their views on adult subjects." I have a sneaking suspicion that "adult subjects" is not a reference to opinions on how to diversify your 401(k).

For now, the site is giving away free memberships that last through 2009 to help build a database of horny business travelers.

Related Stories:
· First Dating Website for Business Travelers [Gadling]
· Traveling Encounters [Official Site]

[Photo of some potential good times: Traveling Encounters]

Tags: Web Censorship / Restricted Travel / Websites / → All Tags

Experience The Chinese Internet Without Leaving Home

Gearing up for a trip to post-Olympics China? Get a taste of the internet filtering you'll be experiencing with the China Channel Firefox Add-on.

The browser plug-in sets you up with an IP address on a proxy server in China, meaning that while you're surfing from Omaha, the websites you're trying to load think you're coming at them from, say, Guangzhou. An attempt to connect to pages on unsavory subjects will interrupt your connection for 15 minutes or so--though you can use the extension to immediately reconnect through another proxy.

The plug-in was created by a small group of edgy internet geeks-slash-artists hoping to spread the word about the ongoing web censorship in China. Among them? TSA antagonist Evan Roth.

Related Stories:
· China Channel Firefox Add-on [Official Site, via]
· X-Ray Machine Art: Lulz with the TSA [Jaunted]
· Prevention of Vice Travel: Beijing Putting Further Restrictions on Internet Cafes [Jaunted]

Tags: Travel Tech / Bathrooms / iPhone / Websites / → All Tags

Worldwide Bathroom Maps on Your iPhone

Nothing is worse than being in unfamiliar territory and desperately searching for a restroom. Now thanks to good old technology, we can all work together to make being bathroom-less a thing of the past.

Sit Or Squat is a new web and phone application that maps out the location of public bathrooms. Just enter an address and it will pop up a Google map mashup with little blue dots indicating usable restrooms.

Restaurants, hotels, train stations and more are all listed on the community-created site. Users can write descriptions and add comments--and there are even pictures.

So far, London and seven US cities are listed, with more in the works.

Related Stories:
· Sit Or Squat [Official Site]
· Bathrooms coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Malaysia Travel / Websites / Mahathir Mohamad / → All Tags

Malaysia's Former Prime Minister Learns to Blog

The last we heard about the Malaysian prime minister, it was 2002 and he was the target of a murder plot arranged by the evil fashion designer Mugatu and nearly carried out by the loveable egomaniac Zoolander.

Now, we hear that the real-life guy is no pawn. If our mom's Facebook account and our grandfather's online dating habits aren't disturbing enough, we find out that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is the hottest blogger in Malaysia. The 83-year-old Mohamad served as prime minister for 22 years until 2003. Interestingly, he uses the forum to express outrage for the press controls he implemented.

Posts range from wishing Hindus a Happy Deepavali from he and his wife to missives about why the current weak government will lead to the country's collapse. Old people, they'll say anything.

Related Stories:
· Mohamad's Blog [Official Site]
· Ex-leader Uses Blog to Needle Malaysia Government [IHT]

Tags: Beer / Drinking / Budget Travel / Websites / Travel Websites / Recession-Restaurants-Map / → All Tags

Drinking Through the Recession: Price Your Pints Before You Go

This plummeting world economy means we're all watching our travel budgets a little bit more closely, but if you're anything like us, drinking makes up a disturbingly large percentage of what you spend on the road.

Which is why PintPrice.com comes along just in time. The website catalogs user input to detail the current price of a pint of beer in every country on earth. Large countries have data broken down by city, and you can search for prices in euros, pounds, American and Canadian dollars.

The cheapest country? If you can find your way to Myanmar, brews average just 62 cents a pop. On the other side of spectrum, the average pint of lager in Norway goes for a hard-to-swallow $11.67.

Related Stories:
· The Price of a Pint [Official Site]
· Eating Through the Recession: Truffles for the Masses [Jaunted]
· Oregon Is for Beer Lovers [Jaunted]

[Photo: coda]

Tags: Websites / Travel Websites / Travel Media / → All Tags

Even More User-Gen Content Coming to Travel Websites

Turns out it's not just tourism boards that are hoping to cash in on user-generated content. Concierge.com, a travel website that also hosts content from Condé Nast Traveler, has just added "Member Posts + Reviews," a website section that lets readers contribute, yep, reviews of hotels, restaurants, nightlife, shopping and activities. (Concierge, like Jaunted, is owned by CondéNet.)

It's not the first major travel outlet to embrace user-created content. Budget Travel magazine's website launched My Budget Travel in July--shortly after the magazine published its 10th anniversary issue made up entirely of reader submissions. (Though similar, BT's new web offerings are a bit more social than Concierge's.)

Of course, these aren't the first websites to ask people to contribute. We ask readers for tips, and then there are some others that have been in the user-gen game for what in internet time is ages: You've heard of TripAdvisor, right?

Related Stories:
· Tourism Board Travel: PA Jumps on User-Gen Bandwagon [Jaunted]
· Oregon Coast Embracing the Web, User-Generated Content [Jaunted]
· Travel Websites coverage [Jaunted]