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Flybe Launches New Route, Except It Appears To Be Totally Useless

June 30, 2009 at 1:58 PM | 1 Comment

There’s nothing like a time when we’re all trying to watch our carbon footprints and up our train travel to launch a completely unnecessary flight route. But that’s exactly what Flybe has done this week. Yesterday, it launched its London to Leeds route with "red carpet celebrations" and a special appearance by a soap star (Matthew Bose from Emmerdale – no, we don’t know either, but we’re guessing he’s the fox in the middle of the photo here).

The only thing that we’re wondering is – why the hell have they done this? London to Leeds takes about two hours 20 minutes tops on the train. According to Flybe, the flight takes an hour and 10 minutes (actually it takes about 30 minutes, because we had the misfortune to be diverted to Leeds on a connecting flight to Manchester last year, and we’d barely cracked open the gin before we were landing). And it flies from Gatwick (30 minutes from central London, and that's if you take the expensive fast train) and into Leeds Bradford, 10 miles out of town.

Once you add on check-in time, wouldn’t it have been way better just to take the train? We’re confused. Obviously it’s nice to see one airline that’s doing well enough to launch a new route, but this route is just baffling. And the eco aspect means it’s just not cool.

Related Stories:
· Flybe Coverage [Jaunted]
· New Leeds-Bradford service to London starts [Telegraph & Argus]
· Flybe [Official Site]

Wizz Air's Balloons Pop Prematurely

June 29, 2009 at 8:47 AM | 0 Comments

Poor Wizz Air. What started out as a sweet little marketing idea to celebrate the Eastern European low-cost carrier's fifth anniversary turned nasty this week, and we feel bad for them.

The airline set up a press conference and speaking event in Budapest, and the final act of the day was going to be the release of 1,000 balloons, each with a 10,000 forint ($50) coupon attached which the lucky finder could redeem on a Wizz Air flight.

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Allegiant Makes A Good Case For Florida In The Summer

June 15, 2009 at 9:17 AM | 0 Comments

Florida gets pretty hot and humid during the summer, but the state has great beaches, the best theme parks, and the snowbirds won’t be back for many months. If you can stand the heat, make a plan to visit the Sunshine State and take advantage of The Florida Perfect Excuse Sale. Starting at just $29 each way, Allegiant Air will be happy to whisk you away for some fun in the sun.

Columbia, South Carolina is the only location offering the dirt-cheap rate, but there are many other cities with decent deals. Toledo residents can snag $49 rates if they missed out on the Jet America deals. The same price is available from Roanoke, Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee.

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FlyDubai Takes Off, Wants to Reach Out to Africa and Eastern Europe Next

June 3, 2009 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments

While we're not really so sure that fading Dubai needs another airline flying in, LCC FlyDubai has gone ahead and launched itself anyway. A few months back the new government-owned airline was promising a June 1 start, and they've surprisingly delivered right on time with flights to Beirut and Amman.

Special offers on the FlyDubai website at the moment include Dubai to Alexandria flights for 350 AED ($95) and Dubai to Damascus for a bit less than that even. And while the website is pleasant enough, we're not sure about the company slogan we found there: "How will you flydubai?" Yes, how will we? Isn't the answer to that an anticlimactic "on flydubai?"

FlyDubai is just two planes-strong at the moment, but they've got grand plans. With 52 more planes on order, it'll be interesting to see which additional destinations they pick up along the way—assuming they actually create a market for themselves. They're talking about "India and beyond", which apparently includes eastern Europe and northern Africa, and boy, what we'd give to see these materialize. Our next trip around Eastern Europe could include a weekend in Dubai; what a nice dream.

Related Stories:
· FlyDubai [Official Site]
· Dubai's First Low Cost Carrier Lands in Amman [Zawya]
· FlyDubai Is Finally Ready To Go Starting June 1 [Jaunted]

[Photo: Drewski2112]

The Coming of Europe's Trains-Versus-Airlines Deathmatch

June 2, 2009 at 10:27 AM | 0 Comments

To Eurail around Europe has always been the standard, backpacked-approved way to see the continent in modern times, until the last decade when low cost airlines began undercutting train fares and stealing passengers. But with transportation, as with life, everything has its cycle and it looks like things could be returning to favor the humble train.

Or the not-so-humble train, rather. With market deregulation on its way—for example, EU rules will change in December to allow rail operators to compete against each other on international routes—many European countries are going crazy with high-speed rail networks. In many cases, if you include the boarding time and waiting around for planes, taking the train is quicker—and with deregulation, possibly cheaper.

Key countries in this rebirth of train travel will be France and Spain, which both have huge expansion plans for their high-speed rail. Air France is so worried they're even considering getting into the rail industry themselves. We're not worried at all, since passengers will only win on this as plenty-of-leg-room trains meet budget airline prices.

Related Stories:
· European Train Travel: Working on the Railroad [Time]
· Speeding Train Crosses Europe Faster [Jaunted]

[Photo: Terry Wha]

Ryanair Now Charging $60 For The Boarding Pass Alone

May 18, 2009 at 9:31 AM | 0 Comments

Our whining about extra fees on Ryanair may be nothing new, but the ways that this airline can take the low cost out of low cost carrier is nothing short of extraordinary.

The move to make passengers pay for online check-in was despicable enough—we always thought that the online check-in saved the airline all that money in staff costs and thereby should remain free.

Nonetheless, Wednesday begins the deal to pay £5 ($7.50) to check in online (which will soon be the only way to check in), and Ryanair flyers will also have to print out our own boarding passes or add a £40 ($60) fee.

That's right, there's no fancy stuff like cell phone boarding passes for Ryanair. They want to see the good old paper ticket, and they want us to print it at home. When you're on the road, that's not always convenient, but a $60 charge otherwise is sure going to have us scrambling to find a printer if we are ever crazy enough to book a Ryanair flight again.

Related Stories:
· Ryanair Earns Worst Airline Ever Award With New Online Check-In Fee [Jaunted]
· What It Really Costs To Fly on Ryanair [Jaunted]
· Anti-Christ update; Ryanair launches home printed boarding pass fee plus a hefty fine [Plane Talking]

[Photo: bigpresh]

Air Asia X Defies Economic Dramas to Fly You 'Round the World

April 29, 2009 at 4:56 PM | 0 Comments

The corridors at Air Asia X are obviously ringing with the words "What economic crisis?" – just a month or so into their cheap London to Kuala Lumpur service, the greedily-expanding long-haul LCC says demand for the flights is so high that they're going to go daily starting in July.

We can't be surprised that everyone wants to jump on this route when there are ticket prices as low as £149 ($220) to get you from London to Malaysia, with plenty of possibilities to grab another even cheaper ticket to get to other parts of Asia or even Australia. If you add a V Australia flight up to Los Angeles you've practically got a budget airline round-the-world fare and that's exciting stuff.

Don't forget we've heard stories about Air Asia X itself getting in on the US market with budget long-hauls from Kuala Lumpur to NY and CA, too. Perhaps these ultra-cheap flights will really take off (pardon the pun) while we're all being Scrooges and Air Asia X's arrogance will turn out to be just the right attitude – they'll own the air.

Related Stories:
· Air Asia X To Launch Daily Stansted-Kuala Lumpur Services [Peanuts]
· Air Asia X Launches Low-Cost, Long-Haul Service [Jaunted]
· Air Asia X Wants to Long-Haul You From New York and California [Jaunted]

[Photo: mysticalangel]

Southwest Starts Their Own One-Day Sale, Today From Philly

April 24, 2009 at 9:31 AM | 0 Comments

Not to be outdone by JetBlue with their one-day sale, Southwest Airlines started their own promotion today. Over the next four days they’ll be offering fifty percent off their Wanna Get Away fares from a different destination each day. Initially, there were a few clues to help you identify the secret locations, but now that they’ve revealed the first one we just have to wait and see—bummer.

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AirTran Wants To Know What You Want On Every Flight

April 22, 2009 at 10:27 AM | 0 Comments

Last time we heard from AirTran, the airline was bragging about its new route to Atlantic City. However, the airline is usually pretty quiet and rarely reveals marketing gimmicks or promotions like its low cost carrier buddies. Even their Twitter account is somewhat lacking—if it’s really even their account—only four updates since March of 2008. Well, some money must have trickled down to the marketing department, because they just launched a new campaign where travelers can share what they want to see on every flight.

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Spirit Tempts Us With Another Sale, But Is It Even Worth It?

April 17, 2009 at 9:41 AM | 0 Comments

Even though Tax Day has come and gone, the marketing staff over at Spirit Airlines filed an extension. That means that you can still fly from only $10.40 each way to a number of their destinations. However, there’s a catch—which isn’t surprising with this low cost carrier. You’ll need to sign up for their $9 fare club which will set you back about $40 for a year’s membership. Seems a little odd that we’re signing up for the $9 club just to get fares for $10.40.

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Allegiant Air Is The New Flo Rida

April 10, 2009 at 11:30 AM | 0 Comments

C'mon you have to admit you're a little jealous that you didn't come up with the awesome rapper name of Flo Rida. No? Oh, that's just us then. But no matter. If Florida's in your destination plans, Allegiant Air will take you there. The airline is offering a pretty good sale on all their flights to spots in the Sunshine State as long as you book by April 22 and travel by September 30. Seats are limited and the rate isn’t available on all flights, so hurry up and book a trip before you miss out.

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FlyDubai Is Finally Ready To Go Starting June 1

April 8, 2009 at 9:26 AM | 4 Comments

Even though things are no longer on the up and up in Dubai, officials are finally moving forward with the low cost carrier FlyDubai. Apparently, they feel there’s still a little bit of interest in visiting the Middle Eastern hot spot. After what seems like forever, the airline is set to debut its brand new Boeing 737-800s starting this June from Terminal 2 at Dubai International Airport. Just remember to keep your hands to yourself during the boarding process.

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