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On My Way: Air Canada Finds Another Way to Make Money

This has certainly been a lucrative week for Air Canada.

First they announce new reduced baggage allowances wherein you’ll pay $25 a leg to take that second bag if you’re flying in steerage.

Yesterday they announced a fuel surcharge that will cost you up to $120 more per round-trip flight.

And, in the middle of all that, I found an email from Air Canada that introduces their new insurance plan, called On My Way.

For just $25 on short-haul flights (1,000 kms or less) and $35 for long-haul flights, (one-way) you’ll enjoy the peace of mind knowing that if your flight is delayed or disrupted due to weather, airport or air traffic delays, Air Canada’s new travel assistance service will help you arrange complimentary hotel accommodations, car rental or other ground transportation, and meals.

Better yet, you will get automatic flight information updates sent to you by SMS and email. Woohoo!

Hmmm… you might think that means that they won’t fork over the cost of a hotel anymore when their flight arrives late and you miss your connection.. unless of course you spend $50 to $70 more per ticket.

But if you read the On My Way benefit chart, you’ll see that they DO offer limited hotel, ground transportation and meal assistance for overnight delays (within North Amercia) without the need to purchase On My Way.

Air Canada specifically states that “On My Way is not a replacement for travel insurance or the services your travel agent may provide” and that the service is “uniquely designed to minimize your worries”.

In the almost 5 decades that I’ve been travelling on commercial flights, I’ve only been stranded overnight once (in Edmonton) and Air Canada handled all the hotel, ground transportation and meals quite nicely, thank you.

Ergo, I’m NOT worried and I’m NOT buying it.

Popularity: 79% [?]

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Fuel Surcharges: Air Canada Ticket Prices Jump by up to $120

Air Canada annouced yesterday that it will add a fuel surchage that will raise the price of tickets by up to $120 per round-trip flight.

Fees of $20, $40 and $60 will be added to each one-way ticket depending on the flight’s distance.

$20 will be applied to short flights of up to 482 kilometres, $40 to mid-range flights of up to 1,609 kilometres and $60 to flights of 1,610 kilometres miles and more.

As there is no regulation that requires airlines to disclose the fee as part of the advertised price of a flight, many travelers will be shocked to see that the final cost of a ticket may be twice the advertised price and more.

How do YOU feel about this latest increase in the price of airline travel?

Popularity: 76% [?]

SkyBus Airlines Files for Bankruptcy

In operation for less than a year, the airline was operating 80 daily flights to 15 cities around the States with 11 aircraft and had employed 450 people.

In a press release, Skybus CEO Michael Hodge stated:

“We deeply regret this decision, and the impact this will have on our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and other partners, and the communities in which we have been operating.”

Regretable indeed.

Those holding Skybus reservations are advised to contact their credit card companies for refund information.

Technorati Tags: SkyBus, airlines, bankruptcy

Popularity: 38% [?]

Lunar Eclipse on February 20th, 2008

Looks like we are in for a good show tomorrow evening if the weather co-operates and permits us a view of the total lunar eclipse. This entire eclipse will visible to those in the Western Hemisphere - primarily those of us in North and South America as well as folks in Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21) from 0301 Greenwich until 0351 GMT… or starting at 19:01 Pacific time and lasting for 51 minutes.

According to the Nasa site, the show should be an exciting one as “the Moon’s disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray”.

Ed will have his 10″ Celestron telescope set up in the backyard and we’ll invite the neighbours over for the event. I particularly am looking forward to seeing how well my new Ultra Flip video camera works in the dark… the really dark!

Technorati Tags: lunar eclipse, eclipse, eclipse of the moon, Celestron, telescope

Popularity: 49% [?]

Vietnam Receives its 4 Millionth Visitor in 2007

I guess Ed and I should have gone to Vietnam later in the year, because on December 6, 2007 American Michael David Magidson became the 4 millionth international visitor to Vietnam in 2007.

According to the Saigon Times, the “65-year-old lucky visitor, a businessman from New York city, received two free return tickets for any international flight on Vietnam Airlines, and a voucher of a seven-day tour in the Mekong Delta and Phan Thiet for two costing US$1,500 from Saigontourist Travel Service Co.”

Apparently, the American guest looked moved and happy for his coincidence.

I would have been positively thrilled! Ever since we traveled to Vietnam in March 2007, I’ve been thinking about going back.

The Vietnamese people are oh so kind and gentle. Can you imagine the result of crossing a street in Canada or the U.S. where hundreds of motorcycles (scooters) are coming at you full-speed? You’d be mowed down without mercy for having been ’so stupid’.

In Vietnam however, provided you move at a steady even pace, all the drivers simply give way and go around.

Can you imagine a hotel front desk clerk greeting you by name the second time she sees you at any large hotel in North America? That’s what happened to me in Ho Chi Mihn City and I just about fell over from shock.

The food… well, what can I say other than I’ve waxed poetic about having pho for breakfast a couple of times already and I haven’t even started to talk about the vermicelli and spring rolls. Delicious!

Anyway, I’m thrilled to hear that tourism in Vietnam is increasing. Overall travel to Vietnam was up 6.7% year-on-year and this year Vietnam targeted 4-4.4 million foreign visitors and 19-20 million domestic tourists with total revenue amounting to VND56 trillion, or US$3.5 billion compared to nearly US$2.9 billion of 2006.

Technorati Tags: Vietnam, travel, pedicab

Popularity: 26% [?]

Roamsters Short-Listed for the Schmap Guide

This is pretty cool. I received the following message about the picture shown here to the left.

Your photo(s) shown below have been short-listed for inclusion in the third edition of our Schmap Vancouver Guide, to be published mid-November 2007.

If you would like your short-listed photo(s) to continue to our Vancouver Guide final selection phase, please read our ‘Terms of Submission’ and press the ‘Submit’ button, no later than our editorial submission deadline – Sunday, November 11.

Just one of the benefits of putting your photos on Flickr I guess.

Technorati Tags: Schmap Vancouver Guide, Flickr

Popularity: 20% [?]

Global Warming to Have a Negative Impact on Travel Industry

In a report prepared for a U.N. conference on climate change and tourism, The U.N. Environment Programme, the World Meteorological Organisation and the World Tourism Organisation predicted that travelers from Canada, the U.S., Europe and Japan will increasingly spend their vacation time at or near home to take advantage of longer summers caused by global warming.

This is turn will have a negative economic impact on tourism-dependent developing nations and island states, where tourism accounts for as much as 40 percent of national economic output. Officials from the Maldives, Fiji, the Seychelles and Egypt told the conference that both the ecological damage from global warming and consequent shifts in travel choices posed serious threats to their businesses and jobs.

Read the full article, “Climate will alter travel patterns in decades –UN” on Reuters.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Total Eclipse of the Moon on August 28th

A total eclipse of the Moon will occur during the early morning of Tuesday, August 28, 2007, and from start to finish, will last about three hours and thirty-three minutes.

The lunar eclipse will be widely visible from Canada, the United States, the Pacific Ocean, western Asia and Australia. In North America, only observers to the west of the Rockies will be able to witness the entire event. All phases of the eclipse will also be visible from Pacific Ocean islands, eastern Australia and New Zealand, while no portion of the eclipse will be visible from Europe, Africa and western Asia.

An eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through some portion of Earth’s shadow, and a total lunar eclipse occurs only when the moon is full. For more information about this and other eclipses, visit NASA’s site.

Lunar eclipses are completely safe to watch, and neither protective filters nor telescopes are required to watch them. You’ll be able to see the lunar eclipse with nothing more than the naked eye, but a standard pair of 7×35 or 7×50 binoculars binoculars (or better) will magnify your view of the event and make the red coloration brighter and easier to see. To photograph the lunar eclipse nicely, you’ll require a 400 mm or larger telephoto lens. If need equipment to see the lunar eclipse better or photograph it, check out Ritz Camera’s no sales & tax free shipping deals.

Ed and I will be out watching equipped with a telescope, camera and binoculars to cover all the bases. Clear skies and happy watching!

Goodies for eclipse junkies and star-gazers are available in astonomical numbers at CafePress.com, where you’ll find t-shirts and gifts about every topic under the sun (or moon) and where you can create your own personalized products.

Technorati Tags: lunar eclipse, eclipse, binoculars, camera, eclipse of the moon

Popularity: 23% [?]

Travel Points: Use ‘Em or Lose Them

In an effort to cut costs many airlines are changing their policies regarding frequent flier miles. We are members of Air Canada’s program called Aeroplan . The airline changed there policies this January, read the details in our post.

Members whose account are inactive for a defined period will lose their points. Some airlines will let you buy back your points for a fee. Seems ridiculous buying back what you already own.

You can keep your account active by making a transaction at stores that are affiliated with the program.

For details on the terms of different carriers see this article in USA Today

Popularity: 30% [?]

Technorati Tags: Air Canada’s, Aeroplan, airlines

Vietnamese Visa: Speedy Service!

We will be visiting Vietnam on our up coming trip to Asia. Canadians require a visa, so we downloaded the visa application forms from the Vietnamese Embassy website, however prior to sending them in, we had to call the Embassy to get the cost to process our visa applications. Seems the price is subject to change.

On Monday morning I sent the applications along with our passports to Ottawa by FedEx. The Embassy website states that they require five (5) working days to process a visa.

However, the following Friday morning we were surprised to find our passports were back with the visas attached.

Very speedy service indeed.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Technorati Tags: Vietnam, visa, Vietnamese Embassy, passports, Ottawa, FedEx

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