Vacation Home Rentals

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Sep 15

The national airline of Australia is Qantas. Maintaining its main hub at Sydney International Airport, Quantas also has smaller hubs at Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. It runs international flights into Brisbane, Perth, Singapore, London, and Los Angeles.

Qantas Airlines  was founded in 1920 and is the second oldest continuously operating airline in the world, as well as the oldest operating airline in the English speaking world.  It is a member of the Oneworld alliance, one of the largest airline alliance programs in the world.

Qantas Airlines is a private company and one of the most profitable airlines in the world.  Qantas Airlines was voted Third Best Airline in the World in the 2008 World Airline Awards.  The company and its affiliates maintain hundreds of aircraft and fly Airbus and Boeing planes. Qantas names its aircrafts after Greek gods, stars, famous Australian aviators, Australian birds and Australian cities.

The name Qantas is an acronym for “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.”

Adventure travelers seeking to tour Antarctica can fly on Qantas charters booked by Croydon Travel. Qantas flew its first tours of Antarctica in 1977. These tours were suspended in 1979 after the disastrous crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mt. Erebus, but were restarted the summer of 1994. Qantas ensures that all its Antarctic flight crews have had extensive training in polar operations and know what to do in whiteouts, such as those that contributed to the 1979 Air New Zealand disaster.

Qantas rewards loyal customers. Passengers accumulate points based on distance flown, with bonuses for travel in premium classes. Miles are available from both Qantas and Oneworld alliance flights. After criticism for the availability of reward seats, Qantas overhauled its frequent flier program in 2008. Its two new features are Any Seat rewards, allowing members to redeem any seat on the place at a price, and Points Plus Pay, which permits fliers who do not have quite enough mileage points to pay with a combination of points and cash.

The first airline to allow cell phone use during flights, Qantas also provides seat-back access to email and web browsing and wireless internet. It also offers an extensive in-flight entertainment system. Some planes use Mainscreen, where drop-down video menus offer either television programs or recent films, depending on the length of the flight. Other planes use Total Entertainment, which is an on-demand audio/video system.

Qantas recently announced a plan to reduce the airline’s carbon footprint.  This works by passengers choosing to fly carbon neutral and then offsetting their own flight emissions by making a small donation to the Qantas program, either in the form of cash or frequent flyer mile points.  Qantas donates the money to verifiable carbon offset projects that have met the necessary government requirements to be eligible for Greenhouse Friendly accreditation.  Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe and professional golfer Greg Norman are the program’s ambassadors.

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Sep 15

Emirates Airlines is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  The eighth largest airline in the world, Emirates was founded in 1985 and has its main hub at Dubai International Airport.  Emirates Airlines serves 92 destinations in 55 countries and is the largest airline in the Middle East.  Emirates Airlines does not offer domestic service and has a strong presence in Southeast Asia.  Emirates is one of only six airlines to operate an all wide-body aircraft fleet, consisting of Boeing and Airbus planes.

Emirates Airlines is unique among air carriers in that it has been consistently profitable. The company has only had one year it marked a loss. Moreover, sales growth has never fallen below 20 per cent a year. During its first eleven years, the company doubled in size every three and one-half years, and it has continued to double in size every four years since. Its efficient, lean workforce gives it all the advantages of a low-cost carrier. The airline is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization, founded in 1965 by the Arab League as a regional airline trade organization. Open to any carrier based in any member state in the Arab League, the Arab Air Carriers Organization seeks to promote safety, quality, and cooperation among the airlines of the Arab nations.

The government in Dubai is both owner and operator of Emirates Airlines, but it does not invest money into the airline or manage its airfares. The UAE allows Emirates Airlines to function independently. This unique arrangement has worked quite well for both the airline and the government, as Emirates enjoys unmatched profitability and growth.

Emirates Airlines also runs a cargo carrier, Emirates SkyCargo. Also based at Dubai International Airport, Emirates SkyCargo functions like a passenger airline. It operates nine aircraft, and also uses the cargo capacity of the passenger fleet.

Emirates was the second carrier to place the Airbus A380 into service, accepting delivery in July 2008. Emirates Airlines flies the A380 between Dubai and JFK (New York) and Heathrow (London), and also on its flights to Australia and New Zealand.

Emirates flies to over 100 destinations in 56 countries on six continents from its primary hub in Dubai.  While Emirates does not maintain sizable hubs elsewhere, it has taken advantage of agreements between Dubai and Australia, and with Singapore, to offer more onward connections from Sydney and Dubai.

Emirates passengers enjoy the perks of Skywards, allowing them to accumulate or spend frequent flier miles on Emirates or any of its Skywards partners, including Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Virgin Blue, South African Airways, Continental, Kingfisher, and United.

Emirates also has a stake in Dnata, one of the premier travel service organizations in the Middle East. Dnata has over 6,500 employees who take care of cargo, ramp, technical, and passenger services at Dubai International Airport.

Dnata, Emirates SkyCargo, and Emirates Airlines are all subsidiaries of The Emirates Group, an international public holding company also with headquarters in Dubai.  The airline currently employs about 35,000 staff.

posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Jul 16

Ready for the vacation of a lifetime this holiday but can’t shake the feeling you’re forgetting something?  Not to worry:  here are a few holiday travel tips to help you stay on track.  Whether you’ll be spending time with your family or off to a getaway, it’s important to plan.  Number one travel tip:  find out peak travel dates—then avoid them like the plague!  There are two problems associated with peak travel. One: everything costs more from plane tickets to hotels to car rentals. And two: everyone else will be traveling those same dates.  If at all possible, plan for your trip to start a few days before the peak travel period and then plan to come back a few days after.  It’s your best bet for finding great price reductions and to avoid holiday traffic headaches. 

Today travel is made a lot easy by way of the internet. Sitting at home you get the best rate of flight tickets and also a comparison of rates on various deals from flights to accommodation. Try a google search on your destination or other travel oriented sites like make my trip.com, Cheaptickets.com. SideStep.com is a good choice as it gives you a various choice of flight travel with the rates.

While planning a trip you need to see that your package deal is all inclusive of stay, tour and travel. If your deal does not include transportation ask for a car. It is better to ask other travel agents what they offer to the same destination.

One of the main worries arises when it comes to long flights involving connection wherein the next connection is only an hour away. You will be in a state of terrible anxiety when you hear the airport staff announces your flight is delayed. Thoughts like “what a way to start my holiday?”, “Will I make it on time?”, “Why didn’t I take more trouble in planning?”

By selecting connecting flights with at least an hour and a half of layover this nervousness can be completely avoided. I’m aware that you may choose a connecting flight that is close in time to your first so that you may reach your destination quicker and avoid the dullness of being in the airport for too long. However, all things considered, half an hour is that long when you have to leave the plane, locate the departure flight and gate, which may be in another terminal, then get settled before it is time to board the plane. What’s more important is that by giving yourself this extra time you are almost guaranteeing that you will make your connection, a guarantee that is worth it during the hectic holiday travel season.

Also, prepare yourself ahead of time for airport security and pack in accordance with the airport’s security measures.  It saves lots of hassle.

You can do this by ensuring all liquids and gels larger than 3ml are packed within bags that are to be checked. Throughout the airport there are many signs warning that these items will be confiscated. A list of these items include, toothpaste, perfume bottles, hairspray (aerosol cans) lotion, baby oil, and water bottles just to name a few. If found they will be taken. Therefore, this scenario may be avoided by simply packing these items in the bags you plan to check. Liquids 3ml and smaller are permitted when carried in a transparent zip-topped bag so you’re not left completely stranded. If you stick to these rules, you, your family, other travelers behind you and the security as well will have a much better experience.