PAX COUNTS UP

08 SEP 2010: Canada's two biggest airlines both saw a bump in passenger traffic during August compared to a year ago, but their planes haven't necessarily been fuller. Read more...

STRIKES AND NO STRIKE

08 SEP 2010:  A 24-hour national strike brought France to a virtual standstill yesterday as air and rail travel to, from and within the country was at a standstill.  In London, a 24 hour underground rail services strike left millions of passengers inconvenienced, but here in Canada Air Transat reached a tentative labour contract with its pilots thereby sidestepping a potential work stoppage. Read more...

LESSON ONE

08 SEP 2010: A luxury residential building in Manhattan conveniently located just off Times Square has been the ongoing target of an internet fraud this summer.  Foreign tourists buy holiday accommodation on the web and arrive at their apartment rental to find they’ve been scammed. Read more...

LET THE BLOODY COMPUTER FLY IT

08 SEP 2010: Michael O’Leary is at it again. The irrepressible Ryanair boss came up with the suggestion that co-pilots should be banished from the cockpit.  “Really, you only need one pilot. Let’s take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it.” Read more...

LOTS TO LEARN

08 SEP 2010: It isn’t just the kids back in school... our industry is holding training sessions all over the country. Last week I went to Transat and Nolitours dinner session at the Courtyard by Marriott in Hamilton. Read more...

CHASED BY EARL

07 SEP 2010: (Filed SEP 05) It's an old Chinese proverb (or, some believe, a curse) ... "may you live in interesting times".  Well, Mother Nature had already presented me with an interesting situation when I was stranded in England earlier this year by the Icelandic volcano.  Some of you read about it.  Now Nature has dealt me another card ... I'm in Nova Scotia as Hurricane Earl does his work. Read more...

HIGH HOPES

07 SEP 2010: British Airways and Spain’s Iberia are in the process of completing a merger, but BA’s high profile CEO Willie Walsh has no intention of stopping there. Once the initial merger is complete, Walsh wants to bring other airlines into the company to create a super group called International Airline Group, or IAG. Asked if the aim was to create the world's biggest airline group, Walsh was quoted as saying, 'It sounds like a good ambition to me.' Read more...

THE ACCESSIBLE ROAD

07 SEP 2010: If you ever have a yen to be invisible – and don't we all from time to time – try a wheelchair.  You'll simply vanish.  Taxi and bus drivers drive past you, waiters and clerks look past you to ask your companion what you'd like for lunch. Read more...

ALWAYS INCLUDE AIR

SEP 2010:  The Canadian Institute of Travel Counsellors (CITC) issued a press release last week highlighting its recent survey of certified travel counsellors on the subject of familiarization or fam trips.    This is no doubt one of the perks (it sure wouldn’t be the salary!) of working in the travel industry.    Over the years I have organized and escorted numerous agent, tour operator, and meeting planner fams to various parts of the world from Australia, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands to all over the United States to the Middle East and Gulf countries. Read more...