Welcome back to the Cafe, everyone. Got a treat to accompany your morning coffee today - a bit of Turkish Delight.
No, not the pink, rosy-flavoured treat, but new direct flights between Sydney and Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The Australian Federal Government has reportedly agreed to an air-services deal with Turkey which would allow TK and QF to go head-to-head on this route.
Of course, "head-to-head" may be a bit of a misnomer as Qantas hasn't flown to Istanbul since it was Constantinople and reportedly has no plans to any time soon. But that hasn't stopped Qantas execs from complaining about this new agreement citing the usual story about their profitability suffering due to more competition. Apparently there are only 60,000 passengers annually flying between Australia and Turkey, so I really don't think this is much yield for QF to be missing out on.
I have to say that I'm not quite sure that another Middle Eastern carrier joining the fray at Kingsford-Smith is going to do much good, what with Etihad, Emirates and Qatar all now flying into Sydney. Turkish is initially proposing only 3 flights per week, so it's not like they're going to dominate the market like Emirates has tried to do. Having never flown TK myself I have no idea how good their product is, but I'm pretty sure that the aforementioned 3 airlines' products are pretty tough to beat in any case.
Regardless, if Turkish does come to Sydney I am sure that Qantas will again roll out the sentiment that too much competition is a bad thing for Australia and Australian travellers. Having had my own personal costs for flying to the US drop by 50% in the time since V Australia and Delta have begun flying the California-Australia routes I can't say I'm in agreement.
If this is is really about competition from a consumer standpoint, this argument never has and never will stack up. If it's really about protecting Qantas' profits, then so be it, we should not begrudge a company from making money as after all that's what business is all about. But it should be done for the right reasons and not keep saying "anti-competitive" each time someone else tries to do things better or different.
(Thanks to the SMH Business Day for some facts noted in the above. Link to story: http://www.smh.com.au/business/deal-adds-turkey-to-qantas-competitors-20100221-onv9.html)
EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY - Webjet and Amex make things easy
(Barista's disclaimer: I used to work for Amex and and am a personal friend of the Membership Rewards director for Australia. My opinion on this however is as a traveller rather than being a "plant" for either company but just so everyone's clear on my position!)
Coming from literally nowhere, in just about 5 years Webjet has become a major player in the online travel space in Australia and now are attempting to launch in the US later this year. Good luck on that one guys...not like there aren't a million other online travel agencies all vying for the US market...but I digress.
I just booked a trip on Webjet to Fiji for a family holiday and was quite pleased to be able to use Amex Membership Rewards points to pay for part of my trip. Didn't matter which airline (V Australia in case anyone's wondering - the onboard experience review coming in a July edition of the Cafe!) I chose nor what flights I booked - no blackouts, no restrictions. Finally - an easy to use way to burn up points without having to have "enough" to get the full cost of a trip covered. I was able to split the cost of the flights between MR points and charged the rest to my card. Couldn't have been easier. Well done Webjet and Amex. Now if only Webjet would only lose that silly logo...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thanks Google...another reason to keep people from travelling!
First of all, welcome everyone to the new home of the Friday Morning Cafe. New digs, same barista and more great Friday morning thoughts about travel. Hope everyone enjoys the ambiance and dialogue (yes - comments and participation is highly encouraged!) and feel free to tell your friends.
Now, onto what the Cafe is all about - travel stuff. And I have to say that I'm worried that if Google has their way, the Cafe will be short-lived as no one will need to travel ever again. Thanks to the Sydney Morning Herald for the story:
Google Russia teams up with the Trans-Siberian Railway
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/google-helps-sofa-bound-to-take-big-steppe-20100217-oe03.html
Now, I've always wanted to do the TSR as it sounds like a magnificent way to see some of the most remote parts on Earth and do it on a classic mode of travel, the long-distance train. Sure it's a 6-day trip, but I do believe it took a hell of a lot longer to build than that, so let's not complain too much.
So why does this bother me so much? Because if Google keeps finding new ways to provide people with virtual experiences, who will actually physically travel? As the title of the article says, "Google helps sofa bound..." Yes, more reasons for people not to get off their posteriors, get out of their comfort zones and really see some places. I can hear it now: "I've always wanted to do that train trip, but I hear it's really cold there. Let's just do it from the comfort of our home. Wait, I'll just hook up my Internet to my HDTV and voila- just like being there."
OK, so intrepid travellers like you and I might find this a bit far-fetched. And of course, if no one ever left their homes to actually go ride the TSR, then it would go out of business and poof- no need for the web cam anymore, right? But it goes to show that someone at Google thought there would be a market for this and it's likely because there are indeed people out there who would rather "travel" via their PC rather than their Passport. Virtual travel is already all the front-page rage in the corporate travel industry - is leisure travel not far behind???
On the bright side, I guess that just means more room on the actual train for you and I, though.
EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY
So, as this is the first edition of the on-line Friday Morning Cafe, I thought it worth an extra shot of travel espresso this morning....
If you've not yet found, used or bookmarked SeatGuru.com, then you are likely the poor, miserable looking bugger sitting in the middle seat on an old 767 with no seat-back entertainment. Those who travel, and those in the know, always know to check out SeatGuru when they're not sure what's a good seat or not.
Now, I travel quite frequently, and as a self-admitted plane junkie I pretty much know what's what with what type of aircraft. But I STILL always check SeatGuru just to make sure - especially for economy class tickets.
Case in point: in a few weeks I'll take my first trip on the A380, flying QF to LAX. As I've not flown on this behemoth yet, and I'm travelling in economy, I wanted to check if there were any "really good seats" - especially now as Qantas charges an extra $160 PER SECTOR if you want an exit row. Guess you'd better be rich AND able to help in an emergency?
Anyway, thanks to SeatGuru, I found out that interestingly enough, seat 71D (left aisle, middle section) has no seat in front of it; ie- no 70D. Why this is I have no idea, but I sure as hell don't care when I can book what should be a hectare of space in front of me (well, by economy class standards at least) with no extra charge. Thanks SG!
(However, if anyone has flown this aircraft and can tell me what bizarre obstacle may actually be there in place of a seat which makes it not so desirable, please let me know!)
Now, onto what the Cafe is all about - travel stuff. And I have to say that I'm worried that if Google has their way, the Cafe will be short-lived as no one will need to travel ever again. Thanks to the Sydney Morning Herald for the story:
Google Russia teams up with the Trans-Siberian Railway
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/google-helps-sofa-bound-to-take-big-steppe-20100217-oe03.html
Now, I've always wanted to do the TSR as it sounds like a magnificent way to see some of the most remote parts on Earth and do it on a classic mode of travel, the long-distance train. Sure it's a 6-day trip, but I do believe it took a hell of a lot longer to build than that, so let's not complain too much.
So why does this bother me so much? Because if Google keeps finding new ways to provide people with virtual experiences, who will actually physically travel? As the title of the article says, "Google helps sofa bound..." Yes, more reasons for people not to get off their posteriors, get out of their comfort zones and really see some places. I can hear it now: "I've always wanted to do that train trip, but I hear it's really cold there. Let's just do it from the comfort of our home. Wait, I'll just hook up my Internet to my HDTV and voila- just like being there."
OK, so intrepid travellers like you and I might find this a bit far-fetched. And of course, if no one ever left their homes to actually go ride the TSR, then it would go out of business and poof- no need for the web cam anymore, right? But it goes to show that someone at Google thought there would be a market for this and it's likely because there are indeed people out there who would rather "travel" via their PC rather than their Passport. Virtual travel is already all the front-page rage in the corporate travel industry - is leisure travel not far behind???
On the bright side, I guess that just means more room on the actual train for you and I, though.
EXTRA SHOT FOR THE DAY
So, as this is the first edition of the on-line Friday Morning Cafe, I thought it worth an extra shot of travel espresso this morning....
If you've not yet found, used or bookmarked SeatGuru.com, then you are likely the poor, miserable looking bugger sitting in the middle seat on an old 767 with no seat-back entertainment. Those who travel, and those in the know, always know to check out SeatGuru when they're not sure what's a good seat or not.
Now, I travel quite frequently, and as a self-admitted plane junkie I pretty much know what's what with what type of aircraft. But I STILL always check SeatGuru just to make sure - especially for economy class tickets.
Case in point: in a few weeks I'll take my first trip on the A380, flying QF to LAX. As I've not flown on this behemoth yet, and I'm travelling in economy, I wanted to check if there were any "really good seats" - especially now as Qantas charges an extra $160 PER SECTOR if you want an exit row. Guess you'd better be rich AND able to help in an emergency?
Anyway, thanks to SeatGuru, I found out that interestingly enough, seat 71D (left aisle, middle section) has no seat in front of it; ie- no 70D. Why this is I have no idea, but I sure as hell don't care when I can book what should be a hectare of space in front of me (well, by economy class standards at least) with no extra charge. Thanks SG!
(However, if anyone has flown this aircraft and can tell me what bizarre obstacle may actually be there in place of a seat which makes it not so desirable, please let me know!)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Cafe is open!
Dear Friends, Colleagues and Travel Fans,
Welcome to the Friday Morning Cafe, a weekly blog designed to get people together to talk about all things travel before they start the last day of the week. Before logging into the email mountain, or running off to that first meeting of the day, stop into the Cafe to grab your favourite morning beverage along with a dose of insight, commentary and dialogue about what's happening in travel. It's open to everyone, and has as much caffeine and sugar as you want. No instant coffee here!
Hope you enjoy the Cafe.
Cheers,
The Travel Barista
Welcome to the Friday Morning Cafe, a weekly blog designed to get people together to talk about all things travel before they start the last day of the week. Before logging into the email mountain, or running off to that first meeting of the day, stop into the Cafe to grab your favourite morning beverage along with a dose of insight, commentary and dialogue about what's happening in travel. It's open to everyone, and has as much caffeine and sugar as you want. No instant coffee here!
Hope you enjoy the Cafe.
Cheers,
The Travel Barista
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