I previously blogged on the impacts of H1N1 (swine flu) on travel, what to do about the potential impacts and how savvy travellers can benefit.This is an update on how the potential impacts are developing.

A reminder that for medical advice or up to the minute information on the spread of swine flu, check out the World Health Organization (WHO) website. Note they call it H1N1 Influenza A instead of swine flu.

Current swine flu status

Transmission rates and death rates are similar to or lower than normal seasonal influenza levels. At the time of writing over 100 countries have reported confirmed H1N1 cases and 13 countries have reported H1N1 deaths – it has spread everywhere, just like normal flu.

Current impacts on travel

Many countries have changed their approach to dealing with H1N1 as they accept it is now no longer contained. In general this means less hassles for travellers, although this is not yet the case everywhere. As previously reported, China still is taking a highly precautionary approach of putting into quarantine all arrivals who show a temperature, or seated nearby to someone with a temperature on a plane, or in a neighbouring cabin/room on a boat or in a hotel.

Mark Ashley of Upgrade: Travel Better has blogged about health authorities in Bali/Indonesia going one step further over the top by taking blood tests of all arriving visitors.

Other than in these few countries still taking a hard line, the only travellers significantly impacted by swine flu now should be those who actually contract it. Generally they are required to be quarantined for 3 or 7 days, and in some cases are hospitalised. The risk of this is low.

I’ve travelled to several countries since swine flu broke out, and in most (but not all) a health form is required for all arriving travellers (and in some cases also transit passengers) as well as a request to self-proclaim if feeling unwell. Thermal cameras in countries which had been using them only the past couple of months has been discontinued, but generally not in Asia where they have been in place for some years.

There are still some reports that China is slow to issue visas to Mexicans, Americans and Australians.

Outlook

With many countries easing restrictions and their reactions to swine flu I think it is a great time to be travelling. The sales this year have been the best in a decade or more on some routes – this can’t last. I expect airlines will keep slashing capacity if passenger numbers don’t bounce back. Hotels don’t have the luxury of altering supply so we should still see more good deals for the rest of the year at least. I’m wary of booking any non-refundable accommodation in the interim.

I’m keeping an eye on China and Indonesia as their actions are getting further and further out of step with other countries. Fortunately I have no upcoming travel to either planned in the short term.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

For those interested here is the full listing of the Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) as at 30 June 2009.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

A factor in common for my own travel plans to visit every country, and also in the how to get to series, is that some countries have flight connections with lots of other countries while others do not.

I find it useful to have an idea of how well connected by air various countries are, and based on questions I often get I hope others will find it useful too.

Introducing Flight Connectivity Index (FCI)

To get a quick high level view I have calculated a Flight Connectivity Index (FCI) based on airline schedules at 30 June 2009. The FCI value is the number of other countries to which you can fly directly from a given country, based on published schedules of IATA airlines. Domestic flights do not count. To simplify the calculation, countries are defined as members of United Nations, as opposed to using one of the many other country lists available.

As airline schedules change I intend updating the calculation from time to time.

Selected 30 June 2009 FCI results

There are 192 member countries of the United Nations, thus the maximum possible FCI is 191 (because domestic flights do not count). No country has direct flights to all other countries – the highest FCI score is 106 for Germany. Four countries have a zero flight connectivity index – these are the small countries of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino. The average across all countries is 23.

The top 10 flight connectivity index values at 30 June 2009 are equal to or greater than 68, and the bottom 10 are equal to or less than 3. There are 57 countries with a FCI of 9 or less, 3 countries with a FCI of 100 or more (Germany, France, UK) and 17 countries with a FCI score of 50 or more.

The countries with the highest and lowest FCI values are shown in the two tables below.

Full Flight Connectivity Index

I’ve posted the full Flight Connectivity Index at 30 June 2009.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

As I have been asked about airline and airport lounges a lot lately, I figure it is time for another blog post about them. Airline lounges can generally be accessed by:

• paid club membership – of the specific airline’s club or a partner airline’s club with reciprocal useage rights
• pay per use membership
• frequent flyer elite status
• airline class of travel

So far, I have never bought club membership or paid for day use of a lounge. Despite this I have used over 260 lounges in over 120 airports worldwide, several of them over 100 times. The quality of lounge varies widely from the luxury of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal with dozens of fine single malt whiskies, to a peaceful oasis of calm in what is otherwise a horrid airport (lounges in Dhaka and Lahore spring to mind), to the downright nasty crowded rooms (such as the LAT Lounge at Beirut which makes the Red Carpet Club at Los Angeles look good!).

What do I look for in a lounge?

Showers

Most airline lounge users do not shower in the lounge. However, for me it is an invaluable asset and I wish more lounges had them. Whether it is because I’m in the middle of 2 or more days constant flying, or because I’m rushing straight from work to flight to work with no time to visit home or hotel in between, I use airline lounge showers very frequently.

Of course not all showers are equal. Most have towels, soap and other amenities. Some do not. I bring my own towel just in case. Some have toilet and basin in the shower room, others do not. Some are heavily used and require lengthy waits (eg Lufthansa Frankfurt nonschengen B lounge in the morning and evening).

The best airport showers I’ve had are in the Los Angeles Air New Zealand lounge. It is great to wash away the hassles of security (and often lengthy immigration queues too) in the middle of 30 odd hours of flying. Oh yes, the cabanas at Cathay Pacific Hong Kong The Wing First Class lounge are also pretty nice.

Business facilities

I’m in the minority here amongst business travelers, but a lot of the time I travel without a laptop. Downtime in transit is an opportunity to catch up on messages and get some work done. For this reason I wish every airline lounge had free internet computers, preferably with printers and photocopiers available. Free local calls are a nice bonus if available.

The best airport lounge business facilities I’ve used are the bookable rooms in the Melbourne and Sydney Qantas First Class lounge. Not only do they have all of the above, but also little things like office stationery (pens, pencils, paper even a stapler & sellotape). To keep any meetings confidential there are also privacy blinds and enough space and chairs for a few people to use the room at once.

Lounge agents

When things go wrong, as they are bound to from time to time, having good airline agents in the lounge who are authorised to fix things is invaluable. Not only does it save time queueing at a desk in the main part of the terminal or on hold on the phone, but by getting quick access you sometimes can take advantage of fleeting opportunities.

One example is in the United San Francisco Red Carpet Club (RCC) a few years ago. I had one of those tricky itineraries flying to Anchorage via Portland and Seattle, having just arrived from New Zealand. The weather along the west coast was bad with many flight delays. My flight to Portland was delayed a couple of hours which would likely mean misconnecting with the once a day flight from Seattle to Anchorage. I spotted the issue when a delay announcement was made at the gate and headed straight back to the RCC with it’s service desk inside. The nice agent in the lounge quickly saw the problem and rebooked me on the nonstop flight to Seattle that was just about to board. If I’d tried calling or heading to the landside service desk I wouldn’t have even reached an agent in time to take this option.

The extras

Showers, computers and good agents are the 3 things I really look for in an airline lounge. Other stuff, however, may be the difference between a good lounge and a great one. Here are some examples of lounge extras I like. See if you can pick which lounges I am referring to?

• children’s play room, complete with playstations – less noise in the main part of the lounge and keeps kids away from the computers
• air hockey table – for the inner child
• special lounge security and immigration to bypass the regular ones – faster and less intrusive
• great picture windows overlooking tarmac, runway and scenery
• wide selection of magazines and newspapers
• great restaurant quality food and drink with proper meal service
• Fauchon green tea ice cream
• spa or massages
• sleeper rooms, complete with wakeup service so you don’t miss your flight
• bar tenders that remember my order and have it ready when they see me coming

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

I generally like getting emails from airlines and frequent flyer programs. I subscribe to dozens of email lists and it is a chance for me to be informed of deals and offers that I may have missed from other sources. Every day I get several such emails. Most I can’t take advantage of but the few that I can use make it very worthwhile.

However, there are some marketing emails that serve only to annoy me. Here are a few recent examples from my inbox.

• Click to enter a competition for free flight/holiday/miles, open only to residents of a certain country. The frequent flyer programs know I am not resident of that country, and thus I am ineligible for the competition.
• Sign up for a new credit card for bonus miles. The card is only available in USA, a country in which it is notoriously difficult for non-residents to get credit cards. You guessed it, the frequent flyer program knows I am not a resident.
• Sale offer which is almost over. What is the point of sending an email at the end of a 2 week sale? Extra rant points if it is a sale which I could have used but have already bought a higher fare during the un-notified portion of the sale.
• Lengthy email about a sale, followed a day later by a long corrected email. The corrected email doesn’t spell out what was corrected forcing a full re-read to see if the change affects me or not.
• Fantastic one day only offers which due to lack of internet access I only get to read the next day. Okay, this one is my fault.

What are your airline or frequent flyer program email peeves?

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

This blog post is how to get to Alaska. See also how to get to USA.

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Alaska

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The easiest way to get to Alaska is by cruise ship or ferry in the southeast (from Seattle or Vancouver), or by air. There are a few roads to/from Canada – driving distances are very long. Airlines flying to Alaska (mostly Anchorage) include:

• Star Alliance – Air Canada (seasonal), Continental, US Airways
• Oneworld – American (seasonal)
• Sky Team – Delta
• Other selected – Alaska, Vladivostok Air, a few seasonal charters mostly from Asia

TIP Other than on Sky Team or on Alaska Airlines it is difficult or impossible to include flights to Alaska in business/first on awards or discounted tickets.

TIP Book as early as possible if travelling to/from Alaska during (northern) summer.

UPDATED November 2009 – Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Croatia

Source: Eric Ostermann

Croatia is very easy to get to, by ferry from Italy and Slovenia, by road or bus from all neighbouring countries, by train from north and east, and by air. Flight options are numerous and include:

• Star Alliance – Austrian (Dubrovnik & Split & Zagreb), blue1 (Dubrovnik & Split), Croatia (Dubrovnik & Split & Zagreb), Lufthansa (Dubrovnik & Split & Zagreb), SAS (Split & Zagreb), TAP (Zagreb), Turkish (Zagreb)
• Oneworld – British Airways (Dubrovnik), Iberia (Dubrovnik & Zagreb), Malev (Split & Zagreb)
• Sky Team – Aeroflot (Split & Zagreb), Air France (Zagreb), Czech (Split & Zagreb), TAROM (Dubrovnik)
• Other selected – most European low cost airlines

TIP There are more flight options in summer than in winter with several airlines and routes operated on a seasonal basis.

TIP Fares are lowest on routes with competition through low cost carriers.

TIP Many fares on Croatia Airlines allow domestic add-on flight for little or no cost. If economy fare is high (ie the cheap fares have sold out) check discounted business class fares as these are normally cheaper than full fare economy.

UPDATED August 2010 – Updated for TAM and Aegean joining Star Alliance, Shanghai leaving Star Alliance, Vietnam Airlines and TAROM joining Sky Team. No change to advice.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

North Korea

Source: Martyn Williams

There are essentially only two ways to visit North Korea. One is to take a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from Seoul, and the other is by organised tour from China.

DMZ tours may include either or both the western tunnel complexes and Panmunjeom in the Joint Security Area. On these tours it is possible to “cross the border” into North Korea to a very limited extent (eg inside buildings which straddle the border). There is a long list of rules to follow on these tours concerning clothing and items you can/cannot bring with you. The tour passes through many security checkpoints en route.

Independent travel to North Korea proper is not allowed. Visitors can take part in (highly controlled and supervised) organised tours, flying to Pyongyang from Beijing on either Air Koryo or Air China (Star Alliance) or taking the train from Beijing. There are no other airlines with scheduled service to North Korea, although there are occasional charter flights.

Most of the time Americans are not allowed to visit however some years an exception is made for the Mass Games.

The visa and entry requirements for North Korea can change rapidly – be sure to double check at the time of booking and again before departure.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

See also how to get to Australia.

Lord Howe Island

source: Fanny Schertzer

There is only one practical way for visitors to get to and from Lord Howe Island, and that is by flying on Qantas from Brisbane or Sydney. Note that as the flight travels a long way overwater, using a small aircraft, and with no alternate airports to fly to in case of problems, there are strict and very low baggage limits allowed. Passengers are also routinely weighed before boarding (especially Lord Howe Island to mainland Australia).

TIP Fares are high, only available from mainland Australia (although can be added to international fares), and there are never any sales. Book as far ahead as possible, whether on paid or award tickets.

TIP A longhaul economy class award to Australia with included flights to and from Lord Howe Island using Oneworld miles is especially good value. Likewise if you can include these flights on an Oneworld round the world economy fare.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.

I’m the most excited I’ve been about an upcoming flight for a long time. After a very long wait I will soon finally get to fly Singapore A380. To think that I was planning to be on the inaugural A380 flight years ago. Now I’ve already flown Qantas (last year on a joyride and more recently longhaul) and Emirates on their A380s.

I can’t wait to try it out.

Musings of the Global Traveller
Thoughts, advice and travel news from around the world by a seasoned frequent flyer.