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 Contact link at the top, or leave a comment.

Dominican Republic

Source: Sam Smith

Entry to Dominican Republic is by air, by ferry from Puerto Rico, or by bus from Haiti (Port Au Prince to Santo Domingo is the easiest option). Airlines flying to Dominican Republic include:

• Star Alliance – Air Canada (La Romana & Puerto Plata & Punta Cana), Austrian (Punta Cana), Continental (Puerto Plata & Punta Cana & Santo Domingo), United (Punta Cana), US Airways (Punta Cana & Santo Domingo)
• Oneworld – American (La Romana & Puerto Plata & Punta Cana & Santiago & Santo Domingo), British Airways (Punta Cana), Iberia (Santo Domingo), LAN (Punta Cana)
• Sky Team – Air Europa (Punta Cana & Santo Domingo), Air France (Punta Cana & Santo Domingo), Delta (Puerto Plata & Santiago & Santo Domingo)
• Other selected – most Caribbean and Central American airlines, some European and many North American low cost airlines

TIP Air France flies to Dominican Republic on a milk run between Miami and French Guyana.

TIP The routes with reasonable competition on them are Montreal, Toronto, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, New York/Newark, Madrid, Paris and London.

TIP Many flights are seasonal (winter peak). Shoulder and low seasons offer the best deals.

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 Contact link at the top, or leave a comment.

Netherlands

Source: Massimo Catarinella

The Netherlands is easily reached by train, bus, or car, or by ferry from UK.  Many airlines fly to Amsterdam including:

• Star Alliance – Adria, Austrian, bmi, Continental, Croatia, EgyptAir, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore, Swiss, TAP, Turkish, United, US Airways
• Oneworld – British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan, Malev, Royal Jordanian
• Sky Team – Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech, Delta, Kenya, KLM, Korean, TAROM
• Other selected – most major European and northern African airlines, most European and northern African low cost airlines, some Middle Eastern airlines, Emirates

TIP There are numerous destinations with direct flights or indirect via a nearby hub. This means there are lots of ways to save on air fares, particularly for longhaul travel and intra-Europe.

TIP Low cost carriers provide cheap fares to holiday destinations through Europe, north Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.

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.

Qantas’ low cost subsidiary Jetstar has expanded their “Price Beat Guarantee” into a 10 point Jetstar Customer Guarantee.

The 10 points cover a range of issues and promise some minimum standards and offers of $50 or $100 in Jetstar credit for certain negative events.

I’m not impressed.

Some points are non sequiturs.  Who ever heard of an airline not promising to make safety a priority?

Some points are already covered under general consumer laws and add no consumer protection. If a pre-pay option is not received then a refund will be made.  Later on there is a point about refunds being 15 working days after Jetstar has agreed to make the refund – 3 weeks not including time to investigate and decide on a refund is an inordinate amount of time.

Some points are self-contradictory. Point 7 is about how quickly complaints are responded to. It starts out by saying first point of contact will try to resolve. If that is unsuccessful then you are referred to their Call Centre. If that doesn’t work then you have to make a “written” complaint, whicch can only be made via their website. They then give themselves 15 working days after receipt of the written complaint to respond. By this time it could be well over a month after the problem. How many people would just give up by this lengthy and complicated process?

Some points are vague and meaningless. The point on dealing with cancellations and delays has so many clauses and conditions it is unclear what happens in all the different circumstances. Furthermore there is no requirement for alternative flights or other options to be acceptable to the passengers. For example in the event of overbooking Jetstar could tell the customer they are rebooked on the next available flight, which happens to be next week, and the passenger has no recourse to force rebooking on another airline or claim compensation. This is because the point is committing Jetstar to a process for informing passengers and not committing to providing satisfactory alternatives or compensation.

I give the charter a score of 2 out of 10, with one mark gained for raising public awareness of the need for a minimum level of passenger protections.

The other day a friend was commenting to me on how much his flying patterns had changed in the 8 months since Qantas was replaced with their low cost subsidiary Jetstar on New Zealand domestic (and some trans-Tasman) routes.  Like me, he was on the final Qantas domestic flight last year.  Well over 80% of his (extensive) domestic travel has switched to Air NZ.

It is not hard to understand why there is a big change. The domestic airline lounges are closed and replaced by pay per use lounges. The great Jetconnect crew are gone. The simple fares are replaced with a lower base fare and a vast array of surcharges and fees. The flight schedules are still not great. Customer service is poor, with many reports of passengers denied boarding due to check in queues, passengers misconnecting with Qantas international flights and left to buy a new ticket, difficulties in obtaining refunds, and so on.

I had a look at my own travel record and noticed I’ve not only flown much less Qantas group flights within New Zealand but also my international travel with Qantas has similarly mostly switched to other airlines.  In the 3 years prior to the change, I flew 325 Qantas flights with a mixture of domestic, trans-Tasman and longhaul flights; and also a mixture of all cabin classes (almost all business or first class for the international flights).  In the past 8 months I’ve flown just 7 Qantas group flights. Even if I add in the 4 Qantas flights I will take over the next 4 months, my Qantas group travel has dropped from over 9 flights a month to under 1 a month – a 90% fall.

It seems I’m far from the only passenger to switch loyalty. The few times I have flown Qantas internationally the lounge at Auckland has been almost deserted. Elite and premium passengers within and to/from New Zealand have deserted in droves.

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 Contact link at the top, or leave a comment.

British Columbia

Entry to British Columbia, Canada, is by land, by ferry or cruise ship, by train, or by air. Most international flights are to/from Vancouver airport, including the following airlines:

• Star Alliance – Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Continental, Lufthansa, United, US Airways
• Oneworld – American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Mexicana
• Sky Team – Delta, KLM, Korean
• Other selected – Westjet, Alaska airlines, some European and North American low cost airlines, EVA, Philipine Airlines

TIP Air fares to Vancouver are often considerably higher than to Seattle. However Seattle to Vancouver fares are very high so land travel may be best to take advantage – just watch out for border queues in weekends and at holiday periods.

TIP Distances can be large, so land travel to Alaska or other Canadian provinces takes considerable time.

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.

Slovakia

Source: Maros

All neighbouring countries have bus and train services to Slovakia. There are also frequent boats along the Danube (from Vienna and Budapest). Airlines flying to Slovakia include:

• Star Alliance – Austrian (Kosice), LOT (Bratislava)
• Oneworld – none
• Sky Team – Aeroflot (Bratislava), Czech (Bratislava and Kosice)
• Other selected – Ryanair (Bratislava)

TIP Several low cost airlines fly to Bratislava (flights may be seasonal).

TIP Vienna has far more flight options and is a short bus, train or boat ride from Bratislava.

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.

France

This post is about how to get to France generally. There is also a post more specifically on how to get to Corsica, France.

Source: Wladyslaw Sojka

France is one of the easiest countries to visit. You can arrive by train from several countries (including United Kingdom via the Chunnel), ditto for bus, car, ferry (UK, Ireland, north Africa, Italy) and boat along the Rhine. Many airlines fly to France (mostly Paris), including:

• Star Alliance – Adria, Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, blue1, bmi, Brussels (joining *A soon), Continental, Croatia, EgyptAir, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore, Swiss, TAM, TAP, Thai, Turkish, United, US Airways
• Oneworld – American, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malev, Royal Jordanian
• Sky Team – Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech, Delta, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean, TAROM, Vietnam
• Other selected – most European (western, central and eastern) airlines including low cost airlines, most Middle Eastern and North African airlines

TIP If longhaul fares to Paris are high check fares for London, Amsterdam and Brussels. From all these cities there are high speed trains to Paris as well as several flight options.

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.

Sri Lanka

Source: Bernard Gagnon

The main way to reach Sri Lanka is by air. Airlines flying to Colombo include:

• Star Alliance – Singapore, Thai
• Oneworld – Cathay Pacific (from Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore), Royal Jordanian
• Sky Team – none
• Other selected – most Indian airlines, many Persian-Gulf and Malaysian airlines

TIP There is plenty of competition from Chennai, Bangkok and Singapore. If you cannot get a reasonable fare to Colombo from elsewhere in Asia or further afield check the option of separate tickets via one of these 3 places. Don’t forget to allow plenty of time to connect (eg a day).

TIP There are not many low cost airlines flying to Colombo. Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur, a couple of European airlines during northern winter season and several Indian airlines.

TIP Around the world or longhaul award tickets to Colombo on Star Alliance or Oneworld are fairly easily obtained via Bangkok or Singapore, as long as the booking is made early enough. This may change as Sri Lanka returns to being a popular tourist destination now the Tamil-related violence is gone.

TIP Several airlines operate a triangle flight with short hop between Male and Colombo in either or both directions connecting to a longhaul destination in Europe, Middle East or Asia. If fares to/from Colombo are high check them to/from Male instead with a separate ticket for the extra flight.

TIP In the past Colombo has had very low longhaul premium (ie first and business class) fares (to North America, Europe or around the world). So low that many people travelled to Sri Lanka to get these cheap tickets. The best bargains are long gone due to fare increases and currency movements, however from time to time there are some cheap longhaul fares that are worthwhile as long as you can get to Sri Lanka cheaply or easily.

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.

Haiti

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Entry to Haiti is by air or by bus from Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo to Port Au Prince is the easiest option). Airlines flying to Haiti (Port Au Prince) include:

• Star Alliance – Air Canada
• Oneworld – American
• Sky Team – Air France (but not from Paris – see below), Delta
• Other selected – some Caribbean airlines, some North American low cost airlines

TIP Air France flies to Haiti on a milk run between Miami and French Guyana.

TIP The routes with reasonable competition on them are Montreal, Miami/Fort Lauderdale and to a lesser extent New York JFK. Paris Orly also has some low cost airlines flying to & from Haiti.

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

Jetstar, the low cost subsidiary of Qantas, has launched a new program today. It is not a frequent flyer program (because they are too expensive) but instead a frequent buyer program launched to a branded Macquarie Bank credit card (Mastercard).

For every A$1 spent you get one Jetstar Dollar (jetbucks?) cent, or two on the more expensive platinum card. Like Air New Zealand Airpoints (with Airpoints Dollars), the Jetstar Dollars are used directly to pay fares of that value. However, there are some gotchas:

• vouchers are issued automatically when 100 Jetstar Dollars are accumulated
• vouchers can only be issued in multiples of 25 Jetstar Dollars
• when a voucher is issued you have 3 months to ticket and 6 months to fly it before the voucher expires
• Jetstar Dollars can only be redeemed on Jetstar flights
• earning cap at A$50,000 a year (or A$100,000 a year on the platinum card)

When using the Jetstar branded credit card on www.jetstar.com to make a flight booking the credit card charges are waived.

You can use a mixture of credit card and Jetstar Dollar vouchers to pay fares. It is unclear whether the excess of voucher value over fare is lost or retained for future use (I’m guessing it is lost).

Conversion of Jetstar Dollars to Qantas Frequent Flyer points is planned for next year.

Overall, it is a cheap pale imitation of most frequent flyer or credit card rewards programs. However if you fly Jetstar a lot it may be worthwhile. For more information, check out the Jetstar Mastercard page.

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