Wild About Travel
12 Expert Strategies for Conquering Travel in 2024
I adjust my headphones a little louder as I stride into any airport, train station or ferry port. I have even created a Spotify list for my train journeys and flying! I walk compassionately past the crying couples, smile at the cheeky kids with their harried parents and feel a...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: Honolulu flights replace Airbus A330 with Boeing 787 Dreamliner
From late March, Qantas will be upgrading the aircraft that take you between Sydney and Honolulu, Hawaii from an Airbus A330 to the much more contemporary Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Honolulu flight aircraft change also modifies premium cabins, allowing passengers to choose Premium Economy. That is not the only improvement....
2PAXfly
QANTAS: Classic Plus Rewards. Rumoured changes to the Qantas frequent flyer scheme
Changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Scheme are only months away, according to an article in the AFR. Classic Plus is likely the name of the new scheme that will see points valued at 1¢ per dollar for use in redeeming airfares. New CEO Vanessa Hudson flagged changes to the...
2PAXfly
LATAM: Update on flight LA800 Sydney to Auckland incident investigation
Industry magazine The Air Current is reporting that the investigation of the LATAM Boeing 787 flight between Sydney and Auckland, which experienced a mid-air dive that injured 50 passengers and crew, will centre around the movement of a flight deck seat. Since the incident on the flight between Auckland and...
2PAXfly
LATAM: 50 injured when flight ‘drops’ between Sydney and Auckland
The pilot of a LATAM flight between Sydney and Auckland told passengers that the plane “dropped out of the sky”. About two hours into the flight, all the cockpit gauges went blank. Fifty unsecured passengers and crew collided with the ceiling, damaging panels. Others dropped heavily, sustaining many minor injuries....
2PAXfly
LOUNGE REVIEW: Revisiting the Sydney Qantas First Lounge
The focus of this trip report will be my stay at The George and the return flight in First Class on the Emirates A380 from Christchurch, New Zealand. But I thought it would be worthwhile recounting some of the experience with Qantas of getting to New Zealand. Introduction My flight...
2PAXfly
FIJI AIRWAYS: to become a full member of OneWorld
If you have never travelled on Fiji Airways, you should. That Pacific Islander hospitality is hard to beat. In 2018, Fiji Airways was the first and only OneWorld Connect partner. The concept didn’t really seem to catch on. Now, thanks to ET, we know that OneWorld will effectively abandon the...
2PAXfly
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Starts airline pet sky wars
Oh dear, it looks like Virgin Australi has started the small-animals-in-cabins pet wars for Australian Airlines by announcing that it intends to be the first airline to offer pets onboard transport. I think today must be a slow news day, or Virgin Australia wants to capitalise on the current bad...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: More short-haul international flights for Brisbane
Brisbane will now host direct flights with Qantas on short-haul internationl flights to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington, and to Apia, the capital of pacific independent state, Samoa. Flights will commence late in October this year, operating larger aircraft more frequently to these destinations. Wellington, New Zealand The Wellington/Brisbane...
2PAXfly
MARRIOTT: New Adelaide hotel scheduled to open mid 2024
As regular readers will know, I frequent Adelaide, the capital city of the state of South Australia, to visit friends and family. Because of that, I try to keep up to date on hotel openings in the city. Over the last few years, IHG has opened an Indigo, a Crown...
2PAXfly
TURKISH AIRLINES: Touches down in Melbourne for first time tonight (Saturday 2 March 2024)
Turkish Airlines light TK168, which departed Istanbul on Friday, is scheduled to land at Tullamarine Airport tonight at 8:40 pm. You can read about the route in more detail in a previous post. This will be the airline’s first flight to Australia. Unfortunately, this will be conducted using a less...
2PAXfly
JETSTAR: New uniforms after 20 years of operation.
Jetstar chose designer Genevieve Smart of Ginger and Smart, to work with its staff on designing the new uniform range. The new clobber will be worn by some 5,000 of the airline’s customer-facing staff in Australia, and offshoots in New Zealand, Japan and Singapore. Expect to see the uniforms from...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: Singapore First Lounge – WOW! First impressions
Returning from my recent trip to Singapore and Malaysia, I had the fantastic pleasure of spending a few hours in the Qantas Singapore First Lounge at Changi Terminal 1. OK, this is only my third Qantas First Lounge, a title reserved for the airline’s top international lounges. (I’m ignoring the...
Wild About Travel
Maximising Qantas Double Status Credit deal to my Benefit
Being an Aussie based flyer, almost one-third of my 1585 flights have been with the Australian carrier, Qantas. In addition I have flown every current and past One World carrier! This volume of flights means that I have achieved Qantas Gold for Life status (equivalent to One World Sapphire) in...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: More delays to Project Sunrise non-stop flights to the USA and Europe
This project has been talked about for a very loooong time. Since 2017 at least. Back in 2019, Qantas ran nearly empty flights to New York and London as a proof of concept. They even ran a health and wellness research project linked to the ultra-long-haul flights back in October...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: Changes to frequent flyer scheme from April 2024
Qantas is set to make ‘improvements’ to the frequent flyer scheme. This includes a new ‘flight reward product’ to meet the need for more reward seat availability at popular times of travel. This product will be available to book closer to the departure date. ET is reporting on a briefing...