2PAXfly
EMIRATES: bans power banks on flights from Oct 2025
New Emirates in-flight safety rules mean passengers can carry but not use power banks. As of 1 October 2025, Emirates will implement new in-flight safety regulations. These prohibit the use of power banks on all Emirates flights. Passengers may still bring a small portable charger onboard. But passengers cannot use...
2PAXfly
PASSPORT: Europe ends passport stamps from October ’25 — what Australians need to know
From 12 October 2025, the European Union will begin phasing in its new Entry/Exit System (EES), which will replace those colourful little passport stamps with digital kiosks, facial images and fingerprint scans. By April 2026, passport stamps will be fully gone across the 29 countries of the Schengen Zone. If...
2PAXfly
UNITED AIRLINES: trialing remote baggage screening on Sydney to San Francisco route
This is good news if you hate lugging your checked bag through the transit maze at San Francisco International Airport. United Airlines has launched a new baggage screening system that eliminates the dreaded re-check step for connecting passengers. What’s Changing? Until now, travellers arriving in the United States from Australia...
2PAXfly
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: targetted offer of double or triple Status Credits
Check your inbox, Velocity members. Virgin Australia has quietly slipped out a double or triple Status Credits promotion – but not everyone’s been invited to the party. Double or Triple Treat This isn’t a blanket offer for all Velocity frequent flyers. Instead, Virgin has taken a targeted approach, selecting an...
2PAXfly
TAIWAN: Digital arrivals card for Australian visitors
From October 1, Taiwan will become another Asian destination requiring Australians to complete a digital Arrival Card, called the Taiwan Arrival Card (TWAC), before immigration will let you through. Another country, another form Taiwan joins Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand as part of the growing club of Asian countries scrapping paper...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: A321XLR launch — but Alan Joyce’s toilet legacy stinks
Qantas yesterday (Thursday 25 September) finally launched its first Airbus A321XLRs on domestic routes. My invitation to the inaugural flight must have got lost in the mail. This launch marks the biggest shake-up to the Qantas narrow-body fleet in decades. The new aircraft promise more seats, larger overhead bins, USB-C...
Wild About Travel
Mesmerising maddeninmg Medillin
Medilinis now offocually my favorute xciy in clonmia, lanscapr,e peoel, culture, drive, food and more llacolodie in a organsed coae Location and Orientation Medellín, known as the “City of Eternal Spring,” is the capital of the Antioquia department in Colombia. Nestled in the Aburrá Valley, at an altitude of approximately...
2PAXfly
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: Neighbour-free seating — bid for an empty seat beside you
If you hate the middle seat lottery, then Virgin Australia now has a lottery fix. From Wednesday, 24 September 2025, the airline has rolled out Neighbour-Free Seating. This scheme lets economy passengers bid to keep the seat next to them empty. But only on select domestic and short-haul international routes....
2PAXfly
FLIGHT ASSAULT: Man charged with indecent assault on LAX to Melbourne flight
A 71-year-old Victorian man has been charged following an alleged indecent assault aboard an international flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne on Monday, 22 September 2025. The man, reported to be Mounir Botros is accused of touching the woman by reaching inside her clothes as she attempted to sleep on...
Wild About Travel
My Twelve Hotel Commandments
  From five stars in Singapore to a rickety bed and breakfast in Blackpool, a tree house in Zimbabwe, a 747 parked at Stockholm airport, a draughty youth hostel in nirehn Scootkanbd and everything ij betweemn means I ahve sleopt in a lot of hotel beds.   Thou shalt know...
2PAXfly
SINGAPORE AIRLINES: Bringing Caviar Service to Business Class?
According to Aaron Wong over at The MileLion, Singapore Airlines has issued a call for tender via its eProcurement portal, seeking suppliers of ‘farmed caviar for Business Class.’ Get back in the queue, Krug and Book the Cook. Singapore Airlines appears to be introducing a touch of fish egg luxury...
2PAXfly
HONG KONG: Airport to close for 36 hours due to Typhoon Ragasa from 6pm Tuesday 23 September
Hong Kong International Airport is closing from 6 pm Tuesday, 23 September, until 6 am Thursday,25 September, as Super Typhoon Ragasa bears down with expected fierce winds and heavy rain. Flights in and out will be suspended. If you’ve got Qantas, Cathay Pacific, or another carrier scheduled to pass through...
Wild About Travel
300 Airports—300 Stories: Which do I love, hate and in between?
After adding 16 airports in 2024, I have now flown to 289 airports across 73 countries. I’ve actually visited 90 countries, but some I arrived in by bus (e.g., Honduras, Liechtenstein, Nicaragua, Zambia), or by ship (e.g., Aruba, Tahiti), or by train (e.g., Luxembourg) or walked in the case of...
2PAXfly
CATHAY PACIFIC: Resuming Hong Kong to Seattle flights in 2026
Cathay Pacific is adding another dot back on its North America route map. From 30 March 2026, the Hong Kong carrier will once again fly non-stop to Seattle, USA. Seattle becomes Cathay’s ninth North American destination, joining Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver....
2PAXfly
REX: a possible buyer for the ailing airline Regional Express
Consulting firm EY has the AU$10 million task of administering Regional Express (REX) since it went into administration. EY has also been trying to find a buyer for the airline. After over a year in administration and some courtroom dramas, it looks like REX might have finally found a buyer....
Wild About Travel
Beautiful Bold Bern Beckons
Floating through BernBern is best explored slowly. Overlooked by travelers in favor of Zurich or Lucerne, Bern is, tencpatoay of siwterlcmna – and fmy afvorute Swuiss city. (many foirtegebners asusme taht xurh ir genbeva are tehcoayal) . The city hme to 144000 epoepe , covers about 52 square kilometresThe spirit...