2PAXfly
VENEZUELA: The effect of the USA military action on aviation for Australians
The U.S. military operation in Venezuela in early January 2026 has had a direct impact on aviation in the Americas, with flow-on effects for Australian travellers transiting through the United States, the Caribbean and parts of Latin America. While Venezuela itself is not a common destination for Australians, changes to...
Wild About Travel
Grounded for Good: The Airlines That Didn’t Survive 2025
For over a decade, I’ve been keeping note of which airlines go out of business each year. Do you recognise any of these? Air BelgiumBelgium. Founded: 2016. Commenced: 2018. Passenger operations ceased: 2024 (bankruptcy). Passenger flying had already stopped following the 2024 insolvency. After that, it was limited to wet‑lease...
Wild About Travel
Very Frequent Flying: My best and worst of 2025
One hundred and one flights in 2025, bringing me to 1782 lifetime flights. Flew to or from twenty-seven countries. Five continents. From the midnight sun grazing Helsinki’s summer sky to the crisp air of Hobart’s harbour, 2025 took me 213,054 kilometres (132,386 miles) around our planet. Roughly five times over....
Wild About Travel
Rating a city: From First Crush to Favourites
How do you rate a city? A good memory? The food? Its beauty? The first time I landed in Paris, I fell hard. I loved the art, the tree‑lined streets, the river, the metro, the food and markets, and even the people (yes, I mean Parisians). Twenty‑three visits later, I...
2PAXfly
NEW YEAR’S EVE: Flights that go back to the future
If you celebrate New Year’s Eve at the departure airport, board a long flight, and then land on a day that still reads December 31 local time, you’ve just experienced one of commercial aviation’s quirkiest phenomena. Thanks to time zones and the International Date Line, a handful of long-haul flights...
2PAXfly
EVACUATION: Why people still grab cabin bags and don’t ‘leave everything’
If I had a dollar for every person who does not obey the instruction to ‘leave your bags’ during an emergency evacuation of an aircraft, I’d be a rich man. This isn’t just annoying behaviour. It is dangerous because it slows evacuations. The aviation industry is now treating this as...
Wild About Travel
8 Fantastic Train Trips That Made My 2025 Unforgettable​
Trains, for me, are one of the most interesting, practical and romantic ways to get around the planet, and I love them more than I love planes (and I love planes a lot). I I have ridden railways now on every inhabited continent, and in 202,5 I added these eight...
Wild About Travel
Come on lets do better! Watching terrible passenger behaviour
Some things drive me quietly mad. In 2025, I’ve watched travellers with the fascination usually reserved for wildlife documentaries. This includes territorial battles, questionable public grooming and aggression. Travel is back in business, but it feels like basic manners clearly missed the memo. Passenger behaviour is objectively worse than pre‑pandemic,...
Wild About Travel
“Where are you?” Ten Amazing and Two Terrible Travel Moments of 2025
I know I have a reputation when people message me and ask not “how are you?” but “where are you?” This year’s answer included going to 27 countries around the globe: from Brazil and South Africa in the south, to Finland and Norway in the north, Japan in the east,...
2PAXfly
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA: the end of Premium Entry, and what replaces it
For a long time, Virgin Australia’s fast-track security offering was one of the airline’s most quietly valuable perks. Known as Premium Entry, it allowed eligible travellers to bypass the main security queues at key airports and move swiftly from kerb to lounge with minimal friction. Premium Entry was available at...
2PAXfly
AIRLINES: Busiest and most profitable routes in the world.
The world’s busiest airline routes aren’t always the most profitable, and Australia’s most famous flight is a case in point. Globally, the busiest airline routes by seat count are in Asia, but most are less profitable than Sydney–Melbourne. The busiest route for 2025 is in South Korea, it joins Jeju...
2PAXfly
LOYALTY: Payment services let small business fly Business Class
The points economy is now an AU$5 billion industry. Gaming the system is the way to go to allow sole traders and SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) owners to turn their bills into Business Class flights. The way to achieve this is by making expenses like rent, wages, BAS payments...
2PAXfly
QANTAS: Cuts free First Class for executives and board members on Project Sunrise flights
Qantas has quietly tightened the rules around who can use staff and director travel entitlements at the very front of the aircraft. In particular, it has drawn a hard line around First Class for its future Project Sunrise Airbus A350-1000ULR fleet, where seats will be scarce, ultra-premium, and intended primarily...
Wild About Travel
One of the World’s Most Remote Train lines: Australia’s Prospector
Western Australia is huge: it is about ten times the size of the UK and almost four times the size of Texas. Only around 3 million people live in the state, and roughly 2.2 million of them are in the capital, Perth, while the UK has about 67 million people...
Wild About Travel
After 300 Airports, Here Are the Best and Worst
After many decades of flying, I’ve now passed through 300 airports. It’s a slightly ridiculous milestone, but it does give me a bit of authority when I say what makes a great airport and what makes a terrible one. There are seven things that win me over with airports: 1....
2PAXfly
FINNAIR: Melbourne to Helsinki flights via Bangkok from October 2026
Finnair is heading to Australia, and not just on a wet-lease to Qantas. The Helsinki-based oneworld carrier will commence a new daily service to Melbourne, beginning 25 October 2026 (subject to approvals). It will be operated with an Airbus A350. This will be the airline’s first-ever scheduled flights to Australia....