Business Travel Guru

United Airlines 787 Dreamliner Back in Service

Ben Hoffman — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:51:57 +0000

After four months on the ground United Airlines today relaunched 787 Dreamliner services, with United Airlines Flight 1 from Houston to Chicago’s O’Hare. This the first flight since the 787 Dreamliner battery incident will be the start of Uniteds six 787 Dreamliners going back into service. “The 787 offers an unmatched travel experience for our [...]

United Airlines Says Boeing 787 Dreamliner Flights This Month

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:27:47 +0000

United Airlines has reconfirmed that the Boeing 787 Dreamliners will be back in the air soon with a media release stating that the company has already retrofitted 2 of its aircraft to resolve the battery issue, with the remaining aircraft to be complete soon. United Airlines further confirms that they will have the 787 Dreamliner [...]

Singapore Airlines Expands Services into Indonesia

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:02:36 +0000

Singapore Airlines has announced that they will boost services into Indonesia with a new service to Surabaya and increased services into Jakarta and Bali from July this year. The new daily Singapore to Surabaya service will operate on a 285 seat Airbus A330 and will see the combined SilkAir Singapore Airlines capacity increase on the [...]

Qantas International Dining Expanded to Perth Services

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:46:44 +0000

If you fly Qantas from the East Coast of Australia to Perth you will be pleased to know Qantas has introduced its International a la carte menu on all East Cost to Perth services. The new International standard menu designed by Chef Neil Perry will be available from late May on all Sydney-Perth, Melbourne-Perth and [...]

Virgin’s Richard Branson unveils Virgin Australia’s new Regional Airline

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:12:14 +0000

Virgin Australia today unveiled its new regional airline operation with Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Australia Chief Executive Officer John Borghetti in Perth. Following the acquisition of Skywest Airlines last month, today marked the launch of the newly branded airline. The first two aircraft to be rebranded as ‘Virgin Australia’ were officially unveiled, [...]

Qantas Launches new iPhone app

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:15:20 +0000

Qantas has released a new iPhone app that will give customers more choice and options when planning, booking and managing their flights and accommodation, including the ability to view frequent flyer account balance and check-in The app is free and available for both the iPhone and iPad from the app store, for all Android users [...]

Virgin Australia Announce Darwin Lounge

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:11:29 +0000

Hot on the heels of today’s announcement from Qantas that they will upgrade the Darwin Qantas Club lounge to more than double its existing size, Virgin Australia has announced that the airline will build its own lounge at Darwin International Airport. The new Virgin Australia Lounge will be made possible due to the planned $60 [...]

Qantas to upgrade Darwin Qantas Club Lounge

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:58:28 +0000

Qantas today announced that it planned to upgrade the Qantas Club lounge in Darwin that will see it more than double the existing lounge size to cater for Business and premium leisure travel to the region. Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce, who visited Darwin Airport to make the announcement, said the new facilities [...]

China Southern Airlines bringing the Airbus A380 to Sydney Australia

Ben Hoffman — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:45:55 +0000

China Southern Airlines have announced that their Airbus A380 will be coming to Australia, to be operated on their Guangzhou to Sydney route One of the airlines 5 Airbus A380 aircraft will begin flying the route from 27 October 2013 replacing the Airbus A330-300 that currently operates on this route. “Australia remains our most important [...]

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand Announce Perth to Christchurch Direct

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:02:30 +0000

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand today announced that they would begin operations of direct a twice weekly Perth to Christchurch service that will operate during the peak travel period between December 2013 and April 2014 The service that will be operated by Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia will codeshare on is the first [...]

Virgin Australia add Prepaid Travel Money to its Velocity Frequent Flyer Card

Ben Hoffman — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:39:35 +0000

Virgin Australia today announced that they would be adding a new feature to all Velocity Frequent Flyer Membership cards, the new feature Global Wallet will combine the Velocity Frequent Flyer Membership Card with a prepaid travel money card. Features of the card will include: Load money onto their card and store it in multiple foreign [...]

Qantas Launches Bold New Uniform by Australian Designer Martin Grant

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:02:38 +0000

Qantas today launched the airlines bold new uniform that will be worn by over 12,600 employees from 2014. The new uniform created by Australian designer Martin Grant consists of over 35 garments which feature French navy suiting and white shirting, variations of the Qantas red – ruby red and fuchsia pink – are featured in [...]

Qantas opens new Singapore Qantas Lounge

Ben Hoffman — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:29:25 +0000

Qantas today opened a new Qantas lounge in Singapore to cater for the airlines ‘growing with Asia’ strategy. The new Singapore Qantas lounge which is open to all Business, Platinum One, Gold and Qantas Club members is a vibrant and chic space that celebrates the local environment and interiors reflect the heart of Singapore. Some [...]

Qantas and Emirates A380 Sydney Flyover to market Qantas Emirates Partnership

Ben Hoffman — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:04:52 +0000

Today Qantas and Emirates celebrated the start of the airlines partnership between Australia and London by conducting a joint flyover in formation by each of the airlines Airbus A380 aircraft. The flyover that started at 10:30 am flew over Sydney’s iconic Opera house and harbour bridge is the first time two commercial Airbus A380 aircraft [...]

Etihad to Service Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam from 1 October 2013

Ben Hoffman — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:30:46 +0000

Etihad Airways will begin Ho Chi Minh City services from 1 October 2013 making Vietnam Etihad’s 6th ASEAN destination. Current timetables on the Etihad Airways site indicate show the following details for the flight Origin Destination Flight No Depart Arrive Abu Dhabi (AHU) Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) EY441 0830hrs 1835hrs Ho Chi Minh City [...]

British Airways A380 Interior Cabin Photos

Ben Hoffman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:31:56 +0000

British Airways have released interior Cabin Photos of its new Airbus A380 that is scheduled to go into daily service on the London Heathrow – Los Angeles route on October 15 followed by a London Heathrow – Hong Kong Service from 15 November. As revealed earlier (British Airways A380 Seat Map Released) the British Airways [...]

Emirates Platinum Frequent Flyer Tier Overview

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:59:42 +0000

One of the benefits coming out of the Qantas Emirates Partnership for Skywards members is a new membership tier ‘Skywards Platinum’. This new elite tier to be introduced from 1 April 2013 will be awarded to Skywards who have flown at least 150,000 tier miles the members 12-13 month earning window, the great news for [...]

Changes to Qantas Checked Baggage Limits

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:02:26 +0000

Along with details of Qantas and Emirates reciprocal frequent flyer benefits Qantas also announced changes to its checked baggage limits that will see the airline move from a weight and piece limit back to a weight limit, on all international services except for the Americas. The Qantas switch back to a weight only limit will [...]

Qantas and Emirates Announce Reciprocal Frequent Flyer Benefits

admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:12:34 +0000

The Qantas Emirates partnership has gone a step further with Qantas releasing details of the reciprocal frequent flyer benefits that will be available from the proposed Emirates Qantas partnership. If the proposed partnership receives regulatory approval some of the shared benefits for Qantas Frequent Flyers and Emirates Skywards members will include: Earn Qantas Frequent Flyer [...]

British Airways A380 Seat Map Released

Ben Hoffman — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 01:25:23 +0000

With British Airways expected to take delivery of its first Airbus A380 next year, the British Airways A380 Seat Map recently appeared on the airlines website. The seat map reveals the airlines future flagship aircraft will feature Four Classes and will an innovative forward backward seating configuration in Club World (Business Class). The breakdown of [...]

Virgin Australia provides a sneak peak of new Boeing 777 Cabin Interior

Ben Hoffman — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Virgin Australia has unveiled details on the interior re-design of its Boeing 777 fleet that will to appear across their fleet from 12 April 2012 with the entire fleet to be completed throughout this year. The redesign is mainly aesthetic with re-design of seat fabrics, carpets and curtain dividers, however seats in Business, Premium economy and Economy have been [...]

Virgin Australia Launches Galaxy Tab In-flight Entertainment Trial

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Virgin Australia launched its trial of airlines future in-flight entertainment system based on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, passengers lucky enough to be travelling in Business Class on select Boeing 737 and Embraer E90 flights will have the chance to trial the enhanced inflight experience the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will deliver. Virgin Australia Group Executive Product and Guest [...]

Singapore Changi Budget Terminal to Close and make way for Terminal 4

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:34:00 +0000

Singapore’s budget terminal in which airlines such as Tiger Airways, Berjaya Air, Cebu Pacific, Firefly, South East Asian Airlines operate from will be closed from 25 September 2012 and demolished to make way for a new main terminal building Terminal 4. The new terminal build 4 which is scheduled to be complete by 2017 will [...]

Qantas Inflight Internet Trial to begin tomorrow

Ben Hoffman — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Qantas will commence trials of its inflight internet connectivity solution from tomorrow, on six of its Airbus A380 aircraft that service Sydney/Melbourne to Los Angeles routes, as reported here back in December (Qantas to trial Inflight Wi-Fi Internet from Feburary 2012) the the OnAir’s solution which piggybacks off of Inmarsat’s SwiftBoadband. Qantas Executive Manager Customer [...]

Emirates Lounges in Australia Serve Gourmet Dishes from Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa

Ben Hoffman — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Emirates Lounges across Australia will be serving gourmet dishes from the critically acclaimed Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa, with Emirates travellers being offered a different dish each month. The menu will consists of starter, main course and dessert menu options, designed by Wolgan Valley’s Executive Chef Anston Fivaz that will refresh and delight the most discerning palates. I have personally [...]