Travel News

I was just reading an article over at CNN where they talk about travel movies movies that show us great places and make us want to travel just like the characters in the films do.

As well as obvious movies like Out of Africa and Roman Holiday, the article also mentions some not so obvious choices like Bourne Identity and Before Sunrise as great travel movies. Which by the way, you can now start watching netflix internationally since there are more options.

I am a big fan of travel shows but also I really like a movie that shows me what another place looks like to a traveler and not just a local. Interestingly the article seems to focus on a lot of movies that take place in the Tuscany area of Italy.

Myself I have loved lots of travel movies including the Indiana Jones movies, The Beach, and the Razors Edge.

Well here we are on Monday morning and JetBlue says that their upgrade went well. Good for them. According to their blog they are having a bit of a backup on the phones and at the airports. Other than this though everything seems to be good which is amazing considering what so many airlines have run into in the past. Today is a good test as Mondays are very busy in the airline industry.

Do you fly JetBlue? I never have but hear that they are good and pretty good deals so that is always a great selling feature to me!

Once every 20 years of so an airline will take the plunge and upgrade their reservations system. This is a big job and has caused many airlines to fail because this is the cash register, the very heart of the business and if there are problems or even hiccups it will cause the traveling public to doubt the airline.

This weekend after 4 years of planning, JetBlue made a change from the favorite of low cost carriers, Open skies by Navitaire to the Sabre reservations system.

For most people this is supposed to be a seamless change but for the airline it is very difficult. Open Skies is hosted by the airline and is a very fast but very simple system. The big advantage to using Navitaire Open Skies is that you can get a new res agent or airport person up and running quickly and making money and sending through passengers to their destinations quickly.

Sabre on the other hand offers central hosting of records down in their bunker in Tulsa and they have the features that all airlines are looking for including code sharing. Code sharing allows an airline to move passengers and baggage to other airlines or back and mans that if you want to go from a small city in the US to a small city in Europe you can do it with 1 ticket on three airlines and four flights without having to worry about it, Sabre does it all in the background.

So now that Jet Blue has successfully make their switch I am sure we are going to hear a lot more from them on the code sharing deal front. Jet Blue could work with WestJet in Canada, KLM in Europe, China Airlines in the orient seamlessly to their passengers and this would allow the airline to put more bums in the seats and grow their service and profits a lot more quickly then they can just do on their own.

Watch this weekend as well as I believe Jet Blue is offering a lot of special deals for travle over the next couple of months.

Congratulations on your move JetBlue!

Conquest Vacations has ceased all of its tour operations, effective immediately. The

The company, which specializes in packaged vacation tours in North America and the Caribbean, said in a notice on its website Wednesday morning that a “price war” among tour operators, “unrealistic and unreasonable” demands by credit companies and the faltering state of the economy  is to blame for their demise.

“Conquest Vacations regrets the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to cessation of its operations,” the company said in the notice.

Anyone who booked a vacation using their credit card is being asked to call their credit card company about receiving a refund.

For those who booked their travels through a travel agency and who paid with cash or a cheque are being asked to call their agent for help with filing a refund claim.

Those who booked directly with Conquest Vacations is being asked to email the company to directcustomers@conquestvacations.com with a booking reference number.

Oneworld, the leading quality global airline alliance, is linking up with WestJet, Canada’s leading high-value low-fare airline, to help businesses throughout Canada make their budgets for worldwide travel stretch as far as possible.

Their new canadaconnect corporate travel program combines WestJet’s comprehensive Canadian network with oneworld’s transborder and international reach to offer companies across Canada special rates on their business air travel right around the globe with some of the best airlines in the world.

It provides flights to almost 600 destinations in nearly 130 countries worldwide with more than 900 international departures a week from Canada. canadaconnect offers departures from more than 25 cities across the country. [Read more…] about WestJet and OneWorld