Following a few unfortunate incidents and media reports of problems with Thailand Immigration lanes where Chinese visitors got into arguments with other travelers the immigration bureau has now opened Special Lanes for Chinese Citizens.
The counters which have been declared as ‘VIP Lines’ are obviously anything but – instead of privileged treatment they are designed to keep the order in the immigration area and prevent rowdy behavior.
Yep they did it again! There is a large thirst for Duty Free products from South Korea among mainland Chinese travelers who then smuggle these goods into the country and sell at a big profit and they made headlines for all the wrong reasons again starting a brutal fight inside one of Incheon Airports Duty Free Shops.
Three of these ‘shoppers’ or smugglers as I prefer to call them got totally out of control and video footage shows a man stomping on a woman’s head after she went to the floor following an initial fight with another female competitor.
Flight Attendant unions have unveiled a new called “2Hot2Cold” to track and report uncomfortable temperatures on flights which is now available for download in the app store for both iPhone and Android.
The data will apparently be used to develop a study and lobby the Department of Transportation for a general guideline on cabin temperature.
There was an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal yesterday where they interviewed the CEO’s of American Airlines and Delta Air Lines about Economy Class and their own flying habits.
While the Parker and Bastian agreed to the interview to the Economy Class focused interview, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz declined the interview – go figure!
The Electronic Baggage Tag that Rimowa introduced just a few years ago seems to be ending it’s existence prematurely as the manufacturer already took it out of the new series.
E-Tag luggage doesn’t appear in the most recent catalogue anymore, stores in Germany are having sales offering discounts on e-tag bags and rarely any airline is supporting the system.
An irate man has attacked security screening staff at Duesseldorf Airport with a knife and caused life threatening injuries to the man who is currently undergoing emergency surgery.
From news reports in German media the assailant jammed a knife into the mans head and then fled the scene until he could be taken down a short while later.
Our Fabulous Friday topic this week is about an interesting concept I came across in Las Vegas where they had sleeping pods available at an hourly rate.
I found these ‘Napin Pod’s’ at Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas and was very interested to see more though unfortunately there was no associate around to introduce the system.
New Zealand might very soon impose a $35 Tourism Levy on foreigners arriving in the country as per a current government proposal that is under consideration.
Also in the planning stage is an Electronic Travel Authority process (ETA) similar to the systems in place for visitors of Australia, Canada and the United States.
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today about passengers flying in premium class who like to steal things like pillows, blankets and other inventory off the plane.
Items that are allowed to be taken off the aircraft are usually limited to the amenity kit and the pyjamas but items such as blankets, pillows and headphones are supposed to remain on board.
If you have planned travel to Singapore in the coming week you might want to pay extra attention to the location of your hotel and commute plan as a location for the North Korea Summit has been narrowed down.
The government has declared a security zone (Special Event Area) under the Public Order Act which includes the popular Orchard / Tanglin area where the St. Regis, Hilton and Shangri La Hotel are located.
Today I’d like to remind our readers that it can sometimes pay off to periodically check the pricing for certain flexible reservations again closer to the actual travel date and re-book at a lower rate.
Prices for certain things such as hotels and rental cars fluctuate all the time and you might be able to pick up a better deal by cancelling or just changing the rate of your existing reservation.
Germany’s Hamburg Airport has closed down for the entire Sunday due a power outage that crippled it’s operations and subsequently all flights have been cancelled.
Airport authorities have informed passengers that no more flight operations would be taking place today and that they should contact their airline for flight status and rebooking of their travel plans.
The German government has introduced new guidelines for the authorities who now (effective 25th May, 2018) collect and store a wide variety of passenger data including reservation details, passengers personal data and booking origin.
It’s not just the collection of the data that has privacy activists riled up but the provisions that allows authorities a carte blanche to analyze the data and also share it with other countries.
As thunderstorms and torrential rain swept across the UK overnight, London-Stansted Airport suffered a lightning strike disabling many systems including the fuel supply for all aircraft.
The system outage caused numerous delays, some of which are still ongoing. Departing passengers should check their flight status prior to going to Stansted Airport.
