The landscape for Australian budget travel is heating up as two budget carriers, Jetstar and Tiger Airways have launched sales on domestic routes in a price war that will strongly benefit Aussie travellers.

Qantas owned Jetstar is gearing up to offer fares from $1, while Tiger Airways is offering one way fares from $21 as part of its latest sale, where travellers only pay taxes and charges.

The sale includes flights between Australian destinations including Adelaide to Sydney, Brisbane to Rockhampton, Adelaide to Alice Springs and Melbourne to Launceston.

Consumer Communications Manager for Tiger Airways, Vanessa Regan, said that the airline would continue to give travellers cheap fares

She said that the sale this week reinforced the commitment to offer popular routes on sale for as little as the cost… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on February 26th, 2010

The travel plans of passengers who have booked flights with British Airways could be in chaos as cabin crew voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action due to conditions and pay.

The union representing the cabin crew, Unite, said that 78.77 per cent of the 11,691 ballot papers were issued and returned, with a total of 80.7 per cent supporting the strike.

But Unite has said that it would not be announcing any strike dates in the near future as it hoped it could continue negotiations with the airline.

The airline said that it would not allow Unite to ruin the company.

BA has said that some progress has been made during recent dialogue between the two parties and that it would do everything that it could to protect passenger’s… Read the full story

by Mia Harris on February 25th, 2010

Following months of warnings, Australian travel companies who fail to declare the full price of services will be fined, it has been reported.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is still fighting to get some operators to comply with a law protecting customers from omissions about pricing in advertising, a year on after changes were made to the Trade Practices Act.

Price structuring with airlines were the initial trigger for the reforms enacted in May 2009 to prevent companies from understating the total price of goods and services in a range of industries, including car hire.

Sellers of travel products and motor vehicles had been viewed as the worst offenders in the practice of so-called component pricing, where the advertised price omitted extras which were compulsory and had “asterisked” in… Read the full story

by Lily Thompson on February 23rd, 2010

A new flight comparison website has been launched for Australian travellers, allowing those looking at purchasing tickets to compare prices from different Aussie airlines.

Accommodation website Wotif.com has unveiled the new search tool to help make the flight booking process easier.

The new website, Wotflight.com allows travellers to compare the airfares of different carriers and purchase their tickets.

General Manager of the brand Wotflight, Megan Magill, said it was the first website of its kind in Australia.

She said that there was a real focus on regional Australia with one of the biggest ranges of Australian airlines available to book online.

At present, only domestic flights within Australia are available for purchase, however the website plans to expand into an international booking service.… Read the full story

by Cooper Anderson on February 22nd, 2010

The Australian air safety bureau will continue to let Regional Express Airlines’ fleet Saab propeller jets to keep flying in spite of having wheels that a known to be susceptible to fatigue cracks.

Air safety investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the flaw in the wheel’s design was known since 1995, when the aircraft manufacturer introduced a revision, consisting of a reinforced wheel design.

An investigation into the landing-gear wheel commenced after one broke along its circumference when the 34-seat Saab 340B aircraft landed at Sydney Airport in February last year.

Parts of the tyre bead broke from the cracked rim, causing the tyre to deflate, also damaging the brake assembly and the wheel axel on the left side main landing gear.

This allowed the tyre to move… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on February 17th, 2010

As many passengers reported stories about cancelled flights last week between Darwin and Denpasar (Bali), the latest in a string of troubles for passengers as Jetstar admitted it sometimes cancels flights for commercial reasons.

Other Australian airlines do not guarantee flight times, with Qantas and Virgin Blue saying as much in their terms and conditions.

But customers of Jetstar must tick a box titled ‘important information’ when they purchase flights online, that warns them that their flight may not depart on time.

It says that the airline does not guarantee it would be able to carry passengers or baggage in accordance with the date and time of the flights specified.

It goes on to say that schedules might change and flights may be delayed or cancelled for a range of… Read the full story

by Mia Harris on February 10th, 2010

The Australian travel industry is now bearing the emotional scars of the economic downturn in addition to the material damages as authorities have unveiled an alarming rise in air rage or disruptive behaviour, leading many airlines to be fearful of the level of baggage left over from the economic crisis.

A disruptive incident is defined, amongst others, as smoking on the plane, over-intoxication, altercations, abuse or deliberate refusal by a passenger to follow directions from the cabin crew. Despite the rise in cases aviation experts are quick to identify that with some 50 million domestic and over 27 million international flights in Australia last year the number of air rage or disruptive incidents is minimal.

Much of the blame has been placed with… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 9th, 2010

North America has been usurped from its position atop the world’s leading air travel market with the Asia-Pacific region now reaching the watermark point where it has overtaken its main rival on the global stage.

According to new data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this week, the Asia-Pacific region hosted 647 million air passengers last year. The details were released at an industry conference ahead of the Singapore Air Show which featured all of the major international operators. This represents a significant increase on the 638 million that flew across North America as that region continues to suffer the hangover of the economic downturn, in particularly the weakening greenback.

Inside Asia, Japan has finally been overtaken as the region’s biggest… Read the full story

by Cooper Anderson on February 8th, 2010

Passengers on a Jetstar flight from Hamilton Island to Sydney have revealed their fears at being stuck on a hot aircraft with 116 people as the pilot attempted unsuccessfully to start it.

The incident took place on Jetstar flight JQ843 from Hamilton Island to Sydney on Friday.

One of the passengers on board the flight said that they were stuck on the hot, stuffy Airbus A320 aircraft with no air conditioning, as the pilot attempted to start it.

The passengers said that passengers began to panic as the pilot attempted to start the aircraft’s engines, which led to the passengers being told to leave the jt so the pilots could start the plane manually.

Obvious concern grew as passengers realised there was something wrong with the jet.

Passengers were eventually… Read the full story

by Lily Thompson on February 5th, 2010