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The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) Says Canadian Travellers Are Paying Excessive Taxes And Fees

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OTTAWA, April 18, 2013 /CNW/ – The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) welcomed a federal government report supporting its position that air travellers are being unduly penalized by excessive taxes and fees that are making air travel more costly for Canadians.

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The report, One Size Doesn’t Fit All: The Future Growth and Competitiveness of Canadian Air Travel by the Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications, builds on earlier work of the committee that concluded taxes and fees imposed on travellers and airlines are making Canada’s aviation industry uncompetitive.

The senate report includes the following key findings and recommendations:

  • Canada needs a single, cohesive National Air Travel Strategy to chart a new course to ensure competitive air travel in Canada.
  • The Government of Canada must stop treating the aviation sector as a source of public revenue and start recognizing the sector’s ability to create jobs.
  • Airport rent should be eliminated.
  • Canadians continue to drive to U.S. airports to take advantage of lower airfares at an alarming rate.
  • The rules governing the use of foreign pilots should be strengthened.

“We note that the Senate Committee continues to be convinced of the urgent need to stop using the aviation industry to fill public coffers and start treating it as an engine that creates jobs and drives Canada’s economy, trade and tourism.  Our member airlines are proud of their contributions to the economy but there is so much potential to do more.  While the economic benefits of air transportation are significant and the sector supports over 400,000 Canadian jobs, the benefits could be much greater,” said George Petsikas, President of the NACC.

Canada’s aviation sector faces serious challenges as the downloading of government taxes, fees and other charges on the aviation industry has resulted in Canada having the dubious distinction of being one of the least competitive jurisdictions in the world for air travel.

“A strange paradox arises when we consider that the World Economic Forum consistently ranks Canada first in the world when it comes to the quality of our air transport infrastructure, yet millions of Canadians do not use our airports because of government taxes and policies.  Canada, unfortunately, is inhibiting significant job creation,” added Petsikas.

“Canada’s large air carriers are working to keep government and airport costs down and fares affordable for our customers.  To that end, we are urging the government to adopt the Senate Committee’s recommendation to develop a cohesive National Air Travel Strategy that reflects the realities of the industry today.”

The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) is the trade association representing Canada’s largest national and international passenger air carriers:  Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation LP and WestJet.   The NACC promotes safe, sustainable and competitive air travel through the development of policies, regulations and legislation that foster a world-class transportation system.  Collectively, our member airlines carry over 50 million passengers annually and directly employ 43,000 people.

TravelBloggers.ca Viewpoint: As much as we love to give Canadian airlines’ our business, we have – and will continue to – cross the border and fly from Buffalo, NY in order to save us money (and time). The taxes on a flight from Toronto can easily be double what we’d pay from Buffalo.

Icelandair And WestJet Join Forces To Open The Skies Between North America And Europe

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QUINCY, Mass., April 17, 2013 /CNW/ – WestJet and Icelandair have launched a new interline agreement opening up the skies for passengers connecting between the Americas and more than 20 Icelandair destinations throughout Europe.

Passengers can now book a single combined e-ticket for WestJet and Icelandair flights which includes the conveniences of single check-in for all flights and baggage sent through to the final destination.

TravelBloggers.ca                                Icelandair logo, TravelBloggers.ca

When connecting in the Americas, Icelandair customers will enjoy WestJet’s fleet of Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft serving more than 80 cities in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

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WestJet, TravelBloggers.ca

WestJet expands code-share with American Airlines

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New cities now available via American Airlines’ Dallas-Fort Worth hub

CALGARY, April 15, 2013 /CNW/ – WestJet announced today it will begin code-sharing on American Airlines flights to 16 new cities beyond Dallas-Fort Worth in conjunction with WestJet’s new, non-stop service between Calgary and Dallas-Fort Worth launching April 29, 2013.  WestJet and American Airlines together will provide three round-trip flights per day between the two cities.

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  The WestJet code has now been added on American Airlines-operated routes connecting through Dallas-Fort Worth to Albuquerque, N.M., Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jacksonville, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., Orlando, Fla., Miami, Fla., New Orleans, La., Oklahoma City, Okla., Raleigh-Durham, N.C., San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, Mo., Tampa Bay, Fla., and Tulsa, Okla.

“Our airline partnership strategy continues to grow, offering guests additional opportunities to connect throughout WestJet’s world and beyond,” said Chris Avery, Vice-President, Network Planning, Alliances and Corporate Development. “The addition of 16 new cities beyond Dallas-Fort Worth greatly increases connectivity for both WestJet and American Airlines guests, opening new markets for business travellers in particular.”

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Self-Catering/DIY - Explore, TravelBloggers.ca

What’s Your Holiday Style? ❀ All-Inclusive ❀ Hotels & Restaurants ❀ Self-Catered ❀

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Iain is always quick to tell people that his Polish-Ukrainian wife is far more Scottish than he is … and yes, I’ll admit it … I’m frugal!

With that, I can tell you that only ONCE in our 21 married years have we ever gone on an all-inclusive vacation … and it was probably our least favorite (for more reasons than one, but we won’t get into that). I’m not sure if that really tells you anything, other than maybe I’d rather not sit still and be waited on?  Though I’m sure Iain would disagree with that statement, but let’s not argue the details, let’s just talk about the options!Mont Tremblant, Hotel & Restaurant, TravelBloggers.caThough we don’t have a gaggle of kids in tow when we travel we still tend to vacation on a budget, or even a shoe string where possible. For some reason we can’t get our heads wrapped around spending more money to stay ONE week in a hotel than we would for our monthly housing expenses at home. Call us crazy (we’re okay with that), but that’s just who we are.

If you’ve never considered a self-catered holiday, you really should … It’s a great option for saving money! Sure you may have to make a few meals and tidy up after yourself, but the plus-side (besides saving money) is that you have more freedom and privacy and you can keep your own schedule, not that of house-keeping or the breakfast buffet!

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Go Airport Shuttle, TravelBloggers.ca

New app Lets Travellers Book Airport Shuttles Quickly With Just One Click

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The GO Group has launched an updated app that allows travellers to book a GO Airport Shuttle from their mobile phones.  The new version called GO Airport Shuttle, stores users’ personal information, which speeds up the booking process thereby making it easy for travelers to find transportation in their destination city.

Go Airport Shuttle, TravelBloggers.ca

To make a reservation, users simply access the app and enter their flight, arrival and/or destination information and the app connects them with reservations for an airport shuttle service. This program also now stores a customer’s information, so travellers who use the app multiple times will be able to book transportation with just the touch of a button. 

“Mobile devices [are] increasingly becoming the booking method of choice for travellers, so this app allows one-stop shopping for all travel needs, allowing anyone to book ground transportation quickly from any location,” said John McCarthy, president of The GO Group – serving more than 50 airports in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The app is ideal for anyone that travels to international destinations like London, Paris, Toronto, Mexico City, as well as the United States in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington, D.C. (see list below).

The app for iPhones is available now and can be downloaded at the Apple app store and by searching for the phrase “go shuttle.” It should be available for other mobile devices later this year.

http://goairportshuttle.com/ Go Airport Shuttle, TravelBloggers.ca

Copyright © 2013 Iain & Gail Shankland / TravelBloggers.ca (at)Gmail.com

This original, copyrighted material may NOT be copied, used in whole or in part in any way, cut and pasted, published or otherwise reproduced in any form or in any medium – which means DO NOT post this on another website or BBS. If you want somebody else to see this, please send them a link or post a link to this page.
http://www.groupon.com//raf/UserReferral_rp/121015/10r1act/lk/uu53515483

Get Travel Discounts Wherever You Go In 3 Easy Steps

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If you’re travelling in the U.S. or Canada especially – but also world-wide, here’s an easy way to research a travel destination and get multiple discounts at the same time…

# 1. Go to Groupon.com/learn  (just typing without the “/learn” will take you to your local area and also limit your search outside that area). Click the down arrow beside your city and you’ll get the option of other areas and countries.

http://www.groupon.com//raf/UserReferral_rp/121015/10r1act/lk/uu53515483       What is Groupon?

“Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses. We send the deals to thousands of subscribers in our free daily email, and we send the businesses a ton of new customers.” 

# 2. Find the city that you’re travelling to or a nearby city if you’re planning on a side-trip (or passing through). Click on the name of the city to go to its daily deal page.

# 3. Either sign up for the newsletter and receive a new deal each day in your in-box, or click on “Today’s Deal” to see the daily discount.

You’ll find all kinds of good stuff, from huge discounts at restaurants, tours to a lion safari, spa services, movies, the list is endless. In most cases you have a year to use the coupon, so you can search a destination and stock up on coupons long before you go. You’ll also have a list of restaurants, bars, hotels, boutiques, and other places to check out while you’re there. (You can buy gifts for people too, so if you’re travelling to visit friends/relatives you can get discounts for them as well).

Groupon.com has a very large selection of deals in foreign countries (although they’re in the language of that country Google translator makes it a lot easier to see and read the deals if you’re using Chrome as your browser). I did a quick spot-check of my local area and 764 deals popped up for that day. A quick look at Germany for instance brought up a ton of cities that had Groupons available there.

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Air China's "Smiling China", B777, TravelBloggers.ca

Air China increased its Beijing-New York service from 7 to 11 times weekly

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‘Smiling China’ Kick-starts Service Upgrade

BEIJING, April 2, 2013 /CNW/ – Air China’s “Smiling China” aircraft, which sports the livery of smiling faces, touched down at New York’s Kennedy International Airport at on March 31, 2013. The B-2035, one of the aircraft in Air China’s B777-300ER fleet, is the prelude to a new endeavor to upgrade Beijing-New York operations.

Air China's "Smiling China", B777, TravelBloggers.ca

Air China’s Beijing-New York route – the most important and busiest between China and the United States – increased from seven to 11 times a week starting March 31. The newly added flights are CA989/990. The airliner used on the route was upgraded to B777-300ER, a type popular with business travelers.

In 2012, China was the world’s second largest source market for outbound tourist traffic, and the United States was the most popular destination for Chinese travelers. Beijing’s new policy also allows travelers from 45 countries, including the United States, to stay in Beijing for 72 hours during flight transfers without a visa. After in-depth market research and based on its deep understanding of business travelers’ needs, Air China added an additional four weekly Beijing-New York on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Efficient and reliable, the B777-300ER is Air China’s preferred long-haul airliner. It features the best cabin interior in Air China’s history, encouraging a relaxing, stress-free travel experience. First and Business Classes feature lie-flat seats, and personal power outlets and AVOD are available in all classes of service for passengers’ entertainment.

AIR CHINA LOGO

Currently, Air China operates four routes to North America including Beijing to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. To further cement its North American foothold, Air China also plans to start direct Beijing–Houston flights on July 11, 2013, the first service ever to link Beijing with the southern region of the United States.

SOURCE: Air China

WestJet, TravelBloggers.ca

WestJet Eases Restrictions On Pets In The Cabin

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Airline looks to attract more guests who want to travel with the family pet

CALGARY, April 1, 2013 /CNW/ – WestJet today announced the easing of restrictions on pets in the cabin. All WestJet flights will now allow for any type of animal to travel in the cabin provided it fits safely on board the aircraft. Further, the airline will no longer require animals to be kept in kennels while on board the aircraft.

“We recognize that a growing number of families want to travel with their ‘extended’ family and we are proud to be the first airline to offer this type of service,” said Richard Bartrem, WestJet’s Vice-President, Communications and Community Relations.

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