Here is good example why you shouldn’t ignore signs:

and why you must wear seat belt during landing. May be it is the best landings, but for passengers who were sitting on the plane it wasn’t the best experience.

Like in the car seat belt is for your safety and most people even without thinking wear seat belts in the car. The same you should do on the plane. It is not a toy and you shouldn’t ignore the signs.

UPDATE 2022

Here is the latest story about floating passengers on plane:

According to the New Straits Times (NST), several passengers had “floated” in their seats as their plane, a Boeing 737-800, took a “sharp dive” of about 7,000ft.
A passenger onboard wrote on Facebook that her flight, MH2664, took off from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) at 2:30pm, only to take a “sharp dive” 30 minutes after take-off, according to NST.
Based on the passenger’s checks on the Flight Radar application, the flight was cruising at 31,000ft, before dropping to 24,000ft “in a matter of seconds”.
She recounted that she had “floated” out of her seat because her seat belt was unfastened as the seat belt signs were turned off at the time.
She also said that some of the passengers were screaming and crying and feared for their lives.
She added that the flight then made a U-turn, circled above Malacca a few times, and returned to KLIA.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has confirmed the flight’s turn back to KLIA and said it would be reviewing the airline’s Flight Data Monitoring System.
Malaysian Airlines confirmed that the flight turned back to KL “due to technical issues with the aircraft, compounded by bad weather en route“.

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Find Cheap Flights Online

It is easy to find cheap air tickets online at any number of websites, including some top travel sites like Travelocity.com or  Expedia.com. If you go the online route, you will not need to purchase through an agent and you can compare airline costs for the same flight with several airlines. It is also possible you can find fantastic deals, packages and offers through the websites and a few offer special incentives and gifts for buying with them.

Book a Flight with a Domestic Carrier

Since the travel industry is booming in India, along with business travelers, several domestic airlines have come on the scene. Instead of booking with a larger carrier, book with a smaller domestic airline (like GoAir or Kingfisher Airlines) for cheaper seats. You are sure to find the price you want and still travel in style and comfort.

Book your Flight through an Agent

One of the best ways to get a cheaper flight is to book through a travel agent. A travel agent has access to all available flights within the country, knows the taxes and costs of each flight and can find you the best flight with the cheapest cost possible. An agent can explain the breakdown of the prices as well, for example, taxes, aviation fuel costs and Passenger Service Fees.

Look for Selloffs and Deals

Depending on the time of year, many Indian airlines will offer selloff prices and great deals in order to help their bottom line. For example, the slowest period for travel tends to be around January and February, so airlines will offer seat deals to encourage travelers. Also, airlines know many people travel for business reasons and will offer deals and discounts for frequent domestic flyers to obtain their business.

One thing to bear in mind when booking a domestic flight in India, all airfares are subject to change at any time. It is a good idea to make sure of the price of the flight before booking and know what your taxes will be as well.

The post Tips on Buying Cheap Domestic Air Tickets in India appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Thought during one of my last trips to London Olympic Games I started to think about smart phone purchase. It was so many information online: games schedules and results, available tickets, traffic information, sightseeing routes and etc.  I could carry laptop or iPad, but I like to keep my backpack very light and smart phone would be perfect choice. Of course such events like London Olympics doesn’t happen very often and I still could survive without any smart phone, but features of the latest iPhone 5 made me think again. May be I should get one?

I am not keen to share on social networks (aka twitter, facebook or google+) my current location and all activities I am doing at the moment as I think it is not safe, so didn’t have smart phone up to now, but three features of  iPhone 5 interested me:

1. iPhone 5 has improved iSight camera and with new A6 chip it will capture photos quicker. The new panorama feature lets you shoot up to an impressive 240 degrees high-resolution panorama up to 28 megapixels. New camera with improved video stabilization helps record stunning 1080p HD video. This camera won’t change my Canon DSLR, but I really started to think iPhone 5 could be replacement of my P&S camera.

1. Apple ditched Google Maps and introduced its own Apple Maps application. It is new product and still there are no reviews, but I hope it will be good and will require less bandwidth. Maps application is done in partnership with TomTom know as world’s leading supplier of location and navigation products and services.
2. Passbook application is the most interested new application in latest iOS 6. In the middle of this year Apple announced its Passbook program which could replace all tickets and gift cards in your wallet.  But most importantly it can store your boarding passes, so you won’t need seek printer during your travels.
   

   

   With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone to check in for a flight. Wake your iPhone and passes appear on your Lock screen at the appropriate time and place when you reach the airport. If your departure gate changes after you’ve checked in for your flight, Passbook will alert you to make sure you’re not relaxing in the wrong terminal. This application seems will be irreplaceable companion for a lot of frequent travelers. Of course it will take some time until major airlines adopt this technology. American Airlines, Delta, United and Virgin airlines are among the early partners and hopefully other will follow.

Will I buy iPhone 5 tomorrow when the phone will be released at Apple store? I am not sure yet. I probably will wait for more reviews of all these application I am interested in, but I feel I will buy one at the end.

UPDATE Sep 21

It seems travellers should wait with purchase of new iPhone, as there are lot of problems with their mapping application. You can check some reviews here and here. Surprisingly bad quality of  satellite shots and it give wrong directions.

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In the last 3 years I have been on and off New Zealand for may be 10 times. I always had great time out there, but there is one thing which really annoys me every time I come to airport to catch my out bound flight from New Zealand. It is departure fee. For all international departures you need to pay departure tax (currently it is 25$NZ).
It looks a small charge comparing with amount of money you already spent in the country. That is the thing I can’t understand – they collect so much taxes from all tourist industry, as it is expensive country to travel, and it is still not enough and they just want to ruin all your wonderful experience about New Zealand. Small thing, but I am sure it will be remembered by most of tourists. Especially all whose long queues to pay that fee.

Gladly at least in Auckland airport you don’t need to pay this fee, but keep 25$NZ in you pocket if you are flying out from any other airport in New Zealand.

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Especially if you are  flying from summer in South hemisphere to winter in the North or otherwise. Like recently I was flying from Australia (where it is summer at the moment) to freezing Europe.
When you are boarding plane in the country where outside temperature is +30 °C (86 °F) not many of us are thinking about what is waiting on other side of the World. Me either. But with so many canceled flights and delays you should expect your luggage won’t be able to reach your destination at the same time you’ll do. So it is better be prepared for unexpected, as it is not much fun to stand with t-shirt in freezing temperature.

The post Don’t keep all your warm clothes inside checked luggage appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

I am not surprised when officer at airport asks me for random(?) bag check. Usually I have big backpack, wearing not the cleanest clothes on after a long trip, so I can go directly to custom officer after collecting my checked luggage. But last time I was on short trip and had only small bag. Landed on Monday morning and was rushing to the office as I had some urgent job to do. Again I was stopped by custom officer. It didn’t took much time to check my small bag, but I asked him, why I was stopped and the answer was: “I saw you was moving very fast towards exist”. Lesson learned: don’t run in customs area, it won’t help you leave airport faster.

The post Don’t run in customs zone in airport appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

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If you are not using Paypal (Australia) yet, you can easy get benefits of these offers by creating new account with Paypal. It is free and easy to set up and you can save up to 200$ by booking your next flight or accommodation with offers from these companies. Just read fine print as they have different rules.

FlightCentre: Receive 10% cash back when you spend over $200 on any flight. You will receive 10% cash back to your PayPal account, up to a maximum cash back of $100.

Webjet are rewarding customers who book and pay for their international flights using their PayPal account with $150 cash back. Your booking must have a minimum value of $1,000 and excludes flights to and from New Zealand and Jetstar flights

Jetabroad offers a 10% cash back on all bookings with a minimum purchase of AUD$500 and a maximum of AUD$200 cash back per booking.

Besides flight bookings you can save on hotels bookings with Agoda. It offers $50 cash back into your PayPal account when your booking value is $200 or greater. Limited to the first 800 eligible bookings.

Offer ends on 31st of October or cash back budget is used up, whichever occurs first.

Of course you need to check other alternatives, as I couldn’t find good prices to destinations I want to fly with these companies, but may be you’ll have more luck and will be left with more spending money on you next holidays.

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Was no any announcement about that. I didn’t read and didn’t hear about it although follow travel news regularly and I had noticed it only after I bought next my ticket. I did everything automatically and after pressed button to process with payment I saw something different on the screen. POLi. What is that? POLi is an online payment option you can use to safely pay for your flights directly from your bank account and some airlines based in Australia and New Zealand started use it on their online ticket booking systems.
What does this mean for you? You’ll save about $10 by using POLi instead of credit card. Yes, it is not much but how it is annoying after finding cheap airfare at last stage of payment to see price going up, isn’t it?
At the moment I found three airlines using this payment option:

• Virgin Blue

• Jet Star

• Air New Zealand

The only catch I can see, you must have account in one of supported banks in Australia, New Zealand or UK. Here is list of supported banks.

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