news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Passengers booked on AirAsia’s X flights next year can opt for the seats for an additional cost of RM 35 (US$11) or RM 110 — the standard fee charged for picking specific seats in economy class and in the “hot seats” section, which provide more leg room.

AirAsia’s competitor, Malaysia Airlines, started flying this year with kid-free first class cabins as well as a kid-free upper deck economy section on its A380 service.

The last remaining full-body X-ray airport scanners are to be scrapped within weeks.

The European Commission ruled that the cancer risk was ‘close to zero’ but, under Brussels legislation, the three-year trial period has elapsed and it has decided not to ‘prioritise’ them for permanent use across the continent.

The scanners will be replaced with ‘privacy-friendly’ machines which use radio-frequency technology.

source: Dailymail.co.uk

Car rental company Hertz launches a global 30% discount on it fleet until 30th of September.

To access the discount, you must purchase directly on hertz.com or use Trabber car search engine, where prices are shown with the discount.

Hertz is one of the largest car rental companies worldwide, operating from approximately 8,500 locations in 150 countries.

EasyJet has decided to expand its summer experiment in allocated seating to the entire fleet from November, after determining that assigning passengers places did not add to costs but brought in more revenues than the old “speedy boarding” option.

The budget carrier started assigning seats on six routes in April, charging passengers who wanted to choose where they sat between £3 and £12. It later expanded the trial, eventually covering about 5 per cent of the carrier’s network, always with a full roll-out in mind.

source: FT.com

Bmi’s low-cost subsidiary Bmibaby took its last flight over the weekend, after just over a decade of operation.

Bmibaby was launched in early 2002, with initial flights between its base at East Midlands airport and Malaga. Over the course of the next decade further bases were opened at Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast City.

When BA’s parent company IAG agreed to buy Bmi from Lufthansa, it had originally been hoped Bmibaby would be sold as a going concern, with several groups entering discussions to buy the budget carrier (see online news February 2 and March 5).

source: businesstraveller.com