news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

In a trip that was years in the making, United Airlines passengers Sunday got their first chance to experience the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which made its inaugural voyage for the airline on a scheduled flight from Houston to Chicago.

The twin-aisle plane, which made its debut three years late because of production problems at Boeing, is said to be far more fuel-efficient and less costly to maintain for airlines, while offering a new level of in-cabin comfort for passengers. Instead of being made mostly of metal, half of the plane, including the fuselage and wings, is made of strong, light composite materials.

With little less than three weeks left before the busy Thanksgiving weekend, Spirit Airlines has just released some harsh news that will leave many of its customers rethinking their packing choices.

Starting today, the budget airline will charge up to $100 for each piece of carry-on luggage brought on board a flight.

According to Spirit, the ”Bring Less, Pay Less” campaign is expected to help not only the airline, but its customers by cutting down on waiting times and saving millions of gallons of fuel.

Airlines around the world will collect an estimated 27.8 billion in extra fees and charges this year.

The figure represents an increase of 11 per cent on last year’s total, and is nearly 40 per cent more than carriers received in 2010.

With total airline income remaining stagnant during that time, it also illustrates just how dependent many airlines have become on “‘ancillary’” revenue, from baggage charges and administration fees to car hire sales and in-flight food and drink, to maintain their profits.

Airlines claim such charges allow them to keep headline fares low, but passengers often complain that they reduce transparency and make it more difficult to compare fares.

Which airline fees are worth the extramoney?

No-frills airline Ryanair raised its guidance for the year as profit rose 10 per cent in the first half of its financial year and traffic increased.

The airline said it would raise its profit guidance for the year from between €400 million and €440 million to between €590 million and €520 million after a strong performance in the six months to September.

Revenues were 15 per cent higher for the six-month period at €3.11 billion, with profit after tax rising to €596 million compared with €544 million in the six months to September 2011.

Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW Air has taken control of rival airline Iceland Express.

Following the takeover, all Iceland Express services will operate under Wow branding.

From next spring Wow Air will operate four Airbus A320 aircraft from its Reykjavik base on a summer timetable that will include 15 European destinations: Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, London, Lyon, Milan, Paris, Stuttgart, Vilnius, Warsaw, and Zurich.

WOW Air says that no disruption is expected for passengers currently booked on Iceland Express flights.

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No-frills carrier AirAsia has announced plans to introduce a “‘quiet zone'” on its AirAsia X flights, allowing passengers to avoid the screams of babies and young children.

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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