news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

A JetBlue pilot lost his government-issued handgun after a passenger mistakenly picked up his carry-on luggage, authorities said Friday.

The pilot was waiting for his New York-to-Pittsburgh flight at Kennedy Airport on Thursday morning when a passenger who was traveling with children mistakenly picked up his backpack along with her family’s bags.

TSA is still investigating, noting that pilots are “‘required to follow strict protocols for securing their TSA-issued firearm.'”

source: msnbc.com

In a statement this week, Airbus said that Indian carrier IndiGo ordered 180 A320s from the carrier. Of the total, 150 will be A320neo’s and 30 will be A320s.

Airbus said that the order is the single largest order in commercial aviation history. A typical A320 goes for $81.7 million per, and tack on an additional $6 million per for the A320neo. Arithmetic brings us to a total purchase price of $14.89 billion.

Airbus claims that the A320neo has specially designed wing tip devices, named Sharklets, that will deliver up to 15% in fuel savings, among other engine and operational variants that add to efficiency. IndiGo is the first airline to make a purchase of the new model.

source: streetinsider.com

ITB World Travel Trends Report predicts that social networks will have a massive influence on travel and booking behaviour while mobile services continue to expand.

Social networks are not only influencing the way that people obtain information and make their bookings in advance of a journey, but also provide an important channel for communications during the trip. Facebook and other social media are used during their trips by 37 per cent of international travellers in order to keep their friends and those at home informed, or to post photos online before their return. In order not to restrict this development it is important that the costs of using mobile devices abroad are easily understood, and solutions must also be found to the problem of roaming tariffs.

For example, in Japan Smartphones are already being used to make reservations for 20 per cent of domestic flights.

The ITB World Travel Trends Report 2010/2011 is available at www.itb-berlin.com.

source: hospitalitynet.org

Budget airline Ryanair has announced today that record numbers of passengers travelled on its services during 2010.

In a statement today, Ryanair said its traffic grew by 10pc from 65 million passengers to 72 million.

In August, a monthly record was set when more than 7.7 million passengers flew with the airline. However, the company’s busiest day was recorded on July 30 when more than 1,400 flights carried over 255,000 people.

source: businessandleadership.com

Thirty passengers were ordered off an easyJet plane in Birmingham on Boxing Day because it had been loaded with too much fuel before take-off.

The flight, which was scheduled to fly to Geneva in Switzerland, had to lose weight before take-off so the company asked for volunteers to disembark. Following a lukewarm response – only seven people took up the offer – the last 30 passengers to board were then told to get off the easyJet plane.

source: traveldaily.co.uk

EasyJet has agreed to order 15 new planes from Airbus worth $1.1bn (£705m) as the low-cost airline seeks to expand its capacity in mainland Europe.

The company is to convert options on 15 A320s into firm orders with “‘substantial confidential price concessions'” secured with Airbus and the engine provider, CFM.

Options have also been agreed on a further 33 A320s, and easyJet has converted a contract for 20 A319s due for delivery from next January into the larger A320, increasing the number of seats by 480.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Southwest Airlines Co. is unveiling the first major update to its Rapid Rewards program since the airline launched the frequent-flier benefits nearly 24 years ago.

In Southwest’s new frequent-flier program, points earned go up with the price of the ticket.

The changes sweeten the rewards for people who pay more for tickets, since the points earned are directly linked to the ticket price. People who buy full-fare tickets will earn more points per dollar than those flying on advance-purchase fares.

But people who were used to flying a lot of short hops to get a free ticket may not like it so much.

source: dallasnews.com

Air France has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay 540,000 euros to the relatives of a Brazilian family that died on a flight from Rio to Paris in June last year.

The mother of 31 year old Luciana Clarkson Seba will receive 2,300 euros a month as compensation to the suffering she experienced after she lost her daughter and son in law in the crash.

This case likely paves the way for legal claims by the families of the other 228 passengers and crew who died on the flight.

The airline said the carrier’s insurer would pay the compensation fees.

source: etravelblackboard.com

A Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo to Istanbul is safe, after a passenger threatened to blow up the aircraft in mid-air unless it returned to Oslo.

A man tried to hijack the plane with 59 passengers on board, saying he was rigged with explosives. He then tried to smash his way into the cockpit of the Boeing 737-800 but was tackled by several passengers who manged to subdue him.

source: Sofia Echo

Expedia became the second large travel website to fall out with American Airlines in as many months as the online travel company, stopped selling the carrier’s tickets on Saturday.

American and its online partners have struggled for months to agree terms as their contracts expire. American wants to pay the sites less and has pushed them to connect directly with its own computers rather than using intermediaries called global distribution systems.

In December American stopped selling tickets through Orbitz Worldwide, another travel and fare comparison website.

In an effort to dissuade the carrier from taking further steps to undermine online travel agencies, Expedia effectively buried American’s content on its website, as contract negotiations faltered in an effort to press American into a more amicable deal and prepare its own customers should talks fail.

source: FT.com