What is my checked baggage allowance and how much does it cost me if I go over it are two questions many travellers ask themselves before they embark on a trip. One way of finding answers to these questions is to sift through piles of terms and conditions from the airline you are flying with, another one is to reach out to third party helpers like iflybags.
Continue reading New app to help you calculate baggage fees and allowances
We love innovation and particularly – surprise, surprise – airport innovation. This one here was sent to us from a very attentive reader who discovered a story about a new way of overlaying digital flight information onto a binocular display at an airport observation deck. The story gets even better as the case study is based on an art installation at Zurich Airport (IATA: ZRH), one of our “like” airports in Europe.
Continue reading Airport Innovation: Augmented Reality Binoculars
This is a guestblog by Dana Rasmussen who writes about private jets for JetCharters.com, a worldwide air charter marketplace. Jet Charters makes booking your next air charter easier by allowing you to research trip options and connect directly with the charter operator.
It’s ski season and just about everyone with a need to take to the slopes is heading out to Vail.
Some of these people are going the more traditional route by getting onboard a commercial airliner, while others opt for a classier way.
These people are the ones that charter a private jet.
Continue reading Guestblog: Private jet vs commercial airliner- a journey of comparison
Our lovely friends over at Forbes have recently come up with their selection of the best international airport for layovers. It’s a great idea and something we have been discussing for a while here at LateDeparture. So, in true LD-style, let’s get that red pen out and add some notes to their recommendations:
London Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR)
Yes, London is exciting, however, the airport overall isn’t. Don’t get us wrong, we really like what they’ve done with Terminal 5 and the Virgin Clubhouse in Terminal 3 is simply fantastic, however, the average traveller would probably be quite underwhelmed by the airport overall. It still feels too crowded, outdated and confusing. Plus there’s always the chance of getting in or out late because of the airport is already at 99% capacity with its 2 runways. But then it is London, well known for being eccentric and a bit chaotic. So if that’s what you like, you’ll have a great time there!
Hong Kong International (IATA: HKG)
Yes, Hong Kong should definitely be on that list; we wrote about it numerous times, for example in one of our most famous headlines reading “When little airports grow up, they become Hong Kong International“. The airport has also won numerous awards and certainly has our seal of approval!
Munich International Airport (IATA: MUC)
Munich airport has two faces: a happy one and a rather confused if not angry one. Let us explain this further: Munich is one of the Lufthansa hubs and therefore receives special treatment by the German airline. The carrier occupies one terminal exclusively (together with its Star Alliance partners). This terminal, Terminal 2, is really nice and offers plenty of options for shopping or consuming one of those famous Oktoberfest beers. On the other side, Terminal 1 is dull and boring and doesn’t seem to fit next to its upmarket cousin. However, there’s a solution if you are not flying through Terminal 2: head outside and get into that middle section between the two terminals. There you find a few restaurants and other interesting stuff to spend your time with (read our more detailed review titled “Oktoberfest atmosphere at Munich Airport” to gain further insights).
Singapore Changi Airport (IATA: SIN)
Yes, yes, and yes! This airport ticks all the boxes and definitely belongs in this list. And no, we don’t get any money for writing this. But it is an open secret that this airport has been our long lasting favourite and we’ve covered it extensively (e.g. read our detailled review of Changi’s crown jewel, Terminal 3 here).
Amsterdam Schiphol (IATA: AMS)
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, what can we say? Maybe that we love you? There’s certainly no doubt that this is an exciting airport with plenty to see and do. In our opinion it’s probably the best European airport as it’s got the perfect size, it’s big but not too big. Plus similar to Changi airport, Amsterdam keeps introducing new and exciting things. The latest one was the banner vending machine – we wrote about it. If you want to read more about the airport, a good start is our review here.
That’s where the Forbes list ends. Overall we believe it’s a good selection but might miss out on mentioning South Korea’s Incheon International Airport (IATA: ICN), an airport that has also regularly won awards, Zurich Airport (IATA: ZRH) which we also featured a number of times (e.g. here) or good old Los Angeles International (IATA: LAX) albeit not for the airport itself, but for it’s great location only minutes away from the beach and other superb layover options (read our extensive LAX reviews here, here and here).
[Photo from Flickr – Some rights reserved by Gerrit Wenz]
That’s it; the results are in as my loyal readers have decided …drum roll….wait for it… it’s the “Lost Cat” story that wins the first ever LateDeparture Airport Story of the Year Award. The voting took place over three weeks and was open to all LateDeparture readers. And what a finish it was as counting in the vote went down to the wire, with Jack’s tale winning by just one vote over the story about a plane landing at the wrong airport. They both easily beat the final entry – a story about the rivalry between London’s two major airports – Gatwick and Heathrow.
The winning story of Jack the cat who got lost at JFK Airport in New York (IATA: JFK) was mentioned in three different weekly news articles. It had everything from an emotional plea to find the cat, an apologetic airline when it was found and a very sad ending when the cat had to be put down due to its condition.
You can read the full stories here:
It’s certainly been an amazing race to the finish and I would like to thank all loyal readers for their contribution and of course all the award sponsors for their amazing prizes. Speaking of prizes, the winner of the 1st prize, the two JetBlue return tickets is Abhishek Duggal from Honolulu – congratulations! All other winners have also been notified, so check your inbox to see if you are one of them!
2012 will surely be another interesting airport news year, so make sure you follow us right through it!
FlightStats, the leader in flight information services announced the winners of the 2011 Airport On-Time Performance Awards (OPS). In its third edition, the award honours airlines and airports for their performance. As airports are (obviously) our thing, we want to focus on them. According to FlightStats, the winning airports are recognized for delivering the highest percentage of departure from the gates less than15 minutes after the published scheduled departure time. So without further ado, here are this year’s winners:
For the full results, head to the FlightStats Award announcement page.
MacBook Pro equipped travellers have long been known for their pickyness when flying from A to B. Not any airport or airline would do, they had to offer connectivity throughout the journey. These days travellers are no longer just the geeks from yesteryear as nearly everyone wants to connect their fancy gadgets through Wi-Fi in airports and on-board. Yet not all airports and planes are equally tech-friendly. If you are travelling through the US, you’re in luck as you can now check the below infographic to find the best way to fly with all your gear.
Extensive research from PC World on the busiest airports and other data from the New York Times flew into the graphic revealing which airports have fast upload and download speeds and which airlines give you the most tech amenities like mobile check-ins and Wi-Fi on-board. Plus there is much, much more as you will surely discover (click to expand):
Via: Online MBA News
A few weeks ago we reported in our weekly news the arrival of the world’ first airport self-serving banner printing machine at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (IATA: AMS). According to the Reuters report then the airport has the world’s first vending machine capable of printing out personalised giant canvas banners in just a few minutes. Apparently you can pick your message, whether that is “Mama = sweet” (as pictured), “I love you”, “Will you marry me?”, or anything else that makes you stand out from the crowd, choose the font and background design, pay between four and 15 euros ($19.98) depending on the length of the banner, and hit the button.
Reading a press release and seeing it in action are often two things, so ever since we read that story we wondered how this service really worked and – in true LateDeparture style – we didn’t rest until we got hold of a video proof of the ingenious machine.
While the video is in Dutch, the lovely guys at Schiphol provided us with English subtitles. But who cares anyway as pictures speak a million words:
Case rested. We now we only wonder who will be first to print out a large “LateDeparture.com rocks!” banner? Whoever it is, a fabulous prize will be awaiting them (photo proof required)…
[Pictures and video from Schiphol Airport – all rights reserved]
Choosing an airline can be a big decision. Some go straight for the cheapest flight option, while some look around for a great frequent flyer program; but no matter what, everyone wants their flight to be on time. What good is a cheap flight if you miss the meeting you’re flying in for? There are plenty of ways to entertain yourself during a flight delay (see other LateDeparture posts), but what if you could proactively avoid airlines that are consistently late? Fortunately, a new airline comparison helps search through and compare airlines by percentage of flights on time, so you can make sure you’ll be arriving in timely fashion. Here is a little preview of the top 3 Airlines for On Time Flights… Continue reading Guestblog: New Comparison Tool for Choosing the Right Airline
First it seemed all just a distraction from the failed third runway expansion for London Heathrow but more recently, the concept of an entirely new airport located in the Thames estuary is gaining momentum. This is the time for us to investigate and report on this idea in more detail.
