Premium Flights » Business Flights

New Security Measures not to Impact Business Travel

premium — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:16:37 +0000

After the Christmas security alert raised by the bombing attempt on the Amsterdam to Detroit flight, security measures, especially in US airports, have become stricter while relying on new advanced technology as was the case with the introduction of new tridimensional body-scanners. Main American airports have warned passengers to allow up to three hours for check-in prior to departure.

The new measures have not yet been implemented in all European countries, with the exception of the Netherlands. In fact, opinions from European countries representatives are still very much divided over the necessity to implement such new security measures and the impact this might have on the already suffering airline industry.

These worries, however, seem to be premature for what concerns the lucrative business travel segment and the levels of business travel flights. At least that is what appears from research of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA). A recent survey directed to travel managers showed that, although more than 43% of respondents confirmed there are new concerns in their respective companies over travel security, 81% stated this was not a reason to reduce international business travelling. Furthermore, the study also showed that 48% of respondents admit the new security implementations from the start of 2010 have raised concerns to businesses about the comfort, travel hassle and overall convenience of air travel.

It seems that, in these circumstances, companies are trying to find the balance between keeping proper safety standards and maintaining travel efficiency without impacting the vital need to travel for business purpose. Travel managers are therefore giving further attention to efficiency of business travel and less time consuming processes by planning differently travelling itineraries (e.g. avoiding airports with very high security measures which could cause disruption) or turning to advice of travel security experts.

Etihad Airways keeping high standards

premium flights — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:08:53 +0000

Etihad Airways has newly launched a promotions meant to increase the customers’ interest in its business class flights.

The offer will apply to many of Etihad’s Airways destinations: Brussles, Dublin, Frankfurt and Bangkok. Sources within Etihad Airways have declared that the air travellers consider the business class cabin of Etihad Airways as one of the best in the world.

Etihad Airways is the flag carrier airline of Abu Dhabi where it is based.

The Premium Airline has recently introduced a new service for its customers who travel with their families: specially trained nannies in its lounges in Terminal 3 in Abu Dhabi. The young customers will be greeted at the entrance of the lounge and taken to an area where they can play with toys, read books and be supervised by professional nannies. So the parents can relax in the lounges next door and the travellers without children can enjoy some peace and quiet.

Atihad Airways also plans to open check-in area designed exclusively for families and also offers kids packs with in-flight entertainment.

Premium Lounge of BA in Heathrow

premium flights — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:36:13 +0000

Premium travel in British Airways just got a little bit better. Hoping to attract more premium travellers in UK despite the economy, a new premium lounge in Heathrow Airport will be opened on May 11. The new lounge will be located in Terminal 3 wherein the area should be more than enough to hold 300 premium passengers waiting for their flight. The premium lounge of BA is also available for those who are currently members of the top tiers OneWorld – a travel membership that could be gained from travelling with the member group.

As of this writing, the new travel lounge is open from premium travellers flying to key cities around Europe. In particular, premium travellers flying to Malaga, Vienna, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona and Helsinki are allowed to stay in the premium travel lounge while waiting for the flight.

The amenities of the premium lounge are among the best in the airport. Aside from comfortable seats for all travellers, the area is a free wi-fi zone with separate areas for those who wanted to concentrate on business transactions while travelling. Kids area called the “Kidzone” is also created featuring toys and interactive activities for the kids.

Later this year, another premium lounge will open which will serve first class passengers going to Bangkok, Sydney and Singapore. The lounge will be able to hold at least 250 first class passengers. Aside from the amenities offered in the premium lounge, the first class lounge will have a travel spa which will surely improve the travel experience of the passengers.

The time to fly is now!

premium flights — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:22:47 +0000

Well, the struggling economy has taken its toll on the travel world once again. Airlines may be getting hit the hardest with the struggling travel market. However, the depression could be a positive thing for the few people who are travelling. Right now, most airlines are offering premium flights and business first class seats at discounted prices.

However, the summer months did not give them the demand that they wanted, and thus, they are now offering these discounted premium flights to leisure travellers as well. This means you can travel in style for less!

When you get on a plane, it’s normally the corporate travellers that are populating the business class section of a plane. However, now these discounts are giving everyone a chance to fly premium.

The International Air Transport Association took a nose dive this December and plummeted 13%. They are expecting an even bigger loss next year if things do not turn around.

Either way you look at it, now is the time to fly. If you are a person that normally could not travel because of the price, then you are going to find out that now is your chance to travel in style and for cheap. Only time will tell how long these flights stay this cheap, but for now you can get them at a great price and that is a deal that is just to sweet to pass up.

Premium flights and calories

premium flights — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:45:28 +0000

If you have to fly for your job, or you just fly a lot, you may notice that a lot of airlines have started to cut back on the snacks that they give out during flights, meaning that if you are not flying cross country, some places are not giving out any kinds of meals at all. However, AirTran is not one of those companies. In fact, they are looking for ways to improve the quality of their premium flights. One such way to do this is by offering snacks on their flights.

The first thing that AirTran wants to offer is refreshing water. Now sure, this sounds boring, however, that is not the case. This is going to be flavoured water. They want to offer water that comes in such flavours as strawberry melon, and peach. These kinds of drinks will come at a price of $3 a bottle.

On top of that, Coca Cola products are going to be offered on all premium flights for AirTran. This includes such popular drinks as Coke Classic, Diet Coke and Sprite. However, they are also going to start offering up-and-coming popular drinks like Coke Zero. They do not want to stop there! They want to also give out things like flavoured Vitamin Water and Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

Things like Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Cheese Nips, and other cookies are going to be offered as well. This is to help get people happy about flying again. AirTran says that they do not want you to feel like you have no “say so” on the plane. You should be able to choose what you want to eat and what you do not want to.

BA experiences low bookings for premium seats

premium flights — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:57:06 +0000

British Airlines, one of the first companies in the world to offer premium seats, has reported a significant loss in the number of passengers in this type of reservation. BA has announced a loss of nearly 11% of the number of passengers in November 2008 compared to same month last year. The economy class even experienced losses but they were only 4.8% lower compared to last year. This is the highest decline of the number of travellers in the premium seats since 2001.

Although this is bad news, it’s not unexpected. Global financial crisis has forced businesses to cut travel expenses and family who often use premium seats for travel during this season opted to go for economy seats or even preferred budget airlines. BA has also assured their investors that the loss maybe significant but the company’s financial goals for the end of the year could still be met.

On the other hand budget airlines are getting all the attention of holiday passengers. Ryanair has reported an increase of 1% in the number of passengers this month compared to last year. But the general agreement in the transport industry is that the number of travellers has reduced. Job losses in almost every continent have been reported as the global financial crisis is starting to have its full effect.

BA is UK’s flag carrier and is also one of the few companies in the world that started to offer premium economy seats as an added seat options besides economy, business and first class seats.

Corporate flyers overwhelmed by offers

premium flights — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:01:45 +0000

Airlines are attempting to keep and attract more corporate customers, where the sky is the limit. The downturn of the economy around the globe is prompting travel companies to offer a better variety of frills for the business traveller.

One airline, British Airways, is offering promotions in order to obtain customer loyalty, saving businesses money so that they will fly with them. Carriers are also trying to upweight expenses for corporate customers so that the companies get more for their money. Another carrier, Russian Transaero, has opted to cut fare as much as 5% in order to reflect the falling price of oil, and many other carriers have started to cut their fuel surcharges.

Concessions such as these has spurred bargaining between business and travel companies. Even hotel companies have been lowering their prices on accommodation rates. InterContinental Hotels, one of the biggest hotel brands in the world, has offered discounts on food and drinks at their properties worldwide for corporate travellers.

Flying in the premium economy class has become more and more popular among all travellers. Many employers who are conscious about travel spending are choosing to downgrade to premium economy during the day, as well as restricting the use of business class flying to only overnight flights; for example, between the UK and US.

It is safe to say that even though premium economy has become a favourite for nearly every type of flyer during this economic climate, business class is better. Now, airlines have begun to lower their business class fares and offer promotions just to keep their existing customers loyal, as well as to entice new customers to see the better deal, in the battle between premium economy and business class seating.

Are premium flights dead?

premium flights — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:01:01 +0000

This is a question that is being asked once again in travel circles. The interesting thing about this question is that it seems to be asked on a monthly basis since the start of the global credit crunch.

There are of course going to be changes concerning the premium flights of the world if current trends vis-à-vis things like fuel costs continue in the upward direction they are currently going and the most obvious change that will be made is the cost. If you want to take a premium flight a decade from now, chances are very good that you are going to have to pay a lot more for that premium flight than you would have to pay right now. On the other hand, if you are interested in making sure that your kids have the ability to take premium flights when they fly around the country, the costs will likely go up again by the time they get to flying age.

The trend is most definitely upwards. If airlines can not charge per person an extra amount of money for premium flights, they are likely to either a) charge per pound or b) increase or in some cases institute for the first time a minimum wait period before a return flight can be booked. The idea is to be able to rundown the number of flights they have available to their customers so that they can afford to maintain the same standard over a fewer number of planes. That is more likely an image for the future than complete mothballing of premium flights ever was.

Business class value flights

premium flights — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:37:30 +0000

Business travel has been declining sharply in the current economic downturn, and those who are flying are doing it in premium economy class. In response to this, many airlines are announcing that they are cutting costs for business class seating. Some of the lower fares have been hugely reduced, including international flights.

Discounts on such a high scale for business class seating is unfamiliar and has started to cause some distortions. The premium-economy fare that is offered by some carriers are too much cheaper than purchasing business class fares, and there is a big difference between the two.

The fact of the matter is, many carriers are trying all that they can to get business travelers to continue flying, as well as to encourage leisure passengers whose budgets have been unaffected by the economic environment to upgrade. These offers are also very tempting to those travelers who will be flying during the winter.

Even though the fare between premium economy class and the cheapest economy fare can be twice as much, the cabin differences are subtle. There is better food, drink, entertainment options, and the cabin is less densely populated. However, the main difference that you will see from many airlines is that you receive more leg room.

Be careful when buying tickets though, because during this time when carriers are having a financial struggle, if you are paying a lot for airfare, it is worth it to purchase insurance in case of financial failure. You could also pay for the fare with your credit card, because this will protect your money as well.

Frequent flyer seat notifications

premium flights — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:27:15 +0000

Premium flight seats can be a wide-ranging category that includes the general term frequent flier seats. Frequent flier seats are usually at a premium on any given flight because of their limited nature and for that reason people are often frustrated when it comes time for them to get a frequent flier seat for themselves on a particular flight. The flights are usually booked solid and that in turn forces them to book their flights well in advance.

Up until now, there hasn’t really been anyway for a person to deal with this problem. There have been notifications available for a deduction in the going price for a particular seat but there has been nothing around to let you know when a particular frequent flier seat became available for you to use.

This is perhaps why people are looking forward to a service provided by yapta.com that promises to go ahead and actually change this in a very big way.

The service is currently still in the experimental phase but it is late enough in that phase that the website feels comfortable about opening the service to the public. Starting on Tuesday, people that sign up for the service will be able to sign up for notifications that let them know exactly when and where frequent flier seats become available. This means that a person can book a safety date and then sign up for the service just in case something becomes available to allow them to take their vacation sooner. All in all, this is a great service for premium flight travellers.