100,000 free seats to Thailand

AirAsia.com are currently running a "Mai Bpen Rai Thailand" promotion, offering 100,000 free seats on flights to Thailand from selected cities.

The booking period is only for 3 days, from Dec 17 to December 19th, and travel must take place between January 6th 2009 and March 31st 2009.

The zero Baht flights are between Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport and the following cities:

• Phnom Penh in Cambodia


• Shenzen in China


• Hong Kong


• Jakarta, Indonesia


• Macau


• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


• Penang, Malaysia


• Yangon, Myanmar


• Singapore


• Hanoi, Vietnam


• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

While the fares are zero, of course taxes, fuel surcharges and airport fees are payable.

If you live in or are traveling in Asia during the above travel dates, this is a great opportunity to fly to Thailand for a really low price.

Low cost Asian Airlines: Lower fare-Higher risk?

Low-cost Asian airlines are booming in recent years, bringing airfares down to all time lows. Explosive growth however can make companies reckless. Smart travelers, while knowing how to go about getting the best deals on airfares to Asia, which often involves using low cost carriers, would also be well advised to check out the safety records of some of these new airlines.

With the proliferation of low cost airlines in Asia over recent years, the availability of discounted airfares throughout the region has drastically increased. In a market once dominated by large airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, the list of new low cost carriers in Asia seems to be growing by the week, with little signs of slowing down. In fact, with the region’s growing middle class and their increasing desire to travel, forecasts for demand for discounted airfares from low cost carriers are only increasing. According to the Official Airline Guide’s website , the number of low cost flights operating in the Asia-Pacific region has grown to 60,000 a year, from 3,900 six years ago.

The growth in low cost airlines has indeed provided huge benefits for travelers. One example of some of the huge discounts now available, Air Asia sells some round trip tickets on the popular Singapore-Bangkok route for as little as USD150, compared with USD500 or more with Singapore Airlines.

Explosive growth, and varying levels or regulations in certain countries, have raised concerns about the safety of some of these new low cost carriers.

Read the rest of this article at CheapFlights2Thailand.com

Single visa for Thailand-Cambodia in the works

The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia have announced the details of a plan to allow travelers to enter both countries with a single visa.
The agreement will allow travelers to apply for a visa to either country, and then use that visa to travel to both countries.

The deal was the first of a hoped for series of agreements also involving Vietnam, Laos and Burma (Myanmar).
"We want to see the five countries become one tourist destination," Hor Namhong, the Cambodian foreign minister said.

No details were released as to when this new agreement would come into effect.

Singapore Airlines bans Mile-High club

The A380, the new giant superjumbo jets which were added to Singapore Airlines fleet in September, contain 12 private first class suites complete with double beds.

A spokesperson for Singapore Airlines said that while the suites did offer privacy, they were not completely sealed, and therefore were not sound proofed.

This has led Singapore Airlines to take the unusual step of pubically requesting passengers not to engage in any sexual activity.
The airline said that it did not want anyone to offend other passengers, or crew.

"All we ask of customers, wherever they are on our aircraft, is to observe standards that don't cause offence to other customers and crew," the airline said in a statement.

"Nothing different applies for our Singapore Airlines Suites customers."

Singapore Airlines was the first airline to take delivery of the new supersized jumbo jets, with the first services between Singapore and Sydney commencing September 25th.

MyanmarAirways grounded by insurers

The London based insurer of Myanmar's national airline, Myanmar Airways International, pulled all coverage last week, effectively grounding the airline.
A spokesperson for the airline said that the unnamed insurer pulled coverage "due to the recent crisis in Myanmar".
This has caused the airline to ground all of it's planes and can no longer offer flights to Malaysia and Thailand. The carriers is however able to maintain it's other route, to Singapore because those flights are handled by the budget airline Jetstar through a code-share agreement.

Debate on the ethics of visiting Myanmar has increased recently in light of the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last month by the military junta. Several governments including the United States, Britain and New Zealand have issued travel warnings to their citizens to avoid traveling to Myanmar because of possible violence. Australia has also issued travel warnings and refers to the country as Burma, refusing to refer to the country by the name given to it by the ruling military junta.

Asian airlines scoop 2007 World Airline Awards

Singapore Airlines takes top honour in the World Airline Awards, with Thai Airways in 2nd place, and Cathay Pacific 3rd.
The top 10 winners of the passenger's choice awards for "Airline of the Year" in the World Airline Awards are a virtual "Who's who" of Asian airlines as 9 of the top 10 go to airlines based in Asia/Pacific.
Asian airlines also dominate the "Best Cabin Staff" award, capturing all of the top 5 available awards.
The top 10 results of the "Airline Of The Year 2007" Award by Skytrax are as follows:

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Thai Airways
3. Cathay Pacific
4. Qatar Airways
5. Qantas
6. Malaysia Airlines
7. Air New Zealand
8. China Airlines
9. Emirates
10. British Airways

The results were compiled from over 14 million eligible nominations from around the world.

Edward Plaisted (CEO of Skytrax), commented on the awards...

" This is the second time in the history of the World Airline Awards that Singapore Airlines has emerged as overall winner, and we congratulate them on this outstanding achievement. In a survey of this scale and duration, our data section have seen the top 5 positions fluctuate on quite a regular basis, and we would highlight the performance of these other airlines - Thai Airways (up from 4th in 2006), Cathay Pacific (a former winner, 3rd), Qatar Airways in 4th (a new entrant to the Top 5 group), and Qantas in 5th position."
This may not be too surprising considering the burly attitude of the harried staff at a lot of the Western airlines of late."

Considering the burly, "now what do you want?" attitude from some of the harried staff of a number of western airlines lately, the results of the "Best Cabin Staff 2007" awards are not too surprising.

1. Malaysian Airlines
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Thai Airways
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Qatar Airlines.

Survey respondents nominated airlines in the 2007 Best Cabin Staff Awards, based upon a wide variety of Service Quality attributes for cabin staff, including:


:: Assistance during boarding
:: Welcoming passengers
:: Applying safety procedures
:: Food & Beverage service efficiency
:: Answering call bell
:: Staff language skills
:: Problem solving ability
:: Discipline among staff
:: Enthusiasm of staff
:: Sincerity of Staff service
:: Friendliness of staff
:: Courtesy of Staff service
:: Consistency of Quality among staff
:: Total service efficiency
:: Total cabin presence
:: Staff grooming & Presentation

Finding a trustworthy and cheap travel website.

There are literally thousands of websites that offer promises of cheap airfare and for every ten websites you’ll hear just as many horror stories about ruined vacations and lost money. For the dollar, online travel websites are still the best option. They allow you to customize your vacation and control the process from beginning to end. Additionally, they enable you to save a great deal of money.

Here are three things to look for in a trustworthy travel website:

#1 Look for travel websites that offer you the ability to quickly compare airfare prices and hotel prices and amenities. There are now many websites that enable you to quickly and easily search up to a dozen travel websites from one location. This makes it easy to find not only the fare that you want but the departure time, departure and arrival city, and the preferred number of stops.

Additionally, these same websites can offer similar hotel searching criteria. Be careful of sites that only highlight a few sponsored hotels and instead choose a travel website that has your interests in mind and lists many hotel options, such as Reserve Thai Hotels.com or Agoda.com

Read the read of this story here.