Stars to lose 1st class travel

Hollywood actors will have to give up flying first class under a fresh cost-cutting agreement, which will force them to mix with ordinary holidaymakers in the cheap seats.

Movie studio bosses met with union officials this week in a bid to hammer out a money-saving preparation, and they agreed to slash stars' travel costs in return for improved pay rates, health insurance and pension contributions.

The latest rules are expected to come into force next year and will see stars forced to travel in coach class for journeys less than 1,600 kilometres or between Los Angeles and New York or Canada. For longer trips, actors will be able to upgrade to first class, but only if no business class seats are available.

The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists struck the tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Air travel to increase for Thanksgiving holiday

Air travel for the Thanksgiving holiday is expected to raise slightly over last year in response to a stronger economy, an airline trade group predicted.

The Air Transport Assn. of America, the industry trade group for the nation's largest airlines, predicted that the number of air travelers would raise by 3.5% over last year, to 24 million people, from Nov. 19 to Nov. 30.

"It is reassuring to see travel levels rebounding, with the stronger economy," said association president James C. May. "While modest, the recovery is mainly encouraging given the deep hole that this industry was in a year ago."

The forecast for holiday travel continues the trend of increasing demand and higher fares for the airline industry, which reported newly that August marked the eighth straight month of revenue growth over the same period in 2009.

The Automobile Club of Southern California won't release its holiday travel forecast until next week but a spokeswoman said the report is also expected to predict an increase in travel among Southern Californians for the holiday period.

Top travel trends for 2011

An online travel site has released the results of its annual travel trends survey, naming the top destinations for 2011 and the biggest concerns for travelers.

TripAdvisor.com surveyed more than 3,000 people to get a gauge on travel expectations for the upcoming year.

According to the survey, the top travel destination for Clevelanders is Las Vegas, followed by New York and Chicago.

The biggest concerns for travelers are rising airfare costs, bedbugs, and various germs or viruses, the survey says.

TripAdvisor.com says that top activities for travelers are to visit a national park, visit a historic site, or attend a festival.

One interesting finding of the study is that Americans were named both the friendliest, and most irritating, travelers.

Southwest Airlines Offers Nationwide Fare Sale for Winter Travel

DALLAS, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Don't let the cold weather keep you at home this winter--get out of town and take advantage of Southwest's latest fare sale! Southwest Airlines is offering Customers nationwide air fares starting as low as $59 one-way to select destinations. Take advantage of these super low fares available only at southwest.com and start planning your winter vacation today! These fares are available with a 14-day advance purchase today through Nov. 22, 2010, and are good for travel between Dec. 1, 2010, and Dec. 16, 2010, and between Jan. 4, 2011, and Feb. 16, 2011. To see the list of markets, prices, and to take advantage of these special fares, visit www.southwest.com.

Examples of fares include (see Additional Fare Rules below):

$59 one-way between Denver and Los Angeles

$86 one-way between Austin and Panama City Beach

$94 one-way between New Orleans and Tampa Bay

After nearly 40 years of service, Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low fare carriers--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, now serving 69 cities in 35 states with service to Charleston and Greenville-Spartanburg beginning March 13, 2011. Southwest also is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest Airlines is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report(TM). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,100 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

ADDITIONAL FARE RULES

Fares are available only on www.southwest.com. Southwest Airlines fare sales are available with a 14-day advance purchase today through Nov. 22, 2010, 11:59 p.m. PST, and travel must take place between Dec. 1, 2010, and Dec. 16, 2010, or between Jan. 4, 2011, and Feb. 16, 2011. Fares do not include a federal segment tax of $3.70 per takeoff and landing. Fares do not include airport-assessed passenger facility charges (PFC) of up to $9.00 and U.S. government-imposed September 11th Security Fee of up to $5.00 one-way. Travel to/from Washington, D.C. (Dulles) and Ft. Myers, is not included in the sale. Seats are limited. Fares are available for one-way travel. Fares may be combined with other combinable fares. Fares are not combinable with Senior Fares. When combining fares, all rules and restrictions apply. Fares are nonrefundable but may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines. Fares are not available through the Group Desk. Any change in the itinerary may result in an increase in fare. Standby travel requires an upgrade to the Anytime fare. Fares are subject to change until ticketed. Fares are valid on published, scheduled service only.

Indonesia Volcano Continues To Disrupt Air Travel

Indonesia volcano continued to disrupt air travel over the weekend. Indonesia Mount Merapi volcano cancelled 36 flights on Saturday and 8 flights on Sunday.
Even the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta is feeling the effects of volcanic Ash. Several flights to Jakarta were either cancelled of reschedule due to the Mout Merapi volcano eruption. In total 8 flights were cancelled and 42 were forced to reschedule at the Jakarta Airport.

Malaysia Airlines has started morning and afternoon flights to Jakarta but evening flights are still cancelled as for now.

The air travel in nearby destinations to Mount Merapi Volcano is facing even more trouble. Yogyakarta and Solo are facing severe problems which has stranded thousands of passengers.

Ash cloud is also feared to disrupt the visit of US President Barack Obama to Indonesia. There are fears that President may skip Indonesia due to the trouble caused by the ash cloud.

European Travel This Holiday Season

The holiday period is right around the corner, which means vacation planning is in full swing. Europe is a great place to consider for holiday travel, as airline prices are typically at their lowest and main cities are a lot less crowded compared to the summer months. Here are some tips from Gate 1 Travel on how to make the most of a European vacation.

Explore holiday traditions on a different continent: Countries all across Europe have their own special way of celebrating the holiday time. In Norway, December 13 is the feast day of Santa Lucia. Throughout the day, a parade of girls wear a crown of lights, carry baskets and hand out saffron buns. In France, the Christmas Eve feast is known as Le Reveillon de Noel, lasting a lot of hours and serving up cuisine unique to each city.

Visit Europe's famous Christmas markets: Christmas markets are a tradition in more than a dozen cities throughout Europe. These unique destinations feature handmade crafts, unique foods, live nativity scenes, concerts and special celebrations. In Copenhagen, visit the Christmas market at Tivoli Gardens to see more than four miles of Christmas lights. In France, the Strasbourg Cathedral is the oldest Christmas Market in the country.

Ring in the New Year on a River: River cruising is a unique way to visit multiple European cities during the holidays. Cruise the Danube, Rhine or Main River to see cities like Amsterdam, Cologne, Vienna, Frankfurt and Nuremberg. "River cruises are unique in that they are smaller than traditional ocean cruise ships and usually less than 100 suites," said Marty Seslow, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Gate 1 Travel. "They are also unique in that they typically stop at a new city everyday, instead of spending an entire day cruising."

Interplanetary travel cost studied

Two leading U.S. research organizations are launching a year-long to study to examine the financing of interplanetary travel.

The 100-Year Starship study, undertaken by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the NASA Ames Research Center, is looking at the business model needed to pay for the technology which could make long-distance manned space flight possible a century from now, DARPA said.

The project has attracted widespread attention after the director of NASA's Ames Research Center, Simon (Pete) Worden, revealed it at an event in San Francisco on Oct. 16, media reports said.

"The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds," Worden reportedly said.

Worden's comments prompted speculation that trips to Mars could be only 20 years away. Commentators talked about the difficulties of such a trip because of the cost, estimated at $10 billion US one-way, and the likelihood that the explorers would not be able to ever return to Earth.

However, the actual study has very little money, funded with $1 million from DARPA and $100,000 from NASA, Worden said. NASA's budget this year was over $18 billion, and a $100-million project is small in its books.