turbulence t ravel ne ws th at wi l l e xc it e y o u
WELCOME TO THE JULY EDITION! Welcome everyone to the beginning of a new financial year. Hopefully everyone will soon get to enjoy a well-deserved refund from the taxman. This edition sees some excellent business class fares from Qatar Airways – so why not treat yourself? We also have an exciting hotel special from Swissôtel Sydney. This month is a very exciting one for us as we celebrate being named dual finalists at the 2014 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards. For the second year running, we finished in the top 5 Australia wide for the Best Corporate Travel Agency (Single Location) and Best Travel Agency Manager (Corporate) categories – an outstanding effort for an agency just two years old!
SYDNEY SWISSÔTEL
SEASONAL SAVER OFFER
Swissôtel Sydney is a deluxe five star hotel located in the heart of Sydney’s city’s business, retail and entertainment district. The hotel’s 359 beautifully appointed rooms and suites offer breathtaking panoramic views of the city skyline.
Swissôtel Sydney has secured its position as Sydney’s
With the renovation of the hotel’s bar, restaurant, conferencing facilities and Executive Club Lounge,
passion for perfection, Swissôtel Sydney is your home
conference and leisure hotel of choice. Delight in high
tea in Crossroads Bar, indulge during breakfast at Jpb or escape to the oasis of your room or suite. With a away from home.
CONTACT THE SEAN SIMMONS TRAVEL CONSULTING TEAM ON: Phone: +61 3 9429 3294 (local) Fax: +61 3 9429 3293 Suite 6, 53 Coppin Street, Richmond VIC 3121
Toll Free: 1300 391 590 (interstate) Email: enquiries@seanstravel.com.au seansimmons travel.com.au
ABN 48153795129 | AFTA 10216 | ATAS A10436 | IATA 02-3-6275-4
MUAY J LY 22001144
QATAR AIRWAYS BUSINESS CLASS
ON SALE
Melbourne to: LONDON BELGRADE INSTANBUL ATHENS
$6702.42 $6274.32 $6265.42 $6307.32
MILAN ZURICH MOSCOW FRANKFURT
$6285.42 $6288.52 $6268.22 $6367.62
Terms and conditions: Book and pay by 24 July 2014 for travel between 9 July 2014 and 30 November 2014 / 16 January 2015 and 24 March 2015. Travel not permitted between 1 December and 15 January. Changes permitted for a fee of $150 per person per change, subject to availability. Minimum stay 7 days. Advance purchase 7 days. No stopover permitted in Doha. Maximum stay three months. Valid for departures on Sunday through Wednesday ONLY – NOT permitted Thursday to Saturday. Prices correct as at 9 July 2014, are subject to availability and may change without notice. May be subject to credit card and booking fees.
20%
BE
OFF
PLU ST A S C VAI ATE LAB GOR LE Y U RA PGR TE ADE
Call Sean Simmons Travel today to take advantage of the Swissôtel Seasonal Saver Offer. You’ll receive 20% off the Best Available Rate PLUS an upgrade to the next room category (subject to availability). Terms and conditions: Offer is valid to 31 September 2014 and is subject to availability. Some blackout dates apply. Minimum 7 day advance purchase. Full prepayment, no cancellations/changes/ refunds. Credit card and booking fees may apply.
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FLYING HIGH!
Sean Simmons Travel – dual finalists at the 2014 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards We’re extremely proud to have been named finalists at the 2014 AFTA National Travel Industry Awards, putting us amongst the best of the best. For the second year running, we finished in the top 5 Australia wide for the Best Corporate Travel Agency (Single Location) and Best Travel Agency Manager (Corporate) categories. It’s a superstar effort, but we aren’t getting dizzy with our success; we’re hard at it, keen to fly even higher next year. Contact us today for service that we believe is truly first class.
03 9429 3294 (local) 1300 391 590 (interstate)
SEAN SIMMONS TRAVEL GETS THE ATAS TICK OF APPROVAL Okay, so what does this actually mean? Some of you may already be aware that we recently applied for and achieved our ATAS accreditation. The AFTA Travel Accreditation Scheme (‘ATAS’) sets a new national benchmark of quality aimed at elevating travel industry standards within Australia. As part of the application process, we successfully met each of the stringent quality checks for education and training, business stability and workplace practices, so for us achieving this accreditation means we have quantifiably proven ourselves to be trustworthy, professional, reliable and knowledgeable. For you, it means that, as always, you are booking your travel with proven providers of inspiration and quality. We unlock knowledge and approach everything we do for you with passion, enthusiasm and optimism. We
are your expert guide to a world of better travel, highly capable and continuously delivering a smooth, hasslefree travel experience. So, you can continue to rest assured that you are dealing with an Australian company that complies with Australian law. You can continue to have peace of mind knowing you’re in the safe hands of a credible, reliable and reputable agency that will support you through the entire travel experience; from planning to booking and in the event that something goes wrong during your travels. Of course, we’ll be there for you doing everything in our power to make sure that nothing actually goes wrong! In other words – it’s business as usual. If you’d like more information about what it means to be ATAS accredited - please give us a call or email info@seanstravel.com.au
SEAN SIMMONS
RECOMMENDS Emerging IT’s mission and ultimate goal is to assist Australian businesses reduce their IT support costs whilst improving their uptime. Sean Simmons Travel engaged EmergingIT 4 months ago, with very little disruption to services / systems. Their knowledge and advice has been invaluable as new technologies were rolled out, and other systems upgraded to ‘future proof’ the business. They are highly skilled professionals, and come with our highest possible recommendation. LANserve™, our Managed service solution is a fixed price maintenance and proactive support solution that utilises intelligent IT automation and remote monitoring technology developed over the last 8 years and is still on-going. Emerging IT was awarded Australasian “Managed Services Provider of the Year” in 2009 and still rates in the top 3 MSP’s. Emerging IT also provide offerings for cloud, disaster recovery, business continuity, off-site backup, in-depth technology audits, consultancy, systems integration, hardware and software supply, project management. emergingit.com.au
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA UPDATES VIRGIN AUSTRALIA DISRUPT PROCESS AND VELOCITY MEMBER DETAILS In December last year, Virgin Australia launched a new initiative to proactively notify guests of flight delays. In order for Virgin Australia to effectively communicate with customers who have been impacted by delays, it is important that we receive the phone number of the travelling customer to ensure minor flight delays/ disruptions are relayed. As such, Virgin Australia would like to remind guests to ensure their Velocity Frequent Flyer details are up to date. Their flight delay notification system is also able to communicate with passengers via Velocity Frequent Flyer profile details. For guests’ who do not hold a Velocity Frequent Flyer profile, it is important to ensure your contact details are up to date and provided to your travel agent.
CHANGE OF DALLAS AIRPORT FOR VIRGIN AUSTRALIA/VIRGIN AMERICA CODESHARE FLIGHTS Following the announcement from our codeshare partner Virgin America (VX) regarding the relocation of their Los Angeles (LAX) to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) services to operate to/from Dallas Love Field (DAL), Virgin Australia (VA) is pleased to advise that to ensure we offer continuous codeshare services to the Dallas area, the VA codeshare will be available via the new LAX/DAL services.
The VA*VX services will continue to operate between LAX and DFW until 12 October 2014 and between LAX and DAL from 13 October 2014 onwards. The VA flight numbers currently used for LAX/DFW will change to LAX/DAL. The current services between LAX and DFW operated three times-daily Sunday to Friday and twice-daily on a Saturday will be maintained on the LAX/DAL route, schedules may vary but are very similar. The new LAX/DAL services are now available for booking.
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA CODESHARE EXPANSION WITH SINGAPORE AIRLINES Virgin Australia is excited to announce effective 16 June, 2014, as part of its codeshare alliance with Singapore Airlines (SQ) Seoul will be the first Virgin Australia (VA) codeshare destination in South Korea. Singapore Airlines (SQ) operates four-daily return services between Singapore (SIN) and Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN), the main international airport serving the Korean capital city’s metropolitan area. Flights are operated by a mix of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft configured with 8 seats in First Class, 42 Business Class and 228 in Economy Class and Airbus A330-300 aircraft, configured with 30 seats in Business Class and 255 in Economy Class
CONTACT THE SEAN SIMMONS TRAVEL CONSULTING TEAM ON: Phone: +61 3 9429 3294 (local) Fax: +61 3 9429 3293 Suite 6, 53 Coppin Street, Richmond VIC 3121
Toll Free: 1300 391 590 (interstate) Email: enquiries@seanstravel.com.au seansimmons travel.com.au
ABN 48153795129 | AFTA 10216 | ATAS A10436 | IATA 02-3-6275-4
In combination with Virgin Australia’s existing codeshare services between Australia and Singapore, trade partners will be able to book Virgin Australia flights with connecting schedules between ICN and 53 Virgin Australia ports in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, as operated by Singapore Airlines. Fares are now available for sale and travel.
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA CODESHARE EXPANSION WITH DELTA AIRLINES Virgin Australia is delighted to announce as part of its codeshare alliance with Delta Air Lines (DL), the Virgin Australia (VA) code is now available to Austin, Texas (AUS) in conjunction with Delta Air Lines. Effective 16 June 2014, Delta Air Lines (DL) will operate a brand new twice-daily return service between Los Angeles (LAX) and Austin (AUS) using Embraer E175 aircraft configured with 12 First Class seats and 64 Economy Class seats, with connections possible between Austin and 20 Virgin Australia cities across Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. The addition of Austin, Texas brings the number of Virgin Australia codeshare destinations in North America up to 44, with further destinations currently being assessed. Fares are now available for sale and travel. For more information on any of these updates, please contact one of our agents today.
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INDUSTRY NEWS MELBOURNE AIRPORT BEGINS $100M ROAD UPGRADE Melbourne Airport sees the new extension to Airport Drive as the lynchpin in a revised road transport network for Australia’s second-busiest airport, as well as supporting the proposed rail link from the city. The $100 million project will provide a second major entry to Melbourne Airport, connecting it directly with the M80 Ring Road, and include space set aside for the rail link in the centre of the extended four lane road and feed into the adjacent business park. “Traffic congestion on the Tullamarine Freeway will also be reduced with the CityLink-Tullamarine Freeway widening project and we hope that funding is also soon committed to extend the rest of the Tullamarine Freeway through to Melbourne Airport” said Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Woodruff at today’s launch of construction on the Airport Drive extension project. “The extended Airport Drive is scheduled to open before our new domestic terminal next year so passengers will have a smoother and more direct journey to and from the new Terminal 4 and integrated ground transport hub.” Melbourne isn’t alone in seeking to ease traffic congestion, with Sydney Airport also announcing $500 million worth of works to be shared with the NSW State Government.
TSA BANS POWERLESS GADGETS ON USA FLIGHTS The Transportation Security Administration is implementing selective bans on powerless electronic devices on flights bound for the United States. Responding to a directive by the Secretary of Homeland Security, passengers may be asked to power up certain gadgets – including laptops, mobile phones and iPads – before being allowed on board. Those that won’t boot, whether faulty or simply with a flat battery, won’t be allowed into the cabin and must be placed in checked baggage at “certain overseas airports”. The Department of Homeland Security isn’t revealing which foreign airports would be targeted – or indeed whether any of the affected airports will be those in Australia. From Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, passengers can fly non-stop to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas/ Fort Worth on Qantas, Virgin Australia, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. All of these flights are potentially affected, so we’d strongly advise travellers to ensure their portable gadgets are charged before heading to the airport. And, if you’re unlucky enough to have ‘SSSS’ on your boarding pass (this hyperlinks to last month’s newsletter where we featured an article on what ‘SSSS’ means), you’d best allow a little extra time for security screening too.
AIR NEW ZEALAND OKAYS ‘GATE TO GATE’ ELECTRONIC GADGETS Air New Zealand is the latest airline to allow passengers to use tablets, smartphones, e-book readers and MP3 players for the entire duration of their trip, from before take-off to after landing. The Kiwi carrier says that travellers on selected flights will be able to use ‘handheld portable electronic devices’ on a gate-to-gate basis from July 16 following approval from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority. The first services to get the green light are domestic and international services flights by Airbus A320 and Boeing 787-9, Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Air New Zealand says it plans to extend this arrangement to “regional turbo prop and Boeing 767300 fleets over time, subject to regulatory approval.” Gadgets which are capable of transmitting will have to remain in flight mode, however, and even the skinniest of laptops will still need to be stowed for take-off and landing. “We are living in a digital age where the majority of our customers use electronic devices while travelling” said Air New Zealand’s General Manager Customer Experience Carrie Hurihanganui. “Today’s announcement will give customers further freedom to use their handheld devices to take photos, listen to music or watch pre-loaded movies gate to gate.” Qantas and Virgin Australia are hopeful to join the ‘gate to gate gadget club’ by year’s end pending approval by Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
QANTAS TO INCREASE FUEL SURCHARGE ON EMIRATES PARTNER FLIGHTS Qantas will increase the fuel surcharge on all flights shared with partner airline Emirates, with the new fees adding up to $50 to the cost of a one-way ticket. The higher charges will be imposed on Qantas tickets issued from January 23 and vary depending on the destination and class of ticket. Qantas says the changes reflect “continued high fuel costs and a lower Australian dollar” and are part of the “ongoing alignment with Emirates”. One-way economy tickets will rise by an average of $13 and premium economy an average of $25, while business and first class will see an average $40 lift. The biggest increases are on business class and first class tickets to Europe, the UK, North Africa and the Middle East, with travellers up for an extra $50 each way. The majority of Qantas flights are part of the ‘Qantas/ Emirates network’ and carry an Emirates EK flight number alongside their native QF code as part of the codeshare agreement between the two airlines. As a result, routes which travellers may think have nothing to do with Emirates – such as the longstanding daily Sydney-Singapore and Melbourne-Singapore services – will be hit with the higher fuel surcharge from January 23. However, the cost of tickets on Qantas flights which are not part of the Qantas/Emirates alliance – such as flights to the USA, Hong Kong and South Africa – will not change.
Instead, he’d just check in at Munich Airport and then settle into Lufthansa’s business lounge to eat and drink his fill. As boarding time approached he’d cancel his flight – without penalty, this being a fully flexible ticket – and rebook for another day. When that day arrived he’d repeat the process all over again. Lufthansa says he made 36 non-flying visits to the lounge over the course of a year, at which point his ticket expired – but when he tried to buy his next ticket, the airline refused the sale and handed him a bill for the 36 visits priced at €55 per time. After the frequent lounger refused to pay the issue ended up in court, where the judge sided with Lufthansa. The airline’s argument was that flexible airfares are meant for people who actually intend to fly, which was clearly not the case with this regular visitor to the lounge. We’ve not visited Lufthansa’s Munich business lounge once, let along 36 times, but we doubt it’s worth almost $3,000 for the buffet, bar and currywurst. A similar scenario played out in China last year, when a China Eastern customer parlayed his first class ticket into over 300 visits to the airline’s lounge in the northwest provincial capital of Xi’an – and then cancelled his ticket for a refund when its 12 month validity was about to expire.
READY TO HAVE A ROBOT PARK YOUR CAR AT THE AIRPORT? If you can get past the the creepy “Jetsons”-meets””Minority Report” feeling of this technology, the idea behind the Ray robotic parking system is revolutionary. No more last-minute dashes to the airport, only to miss your flight because you can’t find a parking space. Dusseldorf became the world’s first airport to employ an intelligent robot parking system when the tech debuted June 23. This is truly one of those inventions that will go a long way toward taking the hassle out of air travel. All you do is book your parking space online before your flight via the system’s app for IOS and Android devices. Then, at the airport, customers drive to their designated parking area - one is located on each level - and drop their car off inside the “transfer box.” Ray then goes to work, measuring your car and through a series of sensors and radars, moves your car to the spot you reserved while you head off to the terminal. Users work with a touch screen to indicate all passengers are out of the car, when they want to pick their car up and whether they are traveling with carry-on or checked luggage. Ray is connected to the airport’s flight data system, so it knows flight schedules. If the traveler makes manual changes to their itinerary, they can make those changes on the app. When the plane arrives, the vehicle is waiting for the user in the transfer box. If you decide to stop for dinner or do shopping at the airport, you can adjust your pickup time on the app.Beyond just knowing the information on your car, the system is constantly rearranging cars based on arrival times. If you’d like to see Ray in action, click on the video link below. It’s in German, but the awesomeness of this technology cannot be contained by language barriers.
LUFTHANSA SLAPS AIRPORT LOUNGE LIZARD WITH BILL FOR €2,000 A German man has been ordered to pay Lufthansa €1980 – the equivalent of A$2,875 – for repeatedly visiting Lufthansa’s business lounge in Munich without actually flying anywhere. The un-named lounge lizard bought a flexible business class ticket for €745 (A$1,000) to fly with Lufthansa from Munich to Zurich, but never took the one hour journey.
CONTACT THE SEAN SIMMONS TRAVEL CONSULTING TEAM ON: Phone: +61 3 9429 3294 (local) Fax: +61 3 9429 3293 Suite 6, 53 Coppin Street, Richmond VIC 3121
Toll Free: 1300 391 590 (interstate) Email: enquiries@seanstravel.com.au seansimmons travel.com.au
ABN 48153795129 | AFTA 10216 | ATAS A10436 | IATA 02-3-6275-4
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