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A roundup of some of the news items released tin the past few days. Includes details of more hand baggage only fees for travel across the Atlantic, news that Qatar Airways is adding more flights to France, Italy and Spain, details of a customer-friendly change Star Alliance has made to its round-the-world fares and news that Cathay Pacific has announced the first routes for its new A350-1000 aircraft.
Alitalia Will Introduce HBO Transatlantic Fares This Year
Alitalia will begin offering ‘Light’ (hand baggage only) fares on flights to/from the US & Canada from 10 April 2018.
Per Alitalia (and courtesy of Google Translate!) a “Light” fare will offer:
- Web and Fast Check-in
- Hand baggage + 1 accessory (backpack, PC case, women’s bag)
- Choice of free seating
- Snacks, meals and drinks on board
- Airline miles
- Onboard entertainment
- Free headset
- Use of the lounges and fast track lanes (depending on the membership tier)
Alitalia has been comparing what it will be offering to what Norwegian offers already:
I’m not sure what the asterisk next to the seat selection icon means but, if I was to guess, I’d say that this benefit is restricted to those who have Alitalia/SkyTeam status which already allows them to select seats.
It’s also worth noting that while Alitalia’s Light fares appear to offer considerably more than what you get with a Norwegian Low Cost fare, Norwegian actually gives flyers 2kg more hand baggage allowance.
Qatar Airways Adds More Capacity To 3 European Countries
Spain
From 1 July 2018 Qatar Airways will add more flights between Doha and Spain:
- 4 more weekly flights will be added to the Barcelona route taking the number of weekly flights to Barcelona up to 18.
- 3 more weekly flights will be added to the Madrid route taking the number of weekly flights to Madrid up to 17.
Italy
From 2 July 2018 Qatar Airways will add more flights between Doha and Italy:
- 4 more weekly flights will be added to the Milan Malpensa route taking the number of weekly flights to Milan up to 18.
- 4 more weekly flights will be added to the Rome route taking the number of weekly flights to Rome up to 18.
France
Image courtesy of Qatar Airways
For the summer 2018 season Qatar Airways will add more A380 service to Paris CDG.
Between 2 May and 30 September 2018 Qatar Airways will offer 5 more weekly A380 flights between Paris and Doha (taking the number of weekly A380 flights on this route up to 12).
The A380 aircraft are taking over from Qatar’s 777-300ER aircraft so there’s good news and bad news here. On the positive side of things the route is getting more First Class and Business Class seats but the price for this is that the Paris route will now only offer the QSuite Business Class product on two days of the week.
[HT: Routes Online]
Star Alliance Improves Its Round The World Fare
Rather than rewriting what Star Alliance has said here are extracts from the press release which should tell you all you need to know:
A whirlwind globetrotting trip, stopping only at two destinations for at least 24 hours, is now possible using selected Star Alliance Round the World (RTW) fares. Up to now, a minimum of three stopovers was required for all RTW tickets. This change increases the number of itineraries available under the RTW product for travel on the Star Alliance network.
Star Alliance RTW tickets can booked online at www.staralliance.com/en/book-fly. The “Star Alliance Book & Fly” tool is available in English, German and Japanese.
RTW fares are generally an attractive value for money proposition, especially when compared to individual one-way tickets on separate airlines for the same journey. The total price of an RTW ticket is dependent on class of travel, the precise itinerary, mileage and routing selected, as well as currency exchange rate fluctuation.
In terms of distance, customers can create an individual itinerary covering up to 26,000, 29,000, 34,000 or 39,000 miles. To put these levels into perspective, the circumference of the Earth measured at the Equator is approximately 24,901 miles.
Customers can build their own routings within the maximum mileage of the selected fare level. Travel needs to begin and end in the same country and be in one direction, either going East or West, although some zigzagging is permitted within a single continent. Both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean must be crossed once.
Cathay Pacific Announces First A350-1000 Routes
Qatar Airways may be the launch customer of the Airbus A350-1000 (the more efficient and larger version of the A350-900) but, while the Middle Eastern carrier continues to have issues with its new aircraft deliveries, Cathay Pacific is already announcing the routes on which it will first fly the new A350.
Manila
Cathay’s first A350-1000 is scheduled to enter service on 1 August 2018 and will operate the Hong Kong – Manila route on the following schedule:
CX907 HKG 07:20 – 09:40 MNL
CX906 MNL 10:50 – 13:20 HKG
At the time of writing it looks as if the A350-1000 will fly on Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri but this could easily change.
Taipei Taoyuan
While Manila gets the inaugural flight (as it did when Cathay Pacific launched its A350-900) Taipei Taoyuan will also see A350-1000 service on 1 August 2018. Here the current schedule:
CX472 HKG 15:45 – 17:40 TPE (Mon – Fri)
CX473 TPE 18:45 – 20:45 HKG (Mon – Fri)
There are other A350-1000 flights scheduled to operate between Hong Kong an Manila but, as the timings appear fluid, I’m not listing them here.
Bangkok
Bangkok will be getting Cathay Pacific A350-1000 service (at least temporarily) from 2 October 2018 on the following schedule:
CX705 HKG 08:00 – 10:05 BKK
CX618 BKK 12:00 – 16:15 HKG
Although these flight numbers operate daily the new A350 is not operating this route every day of the week so, if you’re looking to try out the new aircraft, be careful which flights you book.
