by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 21, 2014 | Austrian |
To celebrate the Holiday Season which transforms Vienna and most of Europe into a wonderful collection of Christmas Markets , AUSTRIAN will be offering a bit of ‘Cheer’ to their passengers who plan on visiting Schönbrunn Palace’s Holiday Market. The Market is scheduled to take place between November 22 and January 1 (Click here for further details).
AUSTRIAN passengers who present a boarding pass to the Information Desk at the Palace’s Christmas Market will receive a mug of Hot Punch or Mulled Wine, very much traditional beverages for this time of year.
It wasn’t clear as to how recent the boarding pass needs to be. Austrian’s offer simply stated that a boarding pass ‘TO Vienna’ needs to be presented but did not offer date limitations, etc. What I do know, is that the offer is only valid for one boarding pass per person so bringing 30 of your OS boarding passes will not help your cause.
As luck would have it, I’ll be in Vienna to take OS up on their offer after spending a few days in Frankfurt visiting with Lufthansa and taking part in the Advent-Do slated for November 27-29. Its become a tradition for me over the last few years to tie a visit to LH with a trip to Slovakia and Austria to visit family and these great Markets.
If you have never been to Europe for the Christmas Market Season, I strongly recommend that you put it on your ‘To-Do’ list. In many ways Europe is more enjoyable in the Winter than in the Summer. Great airfares, great food and accommodation, and smaller crowds make Europe easy in the winter!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 8, 2014 | Airlines, Featured, Industry News |
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that if the EU escalates their sanctions against Russia to include its Energy sector, Russia will retaliate in kind with sanctions against the EU’s Airline Industry. This coming from an interview that was conducted by Russia’s Vedomosti newspaper and published today.
As it stands now, European airlines enjoy the ability to transit Russian airspace on their routes to Asia, which typically saves 2-4 hours of flight time and thousands of dollars in fuel costs versus having to fly around Russian airspace.
Should these events come to pass, it will cost an airline like Lufthansa over $1 billion in additional fuel and maintenance expense EVERY 3 MONTHS should the ability to fly over Russia be taken away. In fact, the Lufthansa Group operates 220 flights per week that transit Russian Airspace, so it’s quite easy to see how the additional expenses can add up quickly.
Of all the European Airlines, only KLM-Air France use Russian airspace more than Lufthansa; they transit Russian airspace 249 times per week (according to Bloomberg data).
As the war of words and sanctions continues to ratchet up, its unfortunate that no one in a position of influence clearly understands the concept of unintended consequences. With most European airlines operating at losses, or at best a paper thin profit margin, we may see some of the smaller airlines fail as a result of this volley of sanctions between the EU and Russia. At the same time Russia does not emerge as a winner in this situation either because they would lose millions in air traffic revenue generated by airlines transiting their airspace.
We’ll learn more in the coming days as the EU is set to meet today and announce their plans for increasing sanctions against Russia some time tomorrow. Early rumors suggest that Russia’s oil companies may be restricted from raising long term capital from European markets.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 5, 2014 | Austrian, Fare Sale, Featured, Lufthansa, Swiss |
In case you missed the announcements on Monday, Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian advertised a special 3-day fare sale between the USA and Europe. All 3 fare sales end on August 6.
Starting with Lufthansa, their fare sale covers travel all the way through June 12, 2015. The best offer appears to be between New York and Dusseldorf for only $810. Otherwise nearly every other fare between the USA and LH destinations in Europe is below $1000. The only exception being Seattle-Munich which is available for $1050. It is always a good deal when you can fly from LAX or San Francisco to Europe for less than $1000!
The terms/conditions state that you must depart between October 26, 2014 and March 12, 2015. Return travel must take place between November 2, 2014 and June 12, 2015. The only black-out period for this fare sale is during the Christmas holiday, December 12 through January 5.
SWISS’ fare sale is similar but is broken up into 2 travel windows. The fares are similar to Lufthansa and most of SWISS’ European destinations from the USA can be reached for less than $1000. The first part of the fare sale covers travel between August 24 and October 25 while the second installment of the fare sale covers travel between October 26 and December 11, 2014 as well as between January 7 and March 12, 2015. Their terms/conditions are a bit ambiguous but from testing a few different options, it appears that a 6 night minimum stay may be required.
And not to be out done, Austrian’s version of the fare sale may be the most attractive. Most of Austrian’s fares between the US and Europe are below $900, with the best fare being a very attractive one between New York’s JFK and Vienna for only $800. Bundle that deal with a couple of Business Class upgrades that you can purchase for approximately $800 each way and you can experience OS’ fantastic Business Class for less than $2500 round trip! Trust me when I say it is fantastic!
As with the other deals, the Austrian fares are valid for travel between October 26 and December 11, 2015 or between January 7 and March 12, 2015.
Keep mind that all 3 fare sales end on August 6!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 4, 2014 | Airlines, Featured, Route Announcements, Star Alliance |
AIR CANADA:
Montreal – Curacao effective January 1 will BEGIN 1x/week service.
Montreal – San Salvador effective November 1 will BEGIN 1x/week service.
Ottawa – Samana effective December 24 will BEGIN 1x/week service.
AIR CHINA:
Beijing – Pyongyang effective September 22 will be reduced from 3x/week to 2x/week.
AUSTRIAN:
Vienna – Dubai effective March 29 will be reduced from 1x/day to 6x/week.
Vienna – Dubai effective June 2 will be reduced from 6x/week to 5x/week.
Vienna – Newark effective March 29 will increase from 5x/week to 6x/week.
Vienna – Newark effective June 2 will increase from 6x/week to 7x/week.
EVA:
Taipei – Okayama effective October 26 is CANCELLED.
SOUTH AFRICAN:
Johannesburg – Lagos effective September 2 will increase from 7x/week to 8x/week.
TAP Portugal:
Lisbon – Bissau effective October 26 will begin 3x/week service (resumption from suspension earlier in 2014).
UNITED:
Chicago – Topeka effective September 3 is CANCELLED.
Guam – Hiroshima effective December 19 is CANCELLED.
Guam – Niigata effective December 14 is CANCELLED.
San Francisco – Guadalajara effective September 21 is CANCELLED.
Guam – Okayama effective between December 20-28, January 24-February 8 is CANCELLED.
Guam – Okayama effective February 21 is CANCELLED.
PREVIOUS STAR ALLIANCE ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Courtesy: www.AirlineRoute.net
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 23, 2014 | Airports, Austrian, Brussels, Featured, germanwings, Lufthansa |
LUFTHANSA GROUP has announced that flights operating to and from Israel are canceled through at least June 24. This extends the ban another 24 hours from their previous announcement yesterday.
The reason for the cancellation is out of an abundance of caution after rockets landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport yesterday. In light of the recent shoot down of the Malaysian 777 over the Ukraine, this does seem to be an appropriate response.
This affects 20 flights operated by Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, germanwings and Brussels. If your itinerary is affected, please use this link to find contact information for Lufthansa in your country.
