December 21, 2016: It’s official — Alaska has fully taken over Virgin America! The combined operation is now the 5th largest US carrier with over 1,200 daily departures to 118 destinations that include the United States, Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. The newly combined carrier has more daily non-stops from the West Coast than any other carrier. Yet to be “clarified” — will the Virgin America name disappear?
December 19, 2016: According to a recent New York times feature, hotels are paying more attention to online reviews on sites like Yelp, Travelocity, Trip Advisor and others. Sometimes negative reviewers even receive a phone call from the offending property asking how they can make things better. Be aware though, most sites tend to refuse to run really negative reviews and sites keep track of “repeat negative” reviewers. Trip Advisor says they have over 300 people in seven countries who monitor negative reviews.
December 16. 2016: Uber is back in the news — and telling riders “don’t have sex” when using their service! According to Uber, “No sexual contact with drivers or fellow riders — no matter what”. Seems to be contrary to one of their mantra’s that says “Uber is a fun and new way to get people from place to place.”
December 10, 2016: San Francisco based Uber can now be used worldwide in over 400 cities in 72 countries. They have yet to be profitable — they say they will make a profit when they lead the way in the coming self drive (cars and trucks) markets! We’ll see?
December 8, 2016: Based on a recent international survey — that included lifestyle, budget, cost of living, healthcare and buying or renting, here’s “where in the world” to retire (top five destinations): Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Malaysia.
December 6, 2016: Italy is trying very hard to stop the “spread” of McDonalds. Florence has said “no” to new a McDonalds in one of the city’s historic plazas; and the Vatican has told McDonalds “God Bless” but no new location next to St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Good for the Italians!
December 5, 2016: The wedding took place in Mumbai, India, with more than 50,000 guests attending — supervised by 3,000 security guards. The extra lavish 5 day wedding celebration was hosted by a mining baron to celebrated the wedding of this 21 year-old daughter. The gold plated wedding invitation featured an LCD screen that not only included the soon to be wed couple but top “Bollywood” stars singing and dancing. Estimated cost — around $70 million — but what bride ever stays on budget!
December 2, 2016: The UAE’s — and one of the world’s largest and most modern air carriers — will soon run only 2 aircraft models — Boeing 777’s and the uncomfortable A380 — the world’s largest jetliner that can accommodate over 500 travelers! The airline still has more than US $112 billion on its order book for future delivery of both models. The airline, based in Dubai, in the next few months will be the world’s largest airline and Dubai the world’s number 1 international travel hub.
