Kahuna Travel Blog

I mean, if a major airline company or a start-up follow the same procedures as Easyjet and Ryanair, they can certainly cut down prices and increse they revenues. Right?

What! It is cheaper to fly international than within the states.
Here is the problem (your problem) You are looking at the usa comapnies!
I just got back from Mendoza, Argentina
Delta and American wanted about $1200.00 round trip! I flew Argen Air Ways which is a private owned Argentine Airline and it cost me $318,00 round trip! YOU have to really do homework if travel over seas.

OH YA last year I flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Yokahoma, Japan and it cost me 412.00 round trip everyone else wanted 1500.00 and went to Venezuela, Caracas for $215.00 round trip

Another big thing is that the increase has caused the big airlines to fly a greater number of smaller (commuter) airplanes to compete. This causes delays at the major airports. With the airlines flying many more airplanes to carry the same number or a slightly greater number of passengers, there is significantly more air traffic. All the airlines are planning their flights in the ‘best’ time periods to compete with the Other Airlines who are doing the same thing. We … the passengers see delays.

I want to know about the future, growth and impact of low cost airlines in India. any body help please..

More will travel with air bus .Middle class will have more options of travel like ac/I class or air bus

Many new partners will emerge for airlines which may result in new job openings for air hostess,pilots etc.

More pollution with new airlines

But the impact on railways will not be much as it will be marred by increasing population ,queues will still be there .Secondly rising fuel prices is doing just the reverse . Airlines have hiked their fees

although i am having a hard time deciphering your question, budget airlines utilize only one or two types of aircraft to save on inventory and maintenance cost.

I have to flight from Newark, NJ to Savannah, GE and I’m looking for a very low cost flight (250 USD at most). Is there any other airline besides Air Tran that I can look for? any tips about this matter?

Unfortunately, Southwest doesn’t serve Savannah (or Newark). Greyhound (bus) will take minimum 16 hours and 20 minutes, plus transfer from Newark Airport to Newark’s bus station.

AirTran currently shows as the cheapest option, $134 with advance purchase. Only Continental Airlines fly nonstop between Newark and Savannah, and they’re currently $441.

http://www.airtran.com I’ve flown them before and thought they were just as good as any other airline I’ve flown. It was a brand-new Boeing 717 jet with XM satellite radio at each seat. I’d definitely fly them again.

I’ll be visiting in Dec. I plan on flying into Bali first and then hopping to a few islands on the fly. Is it easy to book cheap inter-island flights?

There is a budget carrier company called AdamAir, which flies between Bali (Denpasar ) to Jakarta .

How could you not realize what the price of a barrel of oil is doing to the cost of jet fuel?

That’s how some airlines are tying to stay in business without wholesale ticket prices going up.

Do you really think airlines are a bunch of fat cats? Four have gone bankrupt in the last month.

The new airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair don’t give you a seat? Why ? and yesterday they wrote my name on the boarding card by hand. Do they save money not using the airport computer system, or do they reckon it is easier and faster?

The "free for all" system actually allows the plane to be boarded more quickly than assigned seating. I get stuck in airplane boarding traffic jams all the time, where someone clogs up the aisle, and if you get enough people doing that, it adds another 10 minutes to the boarding process. Even worse is when seats have been assigned and people decide they want to rearrange the whole cabin just so their last-minute-booking friends can all sit together. What a mess! 10 minutes may not seem like a lot but the low-cost airlines can only make money by minimizing at-the-gate time and running as many flights as possible off of that one plane. They want to get it up in the air as fast as possible. Shaving 10 minutes off of each flight’s at-the-gate time lets them squeeze in one more daily run which equals more money for them. And writing the names by hand means no reliance on printers or other things that could break (or at the least, run out of paper and ink). If everyone had to wait to get their boarding cards till there was more paper in the printer, the flight might be late and that goes back to the money thing!

Are there any low cost airlines in South America?
I am going there next year & want to know the best/cheapes/quickest way to get around?

The only true "low-cost" airline in Latin America is Gol, which is a Sao Paulo-based airline. The bad news is that in keeping with the low-cost model, they do not offer much in the way of service outside of Brazil, except to Buenos Aires.

If you’re looking to travel between two points in two different countries, then there are only three airlines with service and a safety record that would merit a recommendation:

1) TAM (Based in Brazil)
2) TACA (Based in El Salvador)
3) LAN (Based in Chile, Argentina and Peru)

The only problem is that these are not "low-fare" airlines in the sense of their distribution, meaning they all still follow the old ways where the lowest fares were only sold through preferred travel agencies—meaning that many times you will not get these fares over the internet. (This also has to do with the low penetration rate of internet households in Latin America)

Therefore, just follow the basic rule of thumb when picking an airline, which is that airlines that DO NOT offer the best schedule generally compensate to get traffic in that route by offering a lower fare.

Example: If you are flying from Miami to Sao Paulo, you will find that the highest fare of the above airlines is on TAM, because they offer nonstop service. But if you check with LanChile with a connection over Santiago, you will get a lower fare. (Conversely, if you look for a low fare from Miami to Santiago, try TAM connecting via Sao Paulo rather than nonstop on LAN!)

do major airline pilots earn more money then low coast eg Jetstar and Virgin blue

Overall the major airlines pay more than the low cost airlines but pay is also based on seniority and the type of aircraft that is flown. For example, a Cathay Pacific pilot made news when he did a fly-by with a new 777-300. The news said that he was only 28 feet off the ground. Anyway, this pilot was making $500,000 a year with Cathay (before he was fired for pulling that stunt. Not a good idea to do a fly-by with the chairman of the board sitting in the aircraft). Airlines that fly large aircraft to international destinations usually pay their pilots very well.