As Rosanne Roseannadanna liked to say on the old Saturday Night Live skits, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” The airline industry in the past six months has battled freak snowstorms. They’ve had mysterious computer issues. I seem to recall a plague of locusts in Nebraska, but I could be wrong. Anyway, now comes something else: wildfire smoke. Cancellations didn’t seem too bad, but major airports in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States suffered thousands of delays on Wednesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south. At one point, the Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S. called a Read more
June 2023
The fast-paced airline recovery continues in Canada, with a strong financial report today from Transat A.T. Inc. “For the second quarter of 2023, Transat reported a solid performance, with an adjusted operating income of $56.1 million, nearly 40% higher than in the same quarter of 2019,” said officials from the company, which runs Montreal-based Air Transat. “At mid-year, and based on current booking trends, we are raising the target for the adjusted operating income margin from the initially set range of 4% to 6% to a target of 5.5% to 7% for the fiscal year.” “Several factors contributed to the Read more
Orders for “diet water” and a $1,600 hamburger. And a warning about naked guests accepting room service orders at their hotel room door. Hotels.com® has revealed its inaugural Room Service Report, which surveyed hotel partners around the world to uncover what’s considered “in” when it comes to in-room dining, from the most popular to the most unusual orders. It also touched on etiquette, and proper attire for folks answering the door when room service orders are delivered. Hint: clothing is preferred. Hotels revealed their most unusual guest requests including “diet” water, melted ice cream, blowfish and a raw fish caught Read more
For my next “Canada Shorts” item, here’s a brief look at a truly amazing and inspiring outdoor art gallery near Peterborough, Ontario that displays Zimbabwean stone carvings. Truly magnificent, and so unexpected. One of the truly amazing attractions in O ntario is the Zim Art Rice Lake Gallery in Bailieboro, south of Peterborough. I was asked to check it out a few years ago and had no idea what to expect. I turned down a shady, quiet country road not much bigger than a standard SUV and there it was, a lush green lawn filled with polished, black sculptures of Read more
Bad enough that we’re getting squeezed into airplanes. Now consumers around the world are facing skyrocketing airline prices. Bloomberg reports that corporate travel manager American Express Global Business Travel analyzed tens of thousands of client transactions on international flights to and from Asian destinations and found some serious inflation at work. A typical New York-to-Hong Kong flight in economy class cost more than twice as much this year as in 2019, and almost a third more than last year. “Fares have been bolstered by tight capacity going into travel’s peak season and customers are eager to book, often upgrading to Read more
