Archive for January 2012
Air Travel – Flight Travel Class in Airlines and Their Features
January 31, 2012 | 
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Air Travel passengers enjoy various options in terms of services provided by airlines. Starting from the ticket booking process, a customer can choose from a range of prices, comforts, entertainment and the quality of the services at different levels of a journey. As obvious, the best services are the most expensive ones.
A set of services airlines provide is called air travel class. Travel classes in aviation industry vary from carrier to carrier. It also changes according to the area a flight operates in. Flight operators are free to choose what class of the service they prefer to offer and there are no rules set for this. Travel operators also re-brand the service classes of the flights they offer. Airline Travel classes are broadly categorized as:
Economy Class: Also called the tourist class and most reasonable in terms of price.
Business Class: This is the relatively expensive and almost luxurious.
First Class: Best services with highest price. Sometimes, more than three times expensive than economy class.
Airlines do classify their services as may be best for them. For example: Business class and First class services are merged in many international flights. Similarly, low-cost carriers dissolve all classes into one economy class and discount economy class. In this case passengers are provided with the same facilities and comforts with slight variation in terms of services.
All That May be included in a Class:
First Class Travel is premium service package that includes luxurious amenities. The cabin is mostly located in the front area of the aircraft with restricted entry. Economy class travelers are not allowed to enter this cabin. The limited number of seats are available in this category. The seats are spacious and comfortable. It offers entertainment options, games, special meals and better privacy during the flight.
While it may cost much more that the normal flight ticket, post-flight limousine services and special check-in facility are special features that make is valuable.
Business Class travel is almost equally comfortable with few exceptions. Some commercial airlines provide business class as the highest level of service. They do not have a special first class. It is located in the middle of the aircraft and rear of first class. Better seats, special meals and drinks are included along with entertainment services.
Another class some airlines offer is Premium Economy Class. It falls between economy class and business class services. It differs from economy class in terms of the better seats and some services like meals and media options. The cost of the premium class is almost similar to economy class but the services are better. So this is a good value for money option for a little more money.
Economy Class is the least expensive of all. Here seats are simpler and limited. Short span travels may not include meals and other services may be paid. This class is located in the rear of an aircraft. Entertainment options are limited and can also be paid sometimes. The Cost is significantly less than other travel class prices.
…And Flight Travel Class also change according to international and domestic flights. Domestic flights’ offer Economy and Domestic First Class depending upon the flight operator. In this case also the cost of the flight and the services offered are the factors that cause variation.
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Travel Agency Worth
I agree with the experts that a shakeout is taking place due to the current economic downturn. If you have not positioned your agency at this time either to be a part of the larger travel organizations or to become a “boutique,” then you might want to start thinking about your strategies for the future. Your key starting point is determining your agency’s net worth.
There are four critical areas that comprise an adequate and accurate agency valuation plan -
- operations/resource management,
- market position/agency image,
- financial management, and
- business history
Future articles will include financial management, market position/agency image, and business history. Today let’s consider -
Operations and Resource Management
Automation – Computers and Telephones
As a general rule, the more automated you are, the higher your productivity per employee and consequently the higher your profitability. Additionally, more time for agents to have face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with customers means better service. Bear in mind that if you’ve been computerized for at least three full years, you are over the start up pains and the equipment is part of your routine.
What computerization was to a travel agency five years ago, telephone systems will be for the next five years. Your phone system will make or break you. Chances are if you have an old-fashioned key button system, your productivity is low and your ultimate valuation will reflect that. You should at least have PBX and ACD systems.
Personnel
Regardless of whether a buyer will be managing your business himself or hiring you to stay on as a contract manager, your personnel are the absolute key to success under new ownership. I have seen agencies sold and then watched half the staff leave the next day with their “following” because they were offered a better deal by another agency. The result is usually a bonanza for lawyers and the disintegration of your former business. You can generally avoid such a crisis if your turnover is low, staff experience levels are high, and you have a strong incentive program supplemented by a solid portfolio.
Other Resources
The travel agency business requires an incredible amount of detailed data and consistent, logical operating systems. The question is: Have you been able to maintain an organization that cuts smoothly through all these ancillary materials and procedures? For example:
- the latest work flow changes in your agency;
- staff telephone manners and the way you present your agency to the public;
- your quality control processes before documents go out to the public;
- updating the mailing list; and
- your system to follow up on hotel commissions
And what about your space? Naturally, a buyer will want to see his new business grow. If your space restricts that, or if your lease is about to be renewed at double the cost, any future projections will be impacted and your agency is worth less. Therefore, prior to sale you might want to check with your landlord as to a potential new arrangement with the new owner.
Good management
The common thread in the criteria above is organization. If historically and financially you have done well, but if the key to your success has been your absolute and autocratic management – i.e., all of the company’s records are in your head – obviously, a new owner will not succeed. Therefore, good management not only shows in the results but in the ability to turn the reins over to new management.
Obviously a potential buyer is far more impressed by an organized, well-planned operation in which you can show your original business objectives, the current variances or changes in plan and your rationale behind it.
In all of the criteria above let me stress the most important common element – consistency – as crucial.
Do you really present a credible picture to the buyer? Do you have a dashboard that measures your activities and allows you to make mid-course corrections in the event one of your “instruments” indicates a problem?
Your answers to these questions will help determine your agency’s net worth – and its value in the marketplace.
Time Travel – Undo Your Past and See Your Future
When I was a kid my dad told me that there is really a time machine. He said that it is in a very secret place because the government doesn’t want it to be used. He added that when somebody will be caught using it, the police will get them. I know my dad was just making a story to stop my imagination about time travel. And yes, as a kid I was really afraid of the police. They use it to scare me whenever I act like a brat.
But that story didn’t stop me to imagine and wonder what if I can travel. When I was kid, I often dream about going to the future. In the future, I will be able to see how and what I’ve become and then I will go back and tell myself about what to do in the present so that my future will happen or not if it’s not what I want. In the contrary, I guess the thought of time travel when I was young was just about the adventure I could get out of it.
When I started my teenage years, the thought of travelling through time changed. During those years, I desperately wanted to turn back the time to change my mistakes. I thought about the decisions I made, actions I’ve done and words that I had spoken.
For example; during a math quiz bee when I failed to win the first prize because I didn’t follow my intuition of how to solve the tie-breaking problem; for eagerly answering the question of my teacher but then my answer was wrong, for helping my pregnant teacher with her heavy stuffs that caused me to fall in a canal and be seen by my schoolmates and my crush, when I failed to be a part of the Top 10 in class because my attention was already focused to my boyfriend (I started young..I know! But I thought I was mature); and the list goes on.
I wished to change those things. I thought I could have a better life if those things didn’t happen.
But I was wrong.
When I was still 17, I thought about going to the past and changing it but then as I was imagining I’ve noticed that each event in my life in the past has something to do to my present or other people’s present.
The things that occurred in my past molded my present. The things that I have done in the past which I once regret did something to somebody’s life.
I failed the math quiz bee before but somebody won and celebrated. I gave a wrong answer to my teacher but somebody was given the chance to answer it and received a point. I fell in the canal for helping my pregnant teacher but if I didn’t do it and fell for her maybe she’ll be the one who will fell and have a miscarriage. I failed to be in the top 10 but somebody else made it. I had a boyfriend very young but I learned something about responsibility and knowing your limitations.
As of these days when I start to imagine about time travel, I only get tired. I can’t do anything about my past and I don’t want to know my future because knowing it might cause me to alter it in my attempt to live “normally” knowing what will happen next.
The best thing to do is to live life in a good way so that your future will be good. Stop acting stupid, stop doing that things that you know is dangerous and value time. Time is a precious gift and our freedom to choose what we want to do in our life is our responsibility.