Review of Flights


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Article Title:

Review of Flights
Author: Olusola David, Ayibiowu
Edition: 31
Year: 02 December 2018
Published: Online by Creative Arts Solution Foundation


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Introduction to early efforts of flight

Let us take a look from the past Around 400 BC – China of which talks about the discovery of the kite that could fly in the air by the Chinese started humans thinking about flying. Kites were used by the Chinese in religious ceremonies. They built many colourful kites for fun, also.
Sophisticated kites were used to test weather conditions. Kites have been important to the invention of flight as they were the forerunner to balloons and gliders.

Humans try to fly like birds
Years ago, humans have tried to fly just like the birds. Wings made of feathers or lightweight would have been attached to arms to test their ability to fly. The results were often disastrous as the muscles of the human arms are not like birds and cannot move with the strength of a bird.
Icarus and Daedalus - An Ancient Greek Legend
Daedalus was an engineer who was imprisoned by King Minos. With his son, Icarus, he made wings of wax and feathers. Daedalus flew successfully from Crete to Naples, but Icarus tried to fly too high and flew too near to the sun. The wings of wax melted and Icarus fell to his death in the ocean.
Just to mention a few.

Insight to Book Cheap Flights
Giving an insight to Travelstart as an Africa’s leading online travel agency. Based in sunny Cape Town, we have offices across Africa and the Middle East where hundreds of Travel starters are dedicated to rocking your travel world. We want our customers to spend less time planning their travels and more time on holiday. Our mission is to save you time, money and stress with our simple online booking platform. You can search, compare and book your travel all in one place.

Book Cheap Qatar Flights
Take a trip down to Qatar (QA), it is an Arab Emirate situated in the Middle East. Travel to Doha, known for its beaches and resorts or check out the Heritage House Museum, built in 1935 it gives the best view of the wind tower. For shoppers, Qatar is a paradise. Visit the Landmark Mall, situated in the northern suburbs it houses major international brands and here visitors can shop for designer clothes and jewelry.

Emirates
An airline based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and founded in 1985. The airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is wholly owned by the government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. Their subsidiaries include Arabian Adventures, Congress Solutions International, Emirates Holidays and Emirates Tours.

Virgin Atlantic
30 years ago, in 1984, the esteemed Sir Richard Branson started Virgin Atlantic. He did so because he was tired with airlines that, from his viewpoint, didn't care about their passengers. It's the purpose? To embrace the human spirit and let it fly. Their team goal? To be the airline most loved by their customers. 
Airline miles programs, sometimes called frequent flyer programs, began popping up shortly after the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act. It was a way for airlines set themselves apart from the pack and gain customer loyalty. One of the first was American Airline's Advantage which began in 1981. It remains one of the most popular miles programs in the world with more than 100 million members
Where in the world do you want to go? Chances are, this 4th largest carrier in the world can take you there. A member of the Star Alliance since 2008 only broadens your options and they are the airline that serves over 170 destinations around the world. This airline is a true Turkish delight (that’s a dessert by the way).

Turkish Airlines
Won the Skytrax awards for Europe's Best Airline, Southern Europe's Best Airline, and the World's Best Premium Economy Class Airline Seat for three consecutive years in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It has retained its status as the top European airline in 2014 and 2015, thereby holding the title for five years in a row. This is quite the turnaround for an airline that was struggling throughout the 1970s, ’80s and even into the ’90s. They have also acquired sponsorships of several prominent futbol teams (name drop FC Barcelona here) and celebrities such as Kobe Bryant.
Turkish Airlines was founded in 1933 and its hubs are in Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST), Esenboga International Airport (ESB), and Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SAW). Their frequent flyer program is Miles&Smiles (doesn’t that make you smile? If it doesn’t, that’s unfortunate). They are headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey and have just over 18,000 employees. You can find information on Turkish Airline’s baggage fees or compares fares for Turkish Airlines flights now with FareCompare.

The once-simple task of purchasing
The once-simple task of purchasing a plane ticket has become a science in its own right.
The savvy traveler now has a myriad of variables to take into account when plotting air travel – from the day of booking and time of service to choice of airline and whether the route is direct or indirect – but the other side of the story is that airlines are trying harder than ever to ensure they maximize revenue while also appearing to offer the best value.
Known rather unromantically as airline revenue management, carriers are perfecting the art of being able to adjust fares dynamically and in real time while using increasingly-sophisticated software that considers the performances of its routes and services around the world.

So how exactly are airlines pricing their airfares, and what can you do to find the best offer?

“Techniques such as Expected Marginal Seat Revnue (EMSR) look at the best ways to optimise fares in real time, not only on a given route but taking into account revenue-generating opportunities across the whole airline network,” explains Robert W Mann, a former airline planning executive, to CNN.
So, for example, a flight from London to Dubai might cost the same as a much longer service to Manila, via Dubai, as the airline is pricing up the first leg to discourage those who want to fly the shorter trip, and leaving the seats for higher value customers.

They know who you are, sort of

It’s no surprise that an airline will price its seats according to who it thinks is flying – families and leisure passengers or business fliers.
“The London to Majorca route, for example, has a marked leisure profile,” Stuart Barwood, founder of airline consultancy firm Travercial, told the broadcaster. “This has implication not only for fare levels but also for the way pricing changes over time.”
“If the airline assumes that leisure passengers will tend to book relatively early, months before their holidays, it may be tempted to start pricing seats on that route relatively high. It would then adjust them according to the market response.”
“Meanwhile on a typical business route – let’s say London to Frankfurt – the airline may start with low prices to fill a minimum capacity, then raise prices steeply for business travelers that book at the last minute.”
Some airlines are even prepared to bump lower value passengers to make room for the high fliers. A service developed by Barcelona-based company Caravello helps airlines identify the customers most likely to accept a flight swap in exchange for compensation of busy routes, so leaving free seats to be sold at a higher price.

Exploring the Cookies Myth

It has long been rumored that airlines use internet cookies to raise airfares for customers returning to the booking website, in the belief that if they are coming back they will be prepared to pay more.
This, however, has been debunked by Telegraph Travel consumer expert Nick Trend, and there is little evidence to belief it is true. “If you think it affects a booking you are trying to make, you could try using a different browser (or clearing your 'cookies') and searching for the flights again,” said Nick Trend. “Of course, I’d be interested if any readers have experienced this problem, but think it is more likely to be caused by another customer buying flights in the interim period.”
However, loyalty programmes and registered users on websites does give airlines clearer ideas as to who the passenger is and why and where they are flying – and likely to in the future – and can use that data to use in managing revenue.

A tale of two classes

It is too simplistic nowadays to think of an aircraft as divided by just two classes – business and economy. The truth is that airline has a number of subdivisions of cost within those classes, and as one sells out the fares jump to the next.
Anyone who has ever tried to buy a plane ticket at an airline desk with only hours to spare before departure will be familiar with the eye-watering prices of the last-remaining seats rising as the minutes roll away.

Plan ahead vs hold off

The same flights can be more than £600 cheaper depending on when they are booked – and each destination has its optimum booking window, ranging from 11 months before to just two months ahead of departure, research earlier this year revealed.
The study by travel search engine Kayak.co.uk found that those wishing to travel outside Europe in autumn should book furthest in advance, while those sorting a winter getaway on the Continent should wait until just two months out.

Head to the source

Most price-comparison sites will click you through to an airline’s site in any case, so if you start there, you will at least be sure that you are getting live, up-to-date fares.

Or go compare

Price-comparison websites are, in theory, the easiest way to find the cheapest fares. But they can also be misleading. First, most do not list fares from every airline operating the route; second, they do not normally quote exact fares.
This is because they are not quite up to date because they can’t replicate the many preferences that an individual might have – to check in baggage, for example (see below) – and because they can’t reflect all the different booking fees that might be charged for using different credit or debit cards.
As I found with my spot-check, they can also be subject to technical hitches without the user realizing. Even so, they are a useful guide, as long as you bear in mind the limitations and check at least two or three as part of your research.

Approach the agents

Sites like Expedia take the booking themselves – you don't click through on to the airline site as you do with the price-comparison sites above.
They can be useful – you can put together packages including hotels and hire cars that are financially protected, for example. But they normally charge a booking fee for flight-only arrangements, and it isn't always clear how much extra you are paying.

Fly off-peak

Midweek, outside the school holidays, at unsociable hours etc. And use filters on booking and price-comparison sites that allow you to search for cheaper fares on the days before and after your ideal date.

Summary
We someone book with an airline, such as BA, that doesn't charge extra for hold luggage. Be sure to measure and weigh all luggage – cabin and hold – before you leave home and make sure it is under the limit for your airline. Penalty charges for breaching the limits can be swingeing. Some sites try to tempt you into booking insurance (which you may already have) and other extras (a new cabin bag, for example). You need to be careful to remove from the online booking form any extras you do not want.

References:
Travelstart, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Airlines









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