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Podcast #39: Noise Cancelling Headphones & US Credit Cards

On long-haul flights, sometimes silence is bliss. That’s why so many frequent flyers use noise-cancelling headphones to drown out the noise of aircraft engines and fellow passengers. Noise-cancelling headphones may seem like magic, but there’s some very sophisticated science that goes into providing the perfect listening experience. Many years ago Hossein Seif Zadeh, who has a … Continued

27 Jun 2020 AFF on Air Podcast

How Noise Cancelling Headphones Work – AIR039

  For frequent flyers, noise-cancelling headphones are the ultimate travelling companion. But have you ever wondered how they actually work to cancel out noise? In this episode, aerospace engineer Hossein Seif Zadeh (a.k.a. hossein_au on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum) explains how noise-cancelling headphone technology works and the difference between a $100 and a $600 pair … Continued

27 Jun 2020 AFF on Air (blubrry)

Bain Capital to Buy Virgin Australia

The search for a new owner of Virgin Australia is finally over with Bain Capital, a U.S. private investment firm based in Boston, announced as the successful bidder. The other bidder in the running, Cyrus Capital Partners, reportedly withdrew this morning after submitting its final offer last Monday. Virgin’s administrators have now entered into a … Continued

26 Jun 2020 Virgin Australia

COVID-19 is Accelerating the Transition to a Cashless Society

Many frequent flyers prefer to use credit cards for every possible transaction in order to earn points. But there are still around half a million Australians that don’t have a debit or credit card, preferring to pay for everything with cash. Slowly but surely, this number has been decreasing. Over the past decade, cash transactions … Continued

26 Jun 2020 Travel Money

Qantas to Axe 6,000 Jobs, Raise $1.9b Equity

Qantas Airways Limited entered a trading halt on the ASX this morning as CEO Alan Joyce announced a three-year COVID-19 recovery plan that’s harsh but necessary. The cost-cutting and job losses are far greater than those announced in the last major shake-up back in February 2014, when 5,000 jobs were cut. Today, Qantas announced 6,000 permanent … Continued

25 Jun 2020 Qantas

Retired Planes Repurposed by Creative New Owners

At the end of this month, Qantas will retire the only Boeing 747 left in its fleet. Most of the flying kangaroo’s remaining jumbo jets have already been sent to the aircraft boneyard in Victorville, USA, and the aircraft with registration VH-OEJ is set to join them on 30 June. (For the aviation geeks out … Continued

25 Jun 2020 Travel Lifestyle

Velocity to Refund Cancelled Reward Seat Bookings

Velocity Frequent Flyer will finally refund Virgin Australia reward seat bookings that have been cancelled, for travel booked until 30 September 2020. This had already been Velocity’s policy prior to Virgin Australia entering voluntary administration. Throughout April and the first half of May, Velocity always said that it would refund the Velocity points & taxes paid … Continued

24 Jun 2020 Virgin Australia

Travel Agents in NSW Must Disclose Commissions, Incentives

From next week, travel agents operating in the state of New South Wales will need to disclose any commission, referral fees or incentives they receive from their suppliers. The new rule is part of increased disclosure obligations that will apply to NSW businesses, including intermediaries such as agents. The new state-based laws also require businesses to … Continued

23 Jun 2020 Planning & Booking

Australian International Flights Down 98% in April 2020

There was a 98% reduction in international passengers travelling to and from Australia in April 2020, compared to the previous year, despite a surge in people leaving Australia on repatriation flights. Almost half of those passengers flew with Qatar Airways. There was also a 97.2% reduction in domestic airline passengers travelling within Australia in April 2020. … Continued

22 Jun 2020 Coronavirus and Travel

Qantas Forced to Offer Refunds for Cancelled Flights

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has forced Qantas to contact customers issued with flight credits to inform them of their entitlement to a refund. This includes customers that opted to cancel their booking for a voucher before Qantas cancelled their flight. The ACCC alleges that Qantas failed to adequately inform customers of their … Continued

21 Jun 2020 Qantas

A Socially-Distant Regional Express Review

With a fleet of 57 Saab 340 aircraft, Regional Express (more commonly known as “Rex”) is Australia’s largest independent regional airline. Using its 34-seat planes, it flies to many regional airports that the major airlines simply don’t serve, such as Broken Hill, Burnie, Coober Pedy and Birdsville. Although Rex is currently operating only a limited … Continued

20 Jun 2020 Flight Reviews

Triple Points on Qantas Domestic Flights (June 2020)

Qantas will offer triple frequent flyer points on all new domestic flights booked until 24 June 2020, for travel between 27 June and 31 October 2020. The “triple point sale” is expected to launch at 9am today, and runs in conjunction with a Jetstar sale that sees domestic flights start from just $19 one-way. Triple … Continued

19 Jun 2020 Qantas