Welcome to ‘Excess KarryOn’, your weekly wrap on the week in travel, the industry and beyond from KarryOn’s Founder, Matt Leedham.
1. Left to our non devices
What’s banned and allowed on UK flights. Pic: Metro.co.uk
More ‘uh oh’ airline revelations and complications this week with the US and UK’s latest ban – this time for personal electronic devices on selected Middle Eastern carriers, which took affect from Saturday.
For the big three Middle Eastern carriers in Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways it is a hearty slap in the faces of their profitable Business and First clientele who need to use their laptops etc. to work inflight.
Only time will tell to see just what the fall out is but already there have been a number of ‘commercial’ conspiracy theories doing the social media rounds this week as opposed the official Trump terrorism reasoning. Note: U.S carriers are not included in the ban.
Emirates also cheekily came out with a video this week to make a mockery of the ban and launched a ‘get around’ initiative. Read all about it here.
Sources on the ground at Dubai Airport on Saturday when the ban started say most people are simply shrugging off the latest ruling as just another inconvenience of travelling. What’s your take on it all?
2. London Calling us all
The appalling terrorist incident at Westminster in London this week tragically saw four innocent people lose their lives with the lone assailant killed by police.
We don’t need to mention who claimed the so called act, because they’re not worthy of that.
But it will no doubt send another ripple of unease and fear for travellers and their loved ones with anxious thoughts of travelling to the UK and Europe. Which is of course any terrorists objective.
Terrorism definitely does have an effect, but London will bounce back from terror attack, says London Eye chief https://t.co/QJKizzHI3O pic.twitter.com/v8BOaomzmg
— KCFA (@CorpFinanceKent) March 26, 2017
As an industry it’s up to us to collectively re-assure and educate the travelling public that these incidents are rare, but also keep ourselves up to date on the destinations themselves. Knowledge is power after all and so being able to impart up to date, on the ground advice with confidence will always be a key service differentiator.
— Westminster Security (@WestminSecurity) March 22, 2017
3. Did Macquarie Bank miss the mark?
Our most read news story of the week went to Flight Centre and Macquarie Bank with the latter controversially suggesting that Flight Centre Travel Group should close 135 stores on the basis that they’re not profitable – according to the bank’s calculations anyway.
Flight Centre in return said “thanks but no thanks” for the advice and also presumably told them not to invoice them for that piece of research.
Flight Centre Australia defends its business, saying it sees no need to close “profitable businesses”.
Posted by KarryOn Travel on Monday, March 20, 2017
Nevertheless it was enough to create an interesting ride for the share price this week which saw it go down from AUD$28.85, then rise up again at one point to AUD$29.06, before bumping along to finish the week on Friday slightly lower at AUD$28.57.
Clearly no-one really knew what to make of it. Or seemed to care much for that matter.
Read the full story here.
4. Chimu we salute you
In Peru this week, the worst downpours in decades have triggered floods and landslides, killing at least 78 people and making around 70,000 homeless. The government has declared a state of emergency.
With many Australian travel companies operating out of the popular South American destination, it’s been heart warming to see some Aussie companies come to the countries aid in helping where they can, notably Sydney based company – Chimu Adventures.
As part of the aid initiatives, Chimu has organised a fundraiser through its not-for-profit ‘Make a Difference’ (MAD) project that will assist and support the efforts undertaken by the Peruvian Red Cross in the impacted areas.
You can read all about it and get involved here.
Dear Chimu Family,
I am sure you have seen the devastation caused in Peru from the recent flooding. A terrible… https://t.co/2QbH8ClMaM
— Chimu Adventures (@chimuadventures) March 23, 2017
To everyone at Chimu Adventures – we say a massive well done from all of us at KarryOn.
5. Bogainaire ready for take off
Cabin crew model the ‘mullet’ vibe
Another massively read story for us at KarryOn this week was our (ahem) satire piece on the impending launch of new Australian low cost carrier ‘Bogainaire’.
“According to staff at the new airline, ‘Boganaire’ was the number one choice for the airline’s target demographic mostly because it sounds French and fancy”.
Clearly it brought out many of your own ‘Inner or upper middle Bogan’ as the story went nuts on Social media with a ton of comments to boot.
Maybe ‘Bogainaire’ could have a future off after all?
6. Virgin America to fly no more
Happier times for Branson and Virgin America
Speaking of airline futures, it was sad news this week for aviation and entrepreneurial Branson lovers everywhere with Virgin America’s new owners – Alaska Airlines announcing that due to the high operating costs of running two airlines they don’t believe it is viable to keep the Virgin America brand alive.
After paying $2.6bn for the brand only in late November last year you may have thought they would have done the maths rather earlier in the piece.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand, seems to be struggling to come to terms with loss, saying in an online blog that “there is a point where we have to let go”. Though the $2.6bn will no doubt help ease the pain.
“Many years ago, I shed tears over selling my beloved Virgin Records for $1 billion, which we needed to fight off British Airways’ Dirty Tricks campaign to try to put Virgin Atlantic out of business”.
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Brand Founder
7. Webjet vs Maccas
A possible future joint venture marketing campaign?
Watching TV the other night, I noticed that McDonalds are using the same voice over bloke as Webjet do in their ads.
If nothing else, it gave me a laugh. At least their marketing is in sync.
8. Did someone say KarryOn Travel Jobs?
Two weeks ago we launched our Karryon Travel JOBS site and we’re pleased to say that the response from the industry has been phenomenal.
Already there are over 150 fantastic roles in Australia up on the site ranging from Leisure, Corporate and Specialist Travel Agent positions, through to airlines, wholesale, marketing, tourism, hospitality and much more.
So if you’re looking for a new travel gig – Start your search here!
And if you’re an employer, right now you can place your roles for free!
So we invite you go for it and get those roles out there. We will continue to promote all roles through our daily e-newsletter, Sponsored Social Media and Facebook page as the site builds.
But for now we’d like to say thank you so much to everyone for your amazing support in getting the site up and away. And here’s to much more.
From all of the team at KarryOn, Safe travels, enjoy the journey and more next week.