3/10/2008 – The Weekly Round Up : SWA's new threat to UA & AA; The Smell Of Jet-A; Pilot Pensions; Tripods As Carry-on; BA & Qantas iPho

Web: www.fishfotoworldwide.com -- E-Mail: fish@flyingwithfish.com

3/10/2008 – The Weekly Round Up : SWA's new threat to UA & AA; The Smell Of Jet-A; Pilot Pensions; Tripods As Carry-on; BA & Qantas iPhone Apps

I think I'll start this weekly round up with something not covered this week on Flying With Fish. Earlier this week Southwest Airlines announced it would begin service at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). Southwest usually enters a market with 4, or more, destinations, they chose to enter MSP with only one. This route is non-stop MSP-Chicago. Many people are discussing how this will affect Northwest Airlines. I have bucked the trend and believe this move is not targeting Northwest Airlines but instead targeting United Airlines and American Airlines, and their customer base at MSP. You can read my opinion on this topic exclusively on AeroChannel.com here: http://www.aerochannel.com/features/4531349

This week on Flying With Fish I launched "Flying With Fish On Twitter." Twitter is designed to be a social networking tool, which I initially found to be quite annoying. After some looking into Twitter I decided to use it for a different purpose, as an 'info source.' As relevant information becomes available to me that I think may be of interest to the readers if Flying With Fish I simply send off a short message. To read more on this visit : 1/10/2008 - Flying With Fish On Twitter (or just sign up to follow me at www.twitter.com/flyingwithfish)

My first entry this week asked the question regarding what keeps me motivated to do what I do. Honestly, I love the challenges involved in traveling. For me, the point of the journey is not to arrive, and since I'll never have all the answers, I can never arrive. To read up on what keeps me motivated, and how I am working to try and work with the industry directly, visit:
29/09/2008 – I Love The Smell Of Jet A Fuel In The Morning


Last week I received a message from a reader with the user-name "walp" concerning the important topic of pilot pensions in regard to the Delta-Northwest Airlines merger. I planned to link that message to this weekly round up, but instead I decided to dedicate an entire post to it. I think this is an important piece of information and that everyone should take a moment and read it. You can find "walp"s message here: 30/09/2008 - From The Mail Bag : Pilot Pensions

What is the number one question I am asked by nature and landscape photographers? Can they get their tripod on-board as carry on? The answer is yes! For more info check here: 1/10/2008 - Can I Carry My Tripod On-board My Flight?

My iPhone 'App' of this week this week is a pair of 'Apps' from two OneWorld airlines. Both British Airways and Qantas have released proprietary iPhone 'Apps' that are excellent for their flyers. Every airline should take at look at these and explore the option of putting one out there! To read up on why I like BA Flights and Qantas Mobile read here: 2/10/2008 – iPhone 'Apps' Of The Week : BA Flights & Qantas Mobile (yes, there are two this week)


......last but not least I have relaunched Come Fly With Fish (www.comeflywithfish.com). On Come Fly With Fish I currently have two workshops up. The intense 'round-the-world' workshop, and the Single Day "Get Up & Fly" Boot Camp. The Get Up & Fly Boot Camps are scheduled for November 7th departing from New York's JFK and November 13th from Los Angeles' LAX.

As an incentive to the readers of Flying With Fish, each participant in the Get Up & Fly workshop will receive one of my favourite bags! If you read this site enough you may have a guess what bag I am talking about it. These bags will be sent out prior to our departure for you to pack up and work out of while attending the boot camp.

There has been significant interest in the Get Up & Fly Boot Camp but just a few more people are needed to meet the minimum required number to take off!

That's it for this week.

Happy Flying!

iPhone 'Apps' Of The Week : BA Flights & Qantas Mobile (yes, there are two this week)

Web: www.fishfoto.com -- E-Mail: fish@flyingwithfish.com

2/10/2008 – iPhone 'Apps' Of The Week : BA Flights & Qantas Mobile (yes, there are two this week)

While I do not fly either British Airways (BA) or Qantas (QF), these two OneWorld Alliance airlines make up this weeks pair of iPhone 'Apps' Of The Week. These two intertwined global airlines had the foresight to release user friendly, highly functional and reliable iPhone 'Apps' to meet the needs of their customers.

There are quite a few travel 'Apps' I have played with that show schedules and flight status, however these pair of 'Apps' offer more detail and more reliable results in some cases for their respective flights

The BA Flights 'App' offers Arrivals/Departures, Online Timetables and a direct link to ba.com to book flights off of your iPhone. I have found that checking the Arrivals/Departures schedules against live flight data; the BA Flights 'App' is often slightly more accurate than other online sources. As another resource for travelers making their travel plans at a hurried pace, the Online Timetables time-and-time again offered me a more detailed choice of BA flights than most online booking sites when looking at uncommon routes, and short-haul routes. The information available for the flights listed on the Online Timetable loads rapidly, is easy to understand and offers quite a bit of detailed info on each flight, above what you'll find on many online booking sites.

Qantas Mobile not only offers Arrival/Departure and Timetable information, it also has a very useful resource for the business traveler........a complete list and detailed information for each lounge Qantas flyers may use around the world. This took is fantastic when traveling through an airport you are unfamiliar with, or using a lounge that is available to Qantas flyers but not operated by Qantas. The information for these airports is broken down to avoid confusion (such as listing LAX T4 and LAX Tom Bradley separately). For each lounge the Qantas Mobile 'App' lists the location in the terminal, the hours it is available to Qantas flyers, the lounge phone number & fax number, the facilities available in the lounge and the name of the airline that operates the lounge.

While these 'Apps' may not be useful for those who do not fly either British Airways or Qantas, these 'Apps' certainly are a must have for anyone who flies with either carrier.

Both BA Flights and Qantas Mobile are free in the iTunes Store.

Hopefully other airlines will follow the lead from these two OneWorld airlines and release their own 'Apps.' In an ideal world, maybe an airline alliance would be forward thinking and release a similar type 'App' covering all the airlines in their alliance.

Below are a few screen shots from both BA Flights and Qantas Mobile

Happy Flying!
--Click Images Below To Enlarge Them--