Tagged With "skiing"
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Re: Mall of the Emirates
Unbelievable technology to maintain a ski resort in the desert. I believe the world's largest indoor ski resort just opened last summer which is the Wanda Indoor Ski and Winter Sports Resort in Harbin China.
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Re: Airports, Airlines battle over passenger fees
What I dislike are when fees are not used for what they're charged for. If airport improvement fees really are used to fix up and improve airports, I think most consumers are fine with that. But when they just get put into the general revenues of a city's cash pool, that bugs most of us. What a find far more unreasonable than this are the fees to change or cancel a flight. Often they approach or exceed the value of a ticket. That's really gouging the consumer.
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Re: Airports, Airlines battle over passenger fees
The other fees that especially bother me are the ones you never see in tickets, because they come out the back door. Compare airport car rental prices with off-airport of the same brand; compare the price of gum or candy at the airport or a neighborhood store. That’s airport revenue, too, either through a direct charge (car) or super-high-rents (newsstand)
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Re: Airports, Airlines battle over passenger fees
Good points, PHeymont. I have noticed the extremely high fees imposed by airport car rentals. Sometimes these exceed the cost of the car rental itself.
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Re: Norwegian Air to finally get U.S. license
This is great news! And this license should really have an impact on trans-Atlantic prices.
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Re: Olympic Ski Jump, Calgary, Alberta
BEST WISHES TO ALL OLYMPIC ATHLETES, PEACE AND SUCCESS!
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Emirates adds Orlando; more fuel on Open Skies fire?
Emirates, the largest of the Gulf carriers, has announced it will start a daily flight between Dubai and Orlando, starting September 1, using a B777. The expansion comes at a time U.S. carriers are lobbying hard for limits on expansion into the...
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Crowded Skies: U.S. sets air passenger record
Nearly 850 airline passengers for 2014! To be exact, 848.1 million passengers (obviously some repeaters!) flew on domestic airlines last year, or on foreign airline flights to and from the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The...
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Europe Takes Issue with Gulf Carriers, too
First, the American legacy carriers (American, Delta and United) had a press conference on March 5, stating Emirates, Qatar and Etihad are violating the fair-play terms of their nations' "Open Skies" agreements with the U.S. by...
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Airports, Airlines battle over passenger fees
It's hard for a traveler to tell what's going on sometimes in the pot-calling-the-kettle-black wars of the air travel industry. We've covered elsewhere the dispute between the legacy airlines and the Gulf carriers over subsidies and "Open Skies."...
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Spring cleaning in Switzerland: when the snow melts...
Spring cleaning in the Swiss Alps is a little different from airing out the bedding and mopping the floors. When the snow melts in the spring, everything left behind over the winter comes to the surface in a sometimes disgusting display. Since...
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Winter fantasy for land of permanent summer
Planned indoor ski area in Oman Oman, considered one of the hottest countries in the world, is set to get an Alpine ski resort, with real snow, if not ever a real winter. The faux-Alps will be built in Oman's capital, Muscat, as part of a...
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Boeing, Alaska plan 'cheap and green' at Seattle
Boeing and Alaska Airways have figured out a way to both reduce carbon emissions at Seattle's SeaTac International Airport, and save the airline money while doing it. And it doesn't even require new equipment or investment. The two...
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Mall of the Emirates
We visit the Mall of the Emirates, one of the first mega-shopping malls built in Dubai and home of the world-famous indoor skiing venue, Ski Dubai.
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, September 20, 2014: The Ski Trooper, Vail, Colorado
When you first see him at a distance, your impression is that he's real. Walking on the bank of Gore Creek is a white garbed figure carrying skis and... a rifle?!? You do a double take and realize it's an amazing life-sized,...
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Swiss study: Time may be up for spring skiing
Swiss and Austrian snowfall studies show that snow has been coming later and melting earlier, raising issues for resorts and the environment.
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Norwegian Air to finally get U.S. license
Norwegian Air will finally get its U.S. foreign-carrier certificate, after waiting through over 2 years of opposition and inaction.
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Italian ski resorts: Get insurance or pay for rescue
Italian ski resorts, faced with rising costs and declining subsidies, have warned skiiers: If your insurance doesn't cover your rescue, you'll have to pay for it. The warning covers resorts in a number of areas in the Alto Adige, Trentino and...
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China skiing takes off for 2022 Olympics
With Beijing set to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, China's ski industry is seeing new resorts, new skiiers and new enthusiasm.
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Snow drought is over for Alpine resorts
Snow-parched Alpine ski resorts have started to get some serious snow, with more expected—but it's still less than usual.
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Dry winter shakes up Alpine ski and travel industry
Low snowfalls are a big problem for ski resorts in France, Italy and Switzerland, with skiers waiting to the last minute to see where there's snow.
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Not a phantom menace: Camera drone nearly hits ski champ
An Austrian champion ski racer was nearly killed Tuesday when an out-of-control camera drone fell to earth bare inches from him. A photographer caught the dramatic near-collision. The skier, Marcel Hirschner, finished second despite the accident; he is currently ranked fist in standings at the World Championships, now being held at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. He's been champion 4 times in a row. According to Ski Federation director Markus Waldner, who has now banned drones from all meets...
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Re: Crowded Skies: U.S. sets air passenger record
What the graph doesn't show is the huge dip that occurred after 9-11. And with this trend and less planes flying, no wonder the airlines think we're a captive audience.
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Re: Crowded Skies: U.S. sets air passenger record
The dip turns out to not be as huge as some of us imagined. At the end of 2003, DOT estimated the loss at 7.1%, and by the end of 2004 the figure was higher than before 9/11. I've gone back to DOT figures for emplanements (which means a passenger getting on a plane) and extracted these numbers from the month-by-month numbers for international and domestic passengers. Note that the numbers in this table are a bit lower than the figures cited above, for one reason: This is a count of people...
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Re: Crowded Skies: U.S. sets air passenger record
After 9-11 reports in the news claimed that demand for flights to the US from the UK had dropped dramatically. In March the following year I needed to be in Maryland. I tried to book a direct flight to any airport in the American north east. Any time - any date - any week before Mid- March The earliest time I could book 2 seats to fly over was in June ! Many flights had been cancelled and prices - for those still operating - had risen suddenly. After contacting many UK travel agents for help...
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Re: Crowded Skies: U.S. sets air passenger record
I believe...but haven't time for full research just now...that there was a greater drop in capacity than in demand. That results in low availability and high prices. And if you look at the numbers above, you'll note that the drop in numbers for international is much less sharp, proportionally, than in the domestic...hence Garry's experience.
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Re: Italian ski resorts: Get insurance or pay for rescue
It seems quite reasonable to me that the skier should pay for the rescue. €200 is a bargain rate -- I'm sure it actually costs much more, especially if a helicopter is involved.
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Re: Italian ski resorts: Get insurance or pay for rescue
I believe that the fees quoted are actually a penalty, intended to discourage abuse of the service and to encourage insurance. I can't imagine a fee like that would ever cover the cost of a serious rescue operation, even without a helicopter. I do wonder if, in the end, it will achieve the effect they're looking for, or just discourage skiing...
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Re: Italian ski resorts: Get insurance or pay for rescue
I agree with mandatory insurance in the ski pass. I don't think there should be a penalty if that mandatory insurance is not there because there will be some people that don't call for help quick enough because of a 200 Euro( or a lot a lot higher in Italy's neighboring countries) fine.
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Re: Dry winter shakes up Alpine ski and travel industry
This photo could be California for the last several years. I have a friend near Milan who mentions the drought regularly. But the CA snow pack for the last couple of months is well above normal now, with more expected, so I suspect the same will be true before too long in the Alps. If one's heart's desire is a having a business free from outside effects (weather, war, politics, etc.) maybe tourism isn't it.
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Re: Dry winter shakes up Alpine ski and travel industry
You may well be right about what's in store for those ski areas; below is the Accuweather summary for this winter in Europe. It appears that those ski areas are in line for some harsh weather before winter is over, although they've already lost considerable business. Our forecast in New York is for a "snow drought," and after last year, I'm ready for one!
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Jindabyne: Gateway to Australia’s Snowy Mountains
All year round there’s something for everyone in this thriving alpine town that sits on the shores of picturesque Lake Jindabyne, at the edge of Australia’s Snowy Mountains.
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Open Skies? Fair Skies? Gulf competition stirs debate
U.S. airlines, which have usually pushed for "open skies" agreements that have let them expand into new markets previously closed except to the local domestic carriers, are now asking the Federal government to slow down, and perhaps renegotiate some of them.
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Eurostar expands routes for winter skiing
If cruisers are dreaming of Caribbean warmth for the coming winter (see item above), skiiers are already thinking of freshly-packed powder and warm drinks after...so now, in the heat of summer, we are seeing the winter services being announced.
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Ski train (yes, ski!) sold out on Eurostar
Much of Europe is blazing in temperatures in the 90s, but some people are obviously already thinking ahead to the winter...perhaps to take their minds off the summer.