2009 October

Naked scanners mired in regulatory issues, US leads the way

October 13, 2009 By Kevin May 2 Comments

Manchester Airport in the UK is hitting the headlines today as a result of a trial taking place of a security scanner which produces ‘nude’ images of passengers.

The system, developed by Rapiscan Systems, works by sending electromagnetic waves at the body which are then reproduced and sent to an operator for analysis.

Omitted from the coverage today is news that a successful trial of the system – of which there have been many – doesn’t automatically lead to mass adoption by airports around the world.

Filed Under: Gadgets, News Tagged With: rapiscan, security, TSA

Wireless carriers get smart with Android

October 12, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 1 Comment

Suddenly, it’s Android, Android, Android.

Apple iPhone-smitten AT&T reportedly is close to signing a deal to offer an Android phone manufactured by Dell, which would mean that all four major U.S. wireless carriers would be marketing smartphones smart enough to run the Google mobile platform.

T-Mobile revealed it will soon be hawking a couple of new Android-powered devices, including the Samsung Behold II and the Motorola CLIQ.

Filed Under: Gadgets, News Tagged With: Google Android, Mobile, smartphones, T-Mobile

Viva la difference — or so the online travel agencies hope

October 12, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 3 Comments

I keep being struck about the lack of differentiation among the online travel agencies, although they battle furiously to get an edge.

The latest reminder was Priceline.com’s introduction of a policy where people who lose their jobs after booking trips can get refunds. My immediate thought was: OK, nice twist. How long before one of the other OTAs copies it?

A little while after I noticed this Priceline Trip Protection feature, I happened to run a flight search on TripAdvisor Flights, and in the metasearch grid, there was Hotwire, Expedia, Travelocity and Continental all with the identical fares.

Not a buck difference.

Filed Under: How To, News Tagged With: airlines, differentiator, hotels, online travel agencies

Tour operator ‘blown away’ by Sabre to Worldspan conversion, but…

October 12, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 6 Comments

Travelport and Apple Vacations, among the largest tour operators in North America, announced today that Apple Vacations had dumped Sabre and completed the conversion to Travelport’s Worldspan, with all of its bells and whistles.

In the deal 5-year deal, Worldspan becomes Apple Vacations’ preferred GDS and in addition to getting air, rail and hotel content, the tour operator gets the “added ability to book low-cost air content,” the companies stated.

But if you read between the lines of the release, Sabre and Apple Vacations must have had a big falling out.

Filed Under: Data, Gadgets, News Tagged With: Apple Vacations, sabre, travelport, worldspan

A toy for those who get Twitter withdrawal on flights

October 12, 2009 By Kevin May 3 Comments

Or, keeping in line with much of Twitter’s usage, this service from Lufthansa could also be targeting those who want to show off where they are (and think their followers care).

Jokes aside, Lufthansa has tapped into the social media zeitgeist by creating a tool which allows Twitter of Facebook members to send a status message to their profiles mid-flight.

Filed Under: Gadgets Tagged With: facebook, lufthansa, twitter

Australia next for European car hire meta site CarRentals

October 12, 2009 By Kevin May 2 Comments

CarRentals is plotting the next stage of what appears to be a quest for global domination by throwing its affiliate-metasearch car hire model at the Australian marketplace.

The move is as a result of the UK CarRentals site attracting its own Australian audience and management deciding a dedicated portal was necessary.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: car hire, carrentals, vroomvroomvroom

101Holidays begins drive into niche areas with 101ShortBreaks

October 12, 2009 By Kevin May 3 Comments

The creators of 101Holidays are launching 101ShortBreaks this week as part of a wider programme to expand the business into niche areas of the travel industry.

The original 101Holidays site launched in January this year and uses a unique and widely praised interface to publish details of 101 different trips, hand-picked by its team of travel journalists. 101ShortBreaks features a mixture of deals provided by tour operators and hotel owners.

The founders are hoping to unveil a further three new portals within the next 12 months, with another niche site expected in January 2010.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 101holidays, 101shortbreaks

The Week in Travel Tech – October 3-10 2009

October 10, 2009 By Kevin May Leave a Comment

What you missed on Tnooz this week, Sunday 3 October to Saturday 10 October 2009.

Read on to see the most commented articles, every other article this week, and the most commented articles of all time…

Filed Under: News Tagged With: weekly roundup

Travelzoo Asia-Pacific deal a family affair

October 9, 2009 By Dennis Schaal 4 Comments

Travelzoo, a pubicly traded company controlled by founder and Chairman Ralph Bartel, has agreed to sell Travelzoo’s Asia-Pacific division, including Travelzoo Hong Kong, Travelzoo Japan, Travelzoo China, Travelzoo Taiwan and Travelzoo Australia, for $3.6 million to companies controlled by — Ralph Bartel.

You’ll notice I used Bartel’s first name, Ralph, twice in the preceding sentence. That’s because I don’t want to get you confused with Holger Bartel, Travelzoo’s CEO, who’s Ralph’s brother.

You may see where I am going with this.

Apart from the coziness of the pending transaction (which could still be upended by a rival bid, but I am not holding my breath), the deal actually could be a clever move by Travelzoo — not to mention Ralph Bartel — and fuel Travelzoo’s expansion in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Asia-Pacific, elzoo, Ralph Bartel, Trav

Tech boss says airline systems are close to breaking point

October 9, 2009 By Kevin May 2 Comments

Amadeus UK and Ireland boss Tim Russell didn’t hold back when he said recently that the airline sector had a major problem on its hands because the fundamental technology on which it operates is old and in dire need of an upgrade.

On the one hand this is a rather predictable comment from a company which just happens to provide technology to the travel industry.

But the underlying premise of his comment – “some airline systems are close to breaking point” – is probably true, and many do agree to varying degrees.