Northstar

NEWS www.travelweeklyweb.com Lufthansa offers automatic check-in more than 400 routes FRANKFURT – Luf thansa is expanding its automatic check-in service on some 400 routes within the Schengen area (25 countries within Europe) – available to all members of the Mi les & More frequent fl yer programme. Passengers with an existing booking are automatically checked in 23 hours before departure if they have selected the automatic check- in option under "Travel Services" in their customer profi le. They would then receive their electronic boarding pass plus their reserved seat number, which are sent to them by email or to an Internet-enabled mobile phone. If travel plans change at short notice or if passengers cannot make their planned flight and they have a rebookable ticket, they can cancel their check-in online at lufthansa. com or by calling a Lufthansa Service Centre. Pas sengers t r avel l ing with baggage can check in their bags at a baggage drop-off counter or at a check-in kiosk on presentation of their boarding pass. They can also change their seats, as before, online, via a mobile phone or at a self- service check-in kiosk. It has already proven successful in Germany and Italy, because of the time saving and convenience it offers passengers. Lufthansa plans to expand this check-in option across Lufthansa's global route network in the coming months and to make it available for all fl ight bookings. That would then also allow passengers who are not Miles & More members to take advantage of this popular service. Bookings for Trafalgar double out of Asia SINGAPORE – Tr af alg ar, the leader in European and North American guided vacations, has doubled its bookings in 2012 out of Asia and particularly Singapore. Key factors attributing to the increase are new products, increased travel agent distribution and the weak US and Euro currencies. Nicholas Lim, regional director of Trafalgar Tours, said: "Singaporeans are some of the most well-travelled in Asia Pacifi c, and they are looking for new experiences and destinations as part of their holiday. Now, they are turning to more immersive experiences in evergreen destinations such as Europe and North America and also to less trodden destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, Morocco and Russia. Giving rise to this trend is the increasing affl uence of Singaporeans, who covet more distinctive experiences as part of their holiday." It s Cost S aver packages to Russia as well as luxury First Class packages to South America are among the most popular tour packages. CostSaver packages target the young professionals and tertiary students in their twenties, while First Class packages focus on the older, affl uent group, indicating that the taste for exotic destinations is shared across diverse age groups. Trafalgar has also seen a rise in popularity for its top European destinations, including France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland and Europe remains a favoured destination for 2012, thanks to a weak Euro. Tr a f a l g ar guided hol idays are led by exper ienced tr avel di rec tors who have sound knowledge of the destination, and are complemented by local guides who have greater knowledge and understanding of local culture and attractions. Amadeus creates world's fi rst interline EMD link BANGKOK – Amadeus a leading tr avel technology and transaction processer for the travel and tourism industry – has created the world's first interline Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) link. Participating airlines will be able to facilitate payment and deliver ancillary services across their alliances and partnership with EMD. Amadeus estimates that up to 20 per cent of air bookings made through its system are the result of interline partnerships – representing a huge opportunity for airlines to increase revenues through the sale of ancillary service via www.travelweeklyweb.com their partner carriers. In addition, EMDs remove the need for paper documents to account for the sale of these services, which IATA believes will save the industry US$ 0.9 billion annually. Interline EMD processing between launch partners – Finnair and Egypt Air – means the carriers' customers can now buy these services across interline fl ights, safe in the knowledge that the operating airline will know the service has been purchased. Previously, the only way the operating airline would know a customer had purchased an ancillary service, such as extra baggage allowance, was through a paper document provided by the traveller at the airport. Amadeus has also announced that it has acquired Frankfur t -based airconomy – an international strategy consultancy supplying precise and comprehensive data on passenger demand. airconomy's analysis provides sophisticated demand data for any city-pair in the world, i.e. how many passengers are booking certain routes, even to the detail of itinerary and airline. 07 FEBRUARY 2012 | TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA ■ | 3

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