Did you know: the total population of Yukon is only 32,000, 75% of which are residents of Whitehorse. Yukon's population comprises less that .001% of Canada's population! It's official title was changed in 2003 from "Yukon Territory" to "Yukon," but most residents prefer to call their home "The Yukon" or "The Territory."
Air North and Travel Agencies Light Up Yukon in January
During the coolest, darkest days this upcoming January, Air North and its Yukon partners (Tourism Yukon, Yukon Hotels, Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association, MacBride Museum, Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre, Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, Yukon Brewing,Takhini Hot Pools, Yukon Wildlife Preserve, The Klondike Experience, KIAC, Lumel Studios, Parks Canada, the Klondike Visitors Association and Run Dawson) are teaming up...
Ever get to the airport only to learn that your flight has been delayed 12 hours? And you ask yourself, why couldn't the airline have phoned me?
In fact, there was an era, not that long ago - okay, it was VERY long ago! - when airlines dutifully recorded phone numbers and actually had their employees contact passengers when a flight was delayed or cancelled. Those were the days! (They also served free food and gave allowed you to check two free bags up to 70 lbs each!)
The downside of the Internet where everyone can comparison-shop in seconds is that...
Fairmont President's Club and Accor's Le Club officially merge into Le Club on July 2, 2018.
Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and Marriott Rewards will merge sometime in August, 2018. And even though the program will be unified (presumably under the less desirable Marriott Rewards structure), the individual names of the programs will stay in place until sometime in 2019. [Note: the same thing is true for Ritz Carlton Rewards, which has been part of the Marriott family for quite some time.]
In both cases, the consensus is these mergers will be a downgrade for the...
With one exception, all airline points programs have a nasty policy which could be summed up as "use 'em or lose 'em!" Delta Skymiles is the one exception: in theory Delta points never expire.
Perhaps the most draconian program of all is Aeroplan, which only gives you 12 months to show "activity" or your points will be allowed to expire. To give them credit, they normally will send you a warning email before this happens.
"Activity" is defined in our industry as "earning or burning." I think that's self-...
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10 or so years ago, airlines discovered "ancillaries." This is the innocuous name they give to the practice of charging for extras, mostly things we all took for granted as part of the package in the old days. Ancillaries include advance seat selection, preferred seat selection, checked baggage fees (even, in extreme cases, carry-on baggage fees!), special meals, and just about everything else that isn't something an airline is legally required to provide. (So, no, you'll never be expected to pay for oxygen. Bathroom privileges, maybe, but not the air you...
Now that we've explored several themes, let's do a case study.
Recently we interviewed Jenna Ratcliffe, Project Coordinator with Nurse Next Door Home Care Services. Here, we explore this company’s unique approach to management and growth based on creating a caring, nurturing environment for its employees.
The latest hotel trend is not a good one. Major chains such as Marriott (who now own Starwood) and Hilton are imposing 48-hour cancellation policies on customers.
It wasn't that long ago that 6pm day of arrival cancellation policies were the norm. Then, about 3 or 4 years ago, all the major hotel chains started imposing 24-hour cancel policies. Travellers accepted that change in stride, as it didn't seem too unreasonable. Roughly the same time, hotels also started putting similar restrictions on cancelling nights during your stay: eg. insisting you must give them 1...
This is the first of an ongoing series of stories where we will explore corporate culture, particularly as it relates to travel. We'll look at how various companies we support look after their employees and their unique policies and philosophies. We are particularly interested, of course, in how they deal with their employees' needs when they travel.
As most frequent-flyers in Canada know, Air Canada operates a loyalty program within a loyalty program, which is known a "Altitude." Based on actual mileage flown during the calendar year (or, alternatively, number of flights), you may be awarded Prestige 25K, Elite 35K, Elite 50K, Elite 75K, or Super Elite 100K status for the following year. With each higher status level comes additional benefits. For example, 35K members get access to Air Canada's Maple Leaf lounges, while members with 50K status or better are given "Gold Status" with all...
