Book on Google Keeps on Ticking With Flight Refunds

Low-cost airline Breeze Airways is adding two new routes to Florida this fall, adding to its robust service to the Sunshine State.

The corporate division of Flight Centre Travel Group is outperforming the company’s leisure travel bookings, pointing to a comeback for a sector that has suffered significant cutbacks during the pandemic.

A family in Maui made a sign telling tourists to keep out of Lahaina while rescue efforts are ongoing.

Google Flights has introduced a new feature to help travelers answer the perennial question: “Should I buy my flights now or wait and hope the price decreases?” The tech company has long offered users insight into whether the airfares they’re looking at are low, typical, or high compared with historical price averages for that particular route. Now, Google is offering users data on what time frames have traditionally been the cheapest for the route they’re searching so travelers can make more informed decisions about their booking.

U.S. travelers will be able to book some flights right on Google for the time being to take advantage of a Google flight price guarantee, despite the shuttering of the Book on Google feature for flights internationally almost a year ago.

For travelers, nothing produces price anxiety like figuring out when to book flights. Book now or wait for fares to drop? But what if prices rise instead? What if you wait too long and flights are sold out? So much hand-wringing, so much time and headspace taken up.

Anyone who has stayed in an exuberantly designed hotel in Asia has most likely experienced the designs of Bill Bensley: the Bangkok-based designer is the creative force behind The Siam Hotel Bangkok; Rosewood Luang Prabang, Shinta Mani Angkor and Capella Hanoi among others. Apart from his hotel designs, though, Bensley is also an artist and philanthropist and those three interests combine in the first Bensley Art Trail, a 12 day tour for those interested in art, design, luxury and conservation from November 28th-December 10th. Bensley will lead it, taking 12 guests behind the scenes of several of those hotels as well as his home, with itinerary details constructed by the Bangkok based luxury, bespoke travel company Smiling Albino. Proceeds will go to the Shinta Mani Foundation which is based in Cambodia to fund 32 scholarships for students of the Shinta Mani Foundation Hospitality School, Class of 2024.

Countries should consider recommending that passengers wear masks on long-haul flights, given the rapid spread of the latest Omicron subvariant of Covid-19 in the United States, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Tuesday.

Australia’s Flight Centre Travel Group has a few issues with airlines at the moment.

American Express Global Business Travel has partnered with Emirates Group-owned dnata to offer its global clients more local expertise in the Middle East region.

Especially heavy layoffs at Google Flights, including senior managers and engineers who joined Google with the ITA Software acquisition in 2011, could signal strategy shifts in the company’s multifaceted airline business, Skift has learned.

Google made changes to Google Flights and Hotels related to transparency in hotel reviews and pricing under pressure from the European Commission — but stopped short of making those modifications elsewhere in the world.