Continental Airlines tops customer satisfaction survey

A new study from Zagat Survey says Continental was the best of the country’s "big six" passenger airlines in terms of overall customer satisfaction.

Continental also was named the best value among all carriers for international flights.

Among other carriers, Virgin America and Southwest Airlines also won honors. Southwest was honored for offering the best value on domestic flights as well as its frequent-flier program, luggage policy and its on-time performance.

The others from the big six carriers are American Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, and the just-merged Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.

JetBlue took top honors for customer satisfaction in economy class.

Hotel in a bunker?

This is the Zero Star Hotel. Yes, that’s right, this hotel has no stars. Well, if you search for such category in the Internet, you’ll probably find several hotels, but this is not an ordinary one. The low-budget hotel is an art installation which is located in the civil defense shelter in Sevelen, Switzerland, at several meters underground.

There are no windows, but the sense of claustrophobia is avoided by a camera which shows pictures from the surroundings on a big screen inside.

Zero Star Hotel is a concept made by the artist-twins Frank and Patrik Riklinсе from the Studio for Special Projects in St.Gallen, and is due to open in 2009.

The QE2's final voyage

On November 11, 2008 the QE2 set off from Southampton to its new home on The Palm Jumeriah, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The world famous ocean liner will be refurbished into a luxury hotel and will be a tourist attraction in itself.

The QE2, dubbed “the Dame of the Seas”, has been a symbol of British excellence for-40 years after traveling around the world for 6 million nautical miles. In 2007, owners Cunard sold the cruise ship to The Dubai World for around $100 million.

The Palm is one of Dubai’s amazing man-made islands which currently houses over a thousand luxury villas and is set to include a number of luxury hotels, including Atlantis The Palm and the tulip-shaped Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Southwest to partner with Mexican carrier for international travel

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines announced Monday it is entering into a partnership with Mexican low-cost airline Volaris that will allow Southwest customers to book flights to Mexico.

Under the code-share, the two carriers will be able to create competitive fares and more accessible flight schedules for passengers traveling between the U.S. and Mexico.

Southwest’s newest partner, Volaris, has a fleet of 18 Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft which operate to 23 cities in Mexico including Mexico City, Tijuana, Cancun, Guadalajara, Mexicali and Acapulco.