USA: JetBlue Service And Quality Have Improved Tremendously

JetBlue has announced today the itineraries for its new scheduled flights to Havana, which is set to become the carrier’s 100th destination served.

The capital city of Cuba will be served by daily round-trip flights from three JetBlue focus cities on the airline’s newest Airbus A321 aircraft and its award-winning customer service.

The first service will take off from New York on November 28, followed by Orlando on November 29 and Fort Lauderdale on November 30.

The carrier already serves Cuba. Its maiden service from Fort Lauderdale to Santa Clara was the first regularly scheduled airline service between both countries in 50+ years.

Before the thawing of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, special charter services, as well as relief and humanitarian flights were allowed only.

JetBlue has long run charters to Cuba prior to commercial flights.

Our historic first flight kicked off a new era in travel to Cuba, and once again JetBlue will make history with flights that finally make flying to the Cuban capital simple, affordable and enjoyable,” said Robin Hayes, president and chief executive officer, JetBlue.

It’s remarkable that a startup airline less than 17 years old will mark Havana as its 100th destination.

With service to Havana, JetBlue – which launched its first flight in February 2000 – will serve 100 destinations across 22 countries in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean.

Coincidentally, Havana will be Southwest Airline’s 100th destination as well.

In 2015 and 2016, JetBlue had been a solid middle-of-the-pack performer, but terrible results in every category related to delays and cancellations doomed it last year.

This made JetBlue's showing in the 2018 edition of the Airline Quality Rating report all the more shocking.

Despite its flight delay woes, the carrier marginally improved its score year over year and placed third overall among the top 12 U.S. airlines up from fourth a year earlier.

JetBlue's surprisingly good score was driven by substantial improvements in its performance during the second half of 2017: particularly in November and December.

This puts the carrier in good shape as it tries to move further up the rankings this year.

The annual Airline Quality Rating study attempts to measure the quality of airlines' operations as objectively as possible. Airlines are scored on four criteria:

1) on-time performance

2) the rate of involuntary denied boardings i.e. passengers getting "bumped" from a flight;

3) the percentage of checked bags that are lost or arrive late;

4) the rate of official complaints by passengers to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In the 2018 report, Alaska Airlines a unit of Alaska Air came in first for the second consecutive year.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines came up just short of the No. 1 ranking again, although it would have reached first place if the researchers had treated Alaska Airlines and its merger partner Virgin America as a single airline.

JetBlue reached third place primarily due to its enviable baggage-handling performance.

It was No. 2 in the industry on that dimension, making up for its poor on-time performance. JetBlue's complaint rate was somewhat better than the industry average, while its rate of involuntary denied boardings was somewhat worse.

JetBlue faced a series of challenges in 2017. First, it had to deal with runway closures at its two largest bases: New York's JFK Airport and Boston's Logan Airport.

Both airports are heavily congested during the best of times. The runway closures caused delays to spiral out of control, hurting JetBlue disproportionately.

To be fair, JetBlue also contributed to its problems by not building enough cushion into its flight schedules, something it has fixed for 2018.

At JFK, one runway was closed from late February through early June and then from September to mid-November.

There was also nighttime work over the summer. As a result, the number of air traffic control delays roughly doubled. In Boston, a major runway was closed from mid-May until late June, with additional work continuing until November.

Second, JetBlue's big presence in Florida and its position as the No. 1 airline in the Caribbean meant that it was hit hard by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September. These storms caused thousands of flight cancellations and even more delays.

The net result was that JetBlue's on-time arrival rate averaged just 66% from May to September, trailing the industry average by more than 12-percentage points.

Third, JetBlue entered 2017 without enough spare aircraft. Early in the year, maintenance issues sometimes forced it to substitute 150-seat A320s for 200-seat A321s.

As a result, JetBlue bumped passengers at a higher rate than any other airline in the first quarter of 2017 even though it never overbooks its flights!

By mid-November, JetBlue no longer had to cope with runway closures at its top two airports.

It had also taken several steps to improve reliability, such as reducing aircraft utilization, padding its schedules with extra time where necessary, and implementing new procedures for boarding and cleaning its aircraft.

This drove a remarkable turnaround in its performance. JetBlue's on-time arrival rate was within 2-percentage points of the industry average in November and just 6-percentage points behind in December.

Involuntary denied boardings plunged from 1,415 in the first quarter to just three in the fourth quarter. Not surprisingly, this also reduced customer complaints compared to the rest of the year.

As a result, JetBlue posted the best quality score in the industry in December and trailed only Delta in November.

This doesn't necessarily mean that JetBlue will overtake Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines in next year's Airline Quality Rating report.

Indeed, JetBlue has started 2018 with another uptick in flight delays and cancellations due to a series of severe winter storms that hit the Northeast.

Yet the carrier has shown that over the course of a normal year, it can hold its own with the best in the industry in terms of overall service quality.

That's of critical importance because Alaska and Delta are two of JetBlue's biggest competitors and will use any advantage to steal its customers.

Lumo, a Boston-based travel technology startup, is telling airlines it can peer into the future and know which flights are likely to be delayed hours or even days in advance.

Three years into its life, the company which helps airlines and corporate travel managers preventatively rejigger routes and itineraries said Monday it had received a $2.3 million seed round.

Frankly, the dollar amount is unimpressive. But the companies backing the startup are notable.

Leading the round is JetBlue Technology Ventures, the San Carlos, California-based investment arm of the U.S. airline JetBlue Airways.

Another investor is Founders Factory, a London incubator and accelerator whose travel program is backed by UK airline EasyJet.

Lumo has been mentored in the program this winter, which is where it gained insights into the European travel market and regulations and received help with marketing, such as by rebranding from FlightSayer to Lumo.

Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator that has worked with many travel startups, is also an investor. This spring, Lumo will receive mentorship there.

The latest investment round also includes a stake from an unnamed strategic investor, which is likely a major airline or a travel management company.

Already the flight delay prediction startup has signed up travel management companies Adelman, Flight Centre, Carlson Wagonlit, and Acendas as pilot customers.

These companies want help rebooking flexible travelers when the chance of flight disruption is greater than 75 percent based on various factors including historical performance, seasonal trends, the time of day, day-of-the-week, and airline track records.

In one test, a travel management company was overseeing travel for an event with about 1,000 guests when a winter storm hit.

Lumo’s web-based dashboard showed the likelihood of the event’s speakers and other very-important-people having their flights canceled. That information enabled the travel managers to put into action back-up plans.

Consumers may be interested in Lumo’s predictions, which are free online.

Type in your travel date, flight number, and airline for a trip within the next few weeks and the company will offer an easy-to-understand prediction of the chance of different lengths of delay.

In January 2018, for example, 18 reporting U.S. airlines had one out of five their flights arrive outside of 15 minutes of their schedules, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics said.

That on-time rate was roughly as poor as the same month in the past few years. It also represents a lot of irritated flyers, especially as a result of so-called Nor’Easters, or winter storms in the northeastern U.S., that prompted many delays and cancellations this winter.

With Lumo’s analysis, travel management companies may flip that story without needing to make tradeoffs on their bottom lines.

Travel managers can rebook passengers, earning customer loyalty that justifies their overall fees. They can also minimize drama at the gates.

That drives down labor costs because agents spend less time rebooking passengers at the last minute — when alternatives are fewer.

Another impressive aspect of this otherwise humble startup is that it has received $1.75 million in grants from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to model airspace efficiency between 2015 and next month.

That work lay the groundwork for Lumo’s broader business, which uses machine learning and reams of data to make forecasts.

The space agency was impressed by the street cred of the company’s founders. CEO Bala Chandran earned a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. The full-time chief technology officer is Diana Pfeil, who earned a doctorate from MIT.

For carriers, Lumo holds promise in that it might help them streamline their operations for potential cost savings, with fewer gate agents needed on the front line of customer support.

On the enterprise side, it risks being outgunned by the resources of established players. Its lack of automation and of integration with travel management companies tools are also drawbacks preventing rapid scaling up.

SITA FlightPredictor attempts to offer a similar service for airlines. SITA, a Geneva-based organization owned by the air transport industry and formally called Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, also uses sophisticated math and software to predict flight disruptions.

Since 2016 Amadeus has offered airlines a so-called schedule recovery system with Qantas as the first airline to try it.

On the consumer side, Google has, since November 2017, been rolling out flight disruption alerts via its flight search tool.

It’s unclear how Lumo, which only has a dozen employees, can compete.

The company also hasn’t put its predictions to the test against a third-party analysis.

And while being an improvement over guesswork can help, the company still might miss an enormous number of delays. Everyone should beware of hype potential.

Another startup, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Freebird, provides technology to cope with a disruption once it has been identified. It offers some predictions. Lumo doesn’t offer a fulfillment tool like that, in comparison.

The startup’s introduction to airline executives through accelerator programs also may not translate into deals.

Neither JetBlue nor EasyJet, for example, operate network airlines with the types of complexity that are truly prone to disruptions. Neither carrier has signed a commercial agreement or doing a test pilot with Lumo.

Chandran countered that his company is doing a pilot this spring with a major international airline and that — if the test succeeds — the carrier will become a reference customer.

Hubris can harm many prediction-based startups. All it takes is one Icelandic volcano to spew up ash clouds and ground air traffic control to a halt.

Chandran admitted that his company’s predictions are much more valuable for routine disruptions that can cause business travelers to miss flights and meetings.

You can look out the window, and it seems sunny, but the fog at the airport may lead to reduced visibility and cause delays.

That may be so, but the company risks overstretch by trying to appeal to both travel management companies and enterprise customers along with the development of consumer mobile apps.

A consumer app for iPhone and one debuting shortly for Android devices offers alternative flight suggestions when delays happen.

Yet if Lumo can pull off its predictive tech accurately and cost-effectively, the president of JetBlue Technology Ventures, Bonny Simi, said that would mark a significant change.



Tourism Observer

USA: Celebrate Peruvian Gastronomy Day, Why Wait?

Earlier this year, Washinton D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that every first Sunday of June will henceforth be known as the official Peruvian Gastronomy Day. On that day, Peru’s Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Magali Silva declared that this decision reflects the international recognition of Peruvian cuisine.

El Comercio reports that on June 4, the first annual Peruvian Gastronomy Day in history, the University of the District of Columbia will be putting on an event called “Taste of Peru” where 28 stands will offer a variety of Peruvian plates prepared by real Peruvian chefs that have their own restaurants in the United States.

Attendees can expect to find everything from ceviches and regional foods to national drinks and desserts at this smorgasbord.

We at Living in Peru are ecstatic that this event is set to become an annual happening in Washington D.C. and hope to see it spread throughout the states. Why wait?

Apega’s 2nd International Gastronomic Congress gathers the young and ambitious chefs of Peru’s future. Did it fulfill its mission?

Apega is Peru’s leading gastronomic council. They organize various events (such as Mistura) geared towards promoting Peruvian food and conscious eating.

This year, for the 2nd year in a row, they held their International Gastronomic Congress which has gained a little bit more of an entity since last year, yet dropped slightly in quality.

The Congress is geared towards students, mainly students who go to a school with moderate prestige in or around the city of Lima. About 75% of the attendees were students. Although the discussion topics seemed to be interesting, the way some of the speakers gave their presentations didn’t quite get any message across or pertain any useful information.

This isn’t to say there weren’t interesting speakers. Participants in the panel of nutritionists educated the room about how the greatest nutritional problems in the country span from obesity to extreme malnutrition, the necessary amounts of salts and sugars needed in our diets, and a crash course on the colon.

Other speakers included Bernarndo Roca Rey (President of Apega) & Eduardo Ferreyros (Minister of Exterior Commerce & Tourism); of whom the latter stated that the public and private sectors should work together to position our gastronomy (cuisine) in the world.

The most anticipated speaker at the congress was Malena Martinez, the scientific head of the Mater Initiative, which is the body of scientists who work with the world famous restaurant Central and chef Virgilio Martinez (who is also Malena’s brother.)

She gave a great presentation about what they do at Mater presenting their explorations to places within the country to find distinctive consumable flora and either identify or document them to later find a use for them in our food.

For those of us who already knew what Mater was all about, it was a slight disappointment because, I for one, was hoping to hear more about their discoveries. Also, quite a few students who saw me with a press pass asked me if, “Virgilio” was going to make an appearance, which was something that was implied in the promotion of the event.

All in all, Apega’s 2nd International Gastronomic Congress, met its goal. It educated the new generation of cooks in Lima and gave them exposure to different professionals in the field and different social issues, both ecologically and nutritionally, that they would have to answer as cooks. Was the knowledge all that valuable? Or when it was, was it enough? I’m not so sure of that.

Germany enjoyed Peru’s cuisine at a recent diplomatic event.

The Peruvian Embassy in Germany created an event to boost Peruvian food in the hosting country. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Peruvian Gastronomic Week in Germany started on April 28 and it was held at the Inselhotel in Potsdam, capital of Brandenburg.

Political authorities from both countries were delighted by the Peruvian dishes. During the event, there was also an opportunity to introduce the many tourist attractions in Peru.

Peruvian Ambassador Elmer Schialer stressed the importance of Peruvian gastronomy and its export products including Superfoods.

Previously, Germany has hosted food fairs where Peru participated and presented its Superfood products to the world. The latest fair was held in Nuremberg where a Peruvian Committee displayed Peru’s native products at Biofach.

Peruvian superfood travels to Nuremberg

Events like this, strengthen ties between Peru and Germany. It is worth noting that Germany is involved in a conservation project along with the Peruvian Government.

BELARUS:UNWTO Supports Scraping Visa Requirements

UNWTO has expressed its full support to the decision of the Government of Belarus to launch the 5-day visa-free policy that will be applicable to travelers from 80 countries.

The measure aims at advancing seamless travel and attracting visitors, particularly those on business trips.

The Government of Belarus has recently decided to advance visa facilitation as a means to stimulate tourism development. The decision introduces visa-free entry at the Minsk National Airport and visa-free stay in Belarus for up to five days for the citizens of 80 states.

Among those, there are 39 countries of Europe, including the entire European Union, Brazil, Indonesia, the USA and Japan.

“Visa facilitation is among the most effective strategies to induce tourism development in a region or in a country, so we are sure that the tourism sector will experience a positive shift in Belarus,” said UNWTO Secretary General, Taleb Rifai.

The promotion of seamless travel is one of UNWTO’s priorities, considering the proven capacity of visa facilitation to stimulate economic growth and job creation through tourism.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has signed a decree scrapping visa requirements for residents of 80 foreign countries for a period of no more than five days, the press service of the Belarusian president reports.

“The document establishes visa-free procedures of entry into Belarus for a period no longer than five days on entry via a check point across the State Border, the Minsk National Airport, for citizens of 80 countries,” it said, specifying that the decree covers 39 European countries, including all EU countries, as well as Brazil, Indonesia, the United States and Japan.

First of all these are migrant-friendly countries, strategic partners of Belarus, states that have unilaterally introduced a visa-free regime for Belarusian nationals,” the press service explained. The decree also applies to “non-citizens of Latvia and stateless persons of Estonia.

“The document is aimed at giving a boost to travels of business people, tourists, individuals having domestic passports and will not apply to foreigners making official trips: diplomatic, business, special and other passports equivalent to them will not be taken into consideration,” the press service commented.

As for the citizens of Vietnam, Haiti, Gambia, Honduras, India, China, Lebanon, Namibia and Samoa, a compulsory additional demand for them is to have in their passports a valid multi-entry visa of a EU or a Schengen zone state with a mark confirming the entry to their territory, as well as plane tickets confirming the departure from the Minsk National Airport within five days from the entry date.

These visa-free travels don’t apply to people arriving in Belarus by plane from Russia, as well as planning to fly to Russian airports (these flights are domestic and have no border controls). The decree comes into effect one month after it is published officially.

USA: Only 46% Of Americans Have Valid Passports

Six weeks into his presidency, and Donald Trump has yet to leave the United States on a foreign trip. One might even be tempted to call it a self-imposed travel ban.

Trump’s two immediate predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, were far quicker to leave American soil after their inaugurations. Less than a month after being sworn in, Obama went to Ottawa in 2009, while Bush jetted off to Mexico in February 2001.

By now, though, we should know that it’s a mistake to measure this president against the leaders who came before him. Trump is more interested in being in sync with his voters than with institutional history — and on this business of getting out of the country, the new U.S. president and many of his voters are simpatico.

A couple of months ago, while travelling outside of Canada, as it happens, I ran into a young American couple and we got to talking politics (naturally.) They were from rural areas of the United States, but they had been working in big cities and getting ready to make their next career move to the Boston area.

When the subject turned to the November election results, these two young voters were quick to say they hadn’t voted for Trump; that he was kind of embarrassing to have as a president. But most of their family members, on both sides, had backed him. How did they explain the difference?

“Well, we’ve travelled,” they explained. “A lot of people in our families haven’t.”

So, looking back, would that have been a good predictor of who would be a Trump supporter in the 2015 election? If we had looked at foreign-travel data among Americans last year, would we have more likely to see the Trump victory coming?

As it happens, someone has already tackled that very question and the answer seems to be Yes. The Expeditioner website, in a December post, matched election results to passport data in the United States to see whether there was any connection between travelling and political leanings in the presidential contest.


First, less than half of the American population — 46 per cent — has valid passports. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but the final election results gave 46 per cent of the popular vote to Trump and 48 per cent to Hillary Clinton.

But it gets better, or, as The Expeditioner put it, “this is the fun part.” When Matt Stabile, the founder of the site, put the election results beside state-by-state passport data, here was the result:

“There is a striking correlation between the states that voted for Trump in 2016 and those states with the lowest number of passport holders,” he wrote. “Those states that voted for Clinton had the highest percentage of passport holders.” (The exception was Alaska, but that state is an outlier in a number of ways, owing to its physical distance from the rest of the U.S.)

The analysis shows that the 19 states with the highest percentage of passport holders — California, New York, New Jersey to name a few — were all Democrat territory. The 11 states with the lowest percentage of passport holders — Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky, for instance — all went for Trump.

By this measure, incidentally, this country is more outgoing than the United States. Canadians, compared to their American neighbours, are generally far more likely to hold passports. According to 2014-15 figures from Passport Canada, 67 per cent of Canadians have valid travel documents. That’s a good deal higher than the state with the highest percentage of passport holders — New Jersey, where 62 per cent of citizens have passports, according to figures cited by The Expeditioner.

So if there is a connection between fondness for travelling and likelihood of supporting the new president, you could probably put Canadians in the non-Trump-supporter category, along with California and New York.

The name Trump has already acquired some negative associations around the whole idea of travel. It’s not just travel out of the U.S. either — all of Trump’s talk of border walls and travel bans is threatening to seriously dampen tourism into the States as well.

The BBC called it the “Trump slump” in a story this week and cited cancelled Canadian school trips across the border as part of the wave of people around the globe scrapping plans to go to the United States this year.

But Trump didn’t singlehandedly create this climate of travel aversion. With the fondness he’s so far displaying for sticking close to home, staying within U.S. borders, Trump is representative of a huge slice of his own electorate — citizens who believe that “America First” is a good rule of thumb about travel, too.

PHILIPPINES: Department Of Tourism Eyes More Indian Tourists

The Department of Tourism (DOT) expects the influx of 100,000 Indian nationals into the country as a result of the agency’s recent promotional roadshows in Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo noted that India has been one of the major source markets accounting for nearly 75,000 visitors last year, posting 22.36 percent year-on-year growth.

From January to June this year, the DOT recorded 44,294 arrivals, just tailing the top 12 international tourism markets.

“The four Indian cities we targeted are important feeder markets, hence we are working on strengthening our relations with their local travel partners to assure sustainable growth,” Teo said.

The DOT chief further also noted that increased Indian visitor arrivals are facilitated by the free-entry privilege extended to Indian nationals bearing visas from the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, Schengen, Singapore and United Kingdom.

DOT’s Market Development Group led by Director Verna Buensuceso headed the mission in India, bringing along representatives of hotels, resorts, spas, tourist attractions and tour operators from the Philippines to interact with over 400 Indian trade partners.

Nash Dias, offline sales manager of India’s leading travel agent Stic Travel Group, expressed optimism that the Philippine roadshow will get an excellent response from the Indian market.

Francesca Alberto, vice-president for domestic sales and marketing of Ark Travel Express, said, “The market has high potential for luxury and honeymooners. Quality of agents here are good and they are gaining more knowledge about the Philippines.”

Abhay Maheshwari, India district sales manager of Thai Airways said, “At present, we have ten flights servicing the Mumbai-Bangkok-Manila route, and in October, we are going to increase the number of flights.” (DOT)

NAMIBIA:Namibia Recorded 1.5 Million Visitors 2015

Out of the total foreign arrivals recorded, the larger number of 1.38 million were tourists, 15 580 were returning residents and 99 883 were same-day visitors.

Over 1.5 million people arrived in Namibia in 2015, representing a three percent increase from 2014 when 1.4 million arrivals were recorded.

This was announced by Environment and Tourism Minister Pohamba Shifeta yesterday when he officially launched the 2015 tourist statistical report. The report shows that the tourism sector is still healthy and has shown growth. It further indicates that tourist figures increased by 5.1 percent for the same period.

The tourist figures indicate that overall, the tourism market for Namibia in 2015 was dominated by top ten tourist markets which include Angola, South Africa, Zambia, Germany, United Kingdom, United States and France.

However, a decline in the Angolan tourist arrivals was observed in 2015 which could be attributed to the financial crisis that was experienced due to the phasing out of the U.S dollar in that country.

This also led to the retrenchment of workers and closure of some business establishments at the border town of Oshikango and other northern and non-eastern towns where Angolans regularly visited.

The report says these effects might persist for the next few years, hence business owners should consider changing their business concepts and customer segments to include Namibian clients and what can be affordable to the available Angolan tourists.

The report shows that there was a 0.7 percent decline in Chinese tourists compared to 2014.
Shifeta said regardless of the tourist origin, most tourists visited Namibia during the last quarter of the year – that is October to December – which accounted for 28.3 percent of all tourists travelling to Namibia.

“This speaks volumes, and we hope the tourism industry will take heart in these figures and continue working together to grow tourism in the country and ensure that Namibia becomes a preferred tourist destination in Africa,” he noted.

Looking at tourist arrivals, about 45.6 percent were visiting friends and relatives, 38.9 percent came for holiday and 12.9 percent visited for business purposes. Equally, the report shows that 70.8 percent of visitors travelled by road and only 27.1 percent came by air as a mode of travel.

Most tourists came through the north-eastern border posts (25 percent), followed by northern border posts (23.5 percent), while 23 percent came via Hosea Kutako International Airport.

Tourist arrival statistics show that those from Zimbabwe came with the intent to stay longer in Namibia as shown by an average of 31 days, followed by tourists from other African countries and Germany with an average of 25 days and 19 days respectively.

Those from Botswana and France stayed less at an average of 14 days.

The report highlights that the tourism sector should market itself aggressively and offer competitive services and prices.

“It will be necessary to turn the visitors in the visiting friends and relatives category into holiday and leisure travellers,” reads the report in part.

“The recently launched Domestic Tourism Survey revealed that this category does not significantly spend in Namibia since there is no need as they are with friends and relatives. It is therefore important that in terms of tourism growth that contributes to the gross domestic product, we aggressively market destination Namibia for holiday and leisure travellers.”

Baggage Liability

Reimbursement for expenses will be based upon acceptable proof of claim. Contact the Baggage Resolution Service Center for more information.

For travel within or between the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, United's liability for any form of damage as a result of loss, damage or delay in delivery of a customer's personal property shall be limited to the fair market value at the time of loss, damage or delay and will not exceed $3,500.00 USD/CAD per customer, except for wheelchairs and other assistive devices.

For international travel to which the Warsaw Convention applies (including domestic* portions of international travel), United's liability is limited to approximately $9.07 USD/CAD per pound up to $640.00 USD/CAD per bag for checked baggage and $400.00 USD/CAD per customer for unchecked baggage.

For international travel to which the Montreal Convention applies (including domestic* portions of international travel), United's liability is limited to 1,131 SDR (Special Drawing Rights) per customer for checked and unchecked baggage. Exchange rates are available online at imf.org.

When checking baggage for a flight, a customer may declare a higher value than the maximum limit of liability. See Excess Valuation for additional details. Note that declaration of a higher value may not be allowed for some items.

Avoid packing high-value, fragile or perishable items in your checked baggage. For domestic* travel, United is not liable for loss, damage or delay in delivery of high-value, fragile or perishable items. See Fragile and Perishable Items for detailed listings of excluded items. For international travel, United's liability is limited as per above.

In the course of normal handling, your baggage may show evidence of use. United is never liable for destruction, loss or damage that results from an inherent defect, quality or vice of the baggage. For domestic* travel, United is not liable for conditions that result from normal wear and tear such as:

- Minor cuts, scratches, scuffs, dents and soil
- Damage to wheels, feet, extending handles and items of fragile or perishable nature
- Damage as a result of over-packed bags
- Loss of external locks, pull straps, security straps, or zipper tabs
- Manufacturer’s defects
* Domestic travel includes travel within or between the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Travelers Should Expect To Meet Robots On Holidays By 2020

A survey of more than 6,000 travellers in Asia, Europe, North America and South America reveals nearly 80% of respondents expect robots to play a big part in their lives by 2020, with three quarters believing they will make their lives significantly better. Almost two-thirds of respondents would be comfortable with robots being used in the travel industry.

Travelzoo, a global media commerce company, conducted the research as part of its Future of Travel project exploring consumer acceptance of robots in the travel and tourism industry. Richard Singer, Travelzoo’s European President, will make a keynote speech on the findings at this year’s ITB Berlin – Europe’s largest travel trade show. On March 11, Mr. Singer will share the stage with Toshiba’s Chihira Kanae – one of the world’s most human-looking robots, who will make her European debut at the event.

According to the survey, international travellers are largely comfortable with robots playing a role in their holiday, though some nations appear more cautious than others. German and French respondents were the most averse, while Chinese and Brazilians were the most positive about how robotics and artificial intelligence could enhance a holiday or travel in general – 92% of Chinese were comfortable with the idea.

The main advantages respondents see in robots are related to general efficiency, data retention and recall. More than three-quarters of respondents think that robots would be better than humans at handling data (81%) and dealing with different languages (79%), while 76% believe robots have better memories. 81% of respondents selected their untiring energy as an advantage.

Commenting on the survey’s findings, Mr. Singer said, “Right now is a very exciting moment in the history of the travel industry – groundbreaking technology is revolutionising what is possible from the perspective of customer service, entertainment and personalisation. Robots and artificial intelligence are making their debut on the tourism stage, and our research into global acceptance of robots working in the travel industry is largely positive. Most nations are starting to open up to the idea of robots in travel and see the tangible benefits heading our way in the very near future.”

Singer continued, “While the advent of technology such as robot butlers and bartenders is hugely exciting, it’s also very clear from our research that consumers see the combination of robots and humans working in tandem in customer-facing roles as the ideal solution.”

“Consumers still want humans in the picture, as otherwise there is a genuine fear that cultural nuances, humour and irony will be missed and the holiday experience could become too impersonal. If we don’t respect the desire for the human touch, we risk ‘robophobia’ setting in, when in fact technology can significantly improve the holiday experience when used appropriately.”

Professor Stephen Page of Bournemouth University, which is one of the leading global authorities on travel and tourism, said, “Robots represent a major innovation in the tourism sector and their potential impact and use offers many new avenues to enhance and develop the visitor experience of travel and hospitality. Understanding how consumers will embrace and interact with this new technology will be critical to their adoption and dissemination in an industry that is one of the market leaders in the use of technology.”

Toshiba is pioneering ‘human-looking’ robot technology and has created three ‘communication androids,’ two of which are already being used in Tokyo in a hotel reception and a shopping mall. Hitoshi Tokuda, Chief Specialist at Toshiba’s Research and Development Division said, “Chihira Kanae is a taste of things to come – we look forward to working with the travel industry to refine her, so that she can enable better holiday experiences for consumers.”

The survey for Travelzoo’s Future of Travel project was conducted via an online questionnaire by third-party research agency Norstat. The questionnaire was completed by 6,211 travellers in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

NETHERLANDS: TUI Airlines Netherlands

TUI Airlines Netherlands (formerly Arkefly and shortened to Arke in the corporate design to match the travel agency)is a Dutch charter airline headquartered in Schiphol-Rijk on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. It is the charter carrier of the Dutch arm of the German travel conglomerate TUI Group and its main base is Schiphol Airport.

TUI Airlines Netherlands, before Arkelfy traced its roots to Air Holland, which was founded in 1981. After financial problems Air Holland was taken over by the Exel Aviation Group and took a new start as HollandExel in March 2004. In May 2005 the Exel Aviation Group was declared bankrupt. The German TUI Group took over the airline's activities and renamed it ArkeFly. It is now wholly owned by the TUI Group. Its name was based on the biggest Dutch tour operator, Arke, which is also a subsidiary of the TUI Group. The newly reorganised airline operated its first flight in September 2005.

Operations in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, began on 15 July 2004 as DutchCaribbeanExel, which was originally part of the Exel Aviation Group, but was later taken over, together with parent airline, HollandExel, by the TUI Group, and renamed ArkeFly Curaçao.ArkeFly started weekly flights to St. Maarten from Amsterdam on 2 December 2007, but discontinued this service in November 2008. TUI holds that flights may resume if the volume of tourists travelling to St. Maarten increases. Operations to Orlando, Miami and Israel began in 2011.

In October 2013, Arkefly changed its marketing name to Arke to reflect the partnership with the travel agency of the same name.

On 13 May 2015, it was announced by the TUI Group that all five of TUI's airline subsidiaries will be named TUI, whilst keeping their separate Air Operator's Certificate, taking over three years to complete. Arke was the first to undergo the change, and was renamed TUI on 1 October 2015.

TUI Airlines Netherlands carries out regular and chartered flights, although most of the chartered flights are operated for the Dutch tour operator Arke. It operates to destinations in the Mediterranean, Canary Islands, Red Sea, Mexico, Caribbean, United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, Brazil and the Dutch Caribbean.

CANADA: Vancouver Tourism With 9.4 million Visitors, Its A Record Break

Visitor numbers to Vancouver are set to reach record levels this year, according to the latest estimates by Tourism Vancouver. Approximately 9.4 million visitors will be clocked by the time Vancouver rings in the New Year with its new fireworks celebration event in downtown.

This is an increase of about 500,000 visitors over last year’s figures, making it the second consecutive record breaking year, with major growth in the markets from the United States, Japan, France, South Korea, Mexico, and China.

Visitor numbers from the United States, the largest international market, will grow by 8.3 per cent over last year’s number of 1.9 million overnight. About a quarter million visitors are expected from China, the largest overseas visitor market, after a growth rate of five per cent over 2014.

“There are a lot of contributing factors,” Tourism Vancouver spokesperson Amber Sessions told Vancity Buzz. “Certainly the global economy has been good, there is high consumer confidence in the United States, and the low Canadian dollar also helps. But it’s also a story of our destination sales and marketing paying off.”

Downtown hotels were near capacity for much of the summer: occupancy reached 90 per cent throughout July and August, except for five days. When the FIFA Women’s World Cup championship final was played on July 5, hotel occupancy soared to 99 per cent.

The month-long FIFA tournament was a major factor for the spike – a total of nine matches were played at B.C. Place Stadium, including major rivalries in the knockout stage. As well, 19 ‘citywide conventions’ were held in Vancouver such as the World Congress of Dermatology with 10,000 attendees, International Diabetes Federation with 8,000 attendees, and the Academy of Management with 11,000 attendees.

The official global TED Conference also returned to the city for its second year at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The high-calibre, annual week-long event was held in California prior to the move in 2014, and organizers confirmed earlier this year that Vancouver will remain as their home at least until 2017.

In March, Vancouver will begin its new role as the annual host of one of stops for the World Rugby Sevens Series. The event draws tens of thousands of visitors from around the world to the host cities each year.

Additionally, Vancouver’s cruise industry experienced another strong year, with more than 805,000 passengers on 32 ships making 228 voyages. The sailing season also began early and ended much later than usual: the first sailing was on March 28 and the last sailing was yesterday, December 15.

Another factor revolves around the high passenger growth rate experienced at Vancouver International Airport. A number of new major flight services were added this year, and the same is expected for 2016.

A new record of 20 million passengers is expected in 2015, up from 19.36 million in 2014 and 17.97 million in 2013.

FRANCE: Paris Christmas Bookings Low After Attacks

Demand for Christmas trips to Paris has slumped following last month's attacks in the French capital, according to data from travel information firm ForwardKeys.

Overall, net bookings recovered in the week starting November 23, compared to the week immediately following the attacks, due to fewer cancellations.

New bookings, however, remain around 25 percent lower compared to last year, and Christmas demand has stagnated at pre-attack levels. There is a lack of new bookings from all major source countries, including Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, Forward Keys said.

"Put another way, in a normal year bookings for Christmas would be accumulating well now but following the attacks, enthusiasm has been dented," chief executive Olivier Jager said.

Travel companies are feeling the impact, with several airlines saying the numbers of people heading to France are down, although many expect the effect will be short-lived.

Didier Le Calvez, who is managing director of luxury hotel Le Bristol and heads the luxury section at hotel association UMIH, said earlier this week that high-end Paris hotels had only sold 40-50 percent of their rooms for the end-of-year festive period, whereas normally they would be 80-90 percent booked.

The chief executive of AccorHotels has said the French hotel group is seeing fewer last-minute bookings for the second half of December compared with a year ago and that the impact will probably last three or four months.

The ForwardKeys database contains reservations handled by more than 200,000 online and offline travel agencies worldwide.

USA:Airbus Seeks Sale Of Services Unit Vector

Airbus Group SE is exploring a sale of Vector Aerospace Corp, a unit that services and maintains aircraft, in a deal that could be valued at more than $800 million, people familiar with the matter say.

Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace group, is currently selling several businesses to focus its defense division on warplanes, missiles, launchers and satellites.

Airbus has hired investment bankers to run an auction for Vector, which has annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of around $80 million, the people said.

The sources asked not to be identified because the sale process is confidential. Vector and Airbus declined to comment.

Toronto-based Vector Aerospace was purchased in 2011 for about $640 million by European aerospace giant EADS, which was renamed Airbus in 2014.

Vector provides maintenance services to military, commercial and private helicopters and airplanes. It has 2,300 employees and facilities in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, South Africa, Kenya and Singapore.

Other aircraft services companies have recently been sold for hefty prices. BBA Aviation Plc agreed to buy Landmark Aviation from Carlyle Group LP for $2.1 in September.

Airbus also aims to pick a buyer for its defense electronics unit by the end of 2015 as part of its plan to dispose of assets with combined revenues of around 2 billion euros ($2.13 billion), Chief Executive Tom Enders told a German newspaper last month.

Based on its asset sale program, Airbus’ board has authorized a 1 billion euro share buyback, to be completed by the end of June 2016.

MALI: Unrest In Northern Mali Has Devastated Tourism Industry

Gunmen invaded a Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on Friday and took scores of hostages. The Malian Army surrounded the hotel, evacuated employees and guests, and began scouring the building in search of the gunmen.

The siege appeared to be over by late afternoon on Friday.Citizens of many countries, including the United States, were among the hotel’s guests.It is still unclear who was responsible for the attack. Al Mourabitoun, a militant Islamist organization, has claimed responsibility.It is not known whether the assault on the hotel was connected in any way with the attacks in Paris last week.

Continuing unrest and doubts about security in northern Mali have devastated the country’s floundering tourism industry. About 142,000 international travelers visited the country in 2013, a drop from 160,000 in 2011, according to data kept by the World Bank.

Months before Friday’s attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the rise of violent extremism caused some Western governments to issue travel warnings.

“Terrorist groups have increased their rhetoric calling for additional attacks or kidnapping attempts on westerners and others, particularly those linked to support for international military intervention,” the U.S. Department of State said in May.

France has listed the northern part of the country in its so-called red zone, or places where it encourages citizens not to travel, since shortly after the government was overthrown in 2012.

Regarding the Bamako area, the French government has issued regular warnings to its citizens concerning past attacks and kidnappings in the region.

People from several nations — including the United States, India, Germany, Belgium, Algeria, France and China — are believed to have been taken hostage inside the hotel.