Smooth transfer
| What is it? A passenger assistance service for those of you flying into or via Dubai. And no extra marks for guessing what it's called. The name is Marhaba, which means welcome in Arabic. |
| Why are we writing about it? Well, earlier they did business in neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Now Dnata, one of UAE's big travel management services companies, has joined hands with Kuoni Travel Group's India arm to provide its Marhaba brand of services to Indian travellers. |
| What's in it for me? Marhaba has a premium service for VIPs, children travelling alone and the elderly, where a personal escort will help you through all the arrival and departure procedures and take care of your baggage. |
| For those of you travelling with family, there's a Meet and Greet service, where the Marhaba team will see to it that you have a speedy and hassle-free arrival or departure. If you and your family wish to see the city, the company can arrange for 96-hour visas, transport from the airport to hotel and back, and accommodation at a three or four star Marhaba associate hotel. |
| And if you're a transit passenger at Dubai, you can access its 24-hour lounge at the Sheikh Rashid Terminal regardless of the class and the airline that you are flying. The lounge is equipped with the usual gamut of stuff like computers, Internet, telephone, fax and food. |
| It also provides additional services like porterage, limousine transfers and floral bouquets. Also, booking the Marhaba service shouldn't be difficult as it can be done at any of Kuoni India's outlets. |
| What are the damages? Anywhere between $21 and $110, that's roughly between Rs 928 and Rs 4,860. |
| The Meet and Greet service is the cheapest, starting from $21 onwards, while the premium service, called the Diamond Service costs $42 and upwards. The CityStop service that is priced at $110 includes the cost of a three-star hotel and visa charges. Lounge access charges are $22. |
| Take it or leave it? The CityStop service sounds like a good bargain as the cost includes accommodation and visa processing charges. |
| Also, the lounge access is a good idea if you're not travelling business or first class and hence don't have access to the airline's lounges. The price may be a tad too high though. |
| SNIPPETS |
| Summer timetable Come summer and airlines get busy either announcing new routes or adding more flights. Two airlines did so at the prestigious ITB show in Berlin. Qatar Airways said that it will start flights from its Doha hub to Chennai, Bali and Ho Chi Minh City by the end of this month. |
| In June, the airline plans to make its debut in the American market with two destinations, New York and Washington. And later this year, it will operate flights to Geneva and Stockholm. The airline also plans to increase frequency on several of its existing 72 destinations. |
| Meanwhile, not to be left behind, German flag carrier Lufthansa announced on the second day of the show that it will start a thrice-a-week service between Munich and the port city of Busan in South Korea by the end of this month. It has also increased its presence in USA by adding a new daily non-stop service from Munich to Denver and an additional second daily service on its Frankfurt-Detroit route. |
| The airline will also increase its Frankfurt-Shanghai service to a double daily service. The airline has announced five new destinations in Europe, that includes the Spanish city of Valencia, Bastia, which is an ideal base to explore the French island of Corsica and the Albanian capital of Tirana. |
| In India, the newest LCC on the block, IndiGo, has started a second non-stop service between Delhi and Mumbai and Delhi and Chennai. |
| Lounge revamp Along with new routes and more flights, airlines are also spending money this summer to keep their business and first class passengers happy. Just in time for ITB Berlin, Lufthansa opened a new lounge at the Berlin airport with workstations, specially designed leather armchairs, bistro tables and tasty snacks. |
| And the airline's investing a total of 100 million euros in the building and renovating existing lounges over the next two years in Munich, Frankfurt, New York and Paris. Meanwhile, Emirates opened new lounges at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, and the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand last week. |
| The lounge has a dining room with a gourmet hot and cold buffet selection and full service bar and a fully-equipped business centre with wi-fi Internet connectivity. The lounge can accommodate more than a hundred passengers at a time. |
| Bangalore connection The Singapore girl is all set to fly daily between tech city Bangalore and Singapore. Its daily service will start from the 28th of this month. Currently, the airline flies six-times-a-week from Bangalore. |
| To sweeten the deal further, the airline is also offering discounts on economy fares (between 23-41 per cent) to those flying to Indonesia, Philippines, China, Australia and New Zealand. |
| This offer also includes a free stopover at Singapore while flying in and out of any of the destinations. The bookings for this offer must be made by April 15, 2007 and the offer is valid for outbound travel till May-end. |