Low Fare Africa

The Transportation Safety Administration has introduce a great new mobile app to help travelers answer their common questions and concerns without chasing around a TSA rep at the airport!

To provide passengers with 24/7 access to the most commonly requested TSA information on their mobile device, TSA has developed the MyTSA mobile application. No matter where you are, you’ll have easy access to information you need to get through security and onto the plane safely and smoothly.

MyTSA puts the most frequently requested information about security procedures at airport checkpoints right at their fingertips. The application has multiple functions, including allowing travelers to find out if an item can be taken in checked or carry-on bags, view delays at all U.S. airports via a feed from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), get some of the most commonly asked packing and traveling tips, and post and see other passengers’ checkpoint wait times at specific airports.

TSA also has the ability to update the application to give users the most up to date information to help them prepare for security. If a specific item is not listed on the ‘Can I Bring?’ tool, users can submit it, through the app, directly to TSA for consideration to be added to the app.

Read the full article at TSA site

You can find the MyTSA iPhone app on iTunes.

For details, call 1 800 327 0373 or email land@karell.com

For a limited time, South African Airways and American Express have teamed up to offer a fantastic 2 for 1 deal to South Africa. Pay with your American Express card and take advantage. THIS OFFER NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE.

The World Cup is coming! An interesting article on the increased airport security implemented in South Africa as part of the World Cup preparation:

By Joshua Howat Berger (AFP)

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s international airports have a notorious reputation for baggage theft, but officials say they have cracked down on pilfering and boosted security ahead of the World Cup.

Airports Company South Africa has spent 165 million rands (21 million dollars, 17 million euros) upgrading security ahead of the June 11 kick-off, including electronic bag scanners meant to cut down on luggage theft.

That will be put to the test this week as 300,000 World Cup fans begin arriving in South Africa, with about one third of them landing just on Wednesday and Thursday, according to South African football officials.

“Three years ago, we used to have about 40 cases of theft reported per day,” said Tebogo Mekgoe, the assistant general manager at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, the busiest in the country.

He acknowledged the airport had acquired a “pretty bad” reputation for theft, with international travellers often warned of baggage handlers’ sticky fingers. The US embassy website calls theft at OR Tambo a “serious problem” and encourages travellers to secure their luggage with locks approved by the air safety agency. Britain’s embassy recommends vacuum-wrapping checked bags in plastic when travelling to South Africa — a service offered in most departure terminals.

But Mekgoe said the airport authority has reduced luggage theft to “almost nothing” by hiring all new baggage handlers, creating a “baggage reaction team” and switching to electronic scanners that track bags from check-in to loading on the plane.

“This new technology has remarkably reduced cases of pilferage,” Mekgoe told reporters.

He said OR Tambo had not received a single baggage theft complaint during last year’s Confederations Cup, a warm-up tournament for the World Cup.

Read the full article at: Google Hosted News

Coming soon: Turn your smartphone into a hotel room key
Posted by: Sean O’Neill, Thursday, May 27, 2010, 1:08 PM

A new application will let travelers use their iPhones and other smartphones as room keys at Holiday Inns.
The Open Ways app makes it possible for guests to skip the front desk and go straight to their room, says a scoop by USA Today’s Hotel Check-In blog.
It’ll work like this: After you book a room, the hotel chain will zap an encrypted, unique audio code to your phone. You’ll get a text message, too, telling you what room you’ve been assigned to. Once at the door, click the app on your phone, and a signal will unlock your room’s door. A similar technology is already used as the key for rent-by-the-hour Zipcars.

The technology is still being tested in parts of Chicago and Houston and is not yet widely available.
Meanwhile, Apple recently filed for a patent for iTravel, a new app that will allow travelers to use paperless ticketing at airports, car rentals, and concerts.

One trick Apple would like to pull off is display on an iPhone’s screen a barcode-like graphic. Once you make reservations for your trip, airlines, hotels, and other companies can send you a code by e-mail or text message. You can have this code scanned by attendants at airport gates, concert turnstiles, or other shops. Already, Starbucks now lets you pay for your coffee via an iPhone app tied to the Starbucks debit card.

Apple’s other trick may be to add a “near-field communication chip” to each phone, which would make it easier and more common to use an iPhone as a hotel room key.
Do you like the idea of skipping the front desk by using your cell phone as a room key? Or does this new technology sound like it’ll create new problems?

Read the full article at Budget Travel

A nice article by TravelPulse.com’s David Cogswell about the new infrastructure in place for the World Cup and the greater meaning:

Published May 18, 2010

As I arrived at the newly renovated O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on my way to the Indaba travel trade show in early May, I encountered local people standing to greet and assist visitors. I suddenly realized that I was seeing the final dress rehearsal for South Africa as it prepares to meet the world for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

This year’s Indaba was the climax of the six-year build up to the World Cup, scheduled to take place only June 11 through July 11, only a month after the trade show. Ever since 2004, when South Africa won its bid to host the world soccer (football) championship, its tourism industry has been preparing diligently for the event. The World Cup has been the main theme of every Indaba, and now that the anticipated tournament is practically here, the emphasis of Indaba, South Africa Tourism and the country itself was “We are ready.”
I flew to South Africa for the first time on South African Airways’ newly scheduled nonstop flight from New York JFK to Johannesburg. It leaves in the morning, instead of early evening as before. That schedule allows the flight to arrive in Johannesburg in the morning instead of the evening, and opens many more connections without a stay over in Johannesburg. Equally important for me was the fact that the New York-Johannesburg route no longer stops at Dakar on the west coast of Africa, as it did before, which greatly eases the trip. The whole flight took roughly 15 hours.
The return flight from Johannesburg to New York JFK still stops in Dakar, but South African Airways (SAA) says it is working on a way to provide nonstop service on that leg as well. SAA’s new CEO, Siza Mzimela, told attendees at Indaba that the airline has taken substantial steps to prepare for the challenges of moving the lion’s share of the estimated 300,000 visitors to the World Cup. “We are more than ready for the World Cup,” she said. “We’ve geared up so we’re able to run a 24-hour operation on certain days. We’ve improved our aircraft availability and made sure we have better aircraft.” SAA has added staff in its cabin crews, check-in desks, baggage handling and call centers.
Indeed, there is new infrastructure throughout South Africa. New airports and many stadiums have been built. I landed in Durban at its brand new King Shaka Airport, which still smelled of fresh paint and freshly poured concrete. During the conference I was able to visit the new Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, an architectural marvel with a dramatic spine over the top that supports the sides with cables similar to a suspension bridge.
The energy in the air at Indaba seemed to audibly crackle as I walked through its several pavilions, each packed with travel exhibitors. With Durban, South Africa’s version of Miami Beach, as its tropically festive setting, the show brings together a wide diversity of people and businesses gathered for a common purpose. And the cumulative energy it produces is almost startling.

Read the full article at TravelPulse.com