'I Hate Ryanair' website REBORN

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/i-hate-ryanair-website-handed-over--to-ryanair-20101013-16iux.html

Image source: http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/tagged/tag/ryanair

The “I Hate Ryanair” website created by Robert Tyler has been forced to hand the site’s name over to the airline.

The site was created in 2007 for angry passengers like Robert Tyler himself to share their unpleasant experience with Ryanair. Soon after the site’s name was handed over to the airline, Tyler started another website, ihateryanair.org, to continue to serve as a platform for dissatisfied passengers to express their views.

It was mentioned in the news that Tyler had made £322 advertising revenue from the previous site which was not appropriate. As it used a company brand as its domain name, Jane Seager, a Nominet's expert, asserts it “must be wholly devoted to honest criticism and open discussion and not potentially tainted by commercial concerns".

I agree that if Tyler’s aim for setting up the website was for people to share their grievances against Ryanair, he should have kept it so and not take advantage of the site to make money.

Despite the issues being discussed in the news, it is undeniable that Ryanair did piss off a lot of customers. This website lists out the bad experience a resented customer had with Ryanair and this blog explains why we should not take ryanair. Below is a funny safety card that I read at CyberFootprint to dig at Ryanair charging for everything.

Image source: http://www.cyberfootprint.eu/ryanair-pr-trouble/

Ryanair’s continuous cost-saving proposals have annoyed many customers. As mentioned in the article, apart from charging customers to use the toilets and adding ‘standing room’ seats, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary recently has a new plan of replacing co-pilots with flight attendants which I think is totally unacceptable.

Surviving under an extremely negative image for years, an article on Good Experience explains how Ryanair succeeds with poor customer service. Its low-cost has attracted enough people to unwillingly accept all the sudden cancellation of flights and rude customer services.

The article in SMH is a piece of hard news written in inverted pyramid style with most important details in the beginning. It answered the "five W and one H" questions in the first two paragraphs. Using the picture of “I Hate Ryanair” website to go with the story is a good choice. There are also hyperlinks in the article to allow easier access for readers who want to know more.

The article is about 300 to 400 words long which is a good length for an online story. However, I think the journalist could have come up with a sexier headline to attract more readers to the story.

Sources:
1. http://davefaq.com/Opinions/RyanAir-Sucks/
2. http://www.jacobsen.no/anders/blog/archives/2003/05/26/why_i_will_never_fly_ryanair_and_why_you_shouldnt_either.html
3. http://www.cyberfootprint.eu/ryanair-pr-trouble/
4. http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/ryanair-to-charge-passengers-to-use-toilets-20100408-rt2j.html
5. http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/ryanair-plan-for-standingroom-vertical-seats-20100702-zru8.html
6. http://www.newser.com/story/100266/ryanairs-latest-crazy-idea-no-more-co-pilots.html
7. http://www.goodexperience.com/2007/10/how-ryanair-succeeds-with-poor.php

Don't Forget to Ask Before Taking an Adventure Tour

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wicked-good-travel-tips/10-vital-questions-to-ask_b_746191.html

Image source: http://www.rockbrookcamp.com/blog/adventure-camp-kids.html

This article concluded the following 10 important questions to be asked before taking an adventure tour.

1. Can I Speak Directly With a Tour Company Representative?
2. What Physical Strengths and Conditioning Do You Expect of Tour Participants? -- Are There Age or Height Limitations/Recommendations?
3. What Will the Terrain Be Like?
4. What Is the Weather Like During the Time I'm Planning to Travel?
5. What Native Creatures Do I Need to Be Aware of?
6. What Tourism and Industry Organizations Does the Company Belong to?
7. Tell Me About Your Guides; What Are Their Experience and Qualifications?
8. Tell Me About Your Guides; What Are Their Experience and Qualifications?
9. Do You Have a List of Former Tour Participants That We Could Call for a Reference?
10. Do You Recommend Any Advance Preparations, Safety or Medical Precautions?

Image source: http://www.concierge.com/ideas/activeadventure/tours/1729?page=8

I agree with the author that asking questions before actually joining a tour is essential, especially for adventurous tours – which we are exposed to higher risks and dangers! We often rely so much on tour agencies and expect them to arrange everything for us. Well, I don’t see anything wrong with it. We pay for it, we deserve to be taken care of! But the thing is, the agency is taking care of so many different individuals each day, they just can’t put themselves into each and every one of our shoes. And after all, we are the ones who suffer if the trip does not turn out to be what we have expected, so why not ask some quick questions to get ourselves prepared!

The 10 questions cover pretty much most areas though I doubt we might not get honest answers. If we ask the company to tell us about their guides, would you expect them to tell you their guides are not qualified and inexperienced? Another point the writer should have added is that apart from merely getting information from our travel agency, consulting people around us who are experienced in the type of tour we are planning to join is also important. They are the ones who we can get truthful responses from. But it’s never bad to ask too many questions and get yourself slightly over-prepared for exciting trips!

It is overall a good article, it allows readers to share on social networking sites. It also has a button for the print-friendly version which allows you to print it and bring it with you to the travel agency so you don’t have to copy all the questions down. It also has a hyperlink to the numbers of emergency phone call in different areas which makes life easier for readers who want to know it immediately after reading the article. It also acknowledges the source of the photo which is a good practice for online writers.

Flânerie - Best Way to Travel

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-writing-competition/8050134/Just-Back-the-only-way-to-see-Paris.html

Image source: http://www.globalexperiences.com/img/content/paris.jpg

This is a well-written piece by the winner of the weekly travel writing competition of Telegraph UK. Richard Holman introduced a French word “flânerie” in his article. Holman recalled how his French teacher told him there were sometimes no direct translations for words in French to English. At that time, he still thought it was another form of “Gallic intellectual one-upmanship”.

Now he thinks back and finds it absolutely true that he cannot find an equivalent for the French word “flânerie”. I looked it up from WordReference.com, “flânerie” means stroll or lazing around. I don’t know French so I can’t tell whether the meaning fits well or not. But according to Holman, the translation still lacks something.

Whatever the word means, Holman thinks it is the best way to experience a city. With “no guidebooks, no maps; just start walking and see where it leads” – this is how Holman explored Paris, the city where “flânerie” was invented.

Image source: http://trueslant.com/rachelking/2010/03/29/destination-spotlight-lille/

I always think having some random walks around the city is the best way to experience a city. When we are following the travel books, most of the time we are just going to some tourist spots which do not necessarily represent the culture of that city. However, if we manage to do what the locals do, we can get a better taste of what their real lives are like. We can breathe the local air, taste the local food, walk the local paths. This is what travelling is about – cultural exchange and getting a real picture the city!

I like the way the author related the French word with a French city. The choice of the picture was also very appropriate, showing the artistic and romantic side of Paris. This is an interesting piece of soft news to read.

There are share buttons on the side of the story so that readers can share it with friends via social networking sites easily. This can help generate a larger audience for the article. The text size can be adjusted by pressing the "+" or "-" button. This make it handy for readers.

I also like the layout of the page. It is simple, yet reader-friendly. The advertisements are all on the side of the story, with still images only. The pop-up or motioned images can be eye-catching but sometimes very disturbing when you want to concentrate on the text, especially when they are just advertisements and have nothing to do with the article you are reading.

Full-body Airport Scanners - Ineffective

http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/naked-airport-scanners-ineffective/story-e6frfq80-1225928906241

Image source: http://muslimahmediawatch.org/2010/01/naked-ambition-plans-for-airport-body-scanners-only-offensive-to-muslim-women/

This is a piece of hard news on news.com.au. It is about the controversy on airport full-body scanners. After six months of testing, the Italian government has decided to stop the use of full-body scanners in some of its airports because of the low-effectiveness. It is likely that the Italian government will drop the use of such scanners in other airports as well in the near future.

This is a good news story as it includes the “five W and one H rule”.

Who? The Italian government
What? Full-body scanners being dropped
Where? Italian airports
When? After the six-month test
Why? Ineffective and slow
How? Gradually, airport by airport

The questions were answered in the first two paragraphs of the story so that readers can quickly get all the information they need.

It also contained several news values. Firstly, it is timeliness. It happened very recently. Secondly, it has an impact. All travellers travelling by air in Italy have to go through those scanners, cancelling the scanners definitely makes the travel experience different. Lastly, when the scanner was first introduced, there was a debate on whether it should be used. Since the scanner shows a clear image of the person’s full body. There was a controversy on personal privacy and health concerns. People are naturally interested in reading stories that involve conflicts, tension and public debate.

Apart from that, it is a around 180-word article which makes it short and succinct, a good length for an online story. Together with the text, the author also posted a picture which comes along with the story to provide further information on what the scanned-imaged is like. It also makes the story more interesting to read.

There are also buttons on the top right hand corner of the article for readers to share it on some social networking websites, such as facebook and twitter, and to invite comments. These help in promoting the article to other internet users and generating a larger readership.

Sources:
1.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010301826.html
2. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aoG.YbbvnkzU&pos=11

Loyal Frequent Flyer Members: Watch Out!

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/traveller-tips/when-frequent-flyers-get-taken-for-a-ride-20100916-15e4j.html

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/traveller-tips/the-best-cards-to-earn-qantas-frequent-flyer-points-20090403-9n23.html

Most travellers are members of certain airline loyalty programme. It’s pretty obvious that they join the programme because they travel a lot and want to get reward for being frequent customers. But do members really benefit from the programmes?

Qantas’s recent announcement of its profits revealed a $328 million earning (before tax) from the frequent-flyer programme. Isn’t the frequent flyer programme supposed to be rewarding loyal customers, how come it is making such a large sum of money? So who were paying this huge amount? Of course THE CONSUMERS!

When customers are redeeming their tickets for travel, they do not actually get them for free, they end up paying via banking fees. Banks have buy points from airlines, but banks would not do it for nothing, so they simply transfer the fees back to customers by charging higher.

Businesses always use different marketing campaigns to make promotions and attract customers. Even when they say there’s a big discount, customers always have to be aware since in most cases, customers themselves are the ones who pay the cost in the end.

The story is written in the inverted pyramid style with most important news at the top, followed by extra details. At the end of the text, the author also provided some extra information on loyalty programmes, such as Virgin Blue allows other options, such as donation, for customers to spend their reward points.

Apart from allowing comments below the article, the author also provided her own email address so that readers can contact her. There is also a source below the article which is a good practice for online stories. People want to see the source materials.

The article covers several news values. It is timeliness since it reports something that has just recently happened. It also has an impact to the readers. According to a piece of news in The Age, here are more than 7 million members in the Qantas Frequent Flyer loyalty scheme. These 7 million people would be interested to know if the programme is, after all, not worth it.

Source:
1. https://shop.velocityrewards.com.au/Pages/SOR/AwardDetails.aspx?AwardId=23122
2. http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-frequent-flyer-bag-changes-20101006-167tq.html

Brand New Travel Concepts

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/travel/travel-advice/abduction-tourism-new-travel-experience/story-e6frezor-1225894906075

Source: http://jasonjeffrey.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/tehran-accuses-us-in-case-of-missing-iranian-nuclear-scientist/

Travel abduction is one of the new travel concepts showcased at the Tourism Futures conference in Brisbane. Simulated kidnapping packages are now offered. People can pay to get themselves abducted without warning, bound, gagged and imprisoned for a duration of four to ten hours.

Ethan expressed his views on this new travel idea. He posted a question for readers to think why people would go for this ‘abundantly wrong’ kind of travel. He then suggested a number of alternative ‘experiential’ travel ideas. In the end, he concluded that holidays weren’t good enough if they were too ordinary. As Ethan described – ‘you can’t see great sights through a blindfold’.

Everyone likes extraordinary experiences but being kidnap just for fun? I think this is rather humiliating for the victims who actually suffered from abduction. I can’t believe people are actually paying for this game.

Ethan used a number of hypertexts in his article. Hypertext can help direct readers to another page for more detailed information regarding a specific topic. This allowed Ethan to keep his article nice and short without the need of explaining each and every term his used.

I also like the way Ethan started the article. His use of ‘LIKE you, I love new experiences’ connected the article with the readers. It also created a feeling that the writer was just the same type of person as the reader. Readers would want to read on to see how the article is related to them.

Sources:
1. http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advice/tourists-get-ready-for-simulated-kidnapping/story-e6frfqfr-1225888316956

Extra Weight = Extra Charge

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-troke/beware-of-extra-weight_b_693146.html

Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00799/overweight_799485c.jpg

The writer had bad experienced in losing his checked luggage during connection flights. For this reason, he made a cardinal rule for himself that no matter how long the vacation was, he would squeeze everything to his carry-on bag.

However, one time the staff at the waiting gate weighed his bag and said it was 1kg overweight. It was impossible for the writer to offload 1kg of stuff from his bag just minutes before boarding. He had no choice but checked his bag.

When he got on the plane, he had an extremely overweight guy sitting next to him. The writer had to give up his arm rest and 20% of his seat to his neighbour. The writer felt annoyed being harassed at the waiting gate for his extra 1kg carry-on bag while he was assigned to sit next to a gentleman who probably weighed 200lbs more than him.

The writer used a soft and gentle way to express his dissatisfaction towards his over-weight baggage. He also included a sense of humour element in his article. When he described how the overweight gentleman squeezed into his seat, it was just like the way the writer tried to squeeze his carry-on bag into the metal bins near the boarding gate he mentioned earlier in his passage. This made his article more entertaining.

The comparison he used – 1kg overweight bag and the seriously overweight neighbour passenger – made a big contrast. It helped in supporting the writer’s argument, making the airline staff unreasonable to cause all that hassle at the boarding gate just because of his 1kg overweight bag.

The article also hit the timeliness element. Spirit Airline announced earlier that they were going to charge passengers for their overhead bin luggage. Other airlines such as United Airlines and Air France have decided to charge extra fees for overweight passengers who were unable to fit in a single seat.

Sources:
1. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/06/spirit.carryon.fees/index.html
2. http://www.enduringwanderlust.com/united-to-charge-large-fliers-double/
3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/7038141/Air-France-to-charge-obese-passengers-for-two-seats.html

Alternatives on the Snowy Mountain

http://blogs.theage.com.au/travel/archives/2010/08/theres_more_than_one_way_to_skin_a_mountain.html

Source: http://www.stignacelodging.net/UserFiles/Image/attractions_events/snowshoe.jpg

As the title suggested, the writer, Rachael Oakes-Ash, was trying to give us alternate activities on a mountain.

In this article, Rachael introduced snow shoeing to the readers. In the beginning, Rachael did not understand why people have to walk up and down the snow when they can be going up by chairlifts and flying down on skis. She was then convinced by Peter Cocker from K7 Koscuisko Adventure that snow shoeing was as cool as other sports up on the snowy mountain. Rachael also pointed out that snow shoeing was a good option for families and beginner skiers.

Same as Rachael, I have never thought of going to the snowy mountain without skiing. Her article reminded me the days I went there with my mother who didn’t want to try skiing at all. She was standing on the snow watching me go up the hill and ski down for the whole afternoon. I observed my mother was not the only mother who was watching without actually skiing. I agree that snow shoeing would be a good family activity. Then the mothers don’t have to just stand there with nothing else to do. They can enjoy the walk and the scenery along the way. And for those who are beginners or never plan to try skiing, they can get a glimsp at the top of the mountain.

Rachael’s article is simple and direct. It is easy to follow. Readers will automatically be attracted to go for a try. However, I think she could include a few safety tips for snow shoeing to make her article more complete. The website of Redfeather and Life123 listed some useful techniques for snow shoeing, such as what to wear, where not to go and to stay in groups. Snow shoeing might seem easy but who knows when blizzards might be coming.

Rachael used a number of hypertext in her passage which made it easier to link readers to another page for further information.

This is a public relations piece. It was acknowledged at the end that "the writer snow-shoed as a guest of K7 adventures".

Source:
1. http://www.life123.com/sports/winter-sports/snowshoes/how-to-snowshoe.shtml
2. http://www.redfeather.com/content.asp?id=548&pageId=36

Never Easy to Travel between Mebourne and Sydney

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/travellers-check/australias-busiest-air-route-everything-is-broken/20100809-11rzk.html

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200802/r225857_895374.jpg

This article is about how uneasy it was to travel from Melbourne to Sydney and the other way round.

The writer, Clive Dorman, shared his experience of leaving home at 5:20am to be an hour early for the 7:45am flight from Melbourne to Sydney. However, he hit two traffic jams on freeway, then the courtesy bus at the airport delayed, the self check-in kiosk couldn't read his ticket, the flight was close when he was still in the time-consuming queue. He somehow got on another flight but then the flight was slowed down when it was approaching Sydney because of “high winds”, leaving him only 10 minutes to catch his onward flight.

Clive’s flight from Sydney back to Melbourne was not much better.

Clive started off his article with Bob Dylan’s decision of jumping from a folk song singer to a musician. However, neither Bob Dylan nor his switching to a musician was related to the article. The reason for mentioning Bob Dylan was merely to bring out his song, Everything is Broken, which he thought of when he was stuck up by Australian’s busiest air route. Clive could have simply mentioned the name of the song.

Clive used a rather special approach to express how uneasy his ride from Melbourne to Sydney (and vice versa) was. Instead of writing in paragraphs, complaining what happened, he listed out the time and incidents so that readers can judge by themselves.

However, this approach made his article like a log book which is rather boring to read. Readers are not interested in knowing at exactly what time he was on a highway or on the plane. He could have added some of his personal feelings instead of merely listing out what happened.

Why Are We Forgeting the Hiccups?

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/holidays-why-you-forget-all-the-parts-that-suck/20100802-112ak.html

Source: http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_04/nationalex1pA_468x328.jpg

Ben Groundwater reminded us that travelling was not always smooth and pleasant. But if you look back at your travel experiences, you will almost always forget about the little hiccups along the way. Ben suggested that people would 'automatically dump all the bad bits and just remember the good times'.

I do agree with Ben's view that travel can never be as perfect as we plan to be. In fact, sometimes all those little hiccups in our trips are the best parts of our travel experience. They are the bits and pieces that make our trip special.

It is true that we always only remember the best parts of our trips but we never know why. The title of the article was very successful in catching readers’ attention and making them read through the whole passage to find out the reason.

Apart from his achievement of climbing up a live volcano, Ben also listed other common examples of bad travel experiences, such as the endless waits for public transport, or being misled by photos on hotels’ website. Quoting examples which everyone would have encountered makes it easier for readers to understand his point of view.

Towards the end of the article, Ben asked a lot of questions and it appeared that he did not have an answer for why people forget the part that sucks. In fact, he put the answer in the very last line of his passage. I guess no one can agree less with his conclusion - 'it's [holiday] better than being at work'.

The page include basic functions for online news - allows readers to leave comments and share on social networking sites. The comment section facilitates a more interactive communication between the writer and readers and also among readers themselves. Nowadays, people do not only expect to read, but also be able to express their views on the topic. Allowing readers to share the article through social networking sites helps create a larger readership.