This is quite common overseas. I have always been fascinated when travelling overseas (usually in transit) at airports like Istanbul or Abu Dhabi when people have their dogs waiting to board a flight or collect their luggage.
On paper I’m excited for this. In reality though, my dog wouldn’t really cope with being shoved into a small crate under my seat.
Jetstar Asia flew for the last time yesterday.
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In an opinion piece in The Age and SMH today, Craig Platt wondered why the aurora australis was included in the Chinese version of the new tourism ad.
Aside from the fact that conditions need to be right, much of the time the aurora australis is not visible to the naked eye. Your camera may pick it up, but you won’t see much more than a vague haze.
Tourism Australia has admitted it used a bit of movie magic to create the scene. While TA says it was “recreated” from actual footage of the southern lights, Yosh Yu and his companion didn’t actually see it, as depicted in the ad, as they weren’t there during the aurora season (May-September).
So why did Tourism Australia decide to include this phenomenon when, for the vast majority of visitors to our country, there is little chance they will ever get to see it? It’s not like there aren’t alternatives. Tasmania has a wealth of attractions that are always available – Cradle Mountain, the Bay of Fires (where the aurora scene was filmed) and Wineglass Bay, the Museum of Old and New Art.
A moment of @Qantas history today with the passing out of its Q300 fleet. Its most famous passengers was John Travolta on a flight to Longeach in 2004. I may have been sitting next to him…. #qantas #history #avaition #regional #connectivity pic.twitter.com/quOWQKoxz4
— Peter Doherty (@PeterDoherty7) August 7, 2025
Skybus announced on Wednesday two new routes to service Melbourne’s east and west.
Eastern Express - Melbourne Airport to Box Hill via Watsonia and Doncaster (starts August 31)
Sunshine Express - Melbourne Airport to Sunshine station (starts November)
Skybus previously operated a similar Eastern Express route before it was suspended during COVID in 2020 and 2021.
No surprises here. It’s no longer a ‘value’ destination which essentially drove the tourism and success. It’s priced now on par with NYC. I was looking at some pricing recently and was astounded how much it’s changed in a decade.
Disney’s first season in Australia kicked off at the end of 2024, with its final cruises to run in February 2026.
He had flown out of Hawaii in 2011 and didn’t realise something was amiss until he returned to the US again this year, 14 years later.
They’re still getting regular emails informing them of their so-called visa breach.
“We check it every day and it’s still showing us as still being in the US,” Julie added.“At times, they fail to record departures for foreign nationals and this may result in an ‘overstay’ being recorded for the traveller that is not accurate.”
Bloody bogans. 
There are a few reasons why places like Bali just don’t appeal to me, and one of the biggest is the sheer number of bogans that head over there.
My aunt works as a flight attendant for Qantas, and she says the Bali flights are among the worst they deal with — easily more trouble than the next four routes combined. Apparently, it’s pretty common for multiple passengers to start drinking their duty-free alcohol mid-flight, which often leads to arguments or even fights.
It’s gotten so bad that they sometimes struggle to staff those flights because so many crew members refuse to work them. Internally, some of them even call it the “bogan express.” Doesn’t really make me keen to visit, to be honest.
Not sure how familiar you are with Melbourne but I’ve heard the flight route to Bali described before as being a “Frankston train with wings”.
i grew up in melbourne. that checks out from what i’ve heard
I’m off to Bali in October - I’ll report back on how our flight goes. Flying Virgin
