VIA Rail Canada’s new baggage policy and reservation system introduces sweeping changes that are catching passengers and workers off-guard as rail travel gears up for the holiday season.

“Instead of making train travel more accessible VIA Rail’s new policy only complicates it,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “It’s unfortunate to see passenger rail become more cumbersome at a time when ease and affordability in green public transportation is more important than ever.”

VIA Rail’s new baggage and reservation policies launched on November 18, 2023 and are already having a negative impact on passengers’ wallets and travel experience. Travelers will now encounter seat selection and baggage fees similar to budget airlines, directly leading to higher travel costs. Particularly affected are students and economy class passengers, with students losing their previously entitled second free bag and economy travelers facing stricter luggage size limits. Additionally, Sleeper and Prestige class passengers will face revised cabin baggage allowances and checked baggage limits.

“These changes hit hard when people are already stretched thin and we’ve moved so far away from VIA Rail’s original mandate of providing an affordable service to Canadians,” Jennifer Murray, Atlantic Regional Director. “Our members are on the front lines, witnessing first-hand how such policies inconvenience travelers and complicate our working conditions.”

Unifor’s Get Canada Back on Track campaign advocates for an expansion of publicly-owned passenger rail in Canada. The campaign stresses the need for a public transport system that caters to environmental sustainability, safety, and the well-being of Canadian travelers and workers.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

Source : CISION

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BEIJING – Since March 2023, when China started to issue tourist visas again, business has picked up for Beijing tour guide Vivie Pan, who organises small group tours for English-speaking visitors.

But the numbers are nowhere near the levels of 2018 and 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Back then, she received up to three or four bookings a day, and had to rope in other guides to help.

“For this year, I have enough bookings only for myself. I was quite busy from June until November almost every day, with three or four rest days per month, but still there’s no comparison to 2019,” said Ms Pan, who drove part-time for private car-hire company Didi to make ends meet during the pandemic.

“The overseas tourists are coming back, but their main purpose is not sightseeing or leisure – it’s usually business or visiting friends.”

In the first half of 2023, travel agencies received 477,800 inbound tourists, compared with more than 8.56 million for the same period in 2019, according to statistics released by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The sluggish recovery has been on the government’s radar – it has implemented a series of measures to ease potential pain points of visitors. For instance, in August, the authorities did away with the need for travellers to have a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country.

The latest move came on Nov 24, when China unilaterally announced a year-long visa-free policy for visitors from France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia from Dec 1.

This saves them the hassle of filling up pages of forms that include planned itinerary and travel history.

On Dec 1, more than 2,000 people from these six countries entered China – an increase of 12.5 per cent over the previous day, said China’s immigration authorities.

Industry players have welcomed the move, but noted that difficulties remain in persuading tourists to come back. These include limited availability of flights and tightened purse strings, as well as geopolitical tensions that affect perceptions of China.

Veteran industry observer Oliver Sedlinger, who is chief executive of tourism consultancy Sedlinger & Associates, said a short-term challenge is flight availability, noting that China’s international flights have recovered to only about 57 per cent since the start of 2023.

“The recent new visa policies introduced by China are a very smart move and will make travelling there easier,” he said, adding that this would likely provide a strong boost to visitor numbers from these markets.

Dr Liu Simin, vice-president of the tourism branch of the China Society for Futures Studies research institute, likewise said the move would spur growth.

But he pointed out that the major source countries before the pandemic, such as the United States, Japan and South Korea, were not included in the visa-free policy.

“Although the pandemic is over, the negative effects of pandemic controls have yet to completely disappear. Foreigners may not yet be fully aware of the situation in China today,” he said.

Western countries have also, in general, experienced inflation after the pandemic and consequently a decrease in disposable incomes, with less to spend on travelling, he added.

Geopolitics is yet another factor.

Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore said the squabbles China has with other countries are a dampener on tourist visits from there.

For one thing, China-Japan relations hit a rough patch after Beijing strongly criticised Tokyo for releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, starting from August 2023.

Adding to the problem are China’s exit bans and detentions of individuals associated with particular states, as well as raids on business, said Prof Chong, who specialises in Chinese foreign policy.

For example, Chinese investigations into US-related firms earlier in 2023 spooked the business community.

The authorities had visited the offices of Capvision, Bain & Company and Mintz Group, in what was seen as a crackdown on consulting and due diligence firms.

Memories of the sudden closure of borders and the zero-Covid policy are also relatively fresh, said Prof Chong, and this is reinforced by recent reports of an outbreak of an unidentified disease with flu-like symptoms in China.

“For leisure travellers, the world is a big place with many attractive sites, many of which offer better value and comfort than the PRC,” he said, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

Still, some industry players are already looking forward to 2024.

A spokeswoman for Trip.com Group, a major travel service conglomerate headquartered in Shanghai, said demand for travel to China is expected to rise in the near future. She said Trip.com data showed that global search results for inbound travel to China increased in the third quarter by nearly 40 per cent compared with the previous quarter. 

Some believe that more publicity could be the answer to raising tourist numbers.

Mr Tang Gang, president of Chongqing-based Century Cruises, said “vigorous promotion and publicity” is needed to further stimulate demand, adding that his Yangtze river cruise firm served tourists mainly from Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in 2023.

Ms Pan, the tour guide, believes the outlook for 2024 will be better.

“I’ve already received a handful of clients for March, as well as a few inquiries. There are also a few coming from Malaysia and Singapore in December,” she said.

“But I’m sure it will not be as buoyant as before the end of 2019.” 

Source : The Straits Times

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the same day that Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa resigned amid corruption allegations pertaining to lithium contracts, federal officers in Brazil raided the Portuguese Consulate in Rio de Janeiro.

The Brazil raids were not connected to the Lisbon investigation, a spokesperson said. Instead, according to Brazilian police, they were part of a separate investigation into the falsification of documents in collusion with applicants seeking Portuguese visas and citizenship. Since the 1990s, amid periods of economic downturn and social instability, large numbers of Brazilians have struck out for Portugal. When the country began its “golden visa” program in 2012, wealthy Brazilians became the second largest group to take advantage of it.

Portugal’s golden visa grants European Union access to foreigners in exchange for investment. From its inception in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, it has faced backlash, and the criticism has only grown more vocal in recent years. Chiefly, it is blamed for contributing to a severe housing crisis that has made affordable housing unattainable for most Portuguese.

In early October, Costa’s Socialist government finally passed a law that took aim at the issue, removing the real estate investment pathway from the golden visa program. Previously, people who invested in a qualifying property worth at least 280,000 euros (about $305,000) were eligible. The change, almost a year in the making, has ricocheted around the world of global elites, many of whom had come to regard Portugal as a foothold into Europe. Although more than 30,000 foreigners have benefited from Portugal’s golden visa, its benefits for the Portuguese themselves are less clear.

NINE OTHER COUNTRIES in Europe also offer golden visas, but Portugal’s is the most popular. The reason, insiders believe, is because it asks little of investors and provides a straightforward path to citizenship. “You have to live in Greece, fulltime, for seven years before getting citizenship,” said Lisbon-based Patricia Casaburi, director of investment migration firm Global Citizen Solutions. “Here, you just have to speak the language passingly and have a legitimate visa for five years.” Since Portugal’s golden visa is good for five years, requiring holders to spend an average of one week a year in the country, obtaining a passport is easy. What’s more, all of Portugal’s golden visa benefits extend to the holder’s immediate family—parents, spouse, and children.

So far golden visas have ushered in more than $7.3 billion, rescuing Portugal from a crippling recession. Last month, for the second time in nearly 50 years, Costa’s government announced a budget surplus for 2023. While the windfall is welcome, there’s no doubt that the influx of wealthy foreigners has transformed Portugal. As cited by Bloomberg, in the last decade, according to the National Statistics Institute, foreign residents have risen by 40 percent. Within that same period, the country became a top magnet for high-net-worth individuals. “It started slowly,” Casaburi said, “but it’s grown over time.” Last year, an estimated 1,300 millionaires moved to Portugal.

The same year that Portugal started its golden visa program, onerous restrictions on landlords were pulled back so decrepit buildings could be fixed. Three years prior, a tax incentive was introduced to attract desirable residents. If high-value residents came to Portugal, the government said, they’d enjoy a favorable tax status for 10 years: a 20 percent flat tax on income made in Portugal (high earners usually pay about 40 percent) and a 10 percent flat tax for pensioners. This past fall, Costa committed to scrapping the tax program, saying it had served its purpose but now is unjust. While the future of that action was temporarily in limbo amid Lisbon’s unfolding scandals, it seems a version of Costa’s proposal will likely be passed on Nov. 29. (The election to replace Costa will follow on March 10, 2024.)

As the numbers of wealthy residents in Portugal ticks up, so too does the cost of living—particularly real estate. According to government numbers released this September, the month before Costa’s Mais Habitacao (“More Housing”) law formally ended the real estate path, 12,700 golden visas had been issued; of those, more than 11,300 were granted to real estate investors. In major cities, such as Lisbon and Porto, the effects are palpable. Miguel Coelho, president of Santa Maria Maior parish which accounts for most of Lisbon’s downtown area, told Bloomberg that since the programs to attract outside wealth began, more than a quarter of the neighborhood’s residents have gone. Staggeringly, north of 60 percent of its residential properties are now short-term rentals.

Driving the exodus is a desire to take advantage of tourism, as well as locals’ inability to compete in the market. Since 2015, not only have sale prices for homes tripled, rent prices have also shot up. In 2023, despite government incentives to reverse the trend, rents rose 36 percent. Meanwhile, earnings haven’t kept up. The average Portuguese salary is below 20,000 euros (around $21,800) and, per last year’s numbers, more than 50 percent of workers earn less than 1,000 euros (about $1,090) a month. Since rent in central Lisbon now averages over 2,000 euros (around $2,180) a month, Casaburi said, the problem has hit a tipping point. Though the housing crisis was initially most burdensome on the poor, it touches almost every Portuguese in want of housing today.

For poor, immigrant residents, the implications are grave. In Lisbon, a fire tore through a ground-floor studio apartment in early 2023 and when firefighters stormed in, they discovered 22 immigrants struggling to escape. In the end, 2 died and 14 were injured.

Additional criticisms of Portugal’s golden visa scheme pertain to national security. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission voiced concern about poor oversight of golden visa programs generally and called on EU members to phase out “golden passport schemes.” More pointedly, the EC called for a complete suspension of visas to Russians and Belarusians.

Nevertheless, the programs have flourished across Europe. This past year, Spain and Greece issued at least 60 percent more visas than the year prior. “I expect other countries with golden visa programs will benefit from the real estate changes in Portugal,” Casaburi said.

So far, only two governments have ended their programs: the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Netherlands, Casaburi added, will end theirs in January 2024. When Ireland ended its program last February, it gave one day’s notice to prevent an onslaught of applications amid security concerns.

As is the case in Portugal, Chinese applicants were Ireland’s most dominant investment group. “[The] Chinese are the number-one utilizers of golden visa programs the world over,” said John Baker of LCR Capital Partners, a firm that helps clients obtain second residencies. In Portugal, as of this September, around 5,400 Chinese investors obtained golden visas.

Following the 2008 financial crisis, Chinese businesses, some with government affiliations, began investing in Portugal through a range of avenues—from financial institutions to real estate to critical infrastructure and natural resources. A reporter in China who requested anonymity to speak freely said that Portugal was a favored destination for the rich because it only required a week’s residence per year. “Anything that gets them into the EU is attractive,” the reporter said.

While Chinese investment in Portugal doesn’t necessarily relate to Portugal’s golden visa program, China’s influence within the country is far-reaching. Among other ventures, State Grid Corporation of China is the largest shareholder of REN, Portugal’s national power grid operator. “Poorer countries within Europe, like Portugal, are places China thinks others aren’t paying attention to,” said Kristen Gunness, a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation who focuses on Chinese foreign policy and security issues. “They think they can gain support for Chinese objectives, both political and economic, by growing their economic stakes and expanding access to things like ports and infrastructure.”

More recently, Americans have discovered Portugal, cottoning on to its golden visa program in the process. As of September, they accounted for about 780 visa holders. Though late to the game, Americans now outpace the Chinese as the most dominant group securing the visas. “We saw large numbers come around the [2020] election and [COVID-19] pandemic,” Casaburi said.

Joao Ricardo Nobrega, a partner at Raposo Subtil and Associates, a firm that represents golden visa applicants, said Chinese and American investors present differently. “The American retires and lives here,” Nobrega said. “The Chinese investor, you don’t see that much.”

SINCE THE CHANGES to the visa program last month, five investment avenues for Portuguese golden visas remain open. But, Casaburi said, since the real estate option was taken off the table, her monthly business for October was down 75 percent. Nationally the impact will not be known for two years due to processing backlogs. Some real estate firms claim that demand for housing has already fallen 20 percent, but since there’s a lack of inventory, prices remain elevated.

Despite recent efforts, fixing the Portuguese housing crisis will not be easy. And given the discrepancy in spending power between Portuguese nationals and those moving to Portugal, even from within Western Europe, the Portuguese buyer and renter remains at an almost insurmountable disadvantage. In 2021, the average full-time annual wage in Portugal was around $21,000, compared to $30,700 in neighboring Spain, $43,800 in France, and $48,500 in Germany. Compounding the problem: only 2 percent of Portuguese housing is public housing, one of the lowest rates in the EU.

As for the investigation unfolding in Rio, a facilitator of golden visas who works in Brazil said it’s believed five businesses which help golden visa applicants invest were heavily implicated in the investigation. And, the source added, the Rio consulate where the raid occurred was known to directly process visa applications.

Despite this most recent investigation into corruption, Bloomberg has reported that businesses which help to facilitate  golden visas —a burgeoning space to which Casaburi, Nobrega, and Baker belong—aren’t too worried the programs will end because they’re big business. In Europe, golden visas have generated more than $27 billion in direct investment.

This summer, when the golden visa’s real estate changes were pending, Nobrega emphasized that investors like stability. It’s a sentiment Costa, post-resignation, seems keen to stress as well—never mind the deepening scandal that has tarnished the reputation of those nearest to him (envelopes stuffed with cash amounting to $82,900 were found in his chief of staff’s office). “To all those who have placed their trust in Portugal,” Costa said two weeks ago, as Portugal’s president announced the forthcoming dissolution of his government, “I want to say that today, and always, business investment is desired, welcome and will be well received.”

Source : Foreign Policy

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For people flying coach, economy, or even basic economy, airlines have conditioned passengers to have very limited expectations. If you fly with a lower-tier ticket on the full-fare airlines including United, Delta, and American you may not get a seat assignment and certainly can’t expect extras like meals and snacks.

The big airlines have made their cheapest tickets essentially copies of Spirit (SAVE) – Get Free Report and Frontier Airlines which use an a la carte model. Basically, your ticket gets you on the plane and everything else costs extra.

That’s a model that works for the airlines because it allows them to advertise low fares. In theory, you could fly on a basic economy ticket without spending extra. That would mean boarding in the last group, getting your seat assignment at the gate, and not bringing a bag bigger than a purse.

In reality, people who buy tickets at the lowest price know they’re going to spend more. They get to pick and choose what services or products matter to them, but almost every person buying a super budget fare has to spend more than the advertised price.

People who pay for first-class seats, however, expect better. They don’t always get it and an American Airlines  (AAL) – Get Free Report policy says that they’re not actually entitled to it.

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American Airlines shares a policy you won’t like  

When a passenger books a first class ticket on a flight that’s three hours or longer, they expect not only a larger seat, but also meals, drinks, and snacks. It’s reasonable to think you will get handed a glass of champagne, or the drink of your choice, served in a real glass when you get onboard. 

Those are the expectations passengers have, but they’re not always the reality they experience on their flight. A passenger on American Airlines flight AA2676, a 5:22 p.m. departure from Newark to Phoenix, which is a 2,133 miles leaving at dinner time, learned that the hard way, according to View From the Wing.

After the flight, the passenger contacted the airline because no food was served. The airline, apologized, but made it clear that food was a courtesy and not actually something passengers pay for.

American Airlines sent the passenger the following note:

I know you were hungry and, I’m sorry to hear you’re disappointed that you didn’t receive a meal on your flight. Complimentary food service is offered in our First Class cabin on all itineraries system-wide that operate within traditional meal windows (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and have a fly time of more than 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Our ticket price reflects the cost of transportation. Any meals and snacks served on our flights are considered complimentary conveniences.

The flight did meet the stated requirements, but food was not served. The airline was apologetic and gave the passenger 15,000 bonus frequent flyer miles, but the more troubling issue is the idea that anything beyond transportation is considered a courtesy and not part of your ticket. 

“Airlines are, in fact, selling ‘carriage’ from Point A to Point B. Meals and beverages are, in fact, amenities. Always have been, always will be,” Jimbo posted in the comments section of the story.

American’s policy is not unique

American Airlines is not alone in making it clear in the fine print of its contract that a ticket only entitles a passenger to conveyance between points, not anything else.

“Any ancillary service or amenity, including but not limited to live television, Wi-Fi services, priority boarding, advance seat assignments, and meal service, are not guaranteed,” United Airlines shared in its Contract of Carriage. 

Delta Air Lines (DAL) – Get Free Report, however, does not cover what happens in the event it does not serve a meal to first-class passengers on qualifying flights. The company does lay out its first-class meal policy on its website.

“On flights between 900-2,299 miles and select departure times, you can enjoy a chef-curated breakfast, lunch or dinner along with a selection of snacks. For flights 2,300 miles and over, you’ll find a fresh meal service 24 hours a day and a selection of snacks,” the airline shared. 

Source : The Street

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