Neha Jain: http://canadaaviationnews.blogspot.com/2

<div class="photo-text text">Be quick about it: there are free Lonely Planet iPhone city guide apps for 13 US and Canadian cities up for grabs this week</div>

1.Free Lonely Planet iPhone city guides for US, Canada (usually worth $8)

f you're stuck at a snowbound city in the US or Canada, or simply planning to visit North America at some stage, you can now grab free Lonely Planet iPhone guides for over a dozen cities.
And it's an impressive grab-bag of the best destinations for both work and play: Boston, Chicago,Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington DC.
Each guide normally costs US$7.99, but for this week Lonely Planet is making them available for free. It's a similar for-a-limited-time-only deal as the travel publisher offered in December last year for European city guides to help travellers stuck across the continent due to the severe winter weather conditions. (Lonely Planet also gave away European city guides in early 2010 when airborne volcanic ash shut down much of Europe's airspace.)
But you'd better be quick to click, as the deal lasts until 6pm Friday February 4th in the US (or 1pm February 5th in Sydney).
Once you've downloaded these apps to your iPhone or iPod Touch, however, you'll receive all future updates for free – so it makes sense to grab 'em whole the going is good!
You can download these free apps from either the US iTunes Store or the Australian iTunes Store, depending which store you have an account with (if you're in Australia then you're 99.9% likely to have an Aussie iTunes account, although some Mac fans have gone to the trouble of setting up a US-based account – click here for the why and the how).
These links will take you to the free Lonely Planet city guide download site for the Australian iTunes Store.
Boston
Chicago
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New Orleans
New York City
San Francisco
Seattle
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington DC

If you're in the US or have an account with the US iTunes Store, these are the links you'll want:
Boston
Chicago
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New Orleans
New York City
San Francisco
Seattle
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington DC

2.Expedia partners with WestJet

Popular global online booking agency Expedia announced Monday that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Canadian budget airline WestJet Airlines.
Under the new strategic distribution agreement WestJet’s schedule and fares will now be available to the public on Expedia, Hotwire and Egencia websites. Vice President of Sales for WestJet, Duncan Bureau said that the new deal with Expedia will allow WestJet to market its complete inventory to target a wider travel audience.
Furthermore, he adds that WestJet is confident that the agreement will reach new travelers each month and make the booking process easier and more streamlined.
Currently, WestJet offers over 400 daily stops in 70 different locations in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and the US. Expedia announced back in January that it had signed a similar agreement with US Airways to offer its full range of services, including all fares.
Expedia has been in the news for severing partnerships as well. With its most recent parting with American Airlines over a booking row, the global travel agency said that AA would not be featured on the site any longer due to its direct booking system.
The move to remove American Airlines fares from the site comes as several travel organisations join the fight against airlines demanding direct booking schemes. According to Expedia and other online price comparison sites, direct booking could threaten consumers ability to make side-by-side comparisons on fares.

3.Hawkair switches terminals

Passengers flying to Vancouver with Hawkair will be landing at the Vancouver airport’s main terminal instead of the south one as of April 2.

“The biggest impetus to making this decision go forward is the fact that the Canada Line is now there....and other carriers have said that in order for our relationship to grow stronger with them, we need to be in the main terminal,” said airline general manager Rod Hayward last week.

The airline already offers a reduced north-south fare if passengers fly onward with WestJet and Central Mountain Airlines, owned by the same parent company as owns Hawkair, flies out of the main terminal.

Hayward said about 35 per cent of all the people flying out of the Terrace airport connect on to other flights in Vancouver, and Hawkair only has a small portion of this number.

“Other carriers have always held back from negotiating with us, because of the distance involved and the ability to seamlessly transfer passengers and luggage,” he said.

He also said the services the main terminal offers gives a lot more choice to their customers; the move means passengers will be able to connect with other airlines without changing terminals, and reach downtown in 22 minutes through Skytrain’s Canada Line. Other benefits of the main terminal include car rental agencies, dining and shopping options, an on-site hotel and shuttle service to local hotels.

Hawkair has operated out of the south terminal for the past 10 years; Vancouver Island-bound passengers have the benefit of an agreement with Pacific Coastal which uses the south terminal.

Hayward said Hawkair will look for another Island carrier after the move.

“The south terminal has been a good home to us in Vancouver but we feel the move to the main terminal provides many benefits for our passengers including easier connections and ground transportation options,” Hayward said.

“It’s not an easy decision to make, but we just looked at the long-term growth potential, and the convenience of the main terminal,” he said, noting that a lot of the company’s traffic is medical travel, who are happy with the move to the main terminal.

Hawkair operates Dash 8-100 and Dash 8-300 series aircraft.

While Hawkair will have its own counter in the main terminal, the move will allow Hawkair and Central Mountain to share some facilities.

Hawkair’s marketing director Darryl Tucker said the combined airlines will be of service to the local economy in anticipation of economic growth arising from mining developments, hydro power developments and Rio Tinto Alcan’s smelter rebuild.
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4. Pensions, wages top issues for Air Canada workers

Pensions, wage increases, benefit improvements and scheduling are among the top issues as Air Canada opens negotiations next week with the union representing customer service agents.

Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza will join the opening round of talks with Air Canada when the contract talks for customer servce agents begin Feb. 11. (Francis Vachon/Canadian Press)
Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza will join the opening round of talks Feb. 11.

The union says workers have made tremendous sacrifices to help the airline get back to profitability but that wages have not kept pace with inflation.

A survey of members identified wage increases, paid lunch breaks, vacation, sick time and benefit improvements as the top issues, according to a union bargaining update available to members.

The CAW said its workers want respect from Canada's largest carrier and to be paid accordingly.

Pensions dominated the last round of collective bargaining, with the unions agreeing to provide Air Canada a 21-month holiday on past service pension contributions and fixed payments until 2014.

The union said Air Canada is again raising concerns about the funding of the pension plan. But it does not intend to have this round of bargaining "sidetracked by pension discussions."

Meanwhile, Jamie Ross has been named president of the local union representing 3,800 customer service and sales agents after Leslie Dias was appointed national staff representative.

An election for president will take place in the spring.

NEHA JAIN

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