Travel Wires: King size in longhaul

Fiji Airways last week announced record profits, clocking $49 million in 2015.

Our favourite thing in the aviation game this week is the wildly optimistic attempt by London-based design firm Seymourpowell to get king-size beds on to longhaul flights. Their aim: To make the experience of flying more "like a contemporary boutique hotel". Don't get your hopes up - while people in the airplane design trade love to talk about fancy tricks and luxury, the trend in the real world is making it cheap.

Fiji is hot
Another hot airline trend at the moment? Making truckloads of money. Hot on the heels of strong results from Air New Zealand and Qantas, Fiji Airways last week announced record profits, clocking $49 million in 2015. That's a rise of 15.5 per cent, with passenger numbers up 7.4 per cent. Crucially, chief executive Andre Viljoen says he's confident the airline can continue to soar despite the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston. "Aviation remains a volatile industry," he said. "The fuel price relief will not last, so we intend to maintain our cost-management discipline and focus."

That's good for Kiwi travellers: a healthy Fiji Airways means better prices all round.

Stat of the week
A recent survey of 1000 cabin and flight-deck crew on European airlines found that almost 10 per cent feel anxious on a monthly basis while flying.

Dog of a job
A team of drug sniffer dogs set up at Manchester Airport in northern England haven't found any illegal class-A drugs since they were introduced seven months ago, at a cost of $2.57 million. Happily, their handlers report, they've been bringing home the bacon. While on the hunt for heroin and cocaine, the hounds inadvertently latched on to 181kg of meat and 46kg of cigarettes. One dog trained to find smuggled animal products had made "multiple accurate detections, but most were of small amounts of cheese or sausages, wrongly brought back by returning British holidaymakers and posing minimal risk to UK public health".

A helpful high tea
The Heritage is hosting a high tea for a good cause. All proceeds from the April 30 high tea at Hectors restaurant, in the former Farmer's Department Store building on Hobson St, go to Oxfam. The $50 tickets get you a glass of bubbles and plenty of dainty sandwiches and sweet treats. For details, go to heritagehotels.co.nz.

We like...

When the WiFi is good, meaning you can share your trip highlights with friends, family and - in the case of Travel Editor Winston Aldworth on the Rhine with Avalon Waterways last week - Herald readers.

We don't like...

Take it away, Bob Edwards: "I agree about queuing at Auckland airport when you have nothing to declare. It's a complete waste of time. My wife and I avoid buying anything that needs to be declared, so we can get through faster. We have just returned from Europe where you walk straight out of a nothing-to-declare lane."

Tell us what you like and don't like in the world of travel. Email target='_blank'>TRAVEL@NZHERALD.CO.NZ