Types of Maps Used While Travelling

A) Flat Maps
=> Come in many varieties with the 'Mercator Projection'. The most commonly used. Flat maps are somewhat distorted because it shows the whole image of our actual curve earth. Maps that can lie flat 'lie' not accurate.

B) Route Maps
=> A useful reference tool. Each airline often distributes a map that shows ail the routes that it flies.

C) Locator Maps
=> These are often found in travel industry reference books. Usually representing a small area, such as a city, a help to find the locations of attractions a hotels. Locator maps indicate places through a grid of numbers and letters rather than with the degree of a conventional map.

D) Mental Maps
=> A mental map represents the way you picture geography in your mind. A deceiving feature of mental maps, the farther away a destination is, the more simple, close together and more error prone its features become in your mind.

TYPES OF FLIGHTS SERVICES

1) Direct Flight
-> A direct flight (through flight contains one or more intermediate stops at which the passengers does nor change planes). Direct service also means single plane service because there is no change in flight number.

2) Nonstop Flight
-> A non-stop flight contains no intermediate stops, the passenger are carried through directly to their intended destination. It is also single plane service because there is no change of flight number. This is the most desirable type of flight service.

3) Connecting Flight
-> A connecting flight has one or more intermediate stops that require passenger to change aircraft and flight number. A single connection requires the passenger to change planes once at a connecting airport. A double connection requires the passenger to change planes twice at 2 connecting airports. Most connecting flight service are single connections. There are 2 types of single or double connections.

4) On-line Connection
~ Is a connection with a change aircraft and flight number within the same airline.

5) Off-line Connection
~ Is a connection with a change of aircraft and flight number between 2 different airlines. This is also called interline connection.

Types of Communication Equipment Most Commonly Used in The Industry Reservation Environment

A) VISUAL DISPLAY UNIT (VDU)
~ is an automated system access terminals comprise a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen and usually, but not necessarily a keyboard for system interrogation.

B) PRINTER TERMINALS
~ Used only to received messages from a system such as system responses or screen dumps from VDU or from a network such as interline messages and are therefore often referred to as Received Only Printers (ROPs).

C) TELEPRINTER
~ A machine similar to an electric typewriter. Used as a telecommunication system for the transmission and reception of messages by means of electrical impulses which are translated into printed characters.

D) TELEX MACHINE
~ A telephone which operates in the same manner as a telephone. For example, before transmitting any message, the sender must obtain temporary communication connection by "dialing" the recipient's telex number. The advantage, there is an answerback / feedback facility which confirms the connection is success.

E) FAX
~ A machine operates like teleprinter or telex machine but the date to be transmitted is presented to the machine already prepared on page copy (documents). It does not have to be typed into the machine. However, there is no answerback facility so a careful procedure must be given before transmitting documents.

F) ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-MAIL)
~ A new method in communication, overcomes the need for those trying to communicate urgent information to be physically contactable at the time of the intended communication.

Reservation Data

1) Inventory Management

~ Control of the number of customers booked for a particular service. For example, a given flight for a specific segment on a particular day in a specific class. It reduces the risk of having to deny a customer the service required.

2) Management Information

~ To assess anticipated revenue earnings, to know the various prices with a particular booked service and the number of customers expected to take up the booked service. For example, the number of passengers expected to travel on a series of flights covering a specified route or series of routes over any particular period of time.

3) Catering and / or Special Services

~ To determine items required for that particular service per day. For example, member and types of passengers which influence the type of meals required.

4) Boarding Information

~ To provide the service delivery point with details of the number and names or each customer by class of service booked.

5) Capacity & Planning Adjustment

~ To estimate the advance volume of customers that can be expected to take up a service at the time of delivery. For example, the number of passenger that can be expected to travel on a particular flight or route on a particular day or on a specific period. This aspect of reservation control allows for the continual and on going reassessment or estimation of likely take up leading optimum revenue return.

6) Yield Control

~ To facilitate control of the yield obtained from each class of services in a mix classes for the services being offered. For example, of each booking designator offered on a flights.

1) HURRICANES, TYPHOONS, CYCLONES

• Tropical Cyclones are storm systems characterised by a large low-pressure centre and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression or simply cyclone.
• Few events rival their power. Not only can they produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they can also churn the sea and produce high waves (50 feet/15 metres) and damaging storms as well as tornadoes. they develop over large bodies of warm water and build energy as they move across the ocean. They lose their strength upon reaching land, but not before unleashing devastating damage to coastal regions.

2) TSUNAMIS

• When an underwater disturbance like an earthquake occurs, millions of galloons of seawater are suddenly displaced, creating waves that radiate in all directions at the speed of a commercial jet! The waves are unnoticeable at sea,but closer to shore, they gather height quickly (reaching up to 34 feet high) before hitting land.
• The December 26, 2004 tsunamis resulted from a massive underwater earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale was the largest since 1964. The resulting tsunami caused an unimaginably high death toll of more than 220,000.

3) ICEBERGS

• While sea ice poses little danger to humas, it is the mountainous icebergs one should worry about (we all know what happened to the RMS Titanic in 1912)
• What makes them dangerous is the part you can't see. The biggest ones can reach 400 feet above water, but what lies beneath can be 7-10 times bigger. Running into them at high speed is like smashing a car into concrete.

4) WHIRLPOOLS & MAELSTROMS

• A whirlpool is swirling body of water usually produced by ocean tides. Some exhibit a downward pull called a vortex. The more powerful ones are called maelstroms.
• The world's strongest maelstrom is the Saltstraumen outside Bodo, Norway. There's a window of opportunity when currents appear calm enough for larger ships to pass through, but it currents are constantly churning, making this the planet's most dangerous maelstrom.

5) ROGUE WAVES

• These spontaneous monster waves occuring in the middle of the ocean were thought to be legendary for the longest time, and although seafarer stories and damage to ships hinted at their existence, scientific evidence wasn't available until one was photographed by chance in the mid 1990's.
• Mid-ocean waves commonly reach 23 feet in height, sometimes 49 feet. But sailors have reported waves that measure up to 98 feet that appear without warning, often in clear weather. Though they are big enough to crush and sink large ships, these rogue waves aren't always the biggest waves found at sea. They are, however, monstrous given the sea conditions.

~ All About VOLCANOES ~

• Volcanoes are like giant safety valves that release the pressure that builds up inside the Earth
• They are Earth's natural way of cooling off
• Over half of the world's volcanoes arise in a belt around the Pacific Ocean called the 'Ring of Fire'. Indonesia has the most volcanoes
• Mount Vesuvius Italy is said to be the world's most dangerous volcano because of the population of three million people living nearby
• The most famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius happened in AD 79 that destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killed 10,000 to 25,000 people. Due to the volcanic ash, the bodies of the town residents were well preserved, found just as they fell
• According to the Smithsonian Institute, 1,415 volcanoes have erupted in the past 10,000 years, with the most active being Mount Etna and Mount Stromboli in Italy, and the volcanoes of Hawaii
• There are around 25 major volcanic eruptions on land every year and thousands of minor ones, many of which take place under the sea. Active volcanoes are those that may erupt at any time. Dormant(sleeping) volcanoes have not erupted for centuries but may still do so. Extinct volcanoes are no longer likely to erupt
• Entire ecosystems can be altered by a volcano eruption. In some cases, eruptions have been beneficial. In areas with imbalanced ecosystems, volcanoes have helped restore balance and give them a chance to start anew
• Without volcanoes, we would not have Hawaii! Volcanoes erupting from the bottom of the ocean are able to create new islands. In 1963, an undersea volcano created one of Earth's newest islands, Surtsey Island, off the coast of Iceland
• Volcanoes have been erupting since shortly after Earth was formed. They are still erupting today. Some eruptions are quiet. Others are violently explosive.
• Lava is extremey hot. Temperatures can reach between 650 and 1600 degrees Celsius (that is, between 1202 and 2912 degrees Fahrenheit).
• On the main island of Hawaii, an active volcano is taller than Mt. Everest if you measure from the ocean floor
• During volcanic eruptions, lightning storms are common. The name "volcano" has its origin from the name of Vulcan, a god of fire in Roman mythology
• In Africa, Mount Ol Doinyo Lengai erupts black lava, which turns white when it cools - an unusual phenomenon
• The 1883 eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia is thought to have released 200 megatons of energy, the equivalent of 15,000 nuclear bombs. Even though the island was uninhabited, the eruption killed 36,000 people from burning ash showers and huge tsunamis. It generated the loudest sound historically reported.

~ CITIES IN DANGER ~

'Our crazy weather patterns are not a coincidence. As the ozone things temperature rise, experts are scrambling to analyse what effects are taking place and what is being done. Find out what is going on around the world and how they are adapting to the change':

1) A SALTY AFFAIR

Effect: In a Bangladesh village, water levels from the Bay of Bengal is rising and making its way into water supplies, polluting the once clear freshwater rivers with tiny white crystals. As a result paddy farms in the village are suffering, producing poor quality rice that does not sell.

Solution: Unable to put up with poor rice sales, farmers are making use of the salty water by turning to shrimp farming instead. However, shrimp farming requires less labour hence contributing to unemployment.

2) GOING UNDERWATER

Effect: With sea levels rising as much as 59cm by 2100, most parts of the Maldives that are merely 0.9m above sea level, are expected to be fully submerged by water within 25 years. Already, a few islands have been evacuated.

Solution: Homeless islanders have relocated to a rectangular artificial island named Hulhumale atop an underwater reef. So far, it also includes an airport and tiny Club Med. By its completion in 2020, about 150,000 people will set up homes there as their tiny country sinks. In the long run however, the government is looking to buy land in Sri Lanka, India and Australia.

3) DESERT ON THE LOOSE

Effect: In 2007, UN reported that one third of the Earth's population would fall victim to desertification - the spreading of sand. With the Sahara expanding 48km annually, large areas have been overtaken by sand. In Iran, a sand storm buried 124 villages while in Kazakhstan, more than 80 per cent of their cropland have been affected.

Solution: Currently, there are proposals to build a 6000km wall out of solidified sand across the Sahara. Other preventative measures include planting trees to form a green belt ala the Great Wall of China.