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July 21, 2023

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July 21, 2023

DCC rip-off on vacation: why you should always pay in local currency

Jan Gruber July 21, 2023 05:36

Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a service offered by some merchants and banks to give customers the option of settling transactions in their home currency while paying with their debit or credit card or withdrawing cash from ATMs abroad. Although DCC may seem convenient at first glance, there are some important reasons why you should definitely not use it. This article explains what DCC is, why it is expensive and who benefits from it. We also give advice on how to protect yourself and what your options are for making a claim. Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a service that you should definitely avoid due to the high costs and loss of benefits. It is important to have foreign currency conversion done by your card-issuing bank to benefit from better exchange rates and lower commissions. Find out in advance about the potential costs of DCC and refuse to use it if the merchant insists. In case of unlawful use of DCC, you should contact your bank for clarification and possible reimbursement. Please note that the information described is of a general nature and does not serve as legal or financial advice. In case of specific questions or problems, you should contact your card issuing bank directly. What is Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC)? DCC enables merchants and banks to offer customers the option of converting the amount into their home currency during a transaction abroad. Instead of the card issuing bank making the conversion,

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Alpine Club is looking for volunteer trail attendants

guest Author July 21, 2023 05:00

The hiking trails are like a calling card of the local mountains. This also includes the 26.000 km long network of trails that the Austrian Alpine Association maintains. The use of this alpine infrastructure would be unthinkable without the more than 1.000 volunteers in the Alpine Association who take care of maintaining the trails. With climate change, the importance of maintenance work in the mountains is increasing. The Austrian Alpine Association is therefore once again looking for helping hands for trail maintenance. "It is almost exclusively volunteers who keep the Alpine Association trails in good shape. Every year they put in thousands of hours of work. Without this commitment, the maintenance of the 26.000 km long network of trails would be unthinkable," says Alpine Association President Andreas Ermacora, confirming the high importance of the volunteers in the association. However, their alpine area of ​​​​operation is precisely the place where the climate crisis is leaving particularly deep traces, from increased extreme weather events to more frequent rock and landslides. Modern technical aids such as a digital trail database make the work of the trail wardens and their helpers easier. If you would like to volunteer in the area of ​​path maintenance, the best place to find out more is: www.alpenverein.at/ehrenamt

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India: Unruly PAX removes protective covering from emergency exit

Amely Mizzi July 21, 2023 04:32

During takeoff, an unruly PAX on board an Indigo aircraft thought he had to remove the cover of the emergency exit door near seat 18A. The obviously panicked passenger was prevented from further "activities". The Indigo aircraft was actually supposed to fly from Hyderabad to Delhi on July 8, 2023. At first it looked like a routine flight, but the jet was not even in the air when the crew was already stressed because of an unruly PAX. The unruly PAX thought he had to remove the cover of the emergency exit door during the acceleration process. This meant that the mechanism that must be used to open the door in an emergency was visible. The behavior of the "unruly PAX" triggered panic reactions from other passengers. The cabin crew quickly intervened and prevented the passenger sitting in seat 18A from actually opening the emergency exit. The flight attendants then put the protective cover back on, informed the captain and asked him to decide on the next course of action. The commander was of the opinion that it would be sufficient if the unruly PAX was moved to another seat and continued the flight to Delhi. The authorities were informed of the incident by radio, so that the troublemaker was already expected by the police after landing. They took him away and conducted initial questioning. The captain, after obtaining further information from the crew members under his command, prepared a report to the civil aviation authority on the ground, which was also submitted in accordance with regulations. It remains to be seen whether the "unruly PAX" will face a penalty. The local public prosecutor's office wants to

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June 2023: Frankfurt breaks the 200.000-passenger-day mark

Amely Mizzi July 21, 2023 04:01

Frankfurt Airport (FRA) welcomed around 2023 million passengers in June 5,6, an increase of 11,3 percent compared to the same month last year. For the first time since the pandemic, more than 200.000 passengers were handled daily at Germany's largest airport. In June, this figure was exceeded on three days; the summer travel wave is still to come. By comparison: In the whole of 2022, passenger volume at FRA only exceeded the 180.000 mark per day five times. However, passenger volume in June 2023 was still 15,6 percent below the pre-crisis level of June 2019. 1 From January to June 2023, a total of around 26,9 million passengers used Frankfurt Airport - an increase of 29,1 percent compared to the same period last year. Compared to the same period in 2019, passenger volume at FRA was still down 20,1 percent. Stefan Schulte, CEO of Fraport AG, said: "We are pleased about the ongoing recovery in passenger demand, but we are also aware of the challenges that arise from this development. We are working intensively with all process partners to prepare for the upcoming summer travel season. The overall orderly operations in the first half of the year give us reason for cautious optimism. The numerous measures we have taken are already having an impact. Across the Group, our predominantly leisure-oriented airports around the world are recovering ever faster. While our Greek airports have already exceeded pre-crisis levels, we expect other Group airports to return to almost pre-crisis passenger volumes over the course of the year." Cargo volumes in Frankfurt continued to decline in June 2023, reflecting the general economic slowdown. At 160.047 tons

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