The travel planner and your travel companion

Two new tools for everyone who flies from the Skyport. Open them from the flights menu (/flights), from Travel and adventures in the game menu, or with /planner and /travel.

The travel planner

The planner works from anywhere, not only at the airport. Pick a region and a destination to hear what it is like, the flight time and aircraft, the gate, the next departure, today's weather and a local tip, your price with your frequent flyer discount, how many of its sights you have recorded, and your standing there.

Mobile tickets: when you are not at a destination, you can buy your ticket right in the planner. Then take the shuttle to the Skyport (the country lane on the east side of the village, near 432, 322) and walk straight through security to your gate.

At a destination the planner only plans: book at the departure desk a few steps south of where you landed.

Round trips

When you buy a ticket from the Skyport you can choose a round trip. The flight back is 15 percent off. You pay for both at once, and the ticket home is issued the moment you land at your destination.

The grand tour

In the planner, add up to three destinations to your Grand Tour plan, then book it in economy or business class. You fly from the Skyport to the first place and back, then to the second and back, and so on. Every flight after the first is 10 percent off. Each ticket is issued when you land from the one before, so you can stay as long as you like at every stop.

Your journey is shown at every desk. Cancel the flights you have not flown at any desk and every point you paid for them comes back.

Choosing your seat

With a ticket in hand, choose your exact seat on the seat map at any flight desk, or with the concierge in the business lounge. The map reads row by row: which seats are free, taken on the aircraft at the gate, or reserved by another traveller. Rows 5 and 6 are near the front and first off; rows 11 and 12 are exit rows with extra legroom; rows 16 and 17 are by the rear galley and the toilets. Business class has rows 1 to 3, every seat by a window.

On board you hear who sits beside you. If it is another player, choose talk to your seat neighbour to say hello, or ask them to swap seats. Otherwise a fellow traveller sits there, and they have stories to tell and a useful tip about where you are going.

Travel parties and companion tickets

Hold your ticket and stand at a desk with your friends. Choose invite friends at this desk: each friend who accepts buys their own ticket at their own price, you are seated together, and when two or more of the party land on the same aircraft everyone gets 25 percent more miles. Ten flights with a party earn a trophy.

A companion ticket from the miles shop lets one friend fly with you for free, in your class.

Weather, bulletins and delays

Every destination has its own weather, which changes every six hours: sun and sea breezes on the islands, blizzards at Glacier Station, sandstorms in the desert, fog on the Misty Highlands, thunder over the bayou. You hear it at the desks, on the departures board, in the planner, from the captain after take-off, and on radio channel 6.

Travel bulletins give every destination's weather, what comes later, the tip of the day and your standing there. Each day one destination is featured: your first landing there that day brings 3 extra Voyage Tokens.

Bad weather, a live blizzard or sandstorm at the other end, or a busy runway can delay a flight by one to five minutes. The aircraft waits at the gate with its doors open, the captain tells you why, the departures board lists it as delayed, and late passengers can still board. A delay of a minute and a half or more is compensated when you land: bonus miles and 2 Voyage Tokens, at most twice a day.

Travel insurance

When you buy a ticket you can add travel insurance: 10 percent of the ticket price, at least 100 points. If your suitcase goes astray, the insurer's courier hands it to you at once with 250 points. If your flight is delayed, you get 150 points on top of the compensation. Insurance pays at most twice a day. Cancel the ticket and the insurance is refunded too.

On board

Call a flight attendant from the cabin menu for a blanket (it warms you right through), a landing card for your destination, the latest weather, news of your connection or next flight, or to thank the crew, and the captain thanks you over the speakers.

After landing, once on every route, you may visit the flight deck before you leave. The captain shows you the controls and signs your logbook. Each signature is a piece of the Captains' logbook collection; eight signatures earn the title Honorary First Officer, and a signature from every route earns a trophy.

New entertainment channels: radio channel 6 is today's bulletin for your destination, channel 7 teaches a few local words, and channel 8 plays The Skyport Serial, a story in twelve chapters, one chapter on each flight. Hear them all for the title Serial listener.

The in-flight quiz now has a weekly league: every right answer is a point, up to 10 a day, and the top three of the week, with at least 3 points, win a trophy.

The view from the window now changes with the region you fly over, and at night you see the lights, the stars and, in the north, the northern lights. The approach tells you what the weather is doing where you land.

Frequent flyer: diamond and the miles shop

A new card level, Diamond, at 100000 miles: 20 percent off every ticket, 50 percent bonus miles, lounge access, priority boarding and a free upgrade every 3 flights.

Every card level gives a title: Silver flyer, Gold flyer, Platinum card flyer, Diamond flyer. Your 10th, 25th, 50th, 100th, 250th and 500th flights each put a trophy in your cabinet.

Award miles: every mile you fly can also be spent in the miles shop. Spending them never lowers your card level. A free upgrade to business costs 6000 miles, a 24 hour lounge and priority boarding pass 2500, a companion ticket 8000, and a brass plaque on the Skyport Wall of Fame, with a trophy, 40000. Miles never turn into points.

The business lounge

Besides the armchairs and the buffet: nap pods (sleep until you are fully rested, once every two hours; flying rested earns 10 percent bonus miles on your next flight), the shower suite (a hot shower, once every half hour) and the concierge (your seat, your journey, the bulletins and the departures board).

At every destination

Tourist information: at the departure desk, choose tourist information for the weather, the tip of the day, your standing, every sight with its distance and direction from where you stand, and the full guide to the place.

Sightseeing cards: every place by plane has three famous sights. Walk to a sight, open your travel companion (/sights) and record it: you hear what it is like, and it goes into your travel journal. A full card gives 2 Voyage Tokens, a piece of the Sightseeing cards collection and local standing. Eight full cards earn the title Seasoned sightseer, all of them a trophy. The Voyager board now sometimes asks you to record sights.

Postcards: from any place by plane, send a postcard to any player for 1 Voyage Token, up to 5 a day, with your own message. If they are away it waits for them. Every postcard someone receives is a piece of their Postcards collection, and sending from eight different places earns the title Globetrotting correspondent. Read yours under my postcards.

Standing: every place remembers you. Your first landing each day, every sight, every postcard, every quest and every victory over a great beast raise your standing there. Three quests done in one place earn the title Friend of that place, six a trophy as its honorary citizen. Once you are a known visitor, a local greets you with a cold drink on your first landing of the day.

When a friend of yours lands where you are, you hear it. Switch this off in your travel companion.

My trips

Your last 20 flights with class, miles and when, and your totals: flights, miles, award miles, minutes in the air, your favourite destination, coach rides, boat crossings and postcards.

The coach and the sea

On the Palmera Bay coach the view now changes with the time of day and the rain, and the driver chats when you press shift and enter in your seat. Your 25th ride earns a trophy, your 100th the title Road warrior.

No boat? The island ferry to pearl island leaves from the village harbour, and back from the island jetty, whenever you buy a ticket: 150 points one way, about 45 seconds. Every crossing, by ferry or your own boat, now has its own sights and sounds: gulls, spray, dolphins and turtles, rain and stars. Your 25th crossing earns a trophy, your 100th the title Old salt.

Commands

/planner the travel planner. /travel your travel companion. /sights the sightseeing card where you are. /postcard send a postcard. /mytrips your trips. /milesshop the miles shop. /bulletin every destination's bulletin. All of them are also in the flights menu.