Economy Class & Beyond

BMI offering 50% bonus on miles, but check the small print…

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BMI seems to be raising some more cash with a Destination Mile sale. Basicly, the bonus is buy miles, get 50% bonus. There's a few gotchas though: You can only "buy" 16k of miles (£207) This comes out of your purchasing year, so if you've purchased your 24k of miles you won't be able to take advantage of it Offer only valid between 5 to 11 Dec 2011 (1 week) Now … [Read more...]

Scoot is scooting off to… Sydney

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Singapore Airlines Long Haul Low Cost Carrier Scoot has announced it's first destination. And it's Sydney. The service will commence mid-2012, and it seems that Scoot wants to shake up the local market. The Singapore-Sydney route is well trafficked already as part of the Kangaroo Route, adding another 400 seats a day. The Sydney Morning Herald has a video of the … [Read more...]

UK Border/Public Sector Strike – Update II

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Well for those who are going through UK Border, this is turning into a damp squib of an action. Reports indicated that 2/3rds of immigration desks are open at London Heathrow and Gatwick, with other ports of entry suffering only minor delays. Or to quote The Telegraph's Neil Tweedie: Here in terminal 3 at Heathrow and the passport hall is a picture of tranquillity. 21 … [Read more...]

UK Border/Public Service Strike update

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Well the picket lines are manned and the public sector strike action day is under way. So lets see if this is a damp squib, or if HM Government have been overstating the matter. Again. According to the BBC, Take-offs and landings have been mainly unaffected at London Heathrow and London Gatwick with a few minor cancellations. Staffing at the border appears to operating at … [Read more...]

Those Air Passenger Duty Numbers in Full.

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Well here it is - the ugly numbers that Chancellor George Osborn and his flunky Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander will be asking you to pay if you choose to depart the United Kingdom on a flight out of the country:  2011 Economy  2011 Premium 2012 Economy 2012 Premium Band A 0–2,000 miles from … [Read more...]

The UK Autumn Budget Statement and How It Will Impact you the traveller

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Well as the dust from the UK Autumn budget statement there's a few things to take away from the statement. Air Travel Air Passenger Duty rises CONFIRMED. "Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates will increase from 1 April 2012, as set out at Budget 2011. The Government will also proceed with the extension of APD to flights taken aboard business jets, effective from 1 April … [Read more...]

UK Border Agency/Public Sector Strike 30/11 – It’s on

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Well with the Unions and Government itching for a smack-down fight, lets do a quick round of up of the facts thoughts, and damn lies Truths: Most public sector agencies will be down heavily tomorrow (30/11) due to a strike against the changes to the public sector provisions. This includes parts of Local Government, Schools, parts of the NHS, and the UK Border … [Read more...]

A380 Update: Thai Airways International first A380 goes into final assembly

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Lets have some nice pretty looking aviation news, and it's from Airbus who have released a picture of the first Thai Airways International Airbus A380 entering final assembly. Image - (c) Airbus SAS 2011. Now I don't know about you, but that Purple on the tail fin does look very pretty indeed (and I do like the colour scheme they've chosen for the "re-brand"). I'll look … [Read more...]

UK Secretary of State for Transport: More Body Scanners to come

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It seems the political leaders are drinking some sort of drink to believe everything, with the Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening coming out and saying that more scanners should be deployed, a lack of opt-out (scanning to remain compulsory for those selected), and for scans that are conducted to be reviewed by machine, rather than by humans. It seems the UK … [Read more...]

Thomas Cook in trouble…

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It seems the tour operator and airline Thomas Cook is in a bit of a fiscal trouble zone, with it postponing its disclosure of the groups its full-year results to allow it time to talk to the banks over easing the money burden. Thomas Cook blames a "deterioration of trading" in parts of the business that has hit its cash and liquidity. In particular, the holiday sector in … [Read more...]