Economy Class & Beyond

Heathwick? What an awful idea….

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Hitting the press today in the United Kingdom has been the idea of "Heathwick" (with the Telegraph breaking it first, followed by the BBC The idea is to some simple - slap in a High Speed Rail link to operate between London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports around the M25, running at 180mph to 15 minutes and create a "virtual hub" between the two airports. Ministers … [Read more...]

Safety Video Saturday – TAM

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For those who are new to GhettoIFE, it may be Saturday, but we do run two fixed features at GhettoIFE. Saturday demonstrates our commitment to your safety (if you like it or lump it), and I link them up to see how a safety video can change from country to country, from airline to airline. This week, it's TAM... with Plasticine More safety of course next week! … [Read more...]

Dutch Railways to introduce “Emergency Plastic Relief Bags”

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Umm. Are we sure it's not April 1st? Oh dear. In this case, it's probably true. This up on the BBC News site, who note that the Dutch National Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), is to add plastic bags as part of a first aid provision on some services. What you'll be doing in these bags... well.. is it to provide an emergency place to urinate. Or to put it bluntly - Wee … [Read more...]

Fares going down at Gatwick for British Airways

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British Airways must be feeling the pinch from all the other low cost carriers at London Gatwick, and has launched a new campaign of lower fares from/to Gatwick. Fares are down as much by 20%, for an undefined period (but not a short as a sale), and kick of from £39 a sector for Amsterdam, Bologna, Bordeaux, Malaga, Marseilles, and going up in steps from there (for example, … [Read more...]

Welcome to GhettoIFE.com… on Boarding Area!

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Well from the looks of it, we've migrated and have arrived at BoardingArea.com safely! For my new readers, Welcome to GhettoIFE! This is a very different sort of Frequent Flyer blog to the norm. I'll be focusing on UK and Europe mainly, but also I'll be casting my eyes worldwide on the latest happenings. In addition, you'll find out things such as: My Travels Airplane … [Read more...]

FR: Which? attacks over the Ryanair’s new PrePaid MasterCard…

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As covered last week at GhettoIFE.com, the Ryanair PrePaid MasterCard rates were announced. Well this week, Which? (the consumer group) has branded the card as "An Insult" to it's Ryanair's customers. Or to quote Which? fully they belive the card is "insult to UK consumers who have little opportunity to avoid such fees". Ouch. Ryanair argue the card will be more … [Read more...]

AA: The Vultures Begin to Circle

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If you're an American Airlines stockholder, then you'll probably be feeling the vultures circling with the 33% drop in share value yesterday, on fears that AA's parent - AMR may have to seek Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. At one point, shares in AMR dived by 41%, with share trading halted. The problems AMR has are the twisted combination of high debt, sluggish demand and … [Read more...]

A3: Greek ATC Shutdown – expect others to follow.

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If you're planning to fly to Greece on the 5th October... here's a hint - start planning alterntives as Greek ATC is due to go out on strike that day. Aegean Airlines has already killed their entire programme of flying on the 5th October http://en.aegeanair.com/all-about-us/press-office/press-releases/press-release/?prid=324, whilst Olympic has not made an annoucement yet. … [Read more...]

UA: Lazy rebrand of the day

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The ongoing merger of United and Continental goes apace with the annoucement that the airline has decided what it's going to do about it's lounges. On the United side, it was The Red Carpet Clubs, meanwhile on the Continental side, they're know as Presidents Clubs. So with those rich heritages, what do you think United is calling their clubs going forward? Have a good … [Read more...]