British Airways cabin crew have
rejected any form of strike action over Easter to spare
passengers any more misery.
However flight attendants are voting
on whether their dispute over pay and conditions will lead to
a major walkout.
The union's 12-days of
Christmas action would have disrupted travel for 1 million
people and was deemed illegal by the courts.
The Unite Union has ruled out any
disruption over Easter so that " families can plan their
travel arrangements in confidence.”
The ballot will run until Feb. 22,
and the union is obliged by law to give seven days’ notice
before a strike can start.
Flyglobespan
Spanking
The collapse of the airline and tour
operator Flyglobespan has highlighted how many travellers have
been given a spanking by the a gap in their legal protected.
The comapny's troubles left
thousands of its customers stranded with their Christmas
travel plans in ruins and the majority of travel insurance
policies do not cover the collapse of an airline company.
Passengers who bought their flights
and holidays with the failed budget Scottish airline through
an Atol (Air Travel Organisers Licensing) agent will be
protected by its compensation scheme.
Passengers who paid for their
flights via credit card ought to be able to claim some money
back from their credit card provider if they have not yet
travelled.
Customers who built their holiday by
booking individual components such as flight, car hire, hotel
and so forth, may not be covered and there's no protection for
those who bought their ticket directly from the airline.
Spain Now
On The
Google Map
Holidaymakers can now take a virtual
tour of Spain's most popular resort towns on Google Street
View.
Google's mapping
technology allows web users to explore streets via 360 degree
images recorded from eye level.
The online search
engine's maps include destinations popular with
holidaymakers such as: Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Gran
Canaria, Tenerife, and Majorca.
It means tourists can
check out the best bars, beaches and even sea views ahead of
their trip.
It's Not All
Ship Shape
On Cruise Ships
A recent study has concluded that
restrooms and public toilets on cruise ships are most likely
to be the cause of illnesses onboard.
The undercover testing of restrooms
revealed that out of 273 of those checked on 1,546 occasions,
only 37 percent of them were cleaned daily.
In 2006, hundreds of
cruise ship passengers came down with norovirus twice aboard
Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas.
The health professionals tested
several surfaces in bathrooms including toilet seats, flush
devices, door handles and baby changing surfaces and found
most objects had not been touched by cleaning crews.
The Big
Ship Sails
Meanwhile the world's biggest cruise
ship, Oasis Of The Seas, set off on its maiden voyage on
December 5th 2009 and was described as a floating nation by
those onboard
The liner has 16
decks, four engines and can carry 6,296 guests served by 2,165
crewmembers.
Among the stunning
design features are: The Rising Tide elevator that travels
from deck to deck, a landscaped garden surrounded by
bars and restaurants, an ice rink, 11 restaurants, 4 swimming
pools and a mini golf course.
Airline
Numbers Taking
Off Again
EasyJet has reported a rise in
bookings of more than 12% for November 2009 compared to the
same month a year earlier.
The figures are a sign that low-cost
air travel is weathering the economic storm after Ryanair said
its passenger traffic grew 15% in the same period.
EasyJet's planes also operated at
closer to capacity after its load factor climbed almost one
percentage point on a year ago to 84.8% in November.
X-Rated X-Ray? New
Airport Body Scanner
A
security x-ray machine that sees through clothing is being
trialed at Manchester Airport in the UK.
The equipment is optional and offered
as an alternative to the traditional 'pat down' measures used
by security personnel.
The images show any hidden objects
but can also reveal body parts, body piercings and breast
enlargements.
A similar trial at Heathrow was
abandoned 5 years ago when passengers became shocked at the
clarity of the pictures.
The difference at Manchester is the
remoteness of the the staff member who monitors the
human x-ray. The image is viewed by a security
officer in another part of the airport who cannot see the
individual.
If the trial is a success the new
machinery may be introduced at all British airports in future.
Swine
Flu 'Victims' in
'Pig Sty'?
The parents of 40 British
children - some as young as four - are warning others to be
prepared for 'horrific' conditions when being treated for
swine flu abroad.
It's alleged some were marched off by
armed airport guards as they landed for their 2009 holiday in
Egypt because the authorities thought they had swine
flu.
It's claimed some children were kept
apart from their parents for five days in a squalid makeshift
hospital - even though they had no symptoms of the H1N1 virus.
The Egyptian embassy in London said
matters were 'under control'.
Holiday Peace
Of Mind?
British
holidaymakers who buy flights or hotels separately are to be
protected by a new scheme announced by the Association of
British Travel Agents
ABTA
Chief executive Mark Tanzer is negotiating with the UK
government and the Civil Aviation Authority to introduce a
scheme for the majority of travellers who do not purchase a
package.
According
to Tanzer, of the 45 million trips taken by Britons
every year, only 18 million were protected package holidays
and ABTA believed all holidays should be protected.
Meanwhile
the travel conference heard that industry bookings were down
10-15 per cent in 2009, but margins had not been hit so badly.
There
was a grim warning that many more weaker travel firms will go
to the wall and predictions that the price of package holidays
will rise in 2010.
Airports Off
The Radar
The
world’s most ambiguous airports have been named and shamed
in a study of their exact proximity to their alleged
destination, and the UK has the most offenders
Some
airport journey times can add hours onto a travel itinerary
because they are located miles away from the city or resort
they claim to serve.
A
survey by Skyscanner.net has uncovered the worst offenders
which we’ve duplicated below.
Barry
Smith, director of Skyscanner said:"It's easy to get
caught out by flying to an airport that is miles away from
where you want to be, especially if you’re not familiar with
your destination.
"That
low price flight could easily be offset by the cost of a bus
or taxi fare. Double check the airport location before your
book, especially when flying on low-cost airlines."
Some
of the worst offenders:
1.
Munich West (Memmingen) – 70 miles (112km) from central
Munich
2.
Oslo (Torp) – 68 miles (110km) from central Oslo
3.
Frankfurt (Hahn) – 68 miles (110km) from central Frankfurt.
4. London (Oxford) – 60 miles (97km) from central London
5. Stockholm (Skavsta) – 59 miles (95km) from central
Stockholm
6. Barcelona (Girona) – 58 miles (94km) from central
Barcelona
7. Barcelona (Reus) – 58 miles (94km) from central Barcelona
8. Paris (Beauvais ) – 55miles (88km) from central Paris
9. Dusseldorf (Weeze) – 50 miles (80 km) from central
Dusseldorf
10. London (Stansted) – 40 miles (km) from central London
11. Tokyo (Narita) – 37 miles (60km) from central Tokyo
12. Verona (Brescia) – 33 miles (53km) from central Verona
13. Glasgow (Prestwick) – 32 miles (51km) from central
Glasgow
14. London (Luton) – 32 miles (51km) from central London
15. Milan (Bergamo) – 31 miles (50km) from central Milan
Airline's Case For
Baggage Busters
Cash-strapped airlines are raising
extra cash, by slashing the limit on baggage allowances.
The new charges mean economy class
passengers will pay more to place a second piece of
luggage into the hold on long haul flights.
British Airways are charging £40 for
a second bag on trans-Atlantic flights while Virgin is
charging £35 for a second bag for passengers travelling to
destinations such as Dubai, Shanghai and Singapore,
In addition, BA is classing sporting
equipment, such as skis, as 'baggage' which means a charge if
the passenger also has a suitcase.
Virgin passengers will still be
allowed to check in two bags on flights to the USA, Caribbean,
Kenya and Nigeria.
There's a $50 second bag levy for
flights by Delta, Continental, US Airways and American
Airlines.
The additional fees are expected to
hit holidaymakers harder because they tend to carry more
luggage than business travellers and are more likely to fly
economy.
Bikini - Oh My God or
Oh My Goddess?
Ursula
Andress - who waded out of the sea in the first James Bond
movie, has been voted the ultimate Bikini Goddess.
The
survey of 1,000 women also voted Andress's famous two-piece
itself the most iconic bikini ever, while women also rated
Jessica Alba's washboard stomach and Elle Macpherson's legs as
the best of their kind.
The
poll suggests that women aspire to a curvy look rather than
the slender figures.
Helen
Mirren's place was cemented by recent photos of her on holiday
in her bikini where she showed age is no barrier to looking
good in the outfit.
Others
in the list include Halle Berry for her Bond girl role in The
World is Not Enough, which imitated the Dr No scene and women
also rated Kelly Brook's chest as looking the best in a bikini
in the poll for Gillette.
The
bikini was invented in France in 1946 but took the world of
beach fashion by storm after it started appearing in the US
from 1949, becoming the outfit of choice for Hollywood
starlets and actresses.
But
despite its popularity, it is the one piece of clothing
guaranteed to make women self conscious about their own body
image, the poll showed.
It
found 97 per cent of women dread the thought of revealing
themselves in a bikini with 27 per cent citing cellulite as
the reason and 22 per cent simply not being toned.
Around
one in nine are worried about poor grooming, the research
found.
British
Embassies Harassed &Embarrassed
British
embassies are being harassed by holidaymakers with ridiculous
requests
Help
with shoe buying and breast-enlargement surgery are among the
bizarre queries from travellers , it has been revealed.
One
caller wanted help making jam and asked what ratio of fruit to
sugar should be used, the Foreign Office said.
A
woman unhappy with the size of her newly-enlarged breasts
wanted advice on where to get them reduced and mother
asked the consulate in Florida to help her teenage son pack
his case.
A
holidaymaker visiting Italy asked embassy staff where a
particular brand of shoes could be bought.
The
Foreign Office says British embassies are there "to help
Britons in real difficulty abroad.
'Jaws' Attack
Sparks
Fear In Egypt
There's
a warning to tourists to be extra cautious swimming in the sea
after a woman was bitten to death by a shark in Egypt
The
tragedy happened in the Red Sea where sharks are common but
attacks have been quite rare.
The
woman jumped into the water for a closer look at what she
thought was a big fish approaching her boat. She was bitten on
the leg by the shark and is thought to have bled to death
before being pulled out of the water.
Sharks
are common in the area and often swim as close as 5 metres
from the beach where tourists take pictures, but attacks by
sharks are rare. The last person killed by a shark in Egypt
was snorkelling off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2004.
The
Red Sea is home to a variety of sharks, and some of them, such
as the powerful and quick mako shark, are regarded as
particularly dangerous for humans.
Cheap Sun Lotion
Outshines The Dearest
One of the cheapest sun lotions on
sale in the UK provides better protection than some of
the dearest, a study's found.
Researchers for a Which? survey claim
a £3 bottle of Asda sun lotion gives a better defense than
brands which cost three times as much.
Which? investigators tested 14 of the
best-selling sun creams in the factor of 15 bracket and
say only five met its standards.
The study found the Asda cream
offered a protection rating of 24, nine more than stated on
the bottle.
Researchers have warned that
sunbathers could be putting their health at risk with
protective creams that fail to offer what they claim.
Rival companies such as Tesco, Marks
and Spencer and Wilkinsons insist their products live up to
their claims under their own independent tests.
Most products offer protection
against UVB rays which is linked to several types of
skin cancer.
Some products also claim protection
against UVA, which is also linked to some aggressive cancers
and ageing.
Credit
Crunch Bargain
Busters
Bulgaria
has become a bolt hole for bargain hunters, according to a
holiday costs' survey.
Ten
typical holiday items and costs, including a meal out, set
tourists back just £42.23 in Bulgaria, the survey by the
British Post Office travel services found.
This
is two-and-half times cheaper than in Antigua, where the items
cost £108.70 , making the Caribbean island the most expensive
of the 18 destinations surveyed.
Turkey
and Croatia joined Bulgaria as the best places in Europe for a
bargain break, while France (£78.30) was the most expensive
eurozone country.
Spain,
at £67.08, was the best-bargain eurozone country, closely
followed by Portugal (#67.47)
The
survey showed that prices have dropped in Portugal as well as
in Greece and Italy, but have risen in long-haul destinations
Egypt rising nearly 47%.
Post
Office head of travel services Sarah Munro said: ``The
eurozone has taken a bashing this year, but our survey
suggests that tourist outlets in many resorts are taking
dramatic steps to encourage tourists.
``Despite
the weak pound, this means that UK tourists who shop carefully
could find that they get more than expected for their money.''
She
went on: ``Prices for eating out have shown some of the
biggest rises in this year's survey. In the US meals increased
by almost 49% and in Turkey they have gone up by over one
third.
``By
contrast the increase in Greece was just above 1%."
Malta Hotel Tax
The Maltese Government's slapped
a €0.50 per night charge for people staying in
hotels and apartments.
The country's Finance Minister
Tonio Fenech said the payment tax would be used to
offset the incentives being paid to low-cost airlines.
Some of the money will go
towards €120 million spent on improvements to
attractions at St Paul’s Bay, Qawra and Sliema, Golden
Bay and Qawra.
Malta
'Safe Haven'
Meanwhile, Malta is one of the
safest destinations in the world, according to an
American study.
After the horrific double
murder in Antigua, crime abroad has become a major
concern for tourists and the US report lists the world's
safest destinations as Monte Carlo, New Zealand, Malta,
Switzerland and Singapore.
However, even in shooting
hotspots like Jamaica, it's extremely rare for
holidaymakers to be targeted and travel experts are keen
to point out that no where is crime-free.
Among the safest Caribbean
islands are; Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, and the British
Virgin Islands.
Malta set its stall out on
hooligans recently when five Croatians and an Australian
were told by a court they would never be allowed back
into the country.
They got their banning order
after causing trouble and clashing with the police
during a football match.
Disney
World Fans
Lost In Space
Disney’s
shut down its world famous Space Mountain ride in Orlando for
refurbishment work through the summer (2009).
The
Magic Kingdom roller coaster is getting new track to enhance
the experience for thrill seekers, plus renovations to the
queuing area.
The
ride will be closed from April the19th after Easter but a date
for reopening hasn’t been confirmed
