Posts Tagged ‘ Flybe ’

Ireland and the USA are seeking more British holidaymakers. Would you consider a summer holiday there?

Belly-dancing in the Scottish style, treasure hunting in Scunthorpe and avoiding Luton Airport by going to Southend are a few of the things on Adrian’s agenda this week.

Security concerns at Cambeltown Airport, taxes, sales and St Bernard’s seem to be to the fore this week. Luckily it is time for the comedy festivals to come along and cheer me up!

Late last week we reported on the OAG study of punctuality at airports. The same study also looked at punctuality at airlines so which should you choose if you want an on-time landing in the jargon of air travel? Flybe comes out as the most punctual of the British and Irish airlines achieving a punctuality rate of 86.62% of flights being on time. Worldwide though, it might be in sixth place but within Europe it is second only to KLM. Monarch, Aer Lingus and Jet2
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On this Christmas Eve, may I wish all readers a very joyous Christmas and may Storm Barbara have no effect on your travel, holiday or the celebrations you will have.

Bus arrivals, holiday safety and unhelpful tourism answers by government ministers are some of the things that helped exasperate Adrian this week. But then he was sent a picture of a bus sign…

There is a fake competition at the moment that purports to come from Flybe.

Saad Hammad’s idea means that the Treasury in London can have its cake and eat it.

Has Brexit been over- estimated by the travel industry? Adrian hardly mentions the subject concentrating on the Qantas competition to Sydney, The World Eskimo Olympic Games and National Tom Sawyer Day

A gin distillery at Gatwick captured Adrian’s attention this week but so did Joan of Arc’s ring, the wreck of a gambling ship off San Diego and St Piran’s Day which happens to be today.

APD, VAT and airline profits due to reduced fuel prices are some of the topis interesting Adrian this week as well as an octpus and whale watching.

Glass cars, selfies in Mumbai and why Bournemouth has something in common with Abu Dhabi are items that Adrian has spotted this week.

Adrian takes a first look at some of the smaller travel stories of 2016.

OAG is a company that is largely known for compiling the airline timetables that we use. By possessing this information it also is able to give us an idea of airline punctuality.

As China’s president announces a direct service from Manchester, Adrian explores other airline news, including yet another APD debate in the House of Commons that achieved absolutely nothing.

This week my column comes from Sydney in Australia as I shall be here for the next few weeks preparing some stories and visiting relations. Expect then, a biased towards Australian stories for a while! Let’s start with culture because the tourist authority for NSW, Destination NSW, says cultural tourism is on the rise with the state attracting almost 6.5 million overnight cultural visitors in the year ending March 2015, a significant 5.6% increase on the previous year. During the year ending March 2015, NSW
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Adrian has been in Germany this week at a travel trade show where he finds that Germany has been attracting more British visitors. But then few destinations have not announced greater visitor numbers.

The location of a youth hostel in Sydney surprises Adrian as he sums up the smaller stories of the week.

Adrian finds out that more of us are holidaying abroad this year over last year but still plans to head to Cilgerran for the coracle championships next weekend! OK, he admits it – he lives there – but he’ll still be going for the fun!

Today  Thorpe Park in Surrey unveils to the public its new Angry Birds themed 4D land experience. It starts in the high tech movie theatre surrounding and you become part of the action as rumbling chairs catapult you through a fast-paced adventure as the Angry Birds attempt to get their precious eggs back from the dastardly King Pig. Timed air gusts, water jets, leg ticklers, flashing lights, bubbles and smoke blasts will be sure to get pulses racing from start to finish! It doesn’t finish
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Adrian rounds off the week thinking of

A report today from the Irish orgainsation, Airtaxback, claims that passengers haven’t claimed back over £3.4 million of their own money back from airlines.

Adrian considers – among other things – how fresh Lady Gaga’s meat dress might be, thanks bikers on the M25 and wonders why pets and service personnel seem to be better treated in America.

Estonia has shed its reputation as a venue for stag parties and become an European mini-break destination par excellence. Anthony Lydekker takes a trip to Tartu – the country’s second largest city

Sometimes you might be forgiven for thinking that the basic price of an airline ticket is peanuts. The add-ons are those little bits here and there that suddenly glare out at you on the final page and cause you to take a deep breath and say, “but the fare was only a tenner!” when I started. Now one of the biggest airline ticketing systems providers, Amadeus, has completed some research which shows that last year these add-ons were worth €15.11 billion.

t seemed quite simple when I got up this morning. Flights into Scottish airports would be disrupted due to the ash cloud emanating from the Icelandic volcano we can pronounce, Grimsvotn, and spread southwards.
Except that isn’t what’s happening. Some airlines are flying and some have been advised (“ordered” seems to be the real meaning of the word for Ryanair by the Irish Aviation Authority) not to.

Now flybe have joined the number of airlines who have recently introduced increases in fuel surcharges. Following on from BA’s £10 increase a couple of weeks ago, flybe has added £3 per fare for bookings where the flight occurs after September 1st. In the grand scheme of things this is a relatively modest increase and it doesn’t take place until after the main summer season is over.

Up until October 1st, if you flew Ryanair any old photo ID would do if you were flying just within the UK.. Now they will only accept a passport. Ryanair say this is “to simplify our identification policy to avoid passenger confusion.” Well you have to say that this sentence doesn’t help matters either. Who was confused beforehand? Nobody. Photo ID was anything that had your photograph on full stop.