Yesterday the EU approved an agreement to allow any European airline to make transatlantic flights from March 2008. At present only British Airways, Virgin Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines can fly from Heathrow to the US.
Open Skies will be a good deal for passengers as it will open the routes into the states to competition from other airlines and will most likely bring prices down.
Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll hear announcements from the no frills airlines about new route plans taking advantage of the new rules when they take force next year.

Labels: Flights, open skies

The internet revolution is continuing to cause headaches for existing bricks and mortar companies, with many losing out to their online counterparts. As a result these existing companies are merging in order to cut costs and boost sales.

This particular merger is between two of the largest travel firms, First Choice and TUI, will reduce the four market leaders to three. It comes as many travellers and holidaymakers are beginning to desert the high street in large numbers and hunt cheaper deals online.

It was only last month (February 2007) that Thomas Cook and My Travel merged to become the Thomas Cook Group.

Labels: First Choice, Thomas Cook, TUI

Green issues seem to be the hot topic amongst politicians at the moment. The Tories view of taxing our flights is a little more complex than the New Labour policy of just doubling airport tax across the board.
The Tories want to use an air miles system, you could think of it as rationing. Everyone will have a certain allowance of air miles, beyond which the tax increases to make the journey by air less attractive.
Good idea in principal but the air mile allowance which has been banded around seems to only cover European destinations.

Do you agree with this air mile allowance system?

Labels: air passenger duty, APD

According to a lastminute.com survey, 78% of tourists are willing to pay twice as much flight tax (APD) if the cash was used to offset their journey. The effect your holiday has on the environment is second only to the weather when choosing where you want to go on your vacation.

Do you agree with the findings of this survey?

Do you offset your carbon emissions?

Labels: APD, Carbon Offsetting

Holiday Which? A consumer watchdog has revealed that traveling by train around Britain is more expensive than by plane or coach.
It goes on to say that advertised cheap rail fares are almost impossible to book.

The coach was the cheapest form of transport in the survey but took the longest, rail prices were the most expensive even if air tax of £20 was added to the return air fares.

Air travel is by far the most poluting (approx 9 times the amount of carbon emissions emitted per person) out of the three methods of transport surveyed however.

Labels: Flights, money saving

With the tabloids constantly reporting on how household bills are forever spiraling upwards it's nearly always the luxuries like holidays that people tend to cut back on when faced with higher energy bills, higher mortgage bills etc.
So rather than just putting your next holiday on your credit card and trying to forget about it, are there any clever ways you can get to go away on a holiday and not face a huge bill with high interest afterwards?
Ok, ever thought of the amount of unused junk you have lying around your house? Have you seen how much people are paying for this sort of stuff on eBay.co.uk?
Seen the Halifax advert which promises £100 if you move your current account to them? (£1000 or more paided in every month)
What about switching energy supplier? There are online comparison sites like Uswitch.com which will tell you if you can save money by switching. Some will even give you cash back for switching...

Of course you can also save a bucket load of cash by buying your holiday online, depending where you want to go this will either be cheaper as a package holiday or separate flight + hotel/apartment. The best advice is to shop around and compare prices!

Labels: money saving