Newsletter - January 2012

Gibraltar (GIB)

The schedule for February 2012 is as follows-

easyJet

Málaga (AGP)

Vueling (VY) is to start three weekly flights from its new base at Nantes (NTE) with effect from 30 March 2012. Flights will be operated by Airbus A319 aircraft. The schedule (flight numbers to be confirmed) -
NTE-AGP VY 1140-1335 Mon, Wed, Fri
AGP-NTE VY 1410-1615 Mon, Wed, Fri
Demonstrating the success of the route, Turkish Airlines (TK) has confirmed that it is to increase the frequency of its flights to Istanbul (IST) to five weekly with effect from the start of the summer season (25 March 2012). The timings -
IST-AGP TK1306 0900-1230 Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun
AGP-IST TK1305 1330-1840 Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun
Reflecting perhaps the impact of the enhanced AVE train service to the capital, many of Iberia’s (IB) flights between Madrid and Málaga are being operated by its franchise partner Air Nostrum. The services are being operated by regional jet aircraft seating between 50 and 100 passengers instead of much larger mainline aircraft. Flights operated by Air Nostrum are easily identifiable as they are in the IB80xx range.
With the start of the summer season, British Airways (BA) has confirmed that it will increase its London flights. From 25 March the airline will operate 23 weekly flights to London Gatwick (LGW) with a further four flights heading to London City (LCY) operated by its franchise partner BA Cityflyer. The new schedule –
Gatwick
LGW-AGP BA2712 0650-1040 Sun
LGW-AGP BA2712 0700-1050 Daily except Sun
LGW-AGP BA2714 1000-1345 Thu, Fri, Sat
LGW-AGP BA2716 1450-1835 Daily
LGW-AGP BA2718 1845-2230 Daily except Wed
AGP-LGW BA2713 1125-1315 Sun
AGP-LGW BA2713 1135-1325 Daily except Sun
AGP-LGW BA2715 1430-1615 Thu, Fri, Sat
AGP-LGW BA2717 1920-2100 Daily
AGP-LGW BA2719 2315-0105+1 Daily except Wed
London City
LCY-AGP BA8487 0835-1225 Fri 
LCY-AGP BA8487 0940-1330 Mon, Wed
LCY-AGP BA8487 1305-1655 Sun
AGP-LCY BA8488 1320-1500 Fri
AGP-LCY BA8488 1420-1600 Mon, Wed
AGP-LCY BA8488 1750-1930 Sun

easyJet's New 'Admin Fee'

With many businesses being heavily criticised by the UK Office of Fair Trading among others for levying what many view as excessive and disproportionate charges for using credit and debit cards, easyJet has come up with a solution – of sorts. With effect from 12 January 2012 the airline has introduced a blanket ‘Admin Fee’ of £9 for all transactions irrespective of the payment method used. In a nod to the calls for transparency the airline now shows the charge as part of the first part of the booking process rather than at the end.
Previously, the carrier charged an £8 booking fee for debit card purchases - which was not displayed until the latter stages of the booking process - and waived extra charges for passengers that paid using Visa Electron cards. The new change effectively means that those paying by debit card will see a £1 rise in fares, as the former £8 booking fee has been scrapped, and Visa Electron users will see a £9 rise. Those using credit cards to book flights with easyJet will be subjected to the admin fee and a credit card fee too. It claims the latter is to cover the extra handling costs.
The new £9 admin fee will be applied just once regardless of the number of flights purchased per booking.

The Big Three - Airline Alliances

Many of the world’s leading airlines are members of major alliances whose brands are becoming more and more visible at airports and in the world’s media. This month, I thought it would be a good idea to provide an overview of these groupings which boast many benefits to the air traveller. Perceived wisdom has it that airline alliances offer substantial advantages over non-aligned carriers –

• A wider range of destinations available on the same ticket
• Code-sharing – the placing of one airline’s flight number on the service operated by a partner airline
• Smoother connections through airline hubs
• Greater frequency on popular routes
• Access to a wider range of executive lounges
• Mileage accrual on frequent flyer schemes which can be used on services of other airlines in the same alliance
• The ability to tailor reasonably priced Round The World tickets

The airlines themselves benefit from

• Cost reductions through common purchasing, group operational facilities such as scheduling, ticketing and computer systems and the ability to share operational staff

Entry to these alliances is strictly controlled with stringent conditions being required before carriers can be accepted for membership.
One of the requirements of membership is that each airline paints a percentage of the aircraft in its fleet with a common colourscheme advertising the alliance. This is one easy way of increasing the visibility and profile of the alliance.

There are three major alliances –

Star Alliance

Oneworld

SkyTeam

And Finally...

A few months ago regular readers will recall that I provided a few choice examples of traveller horror stories from the pages of the SkyTrax website. I received a lot feedback after this story and thought I’d provide a further set of reports. With thanks to www.airlinequality.com

Posted by a UK based passenger on 11 January 2012 - Iberia –
Husband and I flew home from Panama to Heathrow, Jan 2012. Despite checking in 4 hours before, a surly check-in staff member gave us the worst seats possible and we are both pensioners. We were sat in the last row and had to listen to cabin crew shouting all night. Even our domestic downmarket charter flights have individual back seat screens. Iberia should start joining the 20th century never mind the 21st. No food choice, just congealed pasta. Breakfast- a minuscule fruit salad plus 2 rock hard pieces of cake and roll.

Another UK passenger complained about Saudi Arabian Airlines on 17 January after a flight from London to Jakarta via Riyadh -
First leg was good with all systems working well and on time. Riyadh-Jakarta was poor on a 747-300 series. I didn't know anyone still had these, and it hadn't been refitted. Single large projector screen, no individual screens. Return journey was worse, same 747 with no IFE, and no individual lights. I was in the middle, most shutters were down so I couldn't even read. Second flight on B777, just started watching inflight movie when the screen goes blank. I asked twice for it to be fixed, but got no joy. I tried the call button, however this did not work. Cheap but not good value.

And finally an Irish passenger on 10 January reporting on a trip with Thomson Airways –
Returned from a trip to Gran Canaria from Dublin. We were delayed 7 hours in Dublin outbound and missed New Years Eve at our hotel. We were given various stories of snow in Austria and leaks and having to get a new plane to fly to Dublin. If this wasn't bad enough we arrived for the flight home to be told we would have a 2 hrs delay, this delay turned in to 4 hours. The young flight attendant was extremely rude, he allowed passengers to take another person’s seat and when the lady with the ticket for the seat arrived to sit next to her husband and complained, he informed her she was free to leave the plane if she liked and he would get the doors opened for her. I have never heard such rudeness.