A freephone disruption number, 0800 727 800, has been set up for the trade by British Airways for issues relating to the strike threat. This comes just before the revised schedule for the possible strike days is published.

Passengers on Gatwick short haul and any Heathrow flights who are concerned about whether their flight will operate and are booked to travel between 19th March and 31st March will have the choice of rebooking or cancelling and obtaining a refund, BA said. Gatwick long haul and London City flights are expected to operate as normal.

Once the schedule is announced the airline will offer customers whose flights are cancelled by strike action the option to rebook, re-route to the nearest destination or receive a refund.

The trade is also being advised to check the main BA website and BATravelTrade.com for the latest updates regarding flight status and commercial policies.

Head of trade sales Scott Davies said: “We’d really like to thank the trade for the support they’ve shown us, we’ve been overwhelmed by their response. It’s vital that we continue to work together to ensure that our mutual customers are well looked after.

“It is only fair that we ensure the trade have a freephone number in order to help them rebook those customers who are affected by Unite’s unjustified strike threat.”

The 0800 727 800 number has been specifically set up for calls relating to the strike threat. Any queries not relating to potential strike disruption should continue to be directed through the trade support line, BA said.

The ongoing dispute with British Airways and Unite the union sees strike dates announced unless a last ditched attempt at an offer from BA can see it averted.

As it stands Unite have announced that there will be a walk out from cabin crew over seven days this month, keeping its promise that the strike would not be over the Easter holidays. The first strike action will be for three days from 20th March and a further four days from 27th March. Despite the avoidance of peak Easter holiday flights this will still cause a huge amount of disruption.

The response to the proposed action on BA’s website states: ”If a strike does go ahead, we are intending to operate a range of flights. Not all our flights will be cancelled.

“We are currently finalising our flight schedules for the strike period and have temporarily stopped selling seats on all flights operating on the strike dates.”

All people booked to travel between 19th and 31st March will be able to either rebook or cancel and obtain a refund.

Further flight-specific information can be found on the BA website here.

Unite assistant general secretary and lead negotiator with BA Len McCluskey had this to say after talks broke down earlier in the week: “Regrettably, management turned down a remarkable offer from the union which would have given the company everything it said it wanted while also meeting our members’ concerns.

“However, despite spurning this proposal, British Airways management finally submitted a formal offer of its own to Unite yesterday. It is welcome that the company acknowledges that negotiated agreement, not imposition, is the only way to conduct mature industrial relations at BA.

“It is right that cabin crew should be given the opportunity to consider this offer, although it falls short of what we believe is needed to address the legitimate concerns they have about crew complement and service delivery. Unite will therefore hold a consultative ballot of our cabin crew members to ascertain their view on the offer. We would anticipate getting the result of this consultation by the middle of next week. However, we are unable to recommend the offer, and are therefore also setting strike dates in accordance with the mandate the union has twice overwhelmingly secured from our members.

“The consultative ballot we are holding will be concluded before the first day of industrial action is scheduled to take place. Should that ballot show a majority in favour of the company’s offer, then all the strike action announced today will of course be cancelled.”

Proposed alliance partners British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia have offered to lease transatlantic take off and landing slots to appease European regulators. The trio are prepared to lease four daily slot pairs for other airlines to use on specified transatlantic routes from London.

BA said that the gesture has been made “to enable the European Commission (EC) to conclude its investigations into their transatlantic joint business.”

The slots can be leased from the airlines’ current slot portfolio, according to BA. The Commission has agreed that the airlines should be compensated financially by those airlines wishing to lease slots.

BA, AA and Iberia also need US Department of Transportation anti-trust immunity to operate their transatlantic joint business. The airlines received tentative approval in February (see the previous blogfor more information). The DOT are reviewing the order and will respond by the time frame established for comments.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “We’ve offered to lease slots to gain EC approval for our joint business which will bring benefits to our customers, shareholders and employees.

“It will also enable Oneworld to compete on a level playing field with the other global alliances across the Atlantic.

“We’re pleased that the EC has recognised that we should be compensated for leasing the slots. This reflects the fact that there is an active slots market in London where slots are generally traded for value”.

The EC will now seek the views of interested parties on the airlines’ proposed commitments.

Talks between British Airways and Unite today broke down without agreement, the talks were regarding ongoing issues with staff pay and working conditions.

The Chair of the talks, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Despite a prolonged period of negotiations it has not been possible to reach agreement between BA and Unite.

“Both parties will be reflecting on the position and the TUC will be keeping in touch but at this stage no further negotiations are planned.”

One of Ferran Adria's famed dishes, picture by Francesc Guillamet

Spain has launched a new campaign featuring famed chef Ferran Adria (his Michelin star restaurant “El Bulli” is ranked as the best restaurant in the world according to Restaurant magazine) in a bid to reinvigorate its tourism industry.

Tourism authorities launched their “I need Spain” campaign with Adria as their “Tourism Ambassador”, which they hope will be seen by 400 million people in 40 countries.

“The essence of the campaign is the Spanish lifestyle, which attracts more than 50 million tourists a year,” the tourism ministry said in a statement.

Despite this large number of tourists, last year Spain suffered an 8.7 per cent drop in foreign tourists due to the global slowdown, and has also suffered from increased competition from other cheaper destinations such as Turkey and Egypt; so it is understandable that the authorities are keen to reinvigorate tourism in the country.

The first non-stop flights between London Heathrow and Taipei in Taiwan are to be introduced at the end of the month. China Airlines is to start the service three times a week from 28th March.

According to the airline, the new route is the first time that the UK has been connected by a non-stop service to Taiwan.

Return fares from London to Taipei start at £370.

The flight will depart from Taipei on Tuesdays and Sundays at 09.25 and arrive at Heathrow at 17.05, the London–Taipei flight will depart at 21.15 and arrive at 18.15 the following day.

A third weekly Thursday flight will depart Taipei at 09.25 and arrive at Heathrow at 16.55, before returning from London at 22.05, arriving Taipei at 19.05 the following day.

The airline’s chairman Philip Wei said: “As the leading airline in Taiwan, China Airlines is committed to promoting tourism, culture and the economic development of the island.”

With almost 22 million people set to visit countries across the region, the “eurozone” is expected to remain the most popular destination for UK travellers this year. The calculation comes from First Rate Exchange Services and a previous announcement that 58% of UK adults plan to take at least one overseas holiday this year.

Holiday costs have fallen across all “eurozone” countries over the last year, with prices in Spain seeing cuts by as much as 30%, the latest Post Office holiday money report shows.

First Rate managing director Gordon Gourlay said: “Lower tourist prices across the “eurozone” are extremely good news for the millions of UK holidaymakers who are set to make to a return to traditional holiday destinations such as Spain and Portugal this year.

“UK foreign currency retailers can expect strong demand for the currency as savvy travellers stock up on euros in order to get best value from foreign exchange deals in the UK.”

The majority of UK travellers intend to make the most of their holiday money by picking up foreign currency before they travel. Two in five (40%) travellers also said they would have to withdraw cash at ATMs whilst overseas even though this runs the risk of hefty commission and cash withdrawal fees; while travellers’ cheques are still popular with over 15% of travellers including them in their holiday wallet.

More than half of German companies are confident in seeing an upturn in business travel before the end of the year it has been reported in the results of a poll of members of the Association of German Travel management (VDR) for trade show ITB. The poll found that a quarter of those questioned expect to see a recovery in business travel activity at the start of next year. Only ten per cent of companies said they were concerned that there would not be a recovery in business travel.

Almost 60% of VDR member companies are still paying particular attention to costs and are looking at cheaper travel options. Only 11% of these companies are cutting out all travel which is not deemed absolutely necessary, compared with twice as many in October 2009.

In order to cut down on travel, companies are making more use of web, video and telephone conferencing. One third of the VDR member companies that were questioned now use this technology instead of business travel. A further 20% are following this trend in order to improve internal communication.

Dr Martin Buck, director of the competence centre travel & logistics and show organiser Messe Berlin, said: “The trend that has been revealed by the latest snap poll by the VDR is giving the industry reasons for cautious optimism. This is good news for ITB Berlin.”

Trade Travel Show, ITB Berlin 2010 takes place from 10th- 14th March.

Barcelona photo by Flickr User Jsome1

Year-round flights between London City Airport and Barcelona are being re-introduced by British Airways. The service was previously run only in summer but will now resume at the end of the month and will continue all year.

An extra Saturday morning service will be introduced in May, bringing the total number of flights to seven a week.

The expanded Barcelona capacity comes in addition to the start of flights to Majorca and Ibiza in May and an existing service to Madrid.

Luke Hayhoe, commercial manager for BA CityFlyer, the wholly owned BA subsidiary which will operate the services, said: “The Spanish destinations are proving extremely popular from London City Airport. Barcelona has traditionally operated as a summer only destination but there is a big demand from both business and leisure passengers for us to continue through the winter.”

Easyjet Ryanair advert source http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/03/easyjet-ryanair-asa#zoomed-picture

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint by Ryanair against its rival EasyJet after they made a claim in an advertising campaign that claimed that the Irish competitor did not fly passengers “to the place you actually booked”.

The poster, which appeared on a train, suggested Ryanair flew to airports in the proximity of the cities promoted as destinations; but Ryanair successfully argued that the ad was misleading as it implied people would not fly to the city they booked to whereas the advertising and website made clear where the airline flew to.

Upholding Ryanair’s complaint, the ASA said: “While we noted EasyJet’s argument that the ad was merely a comparison between airport locations, we were concerned that by listing the airports which Ryanair flew to but only referring to the ones EasyJet flew to in much smaller print at the bottom of the ad and by not giving any data which readers might use to make an assessment of the facts, the ad did not achieve that end.

“We considered the challenging tone of the headline ‘Who loves flying you to the place you actually booked?’ combined with the implication that Ryanair misled customers and flew them to airports different to the ones they had booked was denigratory.”

EasyJet UK general manager Paul Simmons said: “It is a well-know fact that EasyJet flies to major airports whereas Ryanair serves out-of-town airfields which can be a two hour bus ride away from your destination.

“While we are disappointed by the ruling which is based on a technicality, we respect the ASA’s decision and will not repeat the advert in the same form.”

It’s rather ironic that Ryanair had to turn to the ASA to use the very same codes of conduct that in previous years they have had disputes over.