It is giving away up to 50% discounts on flights every last Friday of the month from midday until 5pm.

Routes for this sale include cut price flights to Vienna, Zurich, Brussels, Washington and Chicago.

Seventy-five per cent of MPs surveyed will be visiting short-haul destinations and about a quarter going to long haul destinations. The Mediterranean fared well as most popular for overseas holidays and Scotland rated top for domestic tourism.

91%  of peers said they took two or more holidays a year while half of them said they enjoyed three or more!

57% of MPs said they took two or more holidays, which is slightly below the national average.

ABTA chairman John McEwan said: “Our first ABTA Parliamentary Holiday survey clearly shows that a summer break and other holidays throughout the year, are as important for our political representatives as for the rest of us.

“ABTA is calling on Government to recognise this importance and cancel the planned drastic increase in Air Passenger Duty this November which will see a family of four paying £360 in tax for a flight to Florida at a time when family budgets are already under severe pressure.”

The union will meet with BA for talks at ACAS next week. This follows the rejection of the airline’s latest offer by BA cabin crew.

Conversely, in a statement relating to the rejection, BA said: “We are encouraged by the result of this ballot which shows that 73 per cent of our cabin crew did not reject our offer. The result shows that Unite does not have a clear mandate and we would urge them to come back to the table to sign the agreement and end the dispute.”

In a more recent statement Unite joint general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley said: “Unite remains determined to secure a settlement to this dispute acceptable to cabin crew. Until such an agreement is secured, we will continue to support our members financially and legally.”

The union says it is preparing to provide extra assistance to strikers who have suffered particular financial hardship.

Over 40% of the respondents to lastminute.com’s survey said they are now confused by new rules on taking bags onto an aircraft, and a fifth said they had been caught out by new regulations and been fined accordingly.

Have any of you been caught out by the new rules and regulations? We’ve tried to cover news of such regulations on the blog as they come to light to prevent travellers from being stung by avoidable fines. A blog that continues to be relevant includes recent airline price hikes and also tips to beat or lower them, view the full blog here.

Below is a chart showing the average costs of carrying a single bag within the hold on a low cost airliner (flying short haul) sourced from MoneySupermarket.com April 2010. The figures are for return flights.

Jet 2 £24

Thompson £23

Flybe £20

Easyjet £18

Monarch £26

Aer Lingus £8

Thomas Cook £16

BMI Baby £28

Ryanair £40

Average £22.55

Now the US Department of Transportation has granted them anti-trust immunity, they are free to collaborate on fares, schedules and frequent flyer programmes.

In a joint statement, the carriers said: “This now frees oneworld to compete on a level playing field with the other global alliances – enabling oneworld’s carriers to implement their plans to strengthen competition across the Atlantic with easier, more seamless and more convenient travel opportunities to more destinations with better connections, improved flight schedules, and enhanced frequent flyer benefits.

“British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia plan to launch their transatlantic joint business this autumn, co-operating on flights between Europe, the US, Canada and Mexico. They say they will ‘provide more frequent and convenient schedules than any of the three carriers could offer on their own’.

“By working together, the airlines will expand customer choice by supporting routes that would not be economically viable for any of them individually,” said a oneworld spokesman.

“Customers will also benefit from greater access to discounted fares and expanded opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and elite tier benefits on flights.”

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh added: “This final approval is fantastic news for all three airlines and the oneworld alliance. We’ve waited 14 years to bring the benefits of the transatlantic joint business to our customers and level the playing field with the other two global alliances.Last week, the European Commission also approved the British Airways merger with Iberia, which the two airlines are aiming to complete by the end of this year.

Picture by Flickr User Pex Cornel

If Easyjet doesn’t improve its punctuality within the next 90 days, its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is threatening to take the airline’s name away.

In a letter sent to the airline, Sir Stelios said he would withdraw Easyjet’s brand licence if it failed to make improvements. This comes as a response to reports over the weekend that more than half of Easyjet’s flights from London Gatwick were late. Sir Stelios blames a shortage of staff and bad management.

In the letter, sent via Easygroup’s solicitors Bird & Bird, he said: “I have been receiving many unsolicited complaints from members of the public and even Easyjet pilots about the degree that the airline is short of crew to operate the flights it sold to its customers.

“Unless Mike Rake (the chairman) and Carolyn McCall (the new chief executive) do something to improve the situation for the sake of the travelling public, I am left with no option but to terminate the brand licence.”

Earlier this year I wrote a blog detailing the high court battle between Sir Stelios and the airline over revenue issues and the founder’s desire to set up a new company using the Easyjet name. See the full blog here.

A crisis centre for customers has been set up in Turkey, the company’s specialist area. The Governorship of Mugla is instructing holidaymakers to call +90 (0)252 214 1234 or from Turkey call the Mugla Call and Information Centre by dialling 179 from any landline.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the crisis centre is designed to ensure holidaymakers can continue their holidays in Turkey and return home at the end of their stay. It will give customers the latest information about hotels that have been booked by Goldtrail customers and can advise travellers on how to proceed.

Information desks have been set up at all airports in the affected region and the CAA is making arrangements for customers abroad to travel home at the end of their holidays. The majority of flights from Turkey are expected to operate as planned.

Following the merger between Vuelingand former Spanish rival Clickair, passenger numbers have increased by 81% to 10m in the last 12 months.

30% of its passengers originated outside Spain, travelling to the country for both leisure and business, according to the airline’s figures.

“The merger between Vueling and Clickair was accomplished at a very complex time – in the teeth of an unprecedented economic slowdown,” said Vueling CEO Alex Cruz.

“We are pleased to report that the marriage has been successful and has generated business synergies – resulting in a solid, healthy and profitable company in a highly competitive environment.”

He said in 2009 the airline managed to save €11.4m in cost synergies and plans to increase this to a further €15.5m in 2010.

Air France amongst others have already introduced mobile phone boarding pass technology, but British Airways are going one further by introducing a complete iPhone application which will not only contain the boarding pass, but also flight information, frequent flier points, check-in times and eventually boarding gates and boarding times. It is expected to be ready for all domestic routes by the end of August 2010 and on all short-haul flights within six months of the launch. Long distance routes will be incorporated by the end of 2011.

In addition, airlines are developing technology to put radio tags on baggage to prevent bags being lost.

The  final regulatory approval of the two airlines along with American Airlines has also been granted by the European Commission on a joint business agreement on transatlantic flights.

No conditions have been applied to the merger, which is expected to take place at the end of the year. With the agreement, the three airlines expect a final decision on anti-trust immunity from the US Department of Transportation soon.

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said: “We await the DOT’s final decision but welcome this important and vital step forward. The high number of new services on London to US routes since the Open Skies agreement demonstrates that Heathrow is open.

“Between us, we have agreed to make available Heathrow slot pairs for our competitors to use on services to the US.

“This is a pragmatic decision so that we can get the joint business up and running as soon as possible.

“The slot commitments provide a further guarantee that there will be no possible loss of competition as a result of our joint business”.

The airlines plan to launch the transatlantic joint business this autumn.

Cheapflights Media, the international flight deals publisher, welcomed the deal. CEO Chris Cuddy said: “Cheapflights applauds the EU’s decision to open transatlantic routes to the One World alliance and to allow the BA/Iberia merger. This move helps keep the EU airline industry competitive for travelers which is good for everyone.”

BA’s rival, Virgin Atlantic, reacted differently to the news of the merger. Boss Sir Richard Branson said: “We have fought this monster monopoly for the past 13 years and are still resolute in our belief that this decision is shameful and consumers will suffer greatly as a result.

“The European Commission has let consumers down by agreeing to paltry remedies which are wholly inadequate.”

What are your thoughts on the merger? Is it better for travellers or is it the start of a monopoly?