London's biggest airport is hogging the headlines this week, but why should Heathrow's T5 disasters overshadow little brother Gatwick's news: The smaller airport finally overturned the one carry-on bag rule which other UK airports gave up long, long ago.

In the first week of January this year, airports like Heathrow canceled the rule that passengers could only bring one bag on board, brought in awhile back as a security measure. Gatwick has been slow because it needed more x-ray and archway technology installed, but the place has finally caught up with the rest of the country.

But be careful if you're flying out of Gatwick, because there are a few airlines there who are sticking to the old rule. Better to pack small, though, and fly out of Gatwick, than wave goodbye to your checked baggage at Heathrow.

Related Stories:
· Gatwick to Lift One Bag Rule [Business Traveller]
· Your Daily British Airways Apology [Jaunted]
· London Gatwick coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: puck-man]]]> amandak 2008-04-02T09:00:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/2/21/112620/561

Funny, we're usually trying to get the hell out of Gatwick. But we're more fortunate than former chef Anthony Delaney who took up residence in the airport after losing his job and then his house in 2004. He's been staying at LGW off and on since then because, he says, it's "clean, dry and warm."

The authorities, though, don't particularly appreciate him. After getting tossed from the airport in 2006, Delaney kept coming back, despite a court order telling him to stay away.

This week, the police picked him up again, and it doesn't seem like he'll be returning to Gatwick anytime soon. The judge on his case remanded him, adding this bit of helpful advice:

There are other places you can have a shower.

Related Stories:
· Homeless Man "Lived in Airport" [BBC]
· British Airports: London Gatwick's a Loser [Jaunted]
· Airports coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: IMDb]]]> pbb 2008-02-21T11:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/1/13/202415/380

It sounds like a dangerous thing for most airlines: a website that proudly publishes the punctuality data for flights across the UK. Now, if you're friendly ol' bmi Regional, that's no big deal, because the airline just won the award as the most punctual from January to September 2007. (Number-crunchers are obviously still on vacation so haven't caught up to year-end yet).

Being punctual means that 91 percent of bmi Regional flights took off within 15 minutes of the planned departure time, and in fact their average delays across all their flights was just 6 minutes. We just wish they flew on the routes we wanted to take, like, all across the world.

If you're flying in and out of Britain you can check the Flightontime.info website which collates all the Civil Aviation Authority statistics on delays and punctuality. You can also find out which airports will give you an easier run, and you might be surprised to learn that Heathrow Airport wasn't the one with the biggest delays. It was narrowly beaten by Gatwick where you can bank on your flight departing, on average, 20.23 minutes late. At Heathrow, it's around 19 minutes, but to make up for it, they'll probably lose your luggage.

Related Stories:
· bmi Regional Wins Punctuality Award [FHR]
· Flightontime.info [Official Site]
· British Airports: London Gatwick's A Loser [Jaunted]
· Heathrow's in Chaos [Jaunted]

[Photo: sabandija™]]]> amandak 2008-01-14T09:15:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/12/19/10307/503

Zoom Airlines, which already flies between London and JFK, is expanding its low-cost transatlantic flights to the United States. Service between London Gatwick and Fort Lauderdale begins May 22, 2008, and flights between San Diego and Gatwick start June 20.

While Zoom offers super-low one-way fares like many of the UK's LCCs, the company also has the nasty habit of tacking on vague surcharges. A round trip between Fort Lauderdale and Gatwick, for example, is listed at $398, until "departure taxes, fees and fuel surcharges" bring the price up to $750. Still a good deal, to be sure, but a little transparency in the booking process wouldn't hurt.

The Fort Lauderdale flights are also interesting in that some of them stop over in Bermuda, making the Atlantic island easier to reach for flyers leaving London. We're not sure about traffic the other way, though. Are Floridians really clamoring for a chillier golf environment?

Related Stories:
· Zoom Airlines [Official Site]
· Zoom Airlines coverage [Jaunted]
· New Routes coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Wikipedia]]]> pbb 2007-12-19T11:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/11/14/35122/657

Everyone's got their own low cost carrier these days, even former Soviet states like Lithuania. And while Lithuania's FlyLAL doesn't usually offer the ridiculous €1 flights or taxes-and-charges-only fares you'll find on other European budget airlines, it does advertise "cheap direct flights to Vilnius" (Lithuania's capital) and has a heap of flights on sale for 199 Litas ($85).

FlyLAL has quite a colorful history: it began life way back in 1938 as Lithuania's national carrier, became a branch of Aeroflot during the Soviet era and nearly went bust in 2005. Then it reemerged with new owners and a budget airline philosophy--and Western aircraft to replace any Russian planes it still flew--and is now cruising right along. Earlier this year it was named the most punctual airline flying into London Gatwick.

The other neat thing about FlyLAL is that it still supplies meals on particular flights. For example, Vilnius to Brussels flights get a free hot meal; Vilnius to Munich flights get a free cold meal. Some longer flights get nothing, but the short hop from Vilnius to Tallinn is rewarded with a free snack. Must be a case of Lithuanian logic.

Related Stories:
· FlyLAL [Official Site]
· Low Cost Carriers coverage [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Lithuania [HotelChatter]

[Photo: moacirpdsp]]]> amandak 2007-11-14T09:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/9/17/84951/8985

Britian-based LCC EasyJet is constantly doing innovative things, like making it cost insane amounts of money to take large baggage with you. Now they've done something helpful, just when you least expected it: all flights leaving Gatwick now give you the option of receiving a series of text reminders to help make your departure as smooth as possible.

Flights from London Gatwick, as well as flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Gatwick, will offer the service to all passengers on an opt-in basis.

It works like this: four hours before departure, you'll get a message confirming the time of take-off and departure terminal; just before check-in closes you'll get another message and you'll get one more before boarding closes. Presumably if they happen to be running late, they'll send you a message about that as well.

Related Stories:
· EasyJet Launches Free Text Reminders [Business Traveller]
· EasyJet Adds A Checked Baggage Charge [Jaunted]

[Photo: hugovk]]]> amandak 2007-09-18T09:15:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/14/6738/96706

If you're not sure which airport you should fly into the next time you head to Britain, check out the UK Flight Delays website. It tracks the average times for check-in, security and immigration at airports in the UK, according to information that website users plug in.

While the numbers are still based on a small sample, you can already see that London Gatwick is doing badly: each stage takes more than 30 minutes on average. Smaller airports like Cardiff and Birmingham are higher up on the league table. Travelers can also leave notes about their experiences, and the Travellers' Comments page reads like a soap opera of bad airport experiences. If you need to vent after experiencing some airport frustration--or you want to praise a good experience--this is your site.

Related Stories:
· Fresh Stats on the Summer of Flight Delays [Jaunted]
· Yotel Gatwick Airport Hotel [HotelChatter]

[Photo: bob the lomond]]]> amandak 2007-08-14T09:15:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/