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Tags: Airline Fees / Airline News / Airlines / British Airways / Europe Travel / → All Tags
British Airways Introduces Shiny New Fee For Selecting Your Seat
New fees are pretty much inevitable. It's obnoxious and even six months ago it might have drawn howls of criticism, but now everyone seems to be charging extra for choosing emergency exit seats and so the next step has come: charging to select your seat at all. Congratulations airline companies, your nickle-and-dime opaque fees have finally crossed the line from outrageous to embittering. The LA Times has the deal:
We’ve seen airlines add extra charges to reserve popular exit-row seats and aisle seats. But are you ready for this one? Starting Ocober. 7, British Airways plans to charge you just to select a seat. That’s right: $30 to $90 for the right to choose a seat any time up to 24 hours before flying. After that time, you get a free pick of what’s left.
You're exempt if you're in first class or have a particularly high status with the airline, but everyone else is on the hook. It's $30 for coach and $90 for business, presumably on the assumption that there aren't really bad seats in business, so if you want to choose your seat you must really want to choose your seat.
Tags: Checked Baggage Fees / Airline Fees / Airline News / United / Europe Travel / → All Tags
United Adds $50 Second Bag Fee On Flights To Europe, $30 To Mexico
There'll be no more splurgy shopping trips to Europe for passengers on United with tickets purchased on or after Sept. 30 for travel on or after Dec. 15. The carrier, who just moved into some fancy digs in Chicago's Willis Tower (née Sears Tower), announced plans to begin charging for a second checked bag on international flights.
We can't even pretend to be surprised at this, since United's go to pay their bills and keep up appearances when other legacy carriers are charging for every little thing. The fee, a flat $50 for a second bag on flights to Europe and $30 for flights to Mexico and the Caribbean. Laying down a whole Ulysses S. Grant just so that you can bring back cheapy Carnevale masks from Venice and wooden clogs from Amsterdam seems quite a raw deal.
Tags: Train Travel / Virgin Atlantic / Eurostar / Europe Travel / → All Tags
Virgin Atlantic And Eurostar Hook Up For The Good Of Intercontinental Travel
Planes, trains and automobiles, indeed! Today, Virgin Atlantic announced that they've struck a deal to partner up with the Eurostar train, making it possible to book a seamless journey on both international flights and high-speed European rail.
For example, book a flight to London-Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic and you'll have the option to also book and reserve a seat on a Eurostar train from London to Brussels or Paris. No more separate ticketing necessary; hop your flight then hop a train through the Channel Tunnel. Of course it eliminates the need for the connecting flight to the same European capitals, but taking the train is often preferred.
Tags: Airfare Sales / Delta / Europe Travel / → All Tags
So Over Staycationing; We Want Delta's Sale Fares To The French Riviera
If you've been doing that horrible thing of "staycationing" this summer, then getting cabin fever is absolutely inevitable; we recommend planning a real autumn trip to take the edge off. After all, they say the recession is beginning to end, right?
Airfares too are starting to go up, although this isn't a great thing for travelers hoping to head to Europe after delaying such trips for so long. If places like Nice on the French Riviera and Madrid make you fill with delicious wanderlust and the urge to break out a caftan and your sunglasses, then we recommend checking out Delta's fall sale fares to Europe.
Even though they're priced from $398 without taxes and fees for travel between mid-August and late October, being flexible with dates can help shimmy that price down. And it looks like we're going to have a more expensive airfare fall, so booking as early as possible is always a good idea; it means more time to highlight in your guidebooks.
Related Stories:
· Europe Sale Fares On Delta [Smarter Travel]
· Airfare Sales Coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Wizz Air / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Europe Travel / Publicity Stunts / → All Tags
Wizz Air's Balloons Pop Prematurely
Poor Wizz Air. What started out as a sweet little marketing idea to celebrate the Eastern European low-cost carrier's fifth anniversary turned nasty this week, and we feel bad for them.
The airline set up a press conference and speaking event in Budapest, and the final act of the day was going to be the release of 1,000 balloons, each with a 10,000 forint ($50) coupon attached which the lucky finder could redeem on a Wizz Air flight.
Tags: Train Travel / Europe Travel / Air France / Low Cost Carriers / → All Tags
The Coming of Europe's Trains-Versus-Airlines Deathmatch
To Eurail around Europe has always been the standard, backpacked-approved way to see the continent in modern times, until the last decade when low cost airlines began undercutting train fares and stealing passengers. But with transportation, as with life, everything has its cycle and it looks like things could be returning to favor the humble train.
Or the not-so-humble train, rather. With market deregulation on its way—for example, EU rules will change in December to allow rail operators to compete against each other on international routes—many European countries are going crazy with high-speed rail networks. In many cases, if you include the boarding time and waiting around for planes, taking the train is quicker—and with deregulation, possibly cheaper.
Key countries in this rebirth of train travel will be France and Spain, which both have huge expansion plans for their high-speed rail. Air France is so worried they're even considering getting into the rail industry themselves. We're not worried at all, since passengers will only win on this as plenty-of-leg-room trains meet budget airline prices.
Related Stories:
· European Train Travel: Working on the Railroad [Time]
· Speeding Train Crosses Europe Faster [Jaunted]
[Photo: Terry Wha]
Tags: Greece Travel / European Vacations / Europe Travel / Summer Vacations / → All Tags
Will This Be The Summer You Party In Greece?
Last week we asked you if you're going to Europe this summer, and for the most part the wanderlust of Jaunted readers appears to be recession-proof. Many travelers who are intent on getting away are considering Eastern Europe, which tends to be cheaper and more accessible and just a little bit stranger than the standard London-Paris-Berlin itinerary.
If you're still deciding on an Eastern European destination, it's worth noting that some of our posts on summertime in Greece have included the phrases "oral sex competition" and "out-and-out degeneracy." The country is insane during the summer, whether you're close to Athens or you're gallivanting around the all-Spring-Break-all-the-time islands.
Tags: Open Threads / European Vacations / Europe Travel / Summer Vacations / → All Tags
Are You Still Going to Europe This Summer?
Summer is pretty much peak tourism season everywhere and Europe is the perennial summer vacation destination for Americans young and old. But when the economy tanks, and the stock market crashes and burns and the unemployment rate keeps going up up up, travel spending takes a hard hit. On the other hand, not being employed means more time to travel and since everyone is cutting their prices these days, hotel deals and airfare sales are plentiful.
But despite these travel deals and even the considerably less-hostile currency exchange rate, we wonder will travelers still hit the cobblestone streets of European cities big and small?
Tags: Travel Gift Cards / Holiday Gifts / Ryanair / Europe Travel / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / → All Tags
Ryanair Vouchers Are The Hot Ticket This Christmas (We Tell You Why)
Many low cost airlines reckon they're feeling the pinch of economic goings on, but always defiant Ryanair is only talking positive.
Ryanair sells gift vouchers that recipients can use towards flights and the current sales of these are apparently at least 10 percent higher than last Christmas time. The airline's theory on the increase in sales is that this kind of present is a "low budget, high impact" one.
It's only low budget if you buy the stingy minimum voucher of £20 or €25 (around $30) but your friend or family member will be lucky to get a one way ticket out of that. Of course, there are some people on our Christmas list we'd like to give a one way ticket to. Perhaps Ryanair is really onto something.
Related Stories:
· Ryanair Gift Vouchers [Official Site]
· Ryanair Confirms Large Increase in Sale of Vouchers [Peanuts]
· Ryanair Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Aitor Escauriaza]
Tags: Hovercrafts / Europe Travel / Videos / → All Tags
Rubbing Is Racing
One of our buds on Twitter--you do follow us on Twitter, don't you?--just gave us a heads up about this insane video of "extreme hovercraft racing" in Buckinghamshire, England. We're struggling to come up with a news hook for it, but, you know what, it's always a good time to write about hovercraft derbies.
There's actually a European Hovercraft Federation that sanctions racing events all over the Continent, if you want to go see one of these in person. Winter is the off-season, but the 2009 schedule kicks off with a two-day event in Frieburg, Germany, May 9-10. More races continue through the summer in Germany, as well as in France, Slovakia and Poland.
Related Stories:
· European Hovercraft Federation [Official Site]
· Travel Videos coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Online Travel Agents / Travel Websites / Europe Travel / → All Tags
Supermarket List: Milk, Bread, Cheap Vacation
While you might be used to picking up cheap groceries in your nearest Aldi, we had never thought you could pick up a vacation while you’re at it. But apparently the no-frills supermarket chain has already made in-roads on the German-speaking travel market and Britain is next in line.
Come January, Aldi Travel plans to sell cheap city breaks, summer vacations and ski deals across Europe through their website. They’ll advertise six different holidays every two weeks through in-store brochures and customers will pick up their package online.
We can see the attractiveness of cheap prices in exchange for total unattractiveness at Aldi supermarkets, but we’re not sure how this transfers to vacations. Will we get cheap prices and totally unattractive hotels? The jury’s still out.
Related Stories:
· Aldi Travel [Official Site]
· Discount Chain Aldi Sets Off On Holiday Market [UK Times]
· Online Travel Agents coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Laura Mary]
Tags: Ryanair / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Europe Travel / Michael O'Leary / → All Tags
Is Ryanair The World's Crassest Airline?
Ryanair still hasn't decided if and when it'll start offering those super-cheap transatlantic fares, but the carrier just announced that it made $275 million in profit over the first half of 2008. Though that number was way down compared to last year's haul, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary was confident enough in his own carrier to say it would outlast the five or six more European airlines he thinks will go bust before Christmas.
He also added that Europe "needed a recession" and predicted that by the end of it the Continent would have just four airlines: British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and, obviously, Ryanair.
It'd be easy to write this off as the bloviating of a large-than-life CEO--but Ryanair's accountants also signed off on zingers like these:
In the UK we continue to call for the removal of Mr. Harry Bush, the hopeless CAA regulator, as well as the sale of Stansted by the BAA monopoly. Mr. Bush has rubber stamped almost all of the BAA’s cost increases and [capital expenditure] proposals including their crazy plan to waste £4bn on Terminal 2 despite the unanimous opposition of all Stansted airline users to this gold plated Taj Mahal.
After getting slammed like this, Bush might want to sign onto the Facebook group "Ryanair: A Love/Hate Relationship."
Related Stories:
· Ryanair's First Half of 2008 Financial Results [Official Site]
· Ryanair Boss Predicts Airline Slump [PA]
· Blame Ryanair for the Most Annoying Song of 2008 [Jaunted]
[Photo: elward-photography]
