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UK Travel Agent - Business and Holiday Travel

AIRLINE NOTES

*EXCLUSIVE!* The new BA device for landing on soggy ground without wheels....
Delta have solved the emissions problem....

BRITISH AIRWAYS STRIKE

If you have to travel, say, longhaul, make contact with any friends or relations that you have who live near or around Heathrow, Gatwick or West London. It will be very difficult and chances are most hotels will be very, very full. Any rooms that can be had will be for pushing £200 a night. If you know someone, then being able to go somewhere will be a great help otherwise it's an uncomfortable night, in January, in either a very smelly terminal (believe me, it gets smelly) or a tent (in January!) with very limited bathroom facilities.  Stansted and Gatwick may be a problem as there is not a lot down there (Stansted especially, which really is in the back yard of nowhere) Remember that you can get to Stansted or Gatport Airwick by train in about 20/ 30 mins from Victoria or Liverpool Street Station, so staying in London is an option)

Do try and take the train to Gatwick or Stansted in any event. When things get gummed up, being in a car does not help. The drop off areas usually become mini-villages and the inhabitants are (understandably) bad-tempered. Take sandwiches, water, snacks, books (War and Peace!) and mentally condition yourself that there will be a lot of hassle, waiting and general grief. There will be BAA/ airline staff around and the junior staff will be hard pressed but, from my experience, work jolly hard to help as much as they can and generally, really do feel for you - so give them a break. 

If you hold a refundable (ie expensive - and I mean £380 -odd just to fly to Paris) FULL ECONOMY or FULL BUSINESS CLASS ticket then, of course, you can just change things. If you do not hold an unrestricted ticket you will need to turn up at the airport. If you are prepared to just go home, make conatct with an airline person, tell them and get a WRITTEN docket of some sort giving you authority to either re-book or refund your ticket. YOU MUST GET IT IN WRITING and get the name, date and time of signature. If things get sticky, airline staff will only be too pleased to shift one problem off their agenda. Remember, travel insurance does not cover known strikes - but you will still need it for other things, such as theft, medical and, of course, lost baggage etc. If you have to travel then either you have to go with the flow (I am afraid) or be prepared to give up the ticket (but see passim) DO NOT JUST NOT TURN UP if you want to stand any chance of getting money back or re-booking.

London Airports - General Information if you do get stuck

KENYA

The Foreign Office have changed their classification of the Kenya situation - Instead of being "Don't go" it is now "excercise extreme caution and avoid certain areas". So you are just marginally less likely to get hacked about or shot by some gun-toating 12 year old. This means that you can once again buy package holidays to Kenya. Personally, I think you would be a couple of flights short of a full package holiday to do so - as we say in the trade. If you were able to cancel, you sould have done so by now. Otherwise, give it a miss, if I were you. Here is what the Foreign Office said: (From their website)

Just keep half an eye on this. It looks like things are settled at the moment and BA have enough problems, what with terminal 5. Be alert, though, there is still trouble up t'mill, just under the surface....

"We advise against all but essential travel to the following parts of Kenya; Western and Nyanza provinces, Rift Valley province between Narok and Kitale, the central business district, Kibera, Mathere and Eastleigh areas of Nairobi, Uhuru Park and Mombasa town. The security and political situation in the country remains unpredictable. If you are in affected areas you should remain indoors."

"A number of areas of Kenya are experiencing violent unrest following the disputed presidential election result and may be prone to further outbreaks. The security and political situation in the country remains unpredictable. You should avoid all public gatherings and large public meetings. Any rallies, even if advertised as peaceful, could potentially turn violent."

HEATHROW TERMINAL 5

BA are pretty much running normaly and nearly all flights are now be operating.  From June 5th, another load of baggage will be lost, I mean, another tranch of flights will start to use Terminal 5 - specifically: New Yoik (JFK only) Abuja (that's Nigeria), Bangalore, Beijing, Cairo, Cape Town, Lagos (Yup, Nigeria again) and Phoenix. As you can see, there is a distinct logic to this...   This is in addition to those already operating from Terminal 5 which are Kong Hong, Jo'burg, Los Angeles, Miami (best seen from 32,000 feet), San Francisco, Tokyo and Vancouver.

It is vital that you carefully read your intineraries! And they are now charging for the car park.

Actually, Terminal 5 is really rather good. Once the systems are ironed out, I believe that this will make a huge difference.

Generally, all is quiet and for once, running quite well.

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