Business Travel

AIRLINE NOTES - PAGE 2

Topics - Flight Cancellations - BA Baggage - Passports - Dropping Off - Food - Save the Planet

Many of us travel within Europe on a regular basis and we are used to the "turn up and take off" concept. Even more so with E- Tickets. Travel is not as much an event as it used to be. We travel further and further away for our holidays and have generally become quite blase about getting around the globe.

Be aware that requirements range from the sensible to the unusual to the mind-bogglingly stupid and can apply to any country or combination of countries depending on who does or does not get on with whom. South Africa requires an empty page, you cannot go to certain Arabian countries if you have an Israeli stamp, certain central Asian countries require a rain forest's worth of bits of paper and so on...... You have been warned!

Any country outside of the UK is a sovereign state and has its own rules and regulations with regard to entry, passports and visas. If you do not comply with them - you go straight back where you came from and you may well get a hefty bill to boot. So, check that your passport is up to date and that it has at least 6 months left on it. That you use the correct name when booking anything (not obvious to many, it appears). Above all, outside the EEC as a matter of course, ask about requirements - YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE YOU COMPLY WITH THE RULES AND VISA REQUIREMENTS OF THE COUNTRY YOU ARE GOING TO. That is YOU, not the airline, not the travel agent, not your mate you had a drink with in the "Red Lion" two days ago, not your PA, YOU. The only people who can tell you definitively is the respective Embassy or High Commission of the country you intend to visit. Satisfy yourself, by yourself, for yourself. Remember that the days when the British can send a gun boat up the Yangtze are long gone (so is much of the Yangtze, by all accounts)

STOP!

I am aware that in the hurly burly of a busy airport with cancelled flights, lots of angry people and you being in a desperate hurry to get to a meeting, it is difficult to find the time to sort out the agreement of an airline representative - but do remember that just as keen as you are to get away, so to (probably) is the airline representative to clear a person from his or her list. A few extra moments taken will be well worth while - and save an awful lot of trouble further down the line.

Whatever is decided and agreed, word of mouth is worse than useless. Trust me! You must get a piece of paper with an airline stamp and the persons name stating that a refund is agreed and/ or a brief mention of the agreed procedure - and the reasons for the change "A/Craft Non-Op" is the usual one. If you do not get a piece of paper and name you will NOT be able to claim any refund at all. Period.

Most airlines, if they have the problem of a cancelled flight are only to glad to get you on your way (and off their problem list!) But you must explain what you are going to do and why. You must state that you want a refund and/ or the return flight to be kept.  You must ask an airline representative first. If they agree, all well and good, if they do not, you would then have to make a judgement in your own mind if you are prepared to lose the cost of your ticket. IMPORTANT: NOT going out may mean that the RETURN flight is cancelled as well - so you must be clear in your own mind what you are going to do. WHATEVER you do: Do get the name of the person you spoke to and try very hard to get a stamped piece of airline paper saying they approve of your actions. Do check that your return flight is still intact if you elect to use an aletrnatibe flight to get you to your destination.

You pay an airline to get you from A to B - but not A to B at 06:30 (or whatever time). Your airline will advise you what action they are going to take to get you to your destination - usually by putting you on the next available flight. If the next flight is the next day, than they (should) also put you in a hotel. You are, as it were, their problem. In the business arena - and "short haul" - this usually means the next flight. The next flight with your airline may mean you are likely to miss a vital appointment, so the temptation is just to go off and book airline B. If you do this, you effectively clear the original airline of all further liability. They are making arrangements for you, but no, off you went and did your own thing!

Apart from the weather and industrial action, which are invariably hot news, flights do get cancelled for various reasons - aircraft going "technical", air traffic delays and such. This can and does happen - if it happens to you, please bear in mind the following:

1. Do NOT just go off and book something else .........  and expect a refund afterwards.

My Flight Has Been Cancelled!