The company that provides special assistance at London Gatwick (LGW) airport are planning to take strike action on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 November 2018.
British Airways intend to operate a full schedule, but if the strike goes ahead, there will be limited mobility assistance available for both arriving and departing customers.
The devastating Camp Fire in Paradise has become the deadliest in California’s history. At least 48 people have been killed, and about 200 are still missing. More than 8,800 structures, most of them homes, have been destroyed as the area has been reduced to ashes. The blaze is only about 35 percent contained, and has burned 130,000 acres, as it continues to rage east of the city of Chico. The Woolsey Fire is burning west of Los Angeles and has swept through parts of Malibu. The fire is 40 percent contained and has charred more than 97,000 acres. The Hill Fire in Ventura County has been kept to about 4,500 acres and is 90 percent contained.
Airlines has begun issuing waivers for travellers.
American Airlines:
Passengers traveling to, through or from Burbank, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento or San Francisco can redeem a waiver to reschedule original flights planned through Nov. 16, for travel by Nov. 25.
American Airlines is also raising money for those affected, offering AAdvantage members 10 miles for every dollar on Red Cross donations of $25 or more until Dec.10.
Delta:
Travellers flying with Delta to, through or from Burbank, Los Angeles, Oakland, or San Francisco Nov. 12-13 can rebook their flight to travel no later than Nov. 28 without incurring a fee. Passengers who cannot travel can cancel their reservations and apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original ticket issuance.
Southwest:
Those traveling to and from Burbank, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Orange County, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose can make changes to their reservation for flights between now and Nov. 20. Travellers can either rebook or travel standby “within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs” without paying any additional charge.
United Airlines:
Flights through Nov. 16 from or to Burbank, Los Angeles or San Francisco will have change fees and any difference in fare waived for new United flights departing on or before Nov. 25. The new flight must be between the same cities as originally booked and be in the same fare class.
JetBlue:
The airline will waive change and cancellation fees and fare differences for customers traveling through Nov. 16 to and from Burbank, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Francisco. Customers may rebook their flights for travel through Nov. 21.
Due to an essential reservation system upgrade the below services on www.ryanair.com and app will be unavailable on the 07th November 2018 17.00 (GMT) to 08th November 05:00 (GMT). Ryanair strongly recommends that customers travelling on Wednesday 07th November and Thursday 08th November ensure that they have checked in online and printed their boarding passes by Tuesday 06th November 2018.
Online Check-in – Not available from 17.00 (GMT) on Wednesday 07th November 2018 until 05:00 (GMT) on Thursday 08th November 2018.
Customers should check-in online before or after the above closure times. Online check-in is available up to 2 hours prior to the flight departure time (except during the closure period).
New Bookings cannot be made on Ryanair.com/Ryanair App between 17.00 (GMT) on Wednesday 07th November 2018 until 05:00 (GMT) on Thursday 08th November 2018.
Flight Changes (date/time/route) / name changes cannot be made between 17.00 (GMT) on Wednesday 07th November 2018 until 05:00 (GMT) on Thursday 08th November 2018.
Review Existing Booking – This service is unavailable between 17.00 (GMT) on Wednesday 07th November 2018 until 05:00 (GMT) on Thursday 08th November 2018.
Airport Check In /Bag Drop – The Airport Check In/Bag Drop desks open two hours prior to the scheduled departure and early check-in of baggage is highly recommended. The Bag Drop desks close strictly 40 minutes before the scheduled time of departure.
All passengers travelling with checked baggage are recommended to arrive at the airport 2 hours before their scheduled flight departure time.
Please contact your GTM Account Manager or Team for further information.
Workers on Arriva Rail North are to stage five fresh strikes on Saturdays in the run-up to Christmas in the long-running dispute over guards.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will walk out for 24 hours on November 17 and 24, and on December 1, 8 and 15.
The new action will take the number of strikes against the company to 41 since the bitter row over the role of guards on trains flared.
Strikes had already been announced for the next two Saturdays, leading to huge disruption to services.
Speak to your GTM account manager or one of our reservations team for more information.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially opened Istanbul’s new airport on Monday this week to coincide with the 95th anniversary of modern Turkey’s foundation, and the associated public holiday, Republic Day.
Istanbul Airport will be capable of handling up to 90 million passengers by 2021, with further expansion leading to a total capacity of up to 200 million. That would be almost double the capacity of the world’s busiest airport last year, Atlanta.
But the opening was largely symbolic, as only a handful of flights will begin to operate in its first week. Istanbul’s existing Ataturk Airport will continue to operate as normal until the end of this year, when it will transfer its IATA airport code (IST) as its replacement begins to ramp up its capacity.
Turkish authorities plan to move all operations from one airport (Ataturk) to Istanbul New Airport in the space of a day – currently scheduled for the end of December. After that point, Ataturk airport will be closed to passenger traffic, but continue as a private airfield until its current lease expires in 2021.
Istanbul’s other, smaller airport, Sabiha Gokcen, is expected to remain operational into the foreseeable future. Lastly, a few facts and figures about Istanbul New Airport:
Please note that the Ministry of Health of the UAE has issued a revised policy relating to which prescription drugs and medication can legally be taken in to the country.
A large number of prescribed and over the counter medicines that are widely available in the UK are considered to be controlled substances in the Emirates.
In order to help our corporate travellers avoid the potential pitfalls please click here for more information from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website.
With further planned strikes by the RMT union this Saturday, South Western Railway (SWR) has said around half of its normal service will be running.
For services which are disrupted on November 3, there will be rail replacement services and ticket acceptance on other bus and rail networks have also been organised where possible.
Please contact the GTM Team for more details.
Business travellers often tell me that one of the things they find most frustrating is being unable to redeem their frequent flyer miles.
Typically, someone taking long-haul flights on the best airline for their business trips, often finds it difficult to redeem an airline’s miles for their personal leisure travel/flights, often with that same airline.
Your regular business destination might not be a great location to take your family on vacation. Or you simply might want to go somewhere completely different when you travel for leisure.
So it’s great to find that some airlines have struck deals that allow you to accrue rewards on one and redeem them for flights on the other.
A great example of is Emirates and easyJet. Emirates Skywards members can use Skywards Miles to pay for their easyJet flights, inclusive of taxes, charges and airport fees, as well as for optional extras such as sports equipment.
For example, a business class return trip from London to Dubai on Emirates can earn you 11,400 Skywards Miles. Make that trip four times and you could earn more than 45,000 Skywards Miles.
With easyJet flying on over 600 routes to more than 30 countries, it’s simple to find a great leisure destinations to spend your Skywards Miles on. And with redemptions for easyJet flights starting from just 7,500 Skywards Miles for a one way trip, you could be arranging holiday flights very soon.
Talk to your GTM Account Manager next time you take an Emirates flight to check the Skywards Miles you can earn. You might find it very rewarding.
Lufthansa Group are now selling, for a limited period, companion fares for customers who buy either a First, or Business Class, ticket.
Valid from the UK to the following cities: Bangkok, Beijing, Bogota, Delhi, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo or Shanghai.
Fares are on sale now and until 3rd September 2018, and valid for travel between 15th September 2018 & 30th June 2019.
The discounts on offer are considerable, for example, a fare for one person to Hong Kong starts from £1950, but for two people the equivalent fare is just £1250pp.
Early booking is advisable though due to restricted capacity.
If you’re visiting Spain in the coming days, be aware that taxi drivers have called an indefinite strike in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Alicante, Malaga and Bilbao. Other destinations may be affected at short notice. The strikes are causing some disruption in city centres, as well as access to and from airports. If you’re intending to make an important journey by taxi, consider planning your journey in advance, checking alternative travel options and allowing extra time to complete your journey.
At present, the strike is still ongoing according to our (GTM’s) latest news sources.
