Please note that you must now apply for your ESTA, if applicable, no later than 72 hours before departing for the US. Previously real-time approvals were possible, however, this is no longer the case.
For more information, please click here.
I am very happy to announce the publication of the HOTELS QUARTERLY MARKET REPORT.
The publication, compiled in association with our partners, Advantage Travel Partnership, provides an insight into the hotel market in 2018 and contains fascinating industry insight, particularly for anyone who needs to book business travel in the year ahead.
With detailed research and analysis, the report contains important information for any business booking hotel rooms for business travel in the next year. The data includes details on the average daily rate paid in hotels worldwide; research into how many hotels are being built; how many additional hotel rooms are coming on-stream; the increase in hotel nights booked worldwide – and the extent to which the UK market leads the world; plus many other data points that are critical in determining how and where next year’s travel spend can best be utilised.
The report analyses which hotel industry trends should be watched in the year ahead. Including the effect Brexit will have on Average Day Rates in hotels in London and elsewhere in the country; the best way to book stays in order to ensure securing hotel group loyalty points; and advice on how to make sure bookings are made at the best rates.
The top 40 locations in the UK are analysed to show which places are the most popular and where the highest and lowest Average Daily Rates can be found. And there is information on the top 40 places outside the UK too.
This report is a vital set of research to help ensure you can optimise your hotel spend in the coming year. If you would like a copy of the report, please drop me an email – pb@GTM.uk.com – and I will send you a PDF version, free of charge.
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled as a snowstorm hit the U.S. Midwest on Sunday, snarling post-Thanksgiving travel on one of the busiest days of the year.
O’Hare is a hub for both United Airlines and American Airlines. American Airlines waived date-change fees for travellers booked to and from 20 cities in the Midwest if they can travel through Nov. 29. Spirit Airlines also waived fees for date changes through Nov. 29 for tickets in and out of Chicago and Kansas City, due to the storm. Southwest Airlines said travellers wouldn’t have to pay the fare difference to change their tickets in and out of Chicago’s Midway, Des Moines, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Omaha and Wichita. The airline normally doesn’t charge travellers a flat fee to change their travel dates.
A few travel problems may continue into the start of the workweek. American said it cancelled 85 flights scheduled for Monday, while FlightAware.com showed about 200 flights were cancelled in and out of Chicago’s airports and Kansas City.
Global Travel Management will continue to offer its customers the full range of Lufthansa Group Airlines’ air fares, despite the airline restricting access to their lowest prices via the traditional Global Distribution Systems (GDS) from December 1st 2018.
Lufthansa Group Airlines’ most competitive fares, sold in the UK, for European point-to-point flights have always been available to GTM – and all other TMCs – via their GDS’. However, from 1 December this year, Lufthansa Group has decided to restrict the sale of their lowest fares, via a new channel known as NDC. This means that only TMC’s who are connected to LHG’s NDC pipeline will be able to offer these fares; and GTM is one of those!
GTM has access to these fares – typically offering significant savings on European short-haul flights. These Economy Light fares on Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and SN Brussels Airlines’ flights across Europe will all continue to be available via GTM, but will be restricted from the main global distribution systems.
Thus, GTM’s clients will still be able to book these flights, while some other travel management companies’ customers will not. GTM continues to work closely with Lufthansa Group, along with British Airways and Air France KLM to ensure that our customers benefit from the widest choice of fares at the lowest available cost. Please feel free to contact Paul Baker, Sales Director, should you wish to discuss the matter further.
Eurowings passengers at Dusseldorf Airport can expect flight cancellations on Tuesday. During a warning strike, employees of the Lufthansa subsidiary stopped working this morning, affecting 18 flights.
Eurowings advised passengers to arrive at the airport in advance, as there could be delays at check-in and in the security area.
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:
