Please note that the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation are reporting that baggage handlers at Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports are planning to strike this Friday, 21st September.
You may therefore wish to cram whatever you can into your hand luggage!
Qantas has announced the formation of a new global ten year partnership with Emirates. However, the agreement falls short of a merger and there will be no equity investment on either side.
The existing 17 year joint business between British Airways and Qantas will end on 31st March 2013, however, both airlines will continue to work together as Qantas will remain a One World alliance partner.
The main change will see Qantas moving its hub for European flights from Singapore to Dubai next April.
Passengers flying through Edinburgh Airport may now have to go through full body scanners.
The airport has been directed to introduce the new scanners by the British government. Don’t worry though, the scanners will only provide security staff with a mannequin style diagram, rather than a ‘naked’ image!
Following our recent office move we have also now updated and refreshed our web site.
The URL hasn’t changed, it remains : www.gtm.uk.com, and is now packed with lot’s more news and features. We would particularly like to draw your attention to a new feature called GTM Toolbox. This can be found on either the horizontal menu, or, there is an icon of an iPhone on the right hand side of your screen; simply hover your cursor over it.
Of interest to those of you who regularly book travel for your colleagues, is a new product called GTM Dashboard. This new tool provides an overview of all the trips you’ve made on one screen, rather than having to refer to individual ViewTrip references. Should you wish to have a demo of this new tool, or sign up, please contact Scott Pawley at spawley@g-t-m.co.uk.
There are lots of other helpful news, tools and links, so please have a look when you have some spare time. And now other news….
Forewarned is forearmed as the saying goes. Ryanair tickets may be as cheap as chips, however, woe betide you if you do not print out your boarding pass.
That’s what happened to passenger Suzy McLeod on 15th August, when she had to shell out 300 Euros for five boarding passes to fly from Spain to Bristol. To compound matters Suzy had checked in online, but had simply forgotten to print out her boarding passes; and, thus, was charged the 300 Euros for five pieces of paper – ouch.
Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to fly domestic services between London Heathrow and Manchester airports from March 2013.
Commencing 31st March, Virgin will operate three daily services from Heathrow Terminal 1 to Manchester Airport’s Terminal 3. Flights are on sale now.
Effective immediately, book a Club World return ticket on British Airways in booking classes R, D or C between now and October 2nd, and you’ll receive a complimentary one-way upgrade to First (subject to availability).
The booking period continues through to November 13th, but is only valid at the higher J class fare level/s after 2nd October. Outbound travel must be completed by 13th November and inbound travel by 20th November.
September 9th saw BMIbaby operate its last ever flight. Following the recent sale of BMI & BMIbaby to British Airways’ parent company IAG, and despite discussions with several interested buyers, IAG has taken the decision to close the airline.
The union representing Lufthansa’s flight attendants has intensified its strike action. Tomorrow’s walkout has now affected a majority of the airline’s flight schedule.
The eight hour walkout will affect Lufthansa’s operations in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich & Stuttgart. The union represents over two thirds of Lufthansa’s 18,000 cabin crew, and is seeking a five percent pay increase backdated to January, after three years of wage freezes.
We (GTM) are actively managing every Lufthansa booking for tomorrow and will be in contact, if we haven’t already, to assist with re-scheduling your travel arrangements. However, should you have any concerns please do contact us at your earliest convenience.
Finally, as this strike action continues to affect more of the airline’s operations, and with no forseeable end in sight to the dispute, please ensure (if you are booked to fly with Lufthansa in the near future) that you do check in online for your flight.
Notification of today’s strike by Lufthansa cabin crews was only announced by the airline at 0700 CET today. The union representing Lufthansa’s flight attendants refused to release details any earlier.
The strike officially started at 0500 this morning and will last until 1300 CET today. Please forward on to your colleagues as appropriate and recommend that anyone due to fly with Lufthansa today, checks in for their flight online, where they will find the most up to date information. We have already checked whether any of the tickets we’ve issued have been affected and will be in contact with those passengers very shortly.
It is worth noting that this may be the first in a series of walk-outs by Lufthansa flight attendants, so if you are planning any travel, or are due to fly with the airline in the coming weeks, please always check in online. We will send out further updates as they reach us.
