Travel News | Travel Advice

Clickair, a budget, low-cost airline based in Spain, has recently launched a new initiative to allow customers to hold seats on any of its flights for a small charge of €2 per seat. This allows the customer to reserve a seat for up to 24 hours before confirming or cancelling the booking.

This may prove popular, because many passengers booking with low cost airlines feel pressured into buying a ticket straight away for fear of the price rising if they delay.

The Clickair initiative is believed to be the first of its kind in the aviation industry and no doubt other airlines will be keeping a close eye on it in order to determine if it is a path they should follow.

If you are looking for flights within the Middle East then you may want to consider booking with low-cost airline Jazeera Airways.

The Kuwait based airline is well known in the region for offering cheap flights and in a bid to secure even more passengers the airline has introduced what it calls “Happy Hour”.

Jazeera passengers looking to book their flight tickets online should wait until 1pm. For one hour until 2pm the airline will offer a different special offer on certain routes every day for at least the next 12 months, so you could grab yourself a real bargain flight.

The airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, Steven Greenway, is quoted saying “We remain committed to constantly giving our passengers even greater freedom to fly within the region and beyond…The launch of Happy Hour is one way that we can drive value back to our passengers.”

UK airline bmi has agreed to form a code share agreement with TAM, Brazil’s largest airline.

The initial phase of this agreement will allow both airlines to expand services for customers travelling between Brazil and the UK. This will result in a wider range of destination options for passengers with an easier connection process within the two countries. For example bmi passengers will be able to check in at Manchester for a flight to Sao Paulo Brazil. The flight will operate via Heathrow and Rio de Janeiro but you will not need to check in your luggage again for the TAM flight within Brazil.

Bmi has revealed that the partnership will be expanded to include flights into Europe and destinations in South America, such as Argentina and Chile.

Passengers travelling within the USA will not have failed to note the progress made by Delta Air Lines in its re-branding operation of Northwest Airlines, following their recent merger. 
As March drew to a close all Northwest airlines crew and ground staff wore their old uniforms for the last time and are now visible in their Delta Air Lines clothing.

The merger is moving rapidly as both airlines strive to combine their strengths to bring quality and value to passengers.

Not only have the uniforms changed, but also the following:
- Increased First Class offerings, such as improved meal choice on flights over 900 miles and a wider variety of snacks on flights over 250 miles.
- Economy passengers travelling on Northwest operated routes of more than 250 miles will benefit from the return of free snacks. On flights over 600 miles food will be made available for purchase.
- In addition to the return of in-flight food, passengers in Northwest economy seats will once again benefit from free, in-flight entertainment on all flights within the USA (but the safety video shown will be a Delta Air Lines video).
- Passengers on both Delta and Northwest operated routes will benefit from a single in-flight magazine, “Sky”.
Delta Air Lines offers a number of cheap flights from a number of regional UK airports to several destinations throughout the USA.

Ryanair, Europe’s leading low cost airline is to reduce the number of aircraft based at its Irish hub Dublin from 22 to 17.

As a direct consequence of this, flights to Doncaster/Sheffield and Durham Tees Valley will be withdrawn from as early as July 09.

Flights to Aberdeen, Bournemouth and East Midlands will also be affected, as the frequency of the Dublin flights to these airports will be reduced.

Ryanair has blamed airport charges and taxes for these cuts, some of which have increased by as much as 12%.

Dublin Airport itself will see Ryanair flight numbers reduced from around 700 per week to around 600. This is a reduction of around 13% in passenger numbers travelling through the airport.

Ryanair’s Chairman Michael O’Leary has stated that such increases in taxation were impossible to justify in a year when inflation will be negative.

Ryanair will make further cuts from Dublin when its winter schedule comes into force.