NEWS: THIS WEEK IN TRAVEL

The Unite Union's Assistant General Secretary, Len McCluskey, announced this morning two strikes by British Airways cabin crew members to take place later this month.

BA's latest formal offer will be put to their members and the union expects to hear back from them by the middle of next week. If the cabin crew reject the offer then the first 3-day strike will run from Sat 20th March to Monday 22nd inclusive. Then a second 4-day strike will begin a week later, running from Sat 27th March to Tues 30th March inclusive.

In response, British Airways has issued a statement saying they are very disappointed at the news. The airline says it hopes to minimise disruption:

"Should a strike take place, we will do everything we can to protect our customers’ travel plans as far as possible.

"We plan to operate all British Airways’ flights from London City airport, including long-haul services to New York. From Gatwick, we plan to operate all long-haul services and about 50 per cent of short-haul. From Heathrow, we plan to operate a substantial part of our long-haul and short-haul schedule.

"We are also in the process of obtaining seats on flights operated by other carriers to enable thousands of customers to fly to their chosen destinations.

"We will aim to give more details four or five days before the strike is due to begin when we will announce our revised flying programme."

Which? Holiday's Head of Research, Rochelle Turner, says those due to travel with the airline over the strike periods are unlikely to get a refund on their ticket until flights are officially cancelled, and risk losing money if they book a second ticket through another airline.

"Passengers whose flights are cancelled should get a full refund, or may be able to rearrange their BA flight date, but that won’t compensate for the time and money lost on hotel bookings or tour dates.

"Not all flights will be affected, and other airlines may offer to take passengers that were due to travel on BA.

"Some elements of trips booked before the strike was announced may be covered by travel insurance but passengers will need to check individual policies; any flights booked since 22nd February are not likely to be covered by standard policies, but passengers should check with their insurance providers."

Passengers flying with BA can keep up with the latest news and flight advice on the ba.com website.

Viewed with some suspicion at its birth - that it might turn out to be a white elephant like its sibling millennium project, The Dome - the London Eye has become a hugely successful tourist icon attracting an average 3.6 million visitors each year. For Londoners, it's now hard to image the Westminster skyline without it.

The UK’s number one paid-for visitor attraction, and the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel is celebrating its 10th birthday this week.

Forbes.com has published a list of the world's ten most on-time airlines last year.

Japan Airlines with a 91% on-time record tops the list with another Japanese airline, ANA second. The only British airline to make it into the top ten was Flybe.

The list is...

1. Japan Airlines (Japan)
2. ANA (Japan)
3. SAS (Sweden)
4. Korean Air Lines (Korea)
5. Horizon Air (USA)
6. Air Nostrum (Spain)
7. Chautauqua Airlines (USA)
8. Qantas (Australia)
9. Lufthansa (Germany)
10. Flybe - British European (UK)

Flights were considered on time if they arrive at their destination within 15 mins of the scheduled time.

The long established tour operator, Scantours has ceased trading.

Scantours was launched in 1967 and specialised in tours and activities (such as Santa tours) to destinations in Scandinavia and the Baltic under a number of trade names: Scantours, ScanMeridian, Scandinavian Holidays, Iceland Adventures, Travel Scandinavia, Winter Adventures, Summer Adventures, and Brief Encounters.

Scantours was licensed with both ABTA and ATOL so travellers already abroad with the company on packages that included flights will be re-patriated and those with booked holidays should have little difficulty making a claim.

Scantours is the second major specialist operator to Scandinavia to disappear in under five years. Nortours, formerly Norvista, collapsed in Dec 2005.

British Airways cabin crew have voted to go on strike.

The second ballot of thousands of BA cabin crew, announced today, has resulted in an overwhelming vote (80.7%) in favour of industrial action. Turnout was 78.7%.

In December a high court ruled the Unite union's first ballot illegal because it included members of staff who had left or were about to leave British Airways.

Strike action is not inevitable. The union has already said that it intends to avoid strikes over Easter, so if industrial action goes ahead it is likely to take place in late March and continue again in mid April.

The union is in dispute with British Airways over job security, manning levels and working practises.

Europe's second largest airline, Lufthansa, is currently operating a limited schedule while its pilots, members of Vereinigung Cockpit union, are on strike from 22 Feb to 25 Feb.

An amphibious bus is to be demonstrated today at Renfrew ferry on the Clyde.

Transport company Stagecoach believes there is potential for a new "amfibus" service linking communities on the Clyde, making use of existing slipways at Renfrew and Yoker. The amfibus would run by road from Braehead to the Renfrew ferry slipway, cross the Clyde to Yoker and then travel on by road to Clydebank, replacing the role of the current ferry service between Renfrew and Yoker, which is due to close at the end of March.

The new £700,000 amfibus can carry 50 passengers and is built in Holland by Dutch Amphibious Transport Vehicles BV (DATV) of Nijmegen. (See video of trials in Rotterdam, entering the water and exiting)

Based on a bus chassis, the amfibus incorporates a hull to allow the vehicle to float and is fully safety certified for operation on road and water by European transport regulatory authorities. On the road, the vehicle operates like a standard coach. In the water, twin water jets push it along at 8 knots.

Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “This is an exciting transport project that would provide a seamless bus connection between two important local communities.

"Passengers can use the amfibus to travel over road and water without having to leave the comfort of their seat to change from a bus to a ferry. It shows the potential of Scotland’s rivers and estuaries to be links rather than barriers to travel and we are looking forward to testing the technology on the Clyde."

Longtime aviation journalist, Malcolm Ginsberg, thinks there may be a role for such a vehicle in London. Writing in this weeks edition of AERBT he points out that the complicated river link to London City Airport could be replaced by a similar service giving south Londoners a direct crossing to the airport door.

The floaty coach idea is not new. Budapest already has an amphibious tour bus that takes tourists on a guided tour, showing them views of the city from the Danube.

The country whose transport networks have been firmly centred on the automobile and aeroplane since the start of the 19th century, looks finally ready to join the high-speed rail (HSR) revolution.

With the exception of the Acela in the northeast, the USA has been an HSR-free zone.

Now, as part of his American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) designed to stimulate the US economy out of recession through spending on public projects, President Obama has announced (28 Jan) that 21 states and the Northeast Corridor will receive high-speed and passenger rail grants, and nine states will receive grants for rail planning studies - in total $8 billion.

"This historic day is the culmination of more than a decade of work by state DOTs across the country to revive passenger rail as a major transportation option in America," said Gene Conti, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Chair of the AASHTO Standing Committee on Rail. "This is also only the beginning of that resurgence. States stand ready to plan, build, and deliver high speed rail for the United States."

President Obama and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced the awards today in Tampa, Florida, which received one of the major grant awards of $1.25 billion. California received the largest funding for projects throughout the state, totaling $2.344 billion.

Lithuanian low-cost airline, Star 1 Airlines, is to launch twice weekly flights between Edinburgh and Vilnius this summer.

The flights start from 28 March 2010 on Thursdays and Sundays, but will then switch to Fridays and Sundays from 7 May.

A month later (29 Apr) Star 1 will also start operating a summer programme of flights to Vilnius from Stansted six times a week. And three times weekly from Dublin from 29 May.

The controversial body scanners being installed at airports throughout the UK in the wake of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed Christmas Day bomb attempt over Detroit, will be operated under new security rules effective from yesterday.

Heathrow and Manchester airports have been the first to start operating the new system, which makes it compulsory for selected passengers to undergo a full body scan. Any passenger refusing to be scanned will be denied boarding.

The scanners reveal a detailed image of the body which critics say breach passengers' rights to privacy, however Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, says the Department of Transport has published an interim code of practice covering privacy, health and safety, data protection and equality issues.

"The code will require airports to undertake scanning sensitively, having regard to the rights of passengers" he said, and suggested that only a small proportion of passengers will be selected for scanning. These passengers include...

• Passengers who have requested a private search prior to or after passing through the walk-through metal detection equipment.
• Passengers who have been referred for a private search following an unresolved metal detection alarm or if the security officer believes that further investigation is required following completion of the hand search process.
• If explosive trace detection equipment causes an alarm to sound, or if vapour detection equipment has caused an alarm.
• Any passenger can also be selected at random without regard to personal characteristics for a scan.

"If a passenger is selected for scanning, and declines, they will not be permitted to fly", he said.

Manchester Airport’s Head of Customer Experience, Sarah Barrett, has also sought to allay privacy fears, confirming that the image generated by the body scanner cannot be stored or captured nor can security officers viewing the images recognise people.

"Contrary to reports, the equipment does not allow security staff to see passengers naked", she said.

Full body scanners are expected to be operating at Birmingham airport in March.

Star Clippers will substitute the Caribbean island of Nevis for its scheduled stop at Antigua on five remaining Royal Clipper Windward Island itineraries through to 10 April. The decision was taken in the wake of the tragic murder of a guest while on shore during a port call at Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, last month.

"Star Clippers has called at Antigua for many years without incident, and with its long sailing and yacht history, the island has always been a popular destination with our guests," said Mikael Krafft, CEO of Star Clippers. "We are taking this decision after much deliberation, and we will continue to monitor the security situation in Antigua and evaluate our options for next winter season regarding returning to the island."

Royal Clipper was scheduled to call at Antigua again tomorrow (Tues). The ship ends its Caribbean season 10 April when it sets sail on a 16-day trans-Atlantic cruise from Barbados to Malaga, Spain.

Local police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of Star Clipper's guest. More details here.

Varsity Express will make its commercial debut as a new, full service regional airline operator on 1 March, 2010, offering Monday to Friday flights between London Oxford and Edinburgh Airports.

Services will be operated by 18-seat British Aerospace Jetstream 31 aircraft and promotional fares on every seat go on sale today at £49 one way, including taxes and charges, through to 12 March. Thereafter, lead in fares are available from £49 and flexible fares from £149.

Commercial Director Will Gilligan said "We have been looking to start a regular shuttle service on this sought after route for some time. Oxford is the third most visited English city by international visitors (10 million per annum) and Edinburgh is the second most popular destination, after London, in the UK."

(£) has given notice that it is proposing to withdraw from the Portsmouth - Bilbao route at the end of September 2010, when the charter of the ship it uses for the service, the Pride of Bilbao, comes to an end.

In the meantime, the service will operate normally and bookings up to and including 27 September are unaffected. P&O Ferries will be contacting passengers with bookings beyond that date in order to make alternative arrangements or offer refunds.

The company says that despite a concerted effort to improve the financial performance of its 15-year-old service, losses continue and are unsustainable. Staff were advised on Friday as the company began consultations with representatives of its workforce in order to mitigate potential job losses. The months ahead will be used to try to offer alternative positions elsewhere in the company’s route network. A total of 252 people work on the Pride of Bilbao including 130 agency staff. A further 12 staff work in the company’s shore operation in Bilbao.

Chief executive Helen Deeble said: "We have examined every option very carefully and have been trying for more than three years to find a suitable replacement ship in order to continue the service profitably. The Pride of Bilbao has served us well but is now an old ship nearing the end of her commercial life and needs to be replaced.

"However, we have reached the sad conclusion that such a replacement vessel is not currently available and as this loss-making route is unable to fund the cost of a new purpose-built ship we have no alternative other than to close it."

Haiti's neighbour, The Dominican Republic (DR) is tightly bound up in the disaster relief efforts, in particular providing staging areas at some at some of the international airports located on the Island.

The DR's Ministry of Tourism has released a statement to say how deeply saddened they are by the tragic loss of life and extensive earthquake damage to the people of Haiti, and at the same time reassuring visitors that although they share the same island, the DR experienced no damage from the earthquake and all transportation systems, communication systems, tourism businesses and medical facilities are operating smoothly.

"The DR is making available its medical facilities for earthquake victims and is providing international relief organizations access to Haiti through the airports and seaports. Our transportation systems, communications systems, hotels, resorts, beaches and natural environment suffered no damage here. We are grateful and with deep concern open our hearts to our neighbors and will continue to do everything we can to help them and reassure global travelers that the DR is receiving visitors." said Mr. Francisco Javier Garcia, Minister of Tourism.

The DR shares the eastern third of the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Punta Cana, the major global tourism destination in the DR is located approximately 400 miles (633 kilometers) east of Haiti’s capital, or a 10-12 hour drive, with numerous mountain ranges separating the two countries.

The Ministry confirms that:

• All of the DR’s eight international airports are open and receiving flights.
• All of the DR’s cruise terminals and seaports are open and receiving ships.
• All of the DR’s beaches, hotels, resorts and tourism businesses are conducting normal business operations.
• At this time, no flights or group tours to the DR have been cancelled.

Singapore Airlines (£) will operate five-times-weekly flights Manchester-Munich-Singapore from 28 March 2010.

The five-times weekly flights (currently three) will operate departing Manchester on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; and departing Singapore on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and will use the same B777-300ER aircraft that are used on the airline's route from Heathrow - giving Manchester passengers a chance to enjoy the latest seats and facilities.

Gordon Brown has demanded that full body scanners should be introduced at all UK international airports following the attempted terrorist bombing of an airliner over Detroit on Christmas day.

The Prime Ministerial revelation on Sunday's Andrew Marr Show (BBC One) has triggered a debate about their use. Many security experts already consider that current airport security measures are more 'theatrical than practical', and say that if body scanners had been in place in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport - where the (alleged) terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, boarded his Delta Airlines flight for Detroit - they would not have detected the explosives in his underwear.

Conservative MP Ben Wallace actually worked on this type of scanner at the defence research organisation QinetiQ before entering Parliament in 2005, and has challenged the Prime Minister's move, confirming the 'millimetre wave' scanners won't detect hidden explosives like this.

There are also legal issues. Schiphol airport is reported to have 17 of the machines, but was unable to use them when the EU raised privacy concerns.

The Allbury Travel Group, parent to well-known brands Libra Holidays, Argo Holidays and JetLife ceased trading at midnight last night.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has confirmed that a comparatively small number of holiday-makers (less than 100) are currently abroad although some 4,000 customers are booked to travel with the company. The CAA is making arrangements for customers abroad to complete their holidays and return to the UK and will fully refund those with forward bookings, and is asking those customers to submit claims.

The Allbury Travel Group Brands were:

• Argo Holidays
• Asiaworld
• Caribworld
• Goldenjoy Holidays
• Jetlife
• Libra Diving
• Libra Flights
• Libra Holidays
• Libra Weddings
• Magical Cyprus
• Magical Greece
• Priceright Beds.Com
• Priceright Flights.Com
• Priceright Holidays
• Priceright Holidays.Com

Thousands of Eurostar passengers were left stranded and without information for hours when four Eurostar trains became stuck in the channel tunnel last night.

There was some confusion over the number of trains stuck in the 31-mile tunnel because as well as the Eurostar trains, at least one Eurotunnel Shuttle, and possibly some other trains (freight) were also caught by the extreme weather conditions.

The trains, including one full of young children and their families returning to the UK from Disneyland Paris, broke down when condensation from a sudden change in temperature from sub-zero outside, to warm air inside the tunnel, caused electrical failures.

Passengers arriving back at Ashford and St Pancras after 14-19 hr journeys gave a grim account of their ordeal. Many reported running out of food and water, no air-conditioning and no power. Most of all, passengers on the stranded trains, their relatives and friends, and thousands of passengers waiting for trains this weekend, have complained about a lack of communication from the company.

Eurostar has confirmed that it will be offering travellers who suffered major delays on their train services last night £150 compensation per passenger in addition to a refund on their tickets and a free return ticket.

Passengers who were unable to travel today can exchange their tickets for travel on a later date or have their tickets refunded and be compensated for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.

Latest Update (21/12/09): Eurostar says it hopes to operate a limited schedule tommorrow (Tues 22nd Dec).

The threatened industrial action by ASLEF drivers on Eurostar appears to have been side-stepped by the management who have reportedly brought in Belgian and French drivers to cover for striking British drivers.

Eurostar says that although up to 70 British drivers plan still to strike from midnight tonight, the weekend and Christmas schedules will run as planned... snow conditions notwithstanding.

The company also managed to agree a new deal earlier this week with Eurostar train managers who had also threatened to strike in a separate dispute.