Inside Traveller Trip Reports
Join our flight report team!
We welcome your comments and reviews of flights you have taken. Each month we have a review of readers’ comments (see below) and build these up so that we get a consensus. Clearly, the fact that one person did not enjoy the food on a particular airline is unfortunate but could be just bad luck – if several people say the same thing then we have an obvious trend and one which we want to warn readers about. If you would like to contribute your own trip report, please send us details using our online form or email us at info@wentworth-publishing.co.uk. Your personal details will be kept completely confidential and will not be passed to any third parties.
Trip Report - November 2011
A reader was not very happy about the Speedy Boarding offered by easyJet on a flight from Malaga. The departure screens did not show the flight as boarding, but by the time our reader got to the gate, the plane was already half full. The gate staff had simply decided that since the inbound service was early, they might as well go ahead with boarding - and forget about the customers who had paid for Speedy Boarding. The easyJet website is careful to hedge its bets over Speedy Boarding and makes it clear it will not take responsibility for occasions beyond its control. However, this clearly was within its control: its handling agents decided they simply could not be bothered to do the service they are contracted by easyJet to do. A refund is clearly required and asking for one is probably doing the airline a favour because it is the only way it is likely to find out that its agents are not fulfilling their contract.
In a recent edition, we suggested that it was better to book a round-the-world (RTW) flight with a specialist agent; a reader wrote to us to confirm our view. He booked direct with Qantas and then, when he was travelling, had serious problems trying to make alterations to the ticket because none of the local Qantas staff understood the RTW rules properly. If you book through an agent, you should be able to call them while you are away and they can change any flights you want without you needing to visit a ticket desk (assuming you have an e-ticket). He also pointed out that taxes and other charges add a serious amount to the price of a ticket - nearly 40% on the cost of his Business Class ticket. An RTW ticket may allow a multitude of stops 'without cost' but each time you leave an airport, you are liable for another round of taxes and charges so the stops are certainly not free.
A reader was full of praise for a flight with Lufthansa, operated by the regional airline Eurowings, between Manchester and Bucharest via Dsseldorf. Free drinks and reasonable catering, pleasant cabin crew and a comfortable small jet... The transfer at Dsseldorf was also very easy. It is worth noting that Lufthansa offers quite a few connecting services via Dsseldorf and this is normally a much better option than transferring at Frankfurt, where the sheer size of the airport can be a challenge.
Finally, a reader made a motoring trip around Norway and pointed out that costs, including petrol, are high but that road tolls (including heavy charges for entering cities) and ferry costs can add a significant amount to the cost of a journey and you may not budget for these when you make your original calculations.
