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17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 [Next] - Picking mid-week flight times is a great way to save money while traveling. Instead of flying on the weekend, choose mid week dates for your departure and arrival flights. Not only will your tickets be cheaper, you’ll usually be able to avoid the hassle of crowded airports. Whitney ID1864 - 2003 travellers from Britain's North West can look to ever wider horizons thanks to no-frills airlines operating out of Manchester and John Lennon airports. News reaches Abletogo's Travelsleuth that Monarch Scheduled has more than doubled its 2003 flight programme to Spain and Portugal, with introductory offers of £49 one way. At the same time Liverpool's John Lennon Airport is expected to expand its flight capacity further with no-frills carriers easyJet and Ryanair battling for an increased share of North West traffic to destinations in France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Spain. Lufthansa's fledgling budget airline German Wings starts twice daily flights from Manchester to Cologne in Oct/02, while Belgian airline VLM now flies 5 times daily to London City airport. In 2003 the airline will be flying daily to Faro in Portugal and twice daily to Alicante and Malaga in Spain. This will not be the end of the story. Easyset's merger with Go this summer should enable the carrier to open up Scottish, Italian, Czech and Danish routes from Liverpool in 2003. I see a problem, however, in the likelihood of aggravated airport congestion at peak departure times, both in the terminals and on the runways. Elsewhere this is reaching unacceptable levels, but efforts to relieve the space shortage are running into local controversy. London Stansted, which posted a 13.7% rise in traffic Sept/02, is meeting stiff local opposition to its proposals for an additional runway and terminal space. Plans for an additional terminal 5 at London Heathrow to accommodate the expected doubling of flight and passenger numbers by 2030 were given the go-ahead in Jul/02 after an acrimonious 4-year long planning enquiry. It now emerges that this is just 1 of 3 new terminals envisaged by the government, outlines for which were squirreled away in an appendix smallprint. Talking of congestion, let's give American Airlines a much deserved pat on the back for increasing their seat pitch, (the distance between a row of seats), to 33-35 inches in their revamped economy class. Compare this with 29 inches on BMI Baby, Easyjet, Monarch, and Ryanair, and 28-29 inches on charter flights operated by Air 2000, Airtours International, Britannia Airways, and JMC. The British broadsheet, The Sunday Times, has been campaigning on this issue with the objective of persuading airlines to provide a minimum seat pitch of 32 inches on long-haul economy flights, giving at least 30 inches of passenger space (distance from base of seat to seat in front). They are also demanding more transparency in advertising to inform us of the minimum seat pitch that we can can expect on our flights. Abletogo strongly supports this campaign. The issue is not just a question of comfort on long-haul flights but a matter of health, and possibly life and death. The campaign has raised the public's awareness of the hazards of deep vein thrombosis, (DVT), associated with inadequate legroom. Those extra inches in seat pitch mean the difference between an acceptable flight and an acutely uncomfortable experience for a 6-foot-2-inch longshanked elderly glogetrotter with a gamey hip like me. The knowledge that cramped economy class conditions are also potentially lethal can only add to my discomfort. Abletogo.com Abletogo.com ID1328 - Do not joke about bombs or guns - you could be prosecuted. A Wilderness Guest Ranch, Moab, Utah ID1219 - Planes are very noisy. You might not think this is a big deal, but it wears away at you. Consider bringing some earplugs with you. Most of the large jets have sound systems built-in. Many of the newer planes also have built-in TV systems for movies and infomercials. Usually, you have to pay a small fee to rent headphones if you want sound. Be advised that the sound quality will NOT rival that of a compact disk player: the tapes get played over and over again, and the lack of fidelity can pain a purist. You can bring portable tape and/or compact disk players aboard with you, but airlines may restrict their use (especially on takeoff and landing). There is some concern that the electromagnetic fields generated by consumer electronics can interfere with the airplane's navigational signals. I don't know if these concerns have been empirically substantiated, but I don't care. I'd rather be bored than in a plane crash. Tim Matthews ID1536 - Noise-cancelling headphones have now come down to affordable prices of about $50 (also available for $300 or more). These really help - as I found out with a $69 Maxell pair on a 15-hour Australia flight. They cancel out especially the low frequency noise such as the engine and part of air conditioning and allow for great sound quality when watching movies. Other brands are Aiwa, Sony or BOSE. They can also be effectively used at home while mowing a lawn or vacuum cleaning. The effect is quite amazing. Highly recommended for people who travel a lot. Rudy Fajen ID80 Would You Like to Add a Travel Tip?We welcome QUALITY travel tips from our users.Note: you will be required to enter the characters from a security image, so please make sure that you have your browser set to view images. (This measure was necessary to reduce spam.) You will be able to provide your URL, if applicable. Submit your travel tips and hints here. |
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