The Death of Airline Checked Hold Baggage

Airport check-in desks are turning into battlegrounds and Twitter streams are littered with irate rantings.  The culprit?  Excess baggage charges.  Anglo Pacific International believes that this struggle will soon be confined to history.

The fact of the matter is that airlines are making it harder and pricier for passengers to check-in baggage for very good reason.  Rising fuel costs, extra taxes and hard-hit economies have conspired against the aviation industry as they see their profits nosedive.

Not only does this mean that they have to find extra income from stealth charges such as extra legroom seats, priority boarding, in-flight catering and so on, but it also means that they have to turn their aircraft round quickly – planes only make money while they’re in the air.

Checked baggage simply gets in the way.

Airlines would like checked baggage to vanish altogether as it slows down the turnaround on the tarmac and baggage handlers have to be paid regardless of the volume going into the hold.

What’s more these handlers have been known to strike causing even more financial headaches.  The flying public is wising up. 

Checked baggage has dropped considerably with 85% of passengers checking in a suitcase five years ago versus less than 20% now, and the boarding process is now dominated by the tedious overhead locker hand baggage jigsaw puzzle.  The message is pack light and let an independent international shipping company handle the rest.   

According to their websites, for a short flight with easyJet excess baggage is charged at 11GBP per kilo at the airport, 20GBP per kilo for RyanAir.  Analysts have worked out that at times it is more economical to buy a second seat and bring a friend to share your allowance.  

Anglo Pacific supply, deliver and collect bespoke export strength cartons for owner packing in the comfort of your home and deliver it all to your door overseas – for far cheaper than any low cost airline.  

Anglo Pacific’s speciality is sending luggage worldwide via its express courier service to the common long-haul destinations (five to seven days transit) such as Australasia, North America, South Africa, South East Asia and China. 

A typical 15kg suitcase with Anglo Pacific costs £139 door-to-door.  For short-haul European destinations, a typical 15kg suitcase with Anglo Pacific would cost £77 door-to-door (two to three days transit).

Airlines to charge premiums for window and aisle seats

The airline industry's latest tactic to screw the passenger charging premiums for window and aisle.

The charges for window or aisle seats in the front half of the plane, costing as much as $29 each way on U.S. domestic flights and $59 on international flights, are the latest of a raft of passenger fees introduced in recent years as the airline industry looks to generate new streams of revenue.

The issue has arisen in the United States, where Delta, American Airlines, and low-cost carriers US Airways, Frontier, Spirit and Allegiant have implemented charges for "preferred seating."

The notion of paying extra to reserve more desirable seating is catching on more widely across the industry. Across the Atlantic, low-cost Ryanair rolled out reservations for certain seats across all its routes in January, while its rival Easyjet has also been experimenting with the practice.

The implementation of end-of-row seat fees is part of a broader airline trend to charge for amenities previously included in the standard fare, such as movies, water, pillows and blankets.

In response to soaring fuel prices four years ago, airlines also began introducing charges for checked baggage, generating huge sums. But last year the revenue from checked bags for U.S. airlines fell for the first time, suggesting passengers were trying to avoid fees by packing light when they traveled.

Two U.S. airlines, Spirit and Allegiant, already charge passengers for carry-on baggage.

Soon they will charge extra for blankets cushions and yes eventually we will seen passengers force to pay to use the WC

Source: CNN

I Should Know Better

As a travel writer, I really should know better than to skim read travel instructions, but like thousands before me and even more to follow, I admit that I am guilty of being stupid.

But thank goodness for a sympathetic ear of an operator who deserves great praise.  I am talking about Eurostar.

My story begins when I turned up for my train to Paris on June 2nd.  The fact that the scanners would not accept my boarding pass was the first indication that something was wrong.  The second came when the check in lady said, "You do know these tickets are for July 2nd don't you"

Panic, a quick check and the realization that despite having been asked to confirm the booking details were correct then doing so and subsequently printing out the boarding pass, I realized that it was all my fault.

Dear Eurostar thank you for never once suggesting that I am a moron!  Thank you all, and in particular Isabelle, for moving heaven and earth to get me onto a crowed train and therefore enabling me to continue on in France to complete my assignment.

I have learned my lesson and will never do it again, I promise!

Airlines are becoming more honest

It's true and I have proof!  Oh sure they still lie about ample leg room and good inflight food with first class entertainment but then again they always did lie about those things even before you had to wrap your legs around your ears to get into the seat

No the evidence I am referring to is at checkin or to be more precise the bag drop area.

There was a time when you queued for hours to leave your bags at the desk marked Fast Bag Drop. Nowadays they have changed the signage to be more honest by describing the same desk as BagDrop

Come Dine With Me

If someone invited me to dine with them I would expect and perhaps even look forward to a meal.  Not an unreasonable assumption given what the verb to dine means.

One thing I would not expect is a curled up sandwich in a cellophane pack and a bottle of luke warm Pepsi Cola yet that is what I am led to believe by Flybe the cut price regional airline based out of the UK who publish a Guide, no less, to Dining on Board their airplanes.

With buy two get one free deals on offer I can hardly wait!

Virgin Atlantic to Offer Mobile Calls Onboard Flights

Virgin Atlantic has announced it will become the first British airline to provide passengers with a service to make and receive phone calls in the air at 35,000ft.

The industry leading move also allows people to send and receive text messages, emails and have web access via GPRS.

The new mobile phone system will be available throughout the aircraft in all cabins and is targeted at business travellers. The service is intended for use in exceptional situations, when passengers need to send an SMS, make a quick call, or access an email on a Blackberry. The system will limit the connectivity to six users at any one time.

The new service has undergone on board tests over the last few months and is currently operational on A330-300 aircraft and by the end of 2012, the system will be available to passengers on nearly 20  aircraft.

Initially, AeroMobile is available for customers with O2 and Vodafone network providers. The service is not permitted during take-off or landing, and has to be turned off approximately 250 miles from US airspace.

Is it time to change the design of the aircraft interior

Who is it that dreams up the design for the interior of an aircraft with trans Atlantic range.

Why has there been so little change in the basic layout since the Comet, 707 and the VC10

Clearly the designers are accountants who know how many bodies to squash into a cigar tube without inflicting injury but why has someone not figured out a better layout?

Look at the way passengers are configured and design the plane around them.

Passengers if you look come in singles couples or groups and into that category come families

So why not have family areas, why not have quite zones where the lights are dimmed and why not seats with laptop sized desks and dispense with the TV and games console?

Think of it babies and children who want to crawl around the ally ways could be in the bag where the duty free trolly and alcoholic drinks cart need not go

Crossing the Atlantic by Air

As a travel writer I think I may fly in airplanes more than Joe Average and as such my opinion is worth that little bit extra.

With flights to New England, the Caribbean and New England under my belt in recent months I think I am able to pass judgement and grade those airlines that fly the route.

Being British based I have not flown with carriers whose flights do not start and finish in London so can make no comment about the European carriers but even though I am no lover of British Airways I have to award them the title best of the bunch.

US Air and American Airlines are both abysmal with ageing air crews more intent on frightening passengers than giving service.

Virgin on the other hand have the smallest seats known to mankind and the only thing you can say in their favour is that the staff are a quarter of a century younger than the dragons who fly in the cabins of the US flagged carriers

No Laser Pointers Through Pisa

It must be well over 18 months ago that, as a guest of the Maltese Tourist board, I was gifted a rather nice ball point pen which had inside its barrel a USB key and at the end, a laser pointer.  This useful and treasured gift has lived in a pocket of my briefcase and has, as a result of my job, travelled with me on at least 40 air flights visiting more than a dozen different countries including Italy last week when I flew in and out of Genoa


This week however Italy, and specifically Pisa airport, seems to have changed the rules (again).  Now laser pointers are apparently banned from passing through security.  I had no way of checking this of course and am not allowed to reason with the teenager on duty because to do so, plays into their hands and they are then allowed to frog march me away for strip searching so I had to say good bye to my faithful traveling companion and allow it to be given away, no doubt to the teenagers cousin who will ask for his present from the airport.  Next week I think it will be fountain pens that will be banned but I am not quite sure.  And sadly nor can you be.

Why are there no Standards for Baggage Sizes

Why oh why is there no standard for the sizes of bags you can carry onto aircraft?

Oh there is in theory and there are baggage manufacturers who build capacious bags to those exact dimensions but they have failed to take into account the penny pinching mentality of the low cost no frills carriers who think its is both fun and profitable to reduce the sizes of bags that can be accommodated on board their own aircraft.

I am not talking here of Ryan Air who think that a carrier bag from Waitrose is too big to carry without a surcharge.  No I am talking about the Flybe's and the easyJets of this world who when they construct there rules shave just a centimeter off here and there off the official specifications just so they can catch the customer out and charge an extra charge.

Virgin Atlantic - Way behind BA

Let me say at the outset that I am no great fan of British Airways in fact I believe they have a huge amount to learn from the likes of the newly emerging Gulf State carriers but they are good enough for what they do. 

Yet to read the advertisements and listen to the bragging of Virgin Atlantic and you would assume they consider themselves to be light years ahead of their rivals in the skies, British Airways

Not so, in fact quite the opposite.   Cramped seats smaller, than BA, that are not only narrower but have less leg room, seem to be the normal.

The selling of emergency exit seats and bulkhead seats at an extra premium is another sign that Virgin would like to follow the Ryan Air school of customer abuse if they thought they could get away with it.

I remember so well the gusto with which Sir Richard launched this new airline saying it was going to change the world of flying.

So years later with Virgin just another airline and a poor one at that I am forced to ask the question; What went wrong?

Only a fool pays for an upgrade

Everyone knows that there are only two ways you get an upgrade when flying in today's cut throat airlines.

The first is to hold a gold card generally won  by business travellers who never actually pay for the flight themselves anyway

The second way is to buy it by forking out huge sums of extra cash and that can earn the airline a pretty penny

Well it seems that Virgin Atlantic have caught onto that cash cow with great alacrity.

Anyone who has flown west across the Atlantic travelling in the airlines accommodation section is so Badly treated that fearing a repeat crossing Eastbound is conned into buying an upgrade.

Is it worth it?  Well there are bigger seats a so called better service from the same blond bimbo trolley dollies and there is a foot rest but you get precious little else for paying the cost of an apple iPad as an extra charge for two seats

Is it really worth it? Well since the alternative is to throw away the return segment of the Virgin Atlantic ticket and buy a ticket with another carrier I suppose reluctantly I have to say yes

Sitting in the back again is far too ugly an alternative

What ever happened to the brave words of Sir Richard Branson when he launched the then fledgling airline and why have they been forgotten to the point that instead of leading the world Virgin Atlantic now limps around it at the back of the queue

Why do they dim the cabin lights for take off and landing

Why do they dim the cabin lights for take off and landing?  Ask a stewardess and they will tell you it is FAA regulations or some other hogwash, the fact is they have not got a clue

And it turns out no one else really understands why it is done save that it is a throwback form the times when in a small plane it was important for the pilot not to be distracted by cabin lights if and when the door twist cockpit and cabin was opened at night

Fact is the cabin door is now never opened and stays bolted firmly closed to protect the flight crew from the passengers they are paid handsomely to transport around the globe

Another new rule that curtails the rights of the passenger

Flying with Virgin Atlantic recently I heard stewardesses issue yet another rather bizarre rule

Apparently the flight crew are now interpreting the no smoking rule to include the use of electronic smokeless placebo cigarettes that people with low will power can now buy to stave off their craving of the real thing.

These odourless devices which emit only water vapour are now on the banned list for the airline that was going to change the world.

But no one really knows why

Once again the flight crew have now idea why they do it and cannot supply an answer as to why the rule has been imposed.

Like everything else they do on board the blindly following the rules lets hope that we do not have to rely on them in an emergency because they clearly share one brain between the entire cabin crew.

I do not mind abiding with a new rule but am I alone in wanting to know the reason for its implementation?

Good maintainence ensures safer aircraft

Flying with a trans Atlantic carrier recently I was alarmed to see several lights flickering off and on throughout the flight.

One section of the main cabin light came on every ten minutes stayed alight for ten minutes and went out for ten minutes while else where overhead reading lights flicked on and off for no apparent reason.

Flight crew uttered the usual platitudes saying how sorry they were that it was happening but repeating there was nothing they could do.

One said she could not remove the tube because it would be a fire risk, yes she was blond and flew with Virgin Atlantic the other assured me that it was not like that on the flight out and the fault had only just developed

The stupid girl obviously had no clue because of course she had not been on the flight outwards and had she been so there would have been no need to use cabin lights during daylight

It does beg the question that if you cannot perform simple maintainence tasks to the cabin lighting system perhaps the same haphazard attitude is being shown to the engines or the flight navigation equipment.

The girls answer was to give me an eye mask to block out the annoying light.

No doubt had the engines failed she would have given me a parachute

What is it with airports and silly slogans?

Why I wonder do airports have to try so hard so convince you that they are working for good of the passenger when it is so blatantly obvious that they are not.

Just recently having waited on the ground for half an hour before our plane could get a parking slot we then walked a good half mile along a boring glass side corridor to a large stuffy room where we stood in line for twenty minutes waiting to get through passport control.

Then into a baggage retrieval hall where just 4 of the 10 carousels spilled baggage onto the floor and no sign as to where where our own luggage might be found.

Two hours after landing we finally got out of the airport and they say thats making every journey better

Clearly Drunks Fly Virgin

I do not think I have flown with a carrier who has seen fit to warn passengers about the misuse of alcohol on board trans Atlantic flights but clearly Virgin Atlantic feel there is a need to do so.

In a post departure speech made by the senior flight attendant it was made very clear that her staff  would curtail the service of alcohol  to passengers who somewhat strangely Virgin call customers, if they felt they were consuming too much.

She stressed that such curtailment would be based on consumption rather than behaviour suggesting that you can be a lout  if you drink coca cola but even the merest hint of someone asking for a double brandy to numb the pain of a nine hour flight in the smallest seats known to mankind, would result in refusal.

OK so it's cold outside! So what?

I rather like the scrolling map that many airlines provide on TV screens for the use of their passengers.

I enjoy seeing the route we will take and hope that it may enable me to pinpoint spots on the Aetna surface.  Sometimes it does and I can see and identify a mountain range or an island.

I like being told our air speed and ETA at my disembarkation airport if only that it helps me plan a visit to the planes bathroom or permit me the luxury of hanging on for a little while longer.

It is all for the most part useful information generally well presented but why I wonder do they feel the need to tell me that outside the air temperature is minus 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Do they think I might need to know its cold outside and, that in case I want a walk across the expanse of wing, I need to wrap up warmly?

Whatever happened to in flight meals?

Where is Dinner?


The two hour flight took off at 1900 hours from Gatwick to Pisa and dispute the fact that it arrived at 2200 local time when all self respecting restauranteurs have shut up shop and gone home to bed, British Airways served nothing more to eat than a tiny bag of mixed nuts.


Whatever happened to in flight meals?


Has flying become so cut throat that even the flag carriers have decided to cut back on the £1:50 they spent on a plastic tray of plastic food?


If they had but just warned us, we could have purchased a sandwich before boarding.


Britain Airways spend a lot of time and energy telling passengers they operate a non smoking flight (as if we did not already know it) but they never bother to tell you it's a non eating flight.


At least SleazyJet have the decency to offer a sandwich that, with the help of a mortgage and a sharp set of molars means you can survive thru until breakfast the next morning without having to resort to the gold plated packet of Pringles in the hotels's mini bar.

How Old is the Aircraft?

Ever stopped to wonder how old the air craft that you entrust your life to is?


Finding out can be pretty difficult because while airlines are happy to promote a large and modern fleet they are less inclined to admit to flying planes built before some of it's passengers were even born.


Boarding a recent flight to Pisa serviced by a Boeing 737-436 there is no plate by the door that passengers can inspect to see the vintage of the craft.


Judging by the condition of the seats and carpets the air craft we were flying had been subject to a series of in-air parties who had trashed it or it was showing the serious signs of ageing


Dark blue leather seats are cracked and the backs of them all damaged where fittings had been removed.  Pockets designed to hold inflight magazines were torn and spilled their contents onto the floor.


Don't even begin to wonder about the carpet but I suspect, having looked at it, that the catering department could well want to boil it up and make stock from it.  They could then use that to improve that disgusting sauce that is served by airlines to cover up the meat at meal times.

Ask the stewardess how old the plane is and they tactfully do not know.  Of course like all good stewardesses they offer to find out but when and if they do come back to tell you the answer is always gauge and erring on the implausible


So here's my suggestion.  Why not have a builders plaque riveted to the cabin bulkhead so passengers can see how old the plane actually is as they board.


What do you think?