news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

A British law professor is slamming Air Canada after the airline left him asleep on a plane for 90 minutes after it landed – and he woke up in a hangar at Vancouver International Airport.

Kris Lines says he’s not satisfied with the airline’s claim that the flight attendant was preoccupied with several wheelchair passengers and didn’t check the rest of the cabin.

Air Canada offered Lines a “one-time saving” of 20 per cent on up to four tickets “‘as a gesture of goodwill.'”

source: The Gazzette

The nine flight attendants with the now bankrupt Spanish Air Comet airline posed naked or semi-naked for a calendar to “‘continue to publicise their situation and demand a solution'”.

The airline failed to pay staff for up to nine months before it finally filed for bankruptcy last December.

The company had debts of around 160 millions euros (£142m) when it folded including unpaid wages.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

A regulatory hitch saw British Airways and Iberia miss the deadline they had set to sign a definitive merger agreement yesterday on their plan to create Europe’s third-largest airline group.

While the boards of both airlines remain committed to the merger – first announced in November, their plans to list a new holding company in both London and Madrid have run into trouble, according to people with knowledge of the process.

One of the major hurdles to the completion of the deal is BA’s £3.7bn pension scheme deficit.

source: FT.com

US Airways launched Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service on five aircraft yesterday, joining eight other airlines working with wireless service provider Aircell.

US Airways plans to expand the Wi-Fi service from the initial five Airbus A321 aircraft to all 51 A321s by June 1.

Initially, US Airways will put a Wi-Fi symbol on the outside of a Gogo-equipped plane to alert passengers, along with displaying the symbol throughout the cabin. By late June, passengers will be able to tell whether Wi-Fi is available on a specific flight when booking travel online.

source: Computer World

BMI is offering perks to executive travellers switching to its flights from strike-hit British Airways. It is hoping to tempt lucrative business class travellers away from its  rival by offering to match any frequent flyer membership.

Travellers displaying BA silver or gold cards will be offered the BMI equivalents. These offer benefits such as free upgrades and access to exclusive  airport lounges.

source: BBC News

The European Union’s executive on Tuesday banned all airlines from the Philippines and Sudan from flying into Europe, arguing that their safety standards were too unreliable.

Europe’s airspace is tightly monitored to prevent accidents, with almost 300 airlines from around the world banned from flying there. The new ban covers over 40 Philippine airlines and a dozen Sudanese ones.

The commission also decided to restrict the operations of Iran Air in Europe after airport inspections revealed serious safety problems.

source: Earth Times

Ryanair Holdings announced a halt to its in-flight phone service after a 13-month contract with OnAir ended, and invited rival providers to bid for the expansion of the service to its entire fleet.

The carrier said it will now invite other providers of in-flight communications to tender for access to its 73 million annual passengers. Considering Ryanair is well known for rapidly dropping initiatives that don’t pay off, news of a tender suggests the airline was happy with the trial it ran on part of is fleet.

OnAir currently works with six airlines and plans to launch services with six more during the course of the year.

source: marketwatch.com

Thousands of customers owed money by failed airline Flyglobespan may only get 5% of their fares back.

About 40,000 people, including hundreds of staff, were owed money or were left with worthless tickets.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said customers who paid by credit card or Visa debit could claim compensation but up to 8,000 others may receive just 5%. It would take up to two years to process all the Flyglobespan claims and called for better regulations to protect customers in future business failures.

source: BBC News

British Airways said Tuesday it is canceling fewer flights through an upcoming four-day cabin crew strike because more employees want to cross the picket line.

The airline is still recovering from a three-day strike that ended Monday, in which the Unite union — locked in a long-standing dispute with airline management over pay and working conditions — went ahead with a walkout after talks collapsed at the end of last week.

The airline said that during the cabin crew’s next strike from Saturday to March 30 its schedule at London’s Heathrow airport will include up to 55 percent of short-haul flights and 70 percent of long-haul flights.

source: Business Week

Continental Airlines, the last U.S. carrier serving free meals in the coach cabin, will start charging for food for economy-class passengers on most domestic and Canadian flights as well as certain Latin American routes.

Complimentary meals will still be offered to passengers on economy fares on all intercontinental trips, certain other international routes and domestic flights longer than six hours, Houston-based Continental said today in a statement.

Now, with shorter flights and pressure from low-fare rivals such as Southwest Airlines Co., Continental and the rest of the large U.S. airlines are turning to fees including bag-check charges to raise revenue from sources other than tickets.

source: Business Week