news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Airline shares dived on Monday in fright at the threat to traffic from an Icelandic volcanic ash cloud closing the skies over Europe, a year after European airlines were hit by month-long ash chaos.

Iceland’s Grimsvoetn volcano began erupting late on Saturday. Ash from the eruption is expected to reach Scotland on Tuesday, and might reach France and Spain on Thursday.

In April 2010 Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano erupted, spewing a massive cloud of ash that caused the planet’s biggest airspace shutdown since World War II with more than 100,000 flights cancelled and eight million passengers stranded.

source: AFP

Singapore Airlines has confirmed the imminent arrival of a new series of Airbus A380s with an extended business class cabin running the entire length of the upper deck.

The carrier has listed its second-gen A380 on the new Singapore Airlines website unveilled today and released a seatmap for the new-look superjumbo which shows the upper deck will be exclusive to business class passengers, with 86 seats spread over 22 rows.

This is sub-divided into four cabin areas, including the oddity of a single row cabin (row 96) with just four seats with the rearmost exit in front and the toilet, galley and stairs to the lower deck below.

Pilot error is emerging as the most likely cause of the crash of the Air France Rio-Paris airbus which plunged into the South Atlantic in June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.

Preliminary investigation of black-box flight recorders, found three miles down in the ocean last month, suggest there was no major technical failure in the Airbus A330.

The accident occurred when severe tropical storms lay directly in the aircraft’s path. One of the mysteries of flight AF447 is why the pilots flew directly into the eye of the storm. Other flights over the South Atlantic that day steered around the bad weather.

source: Independent.co.uk

Passengers are being charged more than £100 to correct simple spelling mistakes on plane tickets.

New research shows even a small typing error in someone’s name will incur a hefty extra charge.

Monarch and easyJet both charge a flat fee of £100 per person per ticket for a name change. But it could cost people even more for a mistake with bmibaby, easyJet, Jet2 or Flybe, says ‘Which? Travel’.

It’s the latest example of the rip-off surcharges imposed by airlines who are facing an ‘Office of Fair Trading’ probe into complaints about debit and credit card fees.

source: Mirror

United Airlines temporarily revived the flight numbers of two hijacked planes used in the September 11 attacks but said on Wednesday the move was inadvertent and they would not be used.

“‘We are taking immediate steps to remove them and apologize for the error,'” a United spokesman said.

Call numbers 93 and 175 were mistakenly assigned to two flights by Continental Airlines, which has merged with United.

United declined to explain how the numbers found their way back onto flights. Unionized flight attendants urged the company to permanently retire them, while pilots said the move was insensitive.

source: Reuters

More than half of overseas holidays taken by Britons concentrate on just four countries, according to new research by The Co-operative Travel.

The study found that 61% of breaks are spread between Spain, Greece, Turkey and the US.

Cost is given as the main reason why plans to travel more widely have been put on hold, and 23% of adults say that they actually travel less than they did as children.

source: travelweekly.co.uk

U.S. airlines expect to carry a record number of international travelers from June through August, helping soften the effect of higher fuel prices, the Air Transport Association said.

The 26.3 million international travelers forecast for the period would top last summer’s record of 25.8 million, the Washington-based association, which represents carriers including AMR Corp. (AMR)’s American Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), said in a statement today. Total passenger count will rise 1.5 percent, the group estimated.

The forecast shows carriers are optimistic about increasing demand even after raising surcharges and fares to counter higher fuel expenses. Association figures showed jet-fuel costs climbed 30 percent to $11.4 billion in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier.

source: bloomberg.com

Lufthansa is standardising its free baggage allowance policy for all flights. The new rules, which come into force on 1 June 2011, will see Lufthansa adopt the ‘’piece concept”, enabling passengers to check in a specified number of baggage items free of charge. In economy class, passengers can check-in one item of baggage weighing up to 23kg. In business class passengers will be allowed two bags weighing up to 32kg each, while first class passengers will be allowed three bags weighing up to 32kg each.

source: traveldaily.co.uk

Airline charges could soon be a thing of the past. The’ European Commission’ is reviewing air passenger rights after receiving complaints from customers and watchdogs about the excessive surcharges airlines issue.

The proposed ”one flight, one price” ruling is being considered by European Commission vice-president and transport commissioner Siim Kallas.

Among those calling for more transparency in the industry is Labour MEP and chairman of the EU transport committee Brian Simpson and consumer champion ‘Which?‘.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

American Airlines employees have been visiting travel agents in several states over the last few weeks carrying several documents ” nondisclosure agreements about their discussions and direct-connect licensing contracts.

The airline apparently is making a big push now to get travel agents to sign the direct-connect contracts because of a looming big day on the calendar, June 1.

By late January, after Sabre had biased American Airlines’ displays and hiked the airline’s GDS fees, and American had filed suit against Sabre and Travelport, Sabre and American agreed to put the legal battle on hold and to put the displays and fees back to normal while the two sides attempted to negotiate a new agreement.

source: tnooz.com