Spanish holiday advice: It would seem that potentially Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers face travel chaos over Easter if threatened Spanish airport strikes in Spain go ahead.

Flights to popular destinations such as the Canary Islands, Majorca and Alicante could be grounded or delayed for days.

Spanish air traffic controllers are threatening to strike due to plans to reduce their salaries by up to 40%. They are grossly overpaid anyway..

They currently receive a basic wage of £175,000 which is three times the amount British air traffic controller get but some earn up to £800,000.

Unions representing the air traffic controllers warned travellers to expect horrendous delays and cancellations unless a pay deal is reached by March 31.

Approximately 400,000 Brits are estimated to be heading to Spain for the Easter break.

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Spanish Air Traffic controllers – Lazy and Greedy

UPDATE: The search form is now fixed…

Please accept our apologies if you are using our holiday abroad travel search, as its been playing up lately..

A line of code has gone of the reservation, which is making the search form do its own thing..

It seems that if you search for the Caribbean you are getting results for the Canaries and Red sea deals are bringing back results for Spain all rather odd..

This is being fixed as we type so please accept our apologies while we sort out this annoying anomaly.

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Holiday abroad travel search playing up

Travel advice: Passengers travelling through Manchester airport face compulsory body scans as part of the tightening of security after Manchester Airport installed Body scanners.

Under-18s were previously excluded in the body scanner trial at Manchester, but new government rules mean this exemption no longer applies.

The scanners, which see through clothes to produce an image of the body, have caused unease among human rights campaigners who fear an invasion of passengers’ privacy as well as the disproportionate scrutiny of Muslim travelers by authorities.

Passengers using Manchester’s Terminal 2 will have to have their body scanned if they are selected by security staff. If they refuse, they will not be allowed to fly.

Manchester airport, which began trialling a Rapiscan Secure 1000 scanner in Terminal 2 in October 2009, is one of two UK airports, alongside Heathrow, that have been directed by the government to introduce the technology this month.

Heathrow is also expected to introduce body scanners this week.

The government has ordered the introduction of scanners following the failed attempt to blow up a Northwest/Delta aircraft on route to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Manchester plans to add scanners in Terminals 1 and 3 by the end of February.

Sarah Barrett, Manchester airport’s head of customer experience, said: “We understand compulsory body scanning is a big change for customers who are selected under the new rules.

“We know privacy concerns have been on our customers’ minds which is why we have put strict procedures to reassure them that their privacy will be protected.”

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Manchester body scanners – holiday advice

Ashford-based travel agency Nextescape.co.uk has ceased trading today. This is another example of a badly run agency putting the dreams of holiday makers at risk..

BOOK DIRECT TO SAVE AND BE BETTER PROTECTED

The agency specialised in all-inclusive holidays to Spain, Greece and the Caribbean. ABTA confirmed that Nextescape.co.uk had closed for business

The agency was a member of the Hays Travel Independence Group. A spokeswoman for the consortium said there were only a small number of forward bookings and Hays Travel would honour these.

.

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Nextescape ceases trading – holiday advice

Its seems that Aldi Travel has stopped taking new bookings claiming it is “currently reviewing” its offer to customers.

If you want cheap food go to Aldi, if you want travel offers well you choose…

A statement on its website said: “Aldi and our travel partners are currently reviewing the travel service to offer customers even better value for money.

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Aldi further commented: If you have already booked a holiday with us, then please rest assured that all arrangements for booked holidays remain unchanged and you will still be able to relax and enjoy your holiday as planned.”

Aldi launched its travel site in January 2009 following the similar success of a similar operation in Austria.

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Aldi travel – bookings stop

Holiday advice: We’ve got a fantastic Jet2holidays.com offer to Sharm over Easter which is over £200 cheaper per person that our competitors.

Thur 01 April MAN/SSH (Manchester to Sharm El Sheikh) 4 star Panorama Naama Heights – 7 nights all inclusive based on 2 people sharing from £499 – Transfers and 22kgs baggage included..

To book this Super saver deal to Sharm el Sheikh from Manchester go to : Jet2 Manchester Sharm

4* alternatives for the same date with Cooks are £730, Thomson £726, First Choice £663 and Monarch £587 so it’s a bargain!

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Manchester Sharm Super saver JET2

It is with deep regret that Apartments Abroad Limited has ceased to trade as of 21 January 2010 and shall be placed into Liquidation shortly.

Any enquiries should be directed to Begbies Traynor at stoke@begbies-traynor.com

Apartments Abroad was one of the UK’s best known and longest established accommodation only specialists and served over 100,000 satisfied independent travellers annually.

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• Book cheap holidays online here
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Established in 1991 as a wholesaler to the UK travel trade serving leading household name tour operators and travel agents, including everything from simple BB hostals to 5* luxury hotels and resorts, self catering holiday apartments, villas, private homes, cottages and farmhouses to everyone.

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Apartments abroad – collapses

Travel NEWS: Controversial credit card payment company E-Clear was today placed in administration by order of a high court judge. Plus you have to ask, why is this man Still at liberty the chief executive Elias Elia…

Mr Justice Vos made the order after hearing that there was no more than €10 million in E-Clear’s bank accounts according to evidence submitted by its director Elias Elia yesterday. That €10m was being held on deposit for Pago, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank, according to E-Clear. Pago is a substantial creditor of E-Clear.

The court was told that E-Clear owes collapsed airline and operator group Globespan a minimum of £22.5 million and there was little prospect of E-Clear being able to pay its debt.

Mr Vos appointed BDO as administrators.

The company that administered E-Clear’s payments system was “alarmed” to discover in last-minute evidence yesterday that the controversial credit company had virtually nothing in its accounts, the High Court head today.

Pago, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank, discovered only yesterday afternoon that E-Clear had hardly any cash when its chief executive Elias Elia submitted last-minute evidence.

Richard Sheldon, QC for Pago, which is owned a “substantial amount of money” by E-Clear, told the court he supported placing E-Clear into administration.

“Pago is somewhat alarmed to find in evidence from Elias Elia that it appears to have very little money in its bank accounts and therefore supports the application,” he said.

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E-Clear in Administration – Where has the money gone?

Travel advice – the Weather has caused travel chaos:
If your travel plans have been disrupted what rights do you have to compensation or refunds?

Flights have been disrupted by the weather at a number of UK airports causing frustration for many air passengers.

Owing to the fact that any cancellations would be beyond airlines’ control, there is no automatic right to compensation.

However, you still have a contract with the airline to get you from A to B. So that means the airline must try to re-route your journey – even if that means a bus or taxi transfer to another airport for a flight with a different operator.

Airlines have a strategy in place for bad weather
Alternatively, passengers can choose to have a refund. The Air Transport Users Council says that airlines are usually quite swift to give refunds.

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If a flight is delayed, there are strict European rules in place, which mean that the airline is obliged to supply meals and refreshments, along with accommodation if an overnight stay is required.

Whether passengers qualify will depend on the length of the flight and the delay.

For example, for flights of 1,500km or less where there is a delay of more than two hours, a passenger should be given meals and refreshments, along with two free telephone calls, e-mails, telexes or faxes.

If the delay is for five hours or more, passengers are also entitled to a refund of their ticket with a free flight back to their initial point of departure if this is relevant.

People flying into the European Union from overseas are also covered by the rules, as long as they are travelling on a European airline.

The Air Transport Users Council offers help for those in dispute with an airline.

PACKAGE HOLIDAYS

For those who had planned to fly with the collapsed Scottish airline Fly globespan , only package deals guaranteed a trip back from destinations or a holiday refund.

But this cover for package deals also comes into force when bad weather forces a cancellation.

Operators must refund customers for the whole holiday if trips are cancelled, meaning they could not get to their destination.

In reality, operators tend to give three options to people on package deals. They are: deferring the leaving date of the holiday, transferring to another holiday of the same or similar value, or a refund of the amount paid for the whole holiday.

Independent travellers can also have a look at their travel insurance policy which might cover the cancellation of a trip owing to bad weather.

Those who spent more than £100 on each individual ticket using a credit card might be able to claim from their card provider.

EUROSTAR

The most high-profile effect of the weather on travel was the cancellation of trains on the high-speed rail service to the continent. Eurostar resumes Channel Tunnel train services. Eurostar services broke down because of the unprecedented cold weather in France, the company says.

A full refund will be offered to those whose journeys were affected. Passengers whose journeys were severely disrupted are also be given £150 compensation, out-of-pocket expenses, and a free return ticket in the next 12 months.

Others have been able to claim “reasonable” out-of-pockets expenses such as the cost of a hotel – up to three-star level, as well as transport and meal costs.

A compensation claim form can be found on the Eurostar website . The company says claims can take up to eight weeks to process.

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Travel Compensation and refund advice

Direct booking Holiday advice: Thomson and First Choice direct holidays have introduced redundancy protection on holidays booked direct by the end of February.

When claiming a refund, customers need to show proof of two years employment and that it has been terminated. Those claiming will be entitled to a refund of their deposit and of the final balance up to one month before departure.

The measure has been brought in following the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development warning that a slower than expected recovery could threaten to raise peak unemployment to at least three million by the summer.

The offer is valid on all bookings for Thomson and First Choice package holidays made in Thomson or First Choice shops until February 28 for holidays departing between May 1 this year and April 30, 2011.

“In what is traditionally the busiest month for holiday bookings, customers who want to make the most of the many early booking offers available can do so, knowing that if they lose their job and can no longer afford the holiday, their money will be refunded without penalty,” a statement said.

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Thomson & Firstchoice – redundancy protection