Monthly Archives: November 2011

Eurostar Arrivals

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The best Eurostar Arrivals Board for London St Pancras International is available here, at the National Rail Enquiries web site:

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/arr/STP

If you’re meeting someone at the station, download the ‘Cross Country Trains App’ for live information on-the-go.
This is the most informative and friendly app for UK train timetables, station information, delays and tickets.

Eurostar Arrivals in Paris Nord here

http://www.gares-en-mouvement.com/fr/frpno/horaires-temps-reel/arr/

Eurostar Departures from Paris Nord here

http://www.gares-en-mouvement.com/fr/frpno/horaires-temps-reel/dep/

Eurostar Arrivals in Brussels Midi here

http://hari.b-rail.be/hafas/bin/stboard.exe/fn?

The lowest discount Eurostar Fares are available from our Eurostar page here:

 

Eurostar Arrivals & Departure Board

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I had to search long and hard to find a live Eurostar Arrivals and Departures Board.

The official St Pancras International arrivals and departures are available here but the system does not recognise Paris or Brussels! You’ll need to scan through ALL arriving trains and departures including domestic train services

Surprisingly, the best live Eurostar Arrivals and Departure information is only available as an app.

The “Cross Country Trains” app provides Eurostar information as well as live station information and timetables throughout the UK

If you require hotels near the Eurostar St Pancras International train station, please read my short article here

For hotels worldwide, we host the best comparison site at our hotel page here

Review of best travel apps for Android

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I’ve used my travel agency background experience to select what we consider to be the most useful and essential travel apps using the following criteria:

  • Intuitive – no instruction manuals!
  • Instant gratification – fun to use.
  • Genuinely useful
  • Unbiased accurate and live information

The Apps Organiser – save time by organising your travel apps

Create a homepage shortcut to all your Travel Apps.

With just one icon revealing all your travel apps, you’ll avoid the frustration of searching through All Apps

Search for: Apps Organizer (version 1.5.18) by Fabio Collini

Trains

This is the best app ever!
You’re on that station platform, wondering what time the train will really arrive … or what the best alternative route is going to be.

Or, you’re in a meeting and wondering if your train will be leaving on time or do you have an extra 10 minutes?

Immediate help is at hand, just one click away, from the easy to use, friendly app that provides up-to-the-second train operating information and offer alternative routes

The information can be more up-to-date than station announcements!

Top Features:

  • Live Schedules
  • Departures and Arrivals information
  • Recent stations and routes feature
  • Purchase tickets with no fees
  • Most information is ONE click away
  • Live arrival and departure board even includes St Pancras International Eurostar trains.

This App is produced by Cross Country, a “Train Operating Company” so you can trust the information 100%

This App is FREE whilst similar alternatives (Thales “National Rail Planner Live”) cost £3.49

Search for “Train Tickets” by CrossCountry

British Airways

The British Airways App is an essential tool for your next flight.

Helps with the following:

  • Check-in
  • Paper-free boarding card
  • Seat selection
  • Executive membership

You need to be a BA Executive Club member to take full advantage of this app

Our Verdict: A must have app even if you only fly once with BA!

Best apps for flight search

Google

We would expect Google to provide the best flight search app. What they offer is OnTheFly, which was created by a company called ITA, which Google purchased for $700 Million

Some of the look-and-feel functions are slick, such as the option to choose other airports by distance from that requested, however you cannot choose LON for all London airports; rather, you are forced to select Heathrow, Stansted, and Gatwick individually.

Flight Search should be unbiased and all airlines must be included.

OnTheFly is, in our opinion, useless because of the absence of no-frills airlines such as easyJet or Ryanair. Furthermore, the fares displayed are expensive – only “published” fares, and no discounted ticket prices.

Our verdict: Don’t use this app!

KAYAK

Similar to the above, there is an absence of Ryanair so you cannot rely on the flight search results.

Prices seem to be fixed in USD

Skyscanner

This must be the best flight search app, brought to you by Skyscanner. We feature Skyscanner on our site because it is the most accurate and unbiased flight search available in the UK today.

Skyscanner offers all low cost airlines including Ryanair. And it sends you direct to the Ryanair and other airlines sites directly.

Flight booking by app is in its infancy and we recommend booking via a standard internet browser, but the Skyscanner app gets our approval for information on the go.

Hotel search

Hotel Reservation Service HRS

The HRS app is friendly, easy to use and the following features make it our top recommendation:

  • Full details including multimedia and map placement
  • 250,000 hotels worldwide.
  • Flexible booking arrangements

For bookers of business travel, flexibility is essential. HRS allows most bookings to be held up to 6pm and cancelled prior, free of charge. And credit cards are charged locally at check-out.

Hotels.com

Hotels.com offers discounts of typically 10 – 15% via this easy to use, if American biased app.

The search facility using your GPS location is particularly handy for business travellers. Their loyalty scheme, ‘Welcome Rewards’ gives one night free for every 10 nights booked.
But, bookings have to be prepaid in full offering little flexibility.

Hotels Combined

Our favourite Internet based hotel search engine is HotelsCombined but their app is a relatively unfriendly. It behaves more like a web portal than a true app. Hopefully Hotels Combined will update their app.

Whilst apps are good for on-the-go research, they cannot replicate all the benefits of a full sized web based search engine such as the one we feature for booking hotels:  http://www.bookingbusinesstravel.com/hotels/

Google Translate

The essential travel app will translate your phrase into most languages with a playback facility.

Can’t say more, simply try it!

 

Ryanair forces travel agents off their website

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Ryanair – quite rightly, in our opinion, does not want online travel agents to sell their flights with a hidden mark-up, whether sold as flight only, or bundled with hotel accommodation.

The airline prefers travellers to get the best deal direct and hopes that bookers will then purchase other peripheral items via the Ryanair website.

As far as Ryanair is concerned, by booking direct, there will be no question of the traveller not being fully aware of booking conditions, baggage limitations etc.

Several attempts through European courts have failed to stop travel agents from the above practise, however, Ryanair have now introduced a reCAPTCHA verification procedure which requires that you “enter the words you see in the box” which are disguised …

This stops automated third party computer systems from selling their flights.

It does not stop our comparison search engine however which offers Ryanair flights and alternative options.

Always use our flight comparison page to be sure that you’ve checked out the competition.

We have always said, book Ryanair direct. Why pay more through a third party or travel agent?

 

How much are airport taxes in the UK?

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This subject makes me quite cross. Airlines offer air fares at ridiculously low prices and then they charge for airport servicing and a massive “fuel surcharge” which they lump together with UK Government Tax.

Thus on a fare to Sydney*, for example, airlines and travel agents will say that “the price is £479 return, plus £403 tax, Total £882.00”

And we gasp.

The actual UK government tax in this case was £85.00 (less than 10%)

Now, £85 is not an inconsequential amount of money but it is much lower than VAT. And the airlines pay no tax on the aviation fuel that they consume.

Yet airlines continue to claim that government tax is destroying their industry. We think that that’s a bizarre claim.

A £226 fuel surcharge applies to the above journey. That is what’s destroying the industry.

Why should air travel be tax exempt?

If we want to complain, it should be that the First Class passenger who can afford to pay £7,962 for the same journey, should only pay £170 tax, or less than 2½ %

*Etihad London-Sydney out 4 February Back 15 February Air Fare £479 Fuel Surcharge £226 Airport and other government’s taxes £92.83 Total £882.83

 

Eurostar Sale using Eurostar Promotion Codes

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All fares on all trains reduced by another 10%

Example: London to Brussels fares available from only £49.00 return
Using the PROMO CODE: LONBRUSSELS this is reduced at the check-out stage to just £44.10 !

Offer ends Friday 2nd December and is available for train journeys through to 9th February 2012

Other promo codes – use the one appropriate to your origin-destination:

LONPARIS
ASHPARIS
EBBPARIS
LONBRUSSELS
ASHBRUSSELS
EBBBRUSSELS
LONLILLE
ASHLILLE
EBBLILLE

For further information, to make bookings, and for some essential booking tips, please visit our Eurostar Page

And if you need a hotel, our search engine checks the prices of over 20 reputable hotel brokers to find you the best deal.

 

Trains to Amsterdam – avoid fog delays

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With so many flights cancelled due to fog at London and Amsterdam airports today, I am being asked about Eurostar to Amsterdam.

Booking Direct via Eurostar:

–         Same day bookings cannot be made online

–         Book through Eurostar’s call centre, telephone 08432 186 186
The passenger’s credit card must be used to pay for the booking as the card is used to retrieve the ticket from the machines at St Pancras Eurostar terminal

–         Eurostar is quoting their service to Brussels and an open onward ticket at £117.50 today (one way)

Or Book online through Netherlands Rail

–         You can print the ticket at your home / office

–         Netherlands Rail include the high speed THALES service from Brussels to Amsterdam, total journey from 4 hours 46 minutes

–         Through price to Amsterdam quoted from EUR117.00 one way

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