Qatar Airlines frequent membership scheme is called the Privilege Club and the registration has to be done online here:
Use your own email address if you administer this for the traveller or enter his/her details.
You’ll need the travellers date of birth
First and Business Class customers in Doha are serviced via their Premium Terminal in Doha where they are provided with a personal chauffeur driven transport to and from the plane. And a bell-host service will take care of luggage
But Qatar Airways do not offer the “free chauffeur service” to and from airports that Virgin or Emirates do.
We searched for a First Class fare to Dubai with Qatar Airways
Qatarairways.com priced at £3,637
Expedia online quoted £3,389
Discount Flight Specialist, Capable Travel of Old Bailey, London EC4 offered £50 off the Expedia fare, including credit card charges and they were able to “hold” seats whilst a decision was made.
They also offered Emirate airlines at a slightly higher fare with chauffeur cars at London and Dubai with the benefit of direct flights.
Telephone Capable Travel on 020 7489 8787 or email sales at Capabletravel.com
Several new hotel booking companies have emerged online and we review a selection here.
We’ve considered three questions:
Is the website quick, friendly and easy to use?
How many hotels are featured?
Are the rates competitive?
We searched for hotels in some obscure European towns to compare content major cities to compare actual hotel rates
The first two companies are “Hotel Booking Agents”. That is, they sell hotel accommodation.
The third and fourth companies compare rates from over 50 hotel booking agents and then you are free to make your choice.
Roomkey
A good name for a hotel booking engine and the site is quick but when we searched for hotels in smaller towns, only one or two hotels were offered, whilst as fifteen options are provided by our recommended search engine. Hotels featured appear to be those of the major international chains only.
BBT summary: A nice site but lacking in content
Tingo
From Tripadvisor, Tingo offers to refund your credit card if the price drops. That sounds like a good idea but…
Patterns of travel bookings nowadays are to book at fairly short notice. The price-drop feature would only be meaningful if you booked well in advance, allowing sufficient time for any reductions to take place,
Also, the price-drop offer doesn’t apply to all the hotels room types.
And how do you know that you have the best rate in the first place? You’d need to use our recommended comparison site.
Rates are displayed in USD and the prices excluded taxes and fees until selected on a subsequent page, which makes comparison difficult. We found some hotel rates to be competitive but not all, because we believe that the rates offered come from just one company, Expedia. For that reason, only 4-5 hotels were offered when we know that 15+ exist
BBT Summary – A novel concept but lacking in substance and content.
Hotelicopter
A slick website when it works, Earlier today we took a look and found that the site lacked content in Europe. It appears to be more US centred but claims to have 160,000 hotels in its database. We have tried a more detailed review but the search form is not responding when we try various cities. We’ll take another look tomorrow.
HotelsCombined
We feature this company on our hotel search page. The reason for our choice is not based on the website design so much as the accuracy of the information, the range of hotels and sheer number of hotel booking agents offered.
The site “it does what it says on the tin” It searches all the relevant sites, hotel booking agents and the major hotel chains.
Even in obscure towns e.g. Liberec in Czech Republic, a selection of all 20+ hotels and quality pensions are offered.
We have corporate clients who use this search engine every day and we frequently hear of the savings they are achieving.
I personally saved over £200 booking an all-inclusive resort in Morocco, despite working for a travel agency at the time!
Frequently, availability is found even when the hotel itself has sold out of rooms. This is because some of the agents featured hold “room allocations” This can be essential to business travellers.
Another plus is there is usually a choice of payment in advance, (preferred by holiday makers) or pay at check-out (preferred by Business Travellers, providing additional flexibility) Several companies allow you to hold a room and cancel without charge. A real bonus.
BBT Summary: The best search engine for content, rates and availability. Try the site here and save the webpage to your favourites.
Following a trial at Gatwick Airport, London City Airport is to offer passengers a self-tag your bag option.
This is yet another move to alleviate what were traditional duties of the airline staff to do-it-yourself.
All in the name of cost saving efficiency no doubt but what next?
Fly your own plane?
Indian airline Kingfisher will cease flights between the UK and India from 10th April 2012
The airline offered through fares from the UK to many destinations and was consistently cheaper than other airlines.
Recently, the airline was suspended from IATA’s billing programme, BSP.
This raises questions regarding refund procedures for passengers holding Kingfisher bookings for flights after 10th April and we’ll endeavour to keep you informed
The 24 days of strikes that were scheduled for March April and May 2012 have been cancelled. The pilots are back at the negotiating table.
Virgin Atlantic has a worldwide sale which features real discounts. For example, Ghana – Accra, is now £519 return. The previous fare level was around £560
Dubai is from £399 return presumably to undercut the BA fare of £419
Bookings must be made by midnight on Tuesday 20th March
The cycling facility at St Pancras Station may deter you from visiting the station and travelling onwards by Eurostar.
The bicycle park is in a dimly lit NCP car park a long walk at the rear of the station.
When I visited St Pancras station on 15th March 2012 there were only 11 “Sheffield” style bicycle stands – adequate for just 22 bikes – and all were used.
And there were police notices warning about locking bicycles and avoiding theft which suggests to me that theft may be an additional problem.
What a sad city this is!
A superb station, fantastic facilities and amazing Eurostar.
But for bicycles?
What is it about the British mentality that refuses to incorporate bicycles into city planning?
Visit Amsterdam central station and you’ll see hundreds if not thousands of bicycles clearly visible at the front of the station….
BA has just announced a worldwide economy seat sale with prices to:
New York £434
Dubai £419
Cape Town £748
Barcelona £138
Please visit our British Airways Page to book
For the period of the Arab League Summit the airport will be closed
Airlines are offering full refunds and those that fly to other destinations (Etihad to Erbil for example) may allow passengers to reroute.
NB Erbil is in the North of Iraq
Use our “Who-flies-where” Skyscanner widget to the right of this article to see the alternative airports in Iraq
We conducted this study on behalf of a client who travels frequently to their offices in Stuttgart from London.
We recommend using our Skyscanner flight search engine to compare schedules and fares but the following booking tips will save you additional time and costs:
Tip 1
Choose the “Compare Times” option for an easier display by departure time
Tip 2
After choosing the German Wings flights you will be offered a choice of companies through whom you can book.
Always chose German Wings direct – even if the fare appears to be cheaper elsewhere!
We compared Skyscanner Fares for a Heathrow-Stuttgart-Heathrow flight, midweek travel on specific flights.
Opodo quote £209 but actually £273 plus £20 booking fee plus £7 credit card fee Total £300!
Ebookers quote £273 which increased to £283 plus £7 credit card Total £290!
German Wings direct originally quoted at £283 appeared to be the most expensive but after researching the above options, it is clearly the best booking option. German Wings also added a £7 credit card fee at the end.
Additional benefits of booking direct:
Your reservation is made directly on the airline’s booking engine and not through a third party.
You can deal direct with the airline if there is a problem later on
The option of reserving a seat directly with German Wings is available for direct bookings
Special offers and different fare types are offered direct.
Iberia pilots have cancelled plans to strike on Friday, 16th March and Monday, 19th March 2012
The airline was offering full refunds for tickets purchased before 12th March 2012 or the option to rebook on alternative Iberia flights.
Future strike dates may also be cancelled and we are awaiting confirmation. They were anticipated to be as follows:
March 23, 25, 26 (Friday, Sunday and Monday)
March 30 (Friday)
April 2, 4, (Monday & Wednesday)
April 9, 13, 16, (Monday, Friday, Monday)
April 20, 23, 27 and 30, (Friday, Monday, Friday, Monday)
Bookings held for the above dates cannot be changed until Iberia confirms that the strikes are going ahead and advises their rebooking policy.
Until that time, the airlines fare rules (change fees and cancel-refund penalties) apply
I once assumed that the Gatwick Express service between London Victoria Station and Gatwick Airport would be the best option, albeit the most expensive.
But I was suprised to discover that Southern Rail offered me the same journey which took just one minute longer! The journey was 31 minutes compared to 30 minutes.
And the return fare cost just £15.60 return compared to the Gatwick Express fare of £25.00
Our advice; Always use the National Rail journey planner for impartial timetable and fares information.
If you appreciate this advice, try our hotel comparison search engine to find best hotel prices
We have trawled the web to save you the effort and have found the lowest Heathrow Express fares.
Here is the link to American Express
We have always rated Skyscanner as the best impartial search engine for flights and with its new look and feel, it’s better than ever.
We recommend that you use Skyscanner for all economy flights especially European, even if think that you know which airline you’re going to use, because you never know what other options may have materialised unless you’ve checked.
Skyscanner is one of very few search engines that work with Ryanair