Eurostar Discount – Book before midnight Friday 2nd December

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The Eurostar 10% Discount applies to travel from now up to 9th February but bookings must be made by midnight Friday.

You need to add a “promo code” to the last stage of the booking process.

Here are the voucher codes for Eurostar:

LONPARIS
ASHPARIS
EBBPARIS
LONBRUSSELS
ASHBRUSSELS
EBBBRUSSELS
LONLILLE
ASHLILLE
EBBLILLE

Book through our Eurostar Page here

For the lowest hotel rates, use our Hotel Comparison Page here

NB This offer is not available through travel agents, travel management companies or via Eurostar mobile apps.

 

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

If you appreciate this advice, please bookmark my site and subscribe to my blog

 

Christmas Train Tickets on Sale

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Christmas rail tickets have just gone on sale…

Rail tickets are always cheaper booked up to 12 weeks before departure; Booking now for travel at Christmas could save hundreds.

The busiest days are predicted to be Friday 23 December and Saturday 24 December.

The cheapest advance fares from Liverpool Street to Norwich for those dates cost £8 today, but as much as £55 on the day.

Get prices and tickets from our UK Rail Page and you’ll save an additional 13% compared to the trainline.com (because of no credit card or booking fees)

 

Gatwick Express Discount for two adults travelling together

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Gatwick Express is offering a discount fare of £20 per person return, for two adults travelling together;

The normal online fare is £27.40 return per person (that’s with an online 10% discount applied) so by booking two together you will save £14.80

This offer ends 15th December.

For more details and to make bookings, visit Gatwick Express direct

And remember, Booking Business Travel has the best hotel search engine that we know of

BMI Loyalty rewarded with a 30% Discount Code

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Members of the BMI reward scheme called Diamond Club are receiving offers of 30% off their next flight booking.

A discount code is provided if they click on the email notification.

Only one discount code is issued and can only be used when booking a flight on flybmi.com between 20 October and midnight on 12 November 2011 for travel between 10 December 2011 and 31 March 2012

It is available for the member or a friend and includes new routes such as Agadir, Amritsar, Basel, Bergen, Casablanca, Marrakech, Nice and Stavanger.

RULES

The promotional code will be valid for a new bmi return booking, travelling in any of the following classes; J, C, D, Z, P, I, Y, B, M, U, H, O, G, Q, V, W, S, T, N, E on any bmi operated routes, excluding codeshare and bmibaby flights.

Bookings must be made on flybmi.com

Classes L and K are excluded on all routes for this promotional discount code

To book please click on the link below


bmi carousel 468 x 60

British Airways Business and First Class Seat Sale

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Book by midnight Tuesday 8th November

Applies to varying travel dates but generally, from November – 10 January

A Saturday night stay is required on all bookings. Reservations have to be made in advance and fares are not flexible.

These rules are designed to be impractical for business travellers. However, if your journey meets the above criteria, the fares are exceptional:

Return Fares

USA East Coast, from £1,499
USA West Coast, from £1,999
INDIA from £1,566
MIDDLE EAST from £1,379
FAR EAST from £2,450

To book, please visit our British Airways Page

or click here to visit BA direct and for more information

 

 

Emirates Skywards or Etihad Guest loyalty schemes.Which is more generous?

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Emirates fly to Dubai, and Etihad to Abu Dhabi, at similar fare levels.
I was recently asked how their individual traveller loyalty schemes compare.
The Etihad Guest Account is a clear winner, whether you are a Pearl, Silver or Gold member.

Emirates Skwards Blue Account

Heathrow-Dubai Business Class earns 7,500 miles (discounted air fare)
And a free reward flight will cost 90,000 miles.
Let’s say that the average discount Emirates fare on the Airbus service costs £2,800
That’s approximately 3p per mile.

Therefore the miles earned on a return booking represents a value of £225

There is a Skywards mileage calculator here:

Etihad Guest Account:

Heathrow-Abu Dhabi earns approximately 10,277 miles for a Pearl member, 11,932 for Silver and 13,636 Gold member
A reward flight costs 87,851 miles
Take the average discounted fare of £2,800
That’s approximately 3.2p per mile and the reward value for a return ticket equates to:

Normal Etihad Guest: £328, Silver Member £381, Gold Member £436

Best Credit Cards for Travel Purchasing

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INTRODUCTION

This article is intended to help SME companies choose a credit card for payment of business travel bookings.

The author has managerial and operational experience of implementing corporate charge cards within a Travel Management Company environment, for companies with a spend of up to £1 million

OVERVIEW OF CORPORATE CARD TYPES

Credit card companies offer a bewildering choice of options. The MAIN card types are as follows:

LODGE CARDS
CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS
INDIVIDUAL CARDS

LODGE CARDS

What is a lodge card?

You have to use a travel agent.
The lodge card is “lodged” with the agent, who charges every purchase you make to the card.
It is not intended for other direct purchases.
They focus on added value to travel agent services:
Monthly statements include purchase orders, and/or cost centres, and other predefined fields.
Some cards provide additional reporting detail.
The initial setup can be complex thus the travel company you choose should already be working with a lodge card partner.

How does a lodge card work?

You have to book through a travel agent. If you book an EasyJet flight on www.easyjet.com you enter the card details but where do you enter the cost centre, or purchase order information etc?

How does that information end up on a statement?

  1. You have to book through the travel agent
  2. The agent will make the booking online (on the EasyJet.com website, for example)
  3. That booking information then entered into the travel agents back-office system.
  4. Manually, the travel agent then adds the Cost Centre and/or Purchase Order reference into the system and once a day, at midnight, an electronic file is then sent to the card company, who merge that information to the EasyJet transaction details already charged.
    That then appears on your statement.

The same procedure applies to any other suppliers, Eurostar etc.

Who offers lodge cards?

There are several companies offering lodge cards, including the major banks.
The most popular cards specifically designed for travel services are provided by AirPlus and Amex

AirPlus Card
https://www.airplus.com/uk/en/

Six Reports costing £250

  1. Refundable unused tickets BA, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Air China ONLY
  2. Overview of flights, classes, destinations
  3. Class of Travel Report – Business Class
  4. Flight Volume Top 10 carriers – useful but will not assist in deal negotiations
  5. Flight Volume Top 20 destinations – after the event
  6. Travel Expense Report by service type

Payment terms – Up to 28 days credit

AirPlus Company Account Card

As above with:

Uploading to ERP (e.g. SAP) systems

Invoicing – flexible data fields including Cost Centre, Staff ID, Dept, Accounting Unit, Project Number

Not all suppliers accept AirPlus cards for payment and in these situations, Airplus can generate a virtual MasterCard number.

BookingBusinessTravel Advice:

Your travel agent should be supplying more meaningful reporting and we don’t believe the AirPlus reports are worth the £250
The refund report is a good facility to have, but only covers a few airlines. Your agent will have a system that identifies all unused tickets, but is your agent refunding you?

American Express® Business Travel Account (BTA)
http://corp.americanexpress.com/gcs/intl/unitedkingdom/corporatecards/bt/default.aspx

  • 50% more on-business points with BA bookings
  • Payment terms – Up to 55 days interest free credit
  • Flexible Billing Options – weekly/monthly
  • Free online reporting

BookingBusinessTravel Advice:

The travel reporting provides much the same data as your travel agent should be providing.
The incentive of 50% extra on-business points is of value especially for companies that have significant long-haul travel in premium class / business class on British Airways.

CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS

These are very different to Lodge Cards
Individual cards are issue to employees for business expenses and can be controlled and monitored by your company.

Who offers corporate charge cards?

All major banks will provide you with these cards but American Express offer more rewards than other banks.

The British Airways American Express® Corporate Card
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/corporatecards/public/en_gb

  • When you book directly with British Airways (i.e. not through a travel agent?) you will earn 50% bonus On Business Points for the company use.
  • Individual card holders receive 1 BA mile for virtually every £1 spent to their BA executive club membership. BA miles can be redeemed against flights/upgrades for anyone
  • Online management information tool
  • Annual fee £50
  • Insurance: Travel Accident Benefit £225,000

The British Airways American Express® Corporate Card PLUS
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/corporatecards/public/en_gb

The same benefits as the corporate card above PLUS:

  • Individual card holders receive 1.5 BA miles for virtually every £1 spent  and 3 miles for bookings on BA flights
  • Bonus 2,500 On Business points when spending over £25,000 in one year
  • Annual fee £180

BookingBusinessTravel Advice

Your company needs to use BA and the BA On Business programme regularly to benefit most.
From our experience to date, most UK companies spend 50% of air travel with BA.
The accrual of executive air miles for all other spend is an added bonus

INDIVIDUAL CARDS

For SME companies wishing to maximise reward and cashback schemes, the best card types are individual cards. Whilst these cards are not marketed to companies for company expenses, there is no prohibition against making purchases for your travellers online, and you will earn significant rewards or even cash-back.

AIR MILES:

British Airways American Express Credit Card
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/ba-credit-card/

  • 1,000 bonus miles currently offered
  • 1 mile for virtually every £1 spend
  • Redeem miles against a BA flight for yourself or anyone
  • if £20,000 spent in one year, one additional “companion” ticket provided as a bonus (valid for cardholder + companion only)
  • No annual fee

British Airways American Express® Premium-Plus Card
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/ba-premium-plus-credit-card/

  • 6,000 introductory bonus BA miles
  • 1.5 miles for virtually every £1 spend and 3.0 miles for every BA flight
  • Redeem miles against a BA flight and if £10,000 spent in one year, one additional “companion” ticket provided as a bonus

The miles are redeemable against a flight (valid for cardholder+companion only)

  • £150 annual fee

BMI Amex Credit Card
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/loyalty-programmes/credit-card/credit-card.aspx

Works well with BMI Diamond Club Rewards and redeemable against BMI flights or Star Alliance Airline partners

  • July offer, 30,000 destination miles, enough for two return tickets to Berlin, Vienna etc
  • 1.5 destination miles for each £1 spend
  • No fee

CASHBACK CARDS

American Express Platinum cashback card
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/platinum-cashback-credit-card/

  • First 3 months, 5% cashback, maximum £100 payout (£2,000 spend)
  • Minimum spend required £3,000 per annum
  • Spend over £7.501 in the year and earn 1.25% cashback
  • No annual fee

 

Hilton Sale – Rooms from £49 – Book by Wednesday 12th October

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Hilton is has a “flash sale” of 50,000 rooms worldwide with astonishing rates, but it is for weekend stays only, between 14 October and 16 December

These rates are not displayed in the hotel comparison sites.

Choose Hilton Hotels even if the rates appear higher, and check.

You’ll be offered the discounted rates after you click through.

We recommend you always compare by using our Hotel Comparison Page

 

British Airways reduces fares from Gatwick

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BA has reduced fares for departures from Gatwick by up to 20 per cent.

12 routes now cost less than £40 each way: Amsterdam, Bologna, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Genoa, Glasgow, Malaga, Manchester, Marseilles, Naples, Turin and Verona

Other reductions include flights to Faro and Innsbruck (from £49), Salzburg (from £59) and Marrakech £69)

Unlike most “sales” these price reductions appear to be open-ended

The airline has moved to North Terminal with a new dedicated check-in hall.

Hand luggage allowance is one bag of up to 23 kg PLUS laptop or handbag

BA provides free online check-in and advance seat selection.

More information – visit British Airways here

Or visit our British Airways Page

 

 

Avoid Ryanair Fees using Cash Passport

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Save £12 per person per return ticket by using the Ryanair Cash Passport card

But be aware of the following:

  • Prepaid cards are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
  • Transaction fee of 50p applies on spend anywhere other than on Ryanair.com
  • Inactivity fee of £2.50 every 6 months! Loading a small amount of money may count as an activity as a way around this.
  • Cash Machine Fee £2 per withdrawal
  • £6 purchase fee refundable against future flights

More information and apply here:

 

How to apply for Ryanair Cash Passport?

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As at today’s date, Ryanair provide a link that doesn’t work, to top up a Ryanair Prepaid Card   http://www.cashpassport.com/ryanair

Despite extensive research, we cannot see where to apply for the card but we will monitor the situation and let you know.

If you find out how to apply for a Ryanair Cash Passport do let us know in the comments box below! Thanks!

PS Our flight comparison page is the best way to compare RyanAir with alternatives!

Please Subscribe to my blog for occasional updates and booking tips.

 

Ryanair to start charging for use of prepaid cards

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From the 1st November it seems Ryanair intends to charge £6 per flight per passenger for paying by any card online.

That amounts to a charge of £24 for two people booking a return trip.

The airline has announced that it will provide reimbursement in the form of £6 travel voucher(s) if they use the Ryanair Cash Passport card which is a prepaid card type.

See the Ryanair article here:

http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-launches-branded-prepaid-mastercard

For more information on how to apply for the Ryanair Cash Passport please subscribe to my blog and I’ll keep you posted.

 

Redspottedhanky freephone number

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Redspottedhanky appear to have scrapped their £1 per minute support line in favour of a freephone line

Customer support is available 08:00 to 20:00 every day

Telephone: 0800 377 7748

With no booking fee, no credit card charges and a loyalty scheme worth 1%, Redspottedhanky is the UK’s lowest priced rail booking service.

For more details, and to book, see our UK Rail Page here

 

How to avoid premium phone charges and mobile charges to 0800 numbers

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With so many companies using premium rate telephone numbers, and keeping you holding for an eternity, here are a couple of ways to avoid a hefty phone bill:

Use alternative telephone numbers
Visit www.saynoto0870.com where you can enter the name of the company you’re calling and you’ll be given alternative numbers to use.

Use a re-route app on iPhone or Android smart phone
Mobile providers charge up to 41p per minute – even on 0800 ‘free-phone’ numbers.
Download the 0800Wizard app from Skycom Ltd which reroutes your 0800 number via a landline.

 

Eurostar Timetable Changes from 11th December 2011

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Here are the most notable changes affecting business travellers:

London – Paris:

First train will depart at 0540 instead of 0525, Monday-Friday

Two morning trains are now non-stop services: 0701 and 0831

0730 departure is now only on a Monday

Paris – London

An additional peak afternoon train departs 1743 Tuesday to Friday

London – Brussels

Timetable changes to enhance connections to Amsterdam

All trains will now stop in Lille

Eurostar Booking Tips

There are a few simple tips to finding availability and the best prices in my article here

 

Best Airline & Credit Card Reward Scheme

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I’ve enjoyed several free flights this summer courtesy of the most generous airline and credit card reward scheme:

Sign up to BMI Diamond Club and apply for a BMI American Express Card

Spend as little as £250 within 3 months on the card and you’ll receive up to 24,000 bonus miles, enough for two return tickets within Europe.

Currently, BMI has a half price sale:

Heathrow to Moscow / Agadir / Casablanca / Nice Economy Class: 4,000 miles

Heathrow to Beirut, Damascus, Baku: 15,000 miles

Book by midnight Friday 2nd September

 

BMI Half Price Reward Sale Book by Midnight Friday 2 September

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If you have a BMI Diamond Club Account, you can maximise your rewards by taking advantage of the BMI Half Price Sale.

This offer is valid for travel between 1st September 2011 and 31 March 2012

You can check availability online, or ask your travel agent to check for X class (economy) or I class (business class)

You can only book by phone however, on 0844 8480 808

If you’re not a member of this scheme, see my article here: