African skies 30/04/2012
Dear Alex,
Can you help me to understand why flying in or around Africa is so difficult and expensive? A recent trip I had to make from here in Addis Ababa to Abuja in Nigeria cost US$1,100 in economy class.
Now I am planning to fly from Addis Ababa to Antananarivo in Madagascar and find my options limited and pricey. There are no direct flights and when I tried to book via Europe [a lengthy backtrack], the airline concerned insisted I buy two separate tickets.
I found a route via Nairobi but the economy ticket would have cost US$1,700 and I would have had a long layover. In the end I booked with Emirates via Dubai [a backtrack] to Mauritius, then booked another flight with Air Mauritius to Antananarivo. This cost US$2,000.
Deron Marvin, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Kanagroo route query 30/04/2012
Dear Alex,
Perhaps you can answer a Kangaroo route question that has long puzzled me. Every day, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic land their planes early in the morning at Sydney airport. But these aircraft then sit on the tarmac for ten hours before returning to London at tea time.
Surely, with planes being such an expensive asset, the airlines would want to make better use of them?
Jack Cameron, Sydney
APD refunds 30/04/2012
Dear Alex,
Airlines are obliged to refund any government and airport taxes such as APD [the UK’s airline passenger duty] if I decide to cancel a non-refundable ticket. It seems the carriers have found a way around this by charging a fee of about £17.
I work in retail and refunding a customer’s payment costs my company £1.70, so if the airlines’ cost is similar they will pocket £15.30. Is this legal?
Martin Bickl, London
Poor co-ordination 30/03/2012
Dear Alex,
I encountered codeshare problems when taking return business class flights to Singapore via Zurich. I took Swiss from London Heathrow to Zurich, where I transferred to Singapore Airlines’ [SIA] A380 service for the onward journey.
After booking with swiss.com [these flights cannot be booked on SIA’s website, singaporeair.com], I phoned SIA to ask for the PNR [passenger name record] so that I could request a seat (Swiss does not permit advance seat selection).
SIA provided the PNR but then observed I was booked twice for both Zurich-Singapore and the other sectors on my itinerary. It suggested I contact Swiss to point this out. However, Swiss was not interested. It suggested I sort out the matter with SIA.
After contacting SIA again, I had thought the matter resolved. But later, when I was in Asia, I had to change the itinerary by phone to return via Bangkok, using Swiss for the long-haul sector back to Zurich. And, yes, you’ve guessed it, I was again booked twice with SIA between Singapore and Bangkok.
The actual flights were fine and nothing was said about the duplicate [Singapore-Bangkok] sector – although the Singapore agent did look mesmerised by her screen when checking me in.
I thought I was giving my business to two reliable carriers that are solid members of Star Alliance. Yet their co-ordination was non-existent. Each told me to take my problem to the other. What do you think?
Ken Buchanan, London
Business class from Perth to London 30/03/2012
Dear Alex,
My best friend now resides in Perth, Australia. Because she is not in the best of health, she needs a flat bed [business class] seat for the long flight back to the UK.
Thanks to Air Asia X flying Perth-Kuala Lumpur-London, she has been able to visit the UK every year. Now, with Air Asia X gone from the UK [the budget carrier axed its London route at the end of last month], the only replacement she can find is Emirates, which is twice the price. Any other solution, however wacky?
Judith Armstrong, Leeds
Rental rage 29/02/2012
Dear Alex,
The big car rental companies in Europe have different prices in every country. This is acceptable, but what is astonishing is that the rental price also depends on where the customer resides.
Take Europcar – if I rent a car one-way and declare that I live in France, I am directed to the France section of the website and my rental is restricted to 250 free kilometres a day. If I rent a car one-way in France but declare I live in Germany, I am directed to the Germany section and find the rental includes unlimited kilometres. But as I reside in France, there is no way I can take advantage of the better conditions to which a customer in Germany is entitled. What is your opinion on this matter?
Alain Kupferman, Strasbourg
BA's Malaga route 29/02/2012
Dear Alex,
As a regular commuter between London Gatwick and Malaga, I wonder why British Airways has cut the number of flights? Last summer BA flew four times a day, but this winter it’s down to just one a day. The route is busy and at capacity. Now that Malaga has three terminals and two runways, it cannot be slot restricted. What’s the reasoning?
Richard Copper, London
Avoiding APD 29/02/2012
Dear Alex,
As regards APD [the UK’s air passenger duty], I don’t know what everyone is complaining about. If I want to avoid it I’m not going to fly Sydney-London-Sydney. Instead, I’ll fly into London, book a cheap ticket with Easyjet to the Continent and fly home from there. Good idea?
Geoff Summers, Sydney
Alliances and codesharing 24/01/2012
Dear Alex,
My father recently booked, through a travel agent, a return ticket from Cape Town to Nice via Johannesburg and Frankfurt. He ended up with South African Airways (SAA) as far as Frankfurt then Lufthansa for all the other sectors on to Nice and back to Johannesburg. [The carriers codeshare on routes between South Africa and Europe.]
The problem came when we tried to check in online for the flight out of South Africa. Because the SAA flight carried a Lufthansa code, call centre staff said he couldn’t use flysaa.com. When we contacted Lufthansa for help, we were told we couldn’t use lufthansa.com for check in because it was an SAA-operated flight.
I thought the idea of alliances and codesharing was to make travel easier. Or am I wrong?
David Settle, Cape Town
First or business? 24/01/2012
Dear Alex,
Last October I flew from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing with Air China. The plane was a B777-300ER, which, according to the display on seatplans.com [Business Traveller’s sister website], is configured for three classes – first, business and economy.
Even though I had purchased a first class ticket I occupied seat 15A, which I believe to be business class because the seating was six across, 2-2-2. When I asked the cabin crew if it really was first class, they informed me that this particular aircraft was not equipped with regular first class. I was told the plane’s first class was “super first class”. Can you explain what’s going on?
Ulrich Schade, Singapore
