Cheap flights from Cardiff to Barcelona

BmiBaby launches new route between Barcelona and Wales

The low cost airline bmibaby has announced that this month it will start operating a new route between Cardiff and Barcelona. As from 24th May there will be two flights per week on Tuesday and Saturday and from 18th June onwards there will also be another flight on Wednesdays.

Tickets for the new route are already available from BmiBaby and cost from 24.99 pounds (approximately 31€), taxes and charges included.

The best offers, subject to availability, can be obtained by reserving online. Tickets are limited during the summer holiday period and no refunds are available.

Tickets reserved using a debit card are subject to a 2% charge on the total amount paid for the ticket and those reserved using a credit card are subject to a 3% commission. Passengers travelling from Cardiff can use the bmi executive lounges and the bmi online check-in system. Consult the bmibaby website for more information and online booking.

Cheap flights from Manchester to Alicante

Tickets for easyjet’s new route between Manchester and Alicante are now on sale.

The new route will begin operating from 29th September 2008 and will have four flights every week between Alicante and Manchester during the winter months. Prices vary from as little as 27.99 pounds for one way tickets and 47.98 pounds for return tickets, tax included.

This new route is expected to be especially popular for families and people takng a short break. Easyjet hopes to carry around 60,000 passengers on this route in its first 12 months of operating.

The Commercial Director of easyjet in the UK, Carly Brear, said that it was the first route that easyjet has introduced in its new base in Manchester and that the company hoped to expand its routes from Manchester in the near future.

Carly Brear also went on to say that Alicante is a popular destination from its other bases within the UK and that now passengers in the northeast could take advantage of this new service from their base in Manchester airport.

Tim McDermott, the Director of Aviation in Manchester airport said that he was delighted that easyjet had started to expand its routes from Manchester with the announcement of its new route to Alicante, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

Possible fusion between Clickair and Vueling

The Managing Director of Clickair, Alejandro Cruz, has not ruled out the possibility of a fusion with Vueling, an option which he says now depends on ‘time and shareholders’. He went on to say that both companies are Catalan airlines that use the Airbus A-320 and operate similar routes from Barcelona.

Cruz affirmed in an interview with the magazine Efe that ‘shareholders are speaking amongst themselves’ although he also said that no definite plans had been made yet.
Cruz stressed that in his opinion something has to happen in the Spain airline industry but he also said that a fusion between Clickair and Vueling, both low cost airlines, was complicated and involved competition, personalities, reputation and money.

With regards to the sale of Spanair, Cruz said that there were many possible combinations from the purchase of Spanair by Iberia following the sale of Clickair to the union of Vueling and Air Nostrum or the acquisition of Spanair by Air Nostrum. He added that until concrete plans were made the company he directed could not give its opinion.

Cruz said ‘Nothing convinces me that the final solution lies in the purchase of Spanair by Iberia although nothing forbids Gonzalo Pascual from bidding for the airline. However, SAS has not said anything with regards to the offers it has received for Spanair’.

Cruz also stressed that ‘the Spanish air market would not be the same in six months from now’ He said that Clickair would be in a fantastic position to support these changes given that it was the most efficient operator in Spain with the least costs in terms of infrastructure and the most productivity in terms of planes and air crew as well as the best record of punctuality.

Bidding for Spanair ends today

The Swedish airline SAS has announced that today is the last day in which offers for the Spanish airline Spanair can be presented within the bidding process for the sale of the airline.

The assistant director of communications for SAS, Claus Sonberg, has refused to comment on the level of offers received so far saying that is was a ‘confidential process’.

The Swedish airline said it regretted that Marsans had withdrawn its bid. The
president of the Spanish tourism consortium, Gonzalo Pascual, said that the decision had been taken due to the difficult situation in the air transport market in Spain and because it was expecting to agree another deal with SAS.

The Spanish airline Iberia is bidding for 100% of Spanair, together with the group Gestair.

Cheap flights to Canary Islands with frills

Jet2.com Plus! - new system to upgrade cheap flights to Spanish destinations

Low-cost airline Jet2.com has launched Jet2com. Plus, a new service for passengers prepared to pay for special treatment during their flight for Spain.

Customers flying to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote who are willing to pay £25 one-way or £45 return (per passenger) for an upgrade to Jet2com.Plus will be entitled to the following perks:

• Priority check-in
• Fast security checks (where available)
• A drink in the VIP lounge before the flight
• Seating in the front cabin
• An in-flight meal which contains chocolates and complimentary drink (excluding champagne) . On early morning flights a wake-up breakfast meal will be served. Passengers can select from vegetarian or non-vegetarian options when making their flight booking online.

Jet2.com Plus can be purchased both online 3 working days before departure or at the airport on day of travel subject to availability. The service is non-refundable and is not available for children under 12 years.

Jet2.com operate flights to:

• Lanzarote from Leeds-Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle aiports
• Gran Canaria from Leeds-Bradford, Manchester, Belfast and Newcastle aiports
• Tenerife from Leeds-Bradford, Manchester, Blackpool, Belfast and Newcastle aiports

This new upgraded class is only available on flights to the Canary Islands.

Related: Guide to Lanzarote # Guide to Tenerife # Guide to Gran Canaria # Hotels in Tenerife # Hotels in Lanzarote # Beaches in Gran Canaria

Online purchase of cheap flights

Irregularities detected in seven websites selling online airline tickets

The Spanish National Consumers’ Institute has analysed 12 web pages run by airlines and travel agents selling online tickets following complaints by consumers.
On 27th September this year the 12 internet sites which had received the most complaints were investigated by the National Consumers’ Institute in a joint operation with other EU member states when web pages were scanned for fraudulent special offers.

As a result of this investigation 7 of the web pages were found to contain misleading publicity on special offers such as free flights that didn’t take into account extra charges such as airport taxes. Both Ryanair and Vueling were included in this group.

Ryanair, Iberia, Spanair and Vueling had special offers advertised on their websites which could not be found when the investigators later searched for them. Furthermore, the website belonging to eDreams was found to refer to geographical areas that did not correspond to the airports listed for departure or arrival.
The National Consumers’ Institute also found irregularities regarding the legal requirements that these sites need to fulfil. The web pages belonging to Ryanair, Transavia and Tuy-Fly were found to contain sales information in Spanish but the terms and conditions of flying were only offered in English.

No irregularities were found in the web pages belonging to Air Berlín, Atrapalo.com, Rumbo and Easyjet.

Flybe launches frequent flyer scheme

The low cost airline Flybe has announced the launch of a new frequent flyer scheme whereby regular passengers travelling on Flybe flights will be able to earn points each time they fly and then exchange them for flights or for access to the airline's executive aiport lounges.

Flybe's frequent flyer scheme is called Rewards4all and it is open to both leisure and business travellers. Once registered, members will be earn points automatically each time they book. The points can be exchanged for benefits on the following basis:

16 Reward Points = 1 return UK Economy flight
20 Reward Points = 1 year Executive Lounge Access
22 Reward Points = 1 return UK Economy Plus flight
24 Reward Points = 1 return European Economy flight
30 Reward Points = 1 return European Economy Plus flight

Flybe's new frequent flyer scheme will be available in the next few weeks and passengers open their Rewards4all account on the airline's website.

Flyebe flies to the following destinations in Spain: Alicante, Malaga and Palma.