British Airways and Spain’s Iberia have announced an agreement for a £4 billion merger to create the world’s third-largest airline.

The deal is expected to be formalised in the first quarter of next year and closed towards the end of 2010. The merger will see BA shareholders holding 55 percent of the new company while Iberia will hold 45 percent.

The newly created holding company, which will own the two airlines, will continue to let the airlines keep their own licences, codes and brands for the first five years of the merger. So the British Airways brand will not disappear just yet!

The new company will combine British Airways’ strong position in transatlantic traffic with Iberia’s Latin American business, with 419 aircraft flying to 205 destinations.

The firms said the planned merger will lead to about 400m euros (£350m) of cost savings – a welcome relief to shareholders after both companies have recently posted major losses.

Ahead of the announcement of a deal, BA shares closed 7.5 percent higher at 206.8 pence, while Iberia shares ended up 11.8 percent at 2.22 euros.

Ryanair announces 4 new routes to Bordeaux Airport and 1 million €15 airfares for travel in November and December.

Ryanair has announced that it will open four new routes to and from Bordeaux starting on 17th December 2009.

The four new routes are from Bologna, Brussels (Charleroi), Edinburgh and Porto to Bordeaux Airport and will deliver an estimated 200,000 passengers and tourists per year into Bordeaux.

Ryanair celebrated the announcement of their four new Bordeaux routes by releasing 1 million seats at €15 each for travel across its European network in November and December which are available for booking now on www.ryanair.com.

Remember that in order to get your €15 cheap flight and ONLY pay €15 you will have to avoid Ryanair’s additional charges. However, this is quite simple and all you have to do is remember that they are a low cost airline and avoid any administrative charges or overheads that they would incur:

How to avoid Ryanair’s extra charges?

• Pay with Visa Electron – avoid credit card charges
• Print your boarding pass and bring it with you – there are no more check ins so avoid the charge of having one printed
• Travel with carry on luggage only – avoid paying for baggage to go in the hold
• Take your seat as it comes – avoid paying for priority boarding

Remember that when you are travelling with hand luggage only, all of your carry on items and travel size toiletries must comply with current airport security regulations for restrictions on hand luggage – if its more than 100ml it will end up in the bin!

From 24th November 2009 Air France will join the other SkyTeam Partners in Terminal 4 at London Heathrow Airport.

The new location at Terminal 4 will see Air France join KLM, Delta and other Skyteam partners using a new SkyTeam dedicated check-in area.

The new SkyTeam lounge is around 1600 square meters over 2 levels  boasting 300 seats, two VIP rooms, a quiet room, a separate children’s area and an extended Wellness Centre.

As well as having 30 self-service kiosks in the Economy check in area there is also a fast track access available for Business Class customers. There is a new Premium check in area dedicated to SkyTeam First, Business, and Premium Economy customers, as well as Sky Team Elite and Elite Plus card holders. The dedicated 300 square meter facility will include 14 check in desks and 10 self-service kiosks, together with a comfortable seating area

As always with air travel ensure that you conform to the current airport security regulations for hand luggage and make sure that all travel size toiletries are less than 100ml.

Ryanair have just announced that are selling 1 million seats at €5 each for travel in October and November.

From midnight tonight, 28th Sept 09, it will release 1 million seats at an all inclusive price of €5 for travel in Oct and Nov – Cheap flights don’t get much cheaper!

These €5 “all in” cheap flight tickets will be available on over 500 of Ryanair’s European routes but must be booked on www.ryanair.com before midnight on Thursday 1st Oct 09.

Your €5 cheap air fare ticket includes all taxes and charges. So as long as you are aware of Ryanair’s additional (or discretionary as they would prefer to call them) charges you can bag a bargain and fly across Europe for less than the taxi fare to the airport.

How to avoid Ryanair’s extra charges? Quite simply remember they are a low cost airline and avoid any administrative charges or overheads that they would incur:

• Pay with Visa Electron – avoid credit card charges
• Travel with carry on luggage only – avoid paying for baggage to go in the hold
• Take your seat as it comes – avoid paying for priority boarding

Remember that when you are travelling with hand luggage only, all of your carry on items and travel size toiletries must comply with current airport security regulations for restrictions on hand luggage – if its more than 100ml it will end up in the bin!

Safe Skies have teamed up with BoomerangIt to produce what may finally be the answer to lost luggage when travelling – the Safe Skies BoomerangIt TSA Lock.

On one hand, Safe Skies are a major brand producing TSA approved luggage locks, which are essential for travel to and from the USA.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is empowered to screen and inspect all baggage (both hold luggage and carry-on hand luggage) at US airports and therefore must cut off any combination lock or padlock to allow their officers to gain access to your baggage.

However, a TSA approved luggage lock has a TSA recognised locking mechanism which allows officials from the TSA to open any combination locks, padlocks and luggage straps on your baggage for inspection by the TSA and then subsequently re-lock them securely.

It’s worth noting that this patented technology is also recognised by UK HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), although there has not yet been any announcement that UK Customs officials will follow similar procedures to gain access to screen and inspect your baggage – yet!

On the other hand, BoomerangIt are the leading Global lost and found recovery service. Each item registered with BoomerangIt.com has a unique serial number which is recorded in their worldwide database along with the contact details of the owner.

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Ryanair has announced it would open its 34th operating base at Leeds Bradford Airport in March 2010. With two aircraft based there and 14 new routes being launched Ryanair will be providing 63 weekly return flights to/from Leeds Bradford Airport.

The 14 new routes from Leeds Bradford Airport are to Carcassonne, Faro, Ibiza, Knock, Krakow, Limoges, Malaga, Malta, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, Palma, Pisa and Venice Treviso.

Flights for the 14 new routes from Leeds Bradford go on sale tomorrow.

This announcement coincides with Ryanair releasing 1 million £5 seats for travel across its European network for travel in October and November which are available for booking on www.ryanair.com until midnight Thursday (13th August).

Remember to avoid additional charges and only use carry on hand luggage for your flight. That makes it all the more important that you use travel size toiletries when flying that conform to the airport security hand luggage restrictions.

Ryanair has started a 2 day sale of 1 million seats at a recession busting price of €1 (including all taxes and charges) for travel in October and November.

These seats for low cost travel are only available until midnight Thursday 6th August on www.ryanair.com so you want to book early to get a great deal

However, these €1 tickets exclude any optional fees for what Ryanair class as discretionary services. So as long as you pay by Visa Electron, travel with carry on hand luggage only and are not bothered about priority boarding, you can fly on hundreds of Ryanair’s routes for a total one way fare of just €1.

It’s therefore essential to ensure that all the toiletries in your hand luggage are travel size toiletries so that they can be safely taken through airport security and onto the aircraft with you. Travel Bag Size offer a range of travel size toiletry sets for both men and women that conform to current airport security regulations and come in a zip topped clear plastic bag specifically for that purpose.

We all now know about musician Dave Carroll who composed United Breaks Guitars and posted it on YouTube after the airline damaged his treasured Taylor acoustic guitar at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. His video had three and half million hits in ten days and has been a PR disaster for the airline, which has seen its share price plunge by 10 per cent, wiping $180 million off the company’s value.

However, as most of us are not gifted musicians there are other avenues to pursue to actually get your message across to an airline that may have provided “less than acceptable” customer service or value for money from your perspective.

One of the best known is a letter of complaint sent to Sir Richard Branson, which must rank as the world’s funniest passenger complaint letter.

Dear Mr Branson,

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.
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Ryanair, the cut price airline specialising in cheap flights, have announced a dramatic 40% cut its Stansted Airport Winter Schedule starting in October ’09.

Ryanair currently operate 40 aircraft from Stansted Airport but will reduce this to 24 aircraft and in addition will also reduce the number of weekly flights by 30%.

This will have the net effect of reducing Ryanair’s passenger numbers who enjoy the benefit of cheap flights by an estimated 2.5 million between October this year and March 2010.

Ryanair’s Chief Exec Michael O’Leary has blamed the drastic cuts on Gordon Brown’s £10 tourist tax and BAA’s high airport charges, saying that these are also damaging London and UK tourism and the British economy generally.

This follows on from the Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments scrapping tourist taxes and/or reducing airport charges in order to stimulate tourism. Meanwhile the UK Government plans to increase its £10 tourist tax to £11 from November.

This latest announcement from Ryanair will not only impact the availability of cheap flights but also coincides with Ryanair’s closure of baggage check in and the introduction of additional charges for placing baggage in the hold.

Therefore, to get the “true” cheap flight price as advertised you will have to increasingly rely on taking just carry on hand luggage, with the contents complying with the current airport security hand luggage restrictions. This makes it all more important to be doubly cost effective and use travel sized toiletries when going on holidays or flights abroad.

Ryanair has announced that it will open a total of 11 new routes from Oslo starting in September 2009. Seven new routes will open from Oslo (Rygge) Airport and four new routes from Oslo (Torp) to give passengers even more choice for travelling across Europe.

The seven new routes operating from Oslo (Rygge) from October will be between Alicante, Barcelona (Girona), Brussels (Charleroi), Bremen, London (Stansted), Madrid and Milan (Bergamo).

The four new routes operating from Oslo (Torp) from September will be between Krakow, Lodz, Paris (Beauvais), and Rome (Ciampino).

Ryanair has celebrated the opening of these 11 new routes at Oslo by releasing 1 million 1NOK (Norwegian Kroner) seats for travel across its European network in September and October which are available for booking on www.ryanair.com until midnight tonight – Friday 17th July.