Travel Industry News, Views and Opinions

Talkback

Brian and team, who work for a digital marketing agency run this Digital Crosstalk blog.
Occasionally we might blog about companies and people we work with but for the most part we'll simply be blogging about stories and events which we find interesting.

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17th
AUG

Holidaybreak buck trend by revealing healthy rise in trading

Posted by Austin | Filed under tourism

Specialist tour operator Holidaybreak have proved that it’s not all doom and gloom in the package holiday sector by revealing that they remain optimistic about their prospects for their future, and even had a rise in trading this year.

In the same week that industry giants Thomas Cook and Tui Travel both warned that year-end profits would disappoint due to a mixture of stay-at-home Britons and April’s volcanic ash crisis, the Northwich-based group, which specialises in adventure travel, camping and educational trips, revealed that they are performing in line with management expectations.

Group chief executive Martin Davies said:

“Given overall economic conditions, I am very encouraged by the resilience and financial performance of our business.”

The group’s education division in particular has been successful, with headteachers opting to outsource educational events to trusted companies due to health and safety legislation.

“We’re showing how our business has different dynamics to the big leisure operators who reported this week,” said Davies, who was in charge of the group’s education division before being promoted to chief executive. “For example, the ash cloud which hurt them so bad had no impact on us at all.

“We remain focused on cash generation and cost control whilst continuing to ensure that we invest sensibly in the business.”

Tags: educational trips, holidaybreak, package holidays, thomas cook

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11th
AUG

From England to France and back again with Eurotunnel trains

Posted by Kim | Filed under rail

If you’re thinking of travelling to France for your holidays, there are always many options as to how you can get there. Fly to one of the airports, take a ferry across the channel, or of course take a train through the famous Channel Tunnel. Eurotunnel advertise on their website that they can get you from Folkestone to Calais with your car in just 35 minutes. Well, where this may be true most of the time, it certainly wasn’t the case for a group of unlucky travellers.

When the train arrived in Calais the group of around 20 travellers didn’t even get the chance to set foot on French soil before they were being whisked back to England. When the train was being emptied staff failed to notice the seven cars that were still parked behind an empty tankard, which had been left their due to a fuel spill earlier in the day. Travelling to get to go on your holidays isn’t always the best of fun, imagine almost getting there and then just being dragged back to where you started.

Unfortunately, once that train gets going, there’s really no way of stopping it till you’re back in England. So even though the staff realised their mistake just after the train had set off again, back to England they went.

Understandably, Eurotunnel management were very embarrassed and booked the unfortunate travellers back on the first available train to Calais. They were also given a full refund and a free crossing in the future to true and make up for the mix-up. I think the real question though is whether you would want to use the free crossing next time, just in case.

Image via Wikipedia.

Tags: car shuttle, Channel Tunnels, Eurotunnel, france, trains

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1st
MAR

Stewardesses in plane punchup cause flight cancellation

Posted by Brian | Filed under air

: Image via Wikipedia

A war of words between two airline stewardesses resulted in the cancellation of a flight, just moments before it was due to take off.

The flight was due to take off from Rochester, New York bound for Atlanta when the two crew members became embroiled in a spat which resulted in the captain aborting the flight and ordering passengers to disembark the plane.

One passenger claimed punches were thrown in the incident which is believed to have arisen as the plane was returning to its gate after a passenger on board the plane fell ill.

Pinnacle Airlines, the flight operator refuted claims of physical contact between the two, and stated that the disagreement was purely verbal.

Both stewardesses have been removed from duty pending an airline investigation and the flight was cancelled. Alternative travel plans were made for passengers reports the Telegraph.

Tags: Airline, Atlanta, Aviation, flight attendant, New York, Pinnacle Airlines, Rochester New York, Transportation

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1st

Ryanair passenger eats $10,000 scratchcard

Posted by Brian | Filed under air

: Image via Wikipedia

An angry Ryanair passenger who held a winning in-flight scratchcard couldn’t stomach it when informed he wouldn’t be able to claim his prize on the flight. But as it turned out, he could stomach it afterall – when he ATE the scratchcard.

The man, who was flying from Krakow, Poland to East Midlands Airport won $10,000 with the scratchcard, but when staff informed the passenger that he would have to collect his jackpot directly from the operating company.

Stephen McNamara, a spokesman for the airline said that passengers and cabin crew tried to placate the man but he stood up and ate it anyway, ruining any chance he had of collecting his prize.

The money will now be donated to charity with passengers being asked by the airline to vote online to decide which charity should receive the windfall.