… Is the cost of travelling in these conditions on the Great British Railway system when the weather goes bad.

Oh, and the cancellations don’t help really.

As it always seems by the train loads, everyone wants to escape London, but no one wants to go there. Which would be nice but for one thing: it seemed the heating had packed in…..

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone – apologies for the spelling!

The latest update from the BBC indicates that all UK airports are operating, however ensure your flight is operating by checking with your carrier and or airport website.

However, for rail passengers, there are issues today. As well as trains finishing a lot earlier than normal (as is tradition for Christmas), Chiltern Railways, First Capital Connect and Mersyrail are operating 3/4 services.

Delays have already been noted on East Coast, Eurostar, First TransPennine Express, London Midland, National Express East Anglia, Northern Rail ScotRail, South West Trains, Stansted Express and Virgin Trains.

Roads are still not particually good, and whilst the trunk routes appear to be good, other routes are suffering from ice still. This is affecting some National Express services.

For those of you stuck in Paris CDG, don’t expect to move until midday due to freezing conditions.

If you’re travelling today, please take care and I hope you make it to your ultimate destination.

Thanks to http://thedailypatdown.com/  A lovley collection of Security Theatre images that only the TSA and America’s Finest Screeners can deliver.

In style.

And with the full humiliation that goes with it.

And for those of you who have to run the airport gauntlet today – safe travels, and hoping you reach your destination in time for Christmas. I’ll be travelling myself – if the rail network is playing ball in this snow.

Dublin Airport has just been closed according to RTE.ie. http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1223/weather_main.html

Reopened at 13:00GMT.

Other UK Airports are experiancing delays and cancellations. Check with your airline before you fly and before you set off to the airport, and check your airport’s web site/twitter feed to see if they’re taking any passengers.

Safe Travels

KLM and Malaysian Airlines have announced they have signed a memo to allow them to work closer together by strengthening the connection between the airlines’ hubs in Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur To offer “greater connectivity, better schedules and more choice for their passengers”.

So apart from more codesharing, is this a litte preview of who SkyTeam wish to want as their next member?

Possibly.

Big airlines are now have already grouped up, either by merging or joining an alliance. Malaysian has been on it’s own for some time, and needs to address a weakness it has – that and the massive Kuala Lumpur International Airport – and Air Asia (and Air Asia X) is biting at its heels.

By not joining a major alliance, Malaysian is out in the cold. And sooner or later – it’s going to have to come in…

United belatedly is finally working on the 747-400′s, and is looking to upgrade the economy product on those birds.

And may I say – it’s about time. Stepping onboard one of those things is… a time warp.

Jeff Smisek says he hopes the upgrade to upgrade them by 2016 – when it’s A350XWB’s are due into service.

Some of the savings that the combined UA/CO entinty is making is paying for these upgrades. Even Jeff says:

“The back of the product on the 747 that United flies is not an acceptable level of product. I know that,”

“But United didn’t have the money to invest in that product. Well it does now.”

“We can re-allocate aircraft to a much greater depth and drive significant additional revenue,”

You have to invest. There is a price for not investing: you lose people.”

Again – like I said, if you’ve been in the back of a 747-400 with United, it’s stepping into a timewarp. An early 90′s timewarp. And 5 year turnaround is a bit long winded.

What actual upgrades will occur has yet to be decided, but I’d hope at a minimum AVOD and a decent seat product – and not the joke that exists.

Lonely Planet are offering 13 of their guides for free during this snow problems. You can pick them up at the iTunes Music Store or follow the links from here

It’s free unitil  6pm Wednesday 22 December 201 0PS, so fill your boots for some reasonable guides!

• Amsterdam 
• Berlin 
• Copenhagen 
• Dublin 
• London 
• Moscow 
• Munich 
• Paris 
• Prague 
• St Petersburg 
• Stockholm  
• Vienna 
• Warsaw 

The Seattle Times has posted a good hometime reading article on the problems that have beset the 787 programme with another delay to the programme in the offing.

Sad, but it seems to be the case of most modern planes delays with the term “Expect Delays”. 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013713745_dreamliner19.html?cmpid=2727

No doubt if more delays are announced, ANA is going to get more annoyed, as well as other partners who were betting fleet expansions on the 787. 

Recommended reading.

With movements starting to go along, here’s the latest travel updates.

Please remember to check with your airline.

British Airports Authority has issued an urgent appeal for travellers not to go to Heathrow unless they know for sure their flight will leave.

Heathrow is clearing through the backlog, but shorthaul programmes are hit (in particular, British Airways has cancelled all of it’s shorthaul flights), and long haul isn’t doing that much better.

Gatwick is returning to normal, but delays are expected.

Cardiff Airport will be remain closed until at least 1600 GMT.

Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Birmingham, Luton, London City, Bristol and Southampton airports all said flights would be subject to delays and cancellations.

Exeter has closed a runway until at least 1900 GMT.

Stansted is said to be operating as normal.

Eurostar has implemented an emergency snow timetable, and will not be selling tickets for services until 24th December

Rail Services are still being hammered – please check before you travel. 

In addition, it’s not just the UK being hit, there continues to be disruption at airports in Frankfurt, Paris, Florence and Amsterdam.

Be careful and travel only if you need too!

Well as most of Europe seems not to be coping with snow, here is the latest updates on who’s doing what

Monday, more snow is expected in the South East, bringing Heathrow and Gatwick back into the firing line.

Heathrow is expecting some movements, but fully expects to be snowed in. Gatwick has had about a 1/4 of the movements expected, but is expecting the worst tommorow.

Regional airports are suffering with delays, but are open, however, check the list below and click through the website. If in doubt, consult your airline as rebooking policies should be live.

For those of you who might be confused by some of the Three Lettered Codes (IATA) of Airports I use in the blog posts, here’s a semi-comprehensive list of major airports within the United Kingdom and Ireland area. The link to the respective airport’s site is also there too. I’ve added a Twitter feed if they have it too.

Ireland

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales

Twitter Follow Links

For those of you who use Twitter, you can add the following feeds for up-to-date news and spam from the following airports:

England

• Birmingham – twitter.com/bhx_official
• Durham – twitter.com/DurhamTVAirport
• Liverpool – twitter.com/LPL_Airport 
• London City – twitter.com/LondonCityAir
• London Gatwick – twitter.com/Gatwick_Airport 
• London Heathrow -twitter.com/heathrowairport 
• Manchester – twitter.com/manairport
• Southampton – twitter.com/SOU_Airport

Ireland

•   Dublin – twitter.com/DublinAirport

Northern Ireland

• Belfast – twitter.com/BELFASTAIRPORT

Scotland

• Aberdeen – twitter.com/ABZ_Airport 
• Edinburgh – twitter.com/EDI_Airport
• Glasgow – twitter.com/GLA_Airport

Wales

•  Cardiff – twitter.com/Cardiff_Airport