This week in Travel 28/05/2019

Canada

Passengers either flying to/from or within Canada that are denied boarding due to overbooking are set to receive 2400 Canadian Dollars (£1400) in flight delay compensation. The rules set to come into force on 15th July 2019 were unveiled by the Canadian Transportation Agency. Airlines will now have to ask EVERY passenger if they would be willing to take a later flight before a passenger is offloaded against their will. This amount beats the £540 maximum payment in Europe.

Amsterdam

Industrial action by transport staff is set to scupper the travel plans of a huge amount of passengers this week as a  24 hour strike has bought almost all tram, bus, rail, and ferry services to a complete halt. Amsterdam Schipol airport has asked airlines to cancel large swathes of flights in and motorways have been gridlocked as commuters resort to cars and taxis to get into work. Unfortunately, if your flight is one of those cancelled you will not be able to claim compensation under EU261.

Stansted tops the most delayed Airport table

Stansted has the dubious honour of being the most delayed airport in the country with an average delay of 25 minutes. Although this delay is not enough to trigger a compensation claim the airport, which serves as a major Ryanair hub, was keen to highlight the improvements and investment it has made in ground operations. Too little too late in our opinion. The rest of the table looks like this:

1 Stansted: 25 mins 

2= Luton: 19 mins 

2= Birmingham: 19 mins  

4 Gatwick: 18 mins 

5= Manchester: 16 mins 

5= Jersey: 16 mins 

7= Edinburgh: 15 mins 

7= Belfast International: 15 mins 

7= Southend: 15 mins 

7= Glasgow: 15 mins 

Brexit is bad for UK tourism

As well as the £350 million bonus myth for the NHS the Pro-Brexit claim that a weakened pound would be a boon to UK tourism has proved to be false with the UK recording a "tourism deficit" of £22bn. The hopes were that tourists would be flocking to the UK amidst the low value of the pound but the opposite has now been proven to be true. The uncertainty of Brexit and the perceived "welcome" we give to international travellers has meant valuable tourism revenue has gone to other countries.

Air New Zealand orders 8 new Dreamliners

Air New Zealand has placed an order to purchase 8 of the new 786-10 Dreamliners cementing itself as one of the top airlines in the world in terms of service and fleet age.

Passenger with 246 packets of cocaine dies on flight

A Japanese man who died on-board an Aero Mexico flight from Bogota to Tokyo was found to have 246 sachets of cocaine in his stomach. Flight attendants noticed the man convulsing during the flight and requested an emergency landing but he was declared dead on landing. The cause of death was a drug ovedose. Japan has strict drug laws and anyone caught smuggling in drugs is subject to harsh penalties.