Thursday evening, Palma airport, gate D98. The clock says 8.10pm. The screen says "Nantes 20.40". The Volotea aircraft has arrived from the French Atlantic city on time, ready for the return leg. The ground staff have just announced the start of boarding (in English, even though the plane is in Spain and almost every passenger is French). But I feel slightly anxious. A few hours earlier, the airline had sold me a ticket for a plane that, it transpires, was already fully booked. Online check-in was unavailable. I had no choice but to pay an extra €10 to check in at the airport – where I was handed a boarding pass with the seat number shown as "zero". The ground staff say the flight is overbooked. Only when everyone else has boarded will they know if there is a "no-show" whose seat I may take. Due to the non-standard budget itinerary I have chosen to reach London, quite a lot is riding on the outcome. I really didn't want to pay over €500 for a one-way ticket from Palma to Gatwick. So I have strung together a couple of much cheaper flights: Palma to Nantes on Volotea, where I have spent a non-refundable €95 on an airport hotel, and an easyJet hop next day to Gatwick. I fondly imagined myself taking the bus on Friday morning to explore a French city that I have not visited since 2006, then returning for the late morning flight on easyJet. My luck had come up when I checked in for the segment of the journey from Nantes to Gatwick: in the raffle for those of us who choose not to pay for a specific seat, I have been assigned 1A. If I am stuck here in Palma for the night, that will prove irrelevant (though I hope another passenger might enjoy the front row window seat).
My flight jeopardy is trivial compared with the treatment meted out to Mark Mardell at Istanbul airport last Saturday. He is a distinguished former BBC broadcaster who is living with Parkinson's disease. This neurodegenerative disorder affects movement and can cause tremors. But Mr Mardell's condition has never presented a problem when flying. He was all checked in at Istanbul airport for a Turkish Airlines flight to Gatwick when ground staff learnt of his condition – and turned him away because he did not have the requisite doctor's report. This bizarre demand has a stringent specification. The report must be obtained at least 10 days before the flight and include the doctor's name, surname, diploma number and signature, plus the exact phrase: "There is no harm in travelling by plane."
Wizz Air was happy to fly Mr Mardell home the next day – but only after he had spent seven hours trying to retrieve his luggage in one of the biggest airports in the world, and found a hotel for the night. Digging deeper, I discovered Turkish Airlines insists that people with autism who are travelling alone must produce "a doctor's note stating that they can travel by plane without a companion".
"You have a seat," the lady in charge of boarding flight 2831 has just told me as she switched the message on the screen to "flight closed". Whoever was booked to be in 2D, I am sorry to have benefitted from whatever misfortune befell you. Overbooking: Why everyone should win from the airline practice of selling more tickets than there are seats
Tube trouble: How do Underground signals work and what can go wrong? Eastern express: Eight hours on the long and winding road to Chisinau
Airborne menace: Vilnius airport closes again due to smugglers' balloons
'We're off': Global travel organisation WTTC to quit London due to Brexit |
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Last chance: Thursday night's final flight from Mallorca to France approaching Nantes, as shown on the skymap |
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| Nobody would call Anna Hart a loner, but when it comes to travel, she prefers to go it alone – here's why. Read more. |
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| Riads offer a serene escape from the city, allowing stays among remarkable Moroccan craftsmanship. Read more. |
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| From sustainability stays to beachside villas, the Island of the Gods has a hotel for every traveller. Read more. |
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Essential listening: Independent travel podcasts |
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Departures and arrivals, some good, some bad: that sums up the week. "Eastern Airways Important Information," announced an email that arrived on Wednesday. "The airline is no longer able to operate flights or accept new bookings. All scheduled flights to, from, and within the UK operated by Eastern Airways Ltd have been cancelled." Terrible news for around 300 staff who worked hard to keep the regional airline flying. As a minor aside, my Gatwick-Newquay booking for January is now toast. "Contact your payment provider for potential refunds," is the advice from the airline's Customer Support. I have written a passengers' rights guide after the airline's sad departure. Across in Jamaica, thousands of British holidaymakers are increasingly desperate to depart following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, which claimed lives across the Caribbean. Some UK visitors who were due to fly back last Sunday are still on the island. Tui has flown aircraft to the Dominican Republic ahead of the hoped-for airlift; planes and crews are on standby to make the short hop from Punta Cana to the main Jamaican holiday airport, Montego Bay, to bring passengers home. The company has cancelled all departures to Jamaica until 10 November at the earliest. Brighter news: competition for Eurostar is finally expected to arrive on links from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Sir Richard Branson promises his Virgin Trains enterprise will "shake-up the cross-Channel route for good and give consumers the choice they deserve". Eurostar has had a monopoly on passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel since it opened in 1994. While fares as low as £39 each way are available, prices soar close to departure. Last night the lowest fare quoted for a London-Paris train today was £219 on Eurostar, compared with £87 on easyJet. This 150 per cent premium shows the dominance of Eurostar in a market where passengers want a city centre-to-city centre link with a decent free baggage allowance. On Barcelona-Madrid, comparable with London-Paris for time and distance, multiple rail firms compete and tickets for next-day travel typically cost around £60. Departing from Piraeus, the port for Athens, on 22 November: the first mainstream cruise ship to take passengers through the Suez Canal for over two years. The Greek cruise line Celestyal is selling cabins on a pair of "positioning" voyages: ships moving from the summer cruising programme in the Mediterranean to a winter season in the Gulf. The initial one-week voyage on Celestyal Journey takes in Marmaris in Turkey and Port Said at the northern end of the canal. After the Suez Canal transit, the ship will visit the Egyptian ports of Sharm el-Sheikh and Safaga, ending at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Aqaba, the Jordanian city that has suffered severely after losing the cruise trade, will be back as a port of call next year.
Is it safe to travel to Jordan?
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Which is your ideal Indian Ocean holiday spot: Phuket or Mauritius? |
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As Virgin Atlantic announces flights to Phuket, this week I'm asking, which is your ideal Indian Ocean holiday spot? Do you dream of Mauritius' dazzling coastline? Or does an armada of long-tail boats and palm-painted coves have you picking Phuket? Last week was a battle between two Mediterranean islands: Cyprus and Malta. It was close, but ultimately Malta came out on top with 55% of the vote. |
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Manchester flights boost in November |
Normally the eleventh month is quiet for aviation news, but unusually Manchester will get five new routes this November. They begin on Tuesday with Ryanair launching flights to Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland. On Thursday, easyJet starts a link with the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. From 15 November, IndiGo will connect Manchester with Delhi. On 26 November, Norse Atlantic goes even further with a Bangkok nonstop. And to round off the month in time for one of Europe's best Christmas markets, easyJet launches a link to Strasbourg (pictured below) on 28 November. |
Rail disarray across Europe |
Disruption awaits many rail passengers in November. In Britain, tomorrow and Sunday will see a 62-mile stretch of the East Coast Main Line shut for planned engineering work. During the closure, London-Edinburgh journeys will feature a two-hour rail-replacement bus ride from Doncaster to Darlington. The West Midlands stretch of the West Coast Main Line through Coventry is also closed.
On Monday, according to the new European Rail Timetable, a key stretch of the rail line beside the Douro river in northern Portugal will close until April next year for engineering work. A reader, Barry Freeman, reports that one of the most important stations on the German rail network, Cologne's Hauptbahnhof, "will be effectively closed for points replacement work" for 10 days from late on Friday 14 November. If that doesn't scupper your plans, the next Belgian rail strike – lasting 72 hours from 10pm on Sunday 23 November – may do so. |
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Entry-exit system hold-ups in Europe? |
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What worries me about the new entry-exit system is changing planes at an EU airport. If I am held up and miss my connection, what are my rights? |
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For the benefit of readers who have had the good fortune not to have heard of the entry-exit system (EES): this is the plan to connect every frontier crossing point in the Schengen area (comprising all EU nations except Ireland and Cyprus, plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) with a central database. On the first occasion on which the traveller comes into contact with the system, it will create a digital record: registering your face and fingerprints, along with personal data from your passport. On subsequent crossings of the Schengen area border, only your face will be checked against this record. During the roll-out, biometrics are on top of the existing analogue check and passport stamping, leading to longer queues. Anyone transferring from the UK to somewhere outside the Schengen area is unaffected. Many British travellers use Air France via Paris CDG, for example, to reach intercontinental destinations. On arrival at the hub, just follow the "Transfer" signs and stay out of the Schengen area.
Some passengers, though, connect through EU hubs to reach other "Schengen" destinations – such as Edinburgh via Amsterdam to Warsaw, for example, or Manchester via Munich to Naples. In such a case, you must cross the Schengen frontier before you proceed to your connecting flight. Sadly, some transfer passengers will miss their connections as the system is rolled out. I have heard reports of long waits at Paris CDG, with onward European flights departing (according to one traveller) "half-full because of EES hold-ups". Were this to happen to you, the airline should rebook you on the first available flight and provide accommodation if necessary. Better still, steer clear of tight connections until the system has bedded down. |
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| Treat yourself to a European city break for less with these great deals from Loveholidays. Wander the stylish streets of Milan, marvel at Athens' ancient wonders, or soak up Istanbul's vibrant atmosphere – plus plenty more offers to choose from. Various dates and departures available. Learn more. |
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| Gear up for your winter adventures! The North Face sale is offering up to 40% off must-have gear. |
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| Need a gift for an adventurer? Grab the roving men's gift box from Peper Harow and use code 'SAVE15' to enjoy 15% off. |
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