The battery of invective directed at the government over the high rate in taxes that air passengers pay has continued today with a statement from leading British airlines. Our tax is the 139th highest in the world.

CD-Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month, The Shard and Sri Lanka are hitting the headlines for all the right reasons, but trips to Thailand are in trouble

CD-Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month Peckham and Virginia are making waves, but there’s criticism for cruise ships and the Chancellor’s increase of APD

If you’re heading to the airport this week to start your summer holiday, you might want to think twice before shoving your swimsuit and sunscreen into a hold-all that’s seen better days

CD-Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month, it’s good news for motorists and mobile phone users in Europe but anyone heading to a malarial country should take extra special care

When it comes to the Summer holidays, organisation is the key to successfully planning and packing for a trip. We asked leading luggage retailer, SportsDirect.com, to share their top tips for making the most of any type of suitcase, for any type of holiday

So Sir Richard Banson’s airline, Virgin Atlantic, has announced that has announced that it will be the first British carrier to allow passengers to use their mobile phones on board.

Staying at Richard Branson’s private island retreat counts as one of the best prizes you could bid for in the CHTAEF silent auction this coming saturday.you could hope for. You could also bid for a signed pair of Usain Bolt’s golden running shoes or a cricket bat signed by the 2008 winning West Indian team.

No, not on clothes or beds or sofas. I’m talking about the holiday sales. At the moment airlines, hotels, travel agents and tour operators have them in abundance. But will they make us book?

What are we to make of the decision announced this morning that IAG (the owner of BA and Iberia) has agreed terms with Lufthansa to buy bmi for £172.5 million?

A little while go Thomson flew one engine on one flight on one plane on a mixture of Jet A1 fuel and waste cooking oil as opposed to normal aviation fuel. It was a test to see the effect but you would have thought from the reactions that they had almost single-handedly caused the starvation of millions by using a resource that stopped food crops being grown.

We are barely into the bank holiday and already the airline sales are starting. It’s a little early as they usually start about the middle of September. Is it because they are nervous about passenger numbers during the slow Autumn period?

Richard Branson is well known for courting publicity. Between Michael O’Leary at Ryanair and he it would be a tussle to see who generates more press coverage. And in his latest little approach, Branson has definitely taken the lead. On Virgin Atlantic flights, there will to be “emotional health warnings” before they show films on board!

UPDATE: 8 July. The pilots’ union, BALPA, has lifted the strike action planned as it reconsiders a new offer from the airline. Even if this new offer is rejected and a new ballot run it would be very unlikely that summer flights would be affected.

Last Friday saw the end of the consultation period for APD, Air Passenger Duty. Airlines, airports, industry boffins have all put in their two pennyworth so is there any consensus?

There are lots of websites that will give snapshots of what happens based on a few thousand examples. When it comes to assessing how punctual airlines were last year we have the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) figures as analysed by www.flightontime.info. In this instance we are talking of thousands if not tens of thousands or in the case of BA, nearly a quarter of a million flights.

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot in the travel world

Ryanair hasn’t featured for a couple of weeks and Virgin Atlantic even longer but it takes a lot to keep them away from the spotlight for too long. Ryanair have returned with an announcement that the 15kg hold baggage announcement has been increased to 20kgs,- provided that you pay for it.
At present it costs £15 for a 15kg piece of hold baggage. A second case would cost £35 for another 15kg bag. Now you can increase the weight of your first bag to 20kg and pay £25 for the privilege. Those extra 10kgs are costing you £2 per kg.

Even before the programme Panorama was aired last night, both Ryanair and the BBC were jostling for the high ground. Ryanair claimed the programme was doing a hatchet job on them. The BBC said that Ryanair wanted editorial control over the programme content. The BBC, Ryanair said, that Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary wouldn’t give an interview although he talked to the presenter, Vivian White and dominated the short interview. In fact White look ruffled as O’Leary dominated the questions.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic. This has been advertised quite widely. So widely that the advertising even includes the House of Commons. From today’s Sunday Times comes a story that Paul Keetch, MP for Hereford, has put down an early day motion congrtaulating Virgin for being at the forefront of the aviation industry.

Wallow in nostalgia for a moment.

Do you remember when flying was fun and an adventure?

No, neither do I. It has always been a chore. Just as one thing improves flying, online check-in for example, something comes up to make it more difficult.