Thousands of passengers stranded as Sterling Airlines goes bust
October 29th, 2008 by Tim Uden
The Icelandic-owned, but Danish-based, low cost airline Sterling Airlines has declared bankrupcy and ceased operating. The company has attributed rising fuel costs and the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis as the main factors behind the company’s collapse.
Sterling flew to around 40 destinations throughout Europe, although it was primarily a Scandinavian airline with hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm. It’s main UK hub was Gatwick Airport and routes includes flights from Gatwick to Copenhagen and Stockholm.
Customers who have purchsed tickets directly on Sterling’s website will not recieve any refund, although customers may be able to get a refund on tickets bought from travel agents and tickets bought by credit card (through the guarantee scheme offered by some credit card companies). Although many travel insurance policies do not protect against airline insolvency, stranded travellers should still contact their travel insurance company as it may be possible to claim some compensation.
Travellers who have booked travel with Sterling can find more information on Sterling’s website.
Sterling’s parent company, Northern Travel Holding is part owned by Fons Eignarhaldsfélag, which also owns low cost Icelandic airline Iceland Express.
Round-the-world on low cost airlines
October 7th, 2008 by Tim Uden
Over the last ten years, low cost airlines have become enormously popular for relatively short flights and with growth of Asian low cost carriers, it has now become possible to fly around the world entirely on budget airlines. But are the savings worth it?
Looking at various airline’s websites I have been able to put together a RTW itinerary with travel on the following budget airlines: Air Arabia, easyJet, Flyglobespan, Jetstar, Tiger Airlines and Westjet taking in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Here’s how it all fits together:
- London-Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) – Flyglobespan £179
- Vancouver-Honolulu – Westjet CAD$491 (£257)
- Honolulu-Sydney – Jetstar USD$489 (£277)
- Darwin-Singapore – Tiger Airways AUD$100 (£42)
- Singapore-Chennai – Tiger Airways SGD$270 (£105)
- Chennai-Sharjah – Air Arabia AED650 (£100)
- Sharjah-Istanbul – Air Arabia AED736 (£114)
- Istanbul-London – easyJet EUR€30 (£23)
TOTAL £1097
All the above fares are inclusive of taxes, fees and charges but do not include additional charges for checked luggage or priority seating.
I purposely left open overland travel in Australia and North America because most people using this website are travelling to explore a destination and not to simply hop from one airport to another.
I checked with STA Travel for an equivalent round-the-world fare and was told that London-Singapore-Sydney-San Francisco and New York-London on Qantas and British Airways would cost £891 plus tax. STA’s website wouldn’t tell me what the tax would be but the Flight Centre website has a similar itinerary for £1279 inclusive of tax.
So you may save a couple of hundred quid flying on low cost airlines, but you could probably do it for a lot less if it didn’t cost so much to fly across the Pacific. Because of the lack of competition even low cost carriers like Jetstar can charge high prices for what should be a relatively cheap flight.
Budget airlines don’t offer the comfort of a regular airline, but one of the real differences is the lack of frequent flyer points. This normally isn’t such a big deal but on a round-the-world flight you can earn almost enough points for a free one-way flight between Australia and North America.
If you’re planning on making several round-the-world trips, then the cheapest option would be to make your first trip on a regular airline and earn your frequent flyer points. Then use the points for the trans-Pacific leg on your next trip and use budget airlines for the rest. In this case the second trip will cost only £563 plus whatever tax you have to pay on your free flight that you get with the frequent flyer points.
Alternatives to Zoom for cheap flights across the Atlantic
September 1st, 2008 by Tim Uden
Last Thursday Zoom Airlines ceased operation leaving 4500 UK passengers stranded and leaving thousands more travellers out of pocket with 60,000 forward bookings. It has also left a gap in the market for cheap transatlantic flights.
Air Transat, Canadian Affair and Scottish low cost airline Flyglobespan operate similar routes to Zoom and will likely fill Zoom’s place in the market although a handful of European airlines including Aer Lingus, Air Berlin, Condor, Eurofly and Martinair also offer cheap transatlantic flights. However it will be at least a year before we start to see really cheap flights across the Atlantic on Ryanair.
In April last year, Ryanair announced that it would start flying between London and the United States with one-way fares starting at £7 (around £80 after taxes, fees and other charges have been added). It has been over a year since this announcement as we’re still waiting for cheap transatlantic flights on RyanAtlantic (Ryanair’s transatlantic subsidary), which isn’t expected to start operations until next year at the earliest.
Like their European bases, Ryanair’s North American bases are expected to be in small regional airports. RyanAtlantic’s New York flights will most likely use Long Island MacArthur Airport (Islip Airport) and TF Green Airport near Providence, Rhode Island or Manchester-Boston Regional Airport are likely to be considered as a substitute for Boston’s Logan Airport.
What are the cheapest days to travel?
July 29th, 2008 by Tim Uden
It is commonplace for airlines to use a yield management pricing structure and other forms of transport such as buses and trains are also starting to use this pricing system. Basically this means that the advertised prices refer to the cheapest seats, which sell out first; leaving the more expensive seats for those who don’t book ahead. In other words busier travel times are more expensive than off-peak times unless you book well in advance.
Naked Bus (a New Zealand-based low-cost intercity bus operator) reveals that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally the cheapest days to travel as there are fewer other people travelling on these days and less competition for the cheapest seats.
Obviously the cheapest days and more expensive days to travel depend on the mode of transport and whether it is a leisure or business destination; but in most cases Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to travel.
Travel to weekend break destinations will be more expensive on Friday nights, Saturday mornings, Sunday nights and early Monday mornings and air travel to business destinations usually costs more early morning and in the evening, but is often cheaper around midday (especially midweek).
You’ll save money by booking well in advance, but often it is difficult to book too far in advance especially if you want to keep an element of spontaneity. However it always pays to be flexible with your travel days and check a couple of days either side of your planned travel day to ensure you don’t miss out of a bargain.