Recently, several airlines have announced increased air services between UK airports and Jersey, however, anyone considering travel to Jersey or from Jersey to the UK will require travel insurance after 31 March 2009 – the day when the UK ends its reciprocal health agreement with Jersey.

Up until this date, the reciprocal agreement means that anyone requiring medical treatment is eligible to a free service. From 1 April 2009, only treatment in Accident and Emergency will be free, operations and ongoing treatments will need to be paid for.

Travellers should check they have adequate travel insurance.

For more information on the end of the agreement check the Jersey Government’s website at:
www.gov.je/Health/hospital_services/healthcostsuk/RHAEnds.htm

Well, I’m not really prone to rant, but after reading Darren Cronian’s Five things I hate about airports on his travel rants blog, I really feel the need to add some of my own.

As a regular traveller through Gatwick airport, I hate the inconsistency in time spent passing through security – so much so that you really are uncertain how much time to allow. Sometimes it can be ten minutes – last summer, it became a lottery with everyone being herded around like animals, it seemed to take forever.

Leave too little time and you start panicking that you may miss your flight – too much and you could die of boredom waiting to board. If you’re travelling with children it makes it even harder as you need to worry about how to keep them amused too!

I hate the lack of seating provided once through security, and the huge queues just to buy a coffee to help pass the time.

Lack of signage is frustrating too particularly when returning, it really becomes a case of follow-the-leader and hope that the person at the front knows where they’re going.

The cost of Air Passenger Duty (APD) is to increase from November 2009.

Currently the tax is set at £10 for economy flights within Europe and £40 for anywhere else – premium seats are currently charged at twice the fee.

From November 2009, the duty will be levied in four bands:

Band A – flights to Europe £11
Band B – flights of up to 4,000 miles £45
Band C – flights to the Caribbean £50
Band D – flights to Australia and New Zealand £60

Premium seats will be charged double.

APD will also be increased in November 2010 to £12, £60, £75 and £85 respectively.

Confusion surrounding the rights of ATOL protected XL customers still abroad has led the CAA to issue a press release informing travellers that their holidays are financially protected from the moment the company went into administration and they should not need to pay hotel bills at the end of their stays.

Customers who are asked to settle bills at hotels and resorts are advised to immediately contact the in-resort holiday representatives of Thomson, First Choice, Thomas Cook or Virgin Holidays who are liaising closely with the CAA. Otherwise, customers should phone the ATOL helpline – tel. 00 44 2891 856547 – for advice.

Richard Jackson, CAA Director of Consumer Protection, said: “ATOL offers complete financial protection covering both flights and accommodation. If you are covered then you should not have to pay for anything that was covered under your original package. The CAA and tour operators are contacting hoteliers to remind them that ATOL will be picking up the bills from the point of XL’s collapse.”

For more information check out the CAA’s website.

Crossrail, the largest addition to the transport network in London and the South East for more than 50 years, has been given the go ahead by Parliament.

When complete, the rail line will run from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the West through to central London and then on to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East. More than 200 million people are expected to use the network each year, which will bring an extra 1.5 million people within one hour’s commuting distance on London’s business districts.

Crossrail will add 10% to London’s public transport capacity with trains travelling at up to 100 mph on the surface and 60 mph in tunnels. Heathrow will be 31 minutes away from the West End and 43 minutes from Canary Wharf

A three-day strike by nearly 3000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union starts today and will affect 68 interview offices and seven regional passport offices – London, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Peterborough, Newport and Durham.

The industrial action is over a disputed 2.5% pay deal and could see disruption and delays to passport applications.

For more information contact the 24-hour passport advice line on 0870 521 0410

The Highways Agency is warning drivers to be aware of heavy traffic now that the school summer holidays are underway.

Up to 20 percent more traffic is expected on the roads compared with a typical Saturday particularly on routes around the UK airports and ports. Drivers are being advised to plan their journeys in advance to avoid the worst of the queues.

“At this time of year a lot of people will be taking journeys they are not familiar with so our advice is to plan your journey well and make sure you check the conditions before you leave. It’s also a good idea to be prepared. Take food and water with you, especially if you have children in the car, and take a map just in case you need to find an alternative route,” said Steve Crosthwaite, Head of the Highways Agency’s National Traffic Control Centre.

Real-time traffic information including current incidents and roadworks is available at www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo

In the wake of the collapse of Silverjet, the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) is calling on the Government to bring in financial protection for airline passengers.

At present customers booking flights as part of a package with an ATOL protected travel agent are protected by the ATOL protection scheme in the event of the airline going bankrupt. However, customers purchasing tickets direct from an airline have no such protection and face financial loss with the risk of being stranded on holiday should their airline collapse.

In April this year, the ATOL protection scheme was revised and a £1 per passenger Air Travel Organisors’ Licensing Protection Contribution was set up to pay for repatriation costs in the event of a tour operator failing. The FTO says it argued strongly at the time for the scheme to be extended to cover customers of airlines but this was rejected by the Government following strong intervention by some airlines.

Andrew Cooper, Director General of the Federation of Tour Operators, said: “I suspect one reason why this logical extension of customer protection has been blocked is the lingering legacy of old-style state-owned, national carrier airlines which sowed a mentality of bogus nationalism and the now quite erroneous belief that airlines don’t go bust. It is high time that our government and regulator urgently put in place proper protection for citizens and also set tour operators a level runway to ensure fair competition. Stranded families and financially disadvantaged travellers will neither forgive nor forget a government which waited for a major airline collapse before acting.”

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to clamp down on the unauthorised use of the ‘ATOL protected’ logo.

Only ATOL holders will be allowed to use the ‘ATOL protected’ logo online, in brochures and in shop windows. The move is to prevent non ATOL protected travel providers displaying the ATOL logo and misleading consumers into believing their travel is covered by ATOL protection.

Each ATOL holder will be given a licence to use the ‘ATOL protected’ trademark to be used when offering ATOL protected travel.

The CAA will take action against companies in breach of the regulations.

For more information about ATOL and to check an ATOL number click on the link

UEFA has confirmed that all supporters travelling to Russia for the UEFA Champions League Final clash between Chelsea and Manchester United will be able to use their match tickets as an entry visa to the Russian Federation for a period of 72 hours.

The announcement follows discussions between UEFA and the Russian Government.

The visa exemption applies to ticket holders only between the dates of 19 and 23 May 2008.

Match tickets must be kept until departure from Russia. Supporters staying longer than the 72 hours will be required to pay for a regular visa when leaving the country.