Amity World Business Travel

Introducing Business Bespoke fares from British Airways »

We are delighted to tell you about a major new business travel pricing initiative from British Airways. Business Bespoke.

This new package of fares covers the most popular long-haul business routes operated by British Airways and British Airways codeshare flights operated by Qantas and American Airlines. With a Business Bespoke fare you will enjoy a 5% discount* -  but more importantly, greater flexibility to change or cancel your itinerary  without penalty.

To take advantage of Business Bespoke your organisation must be a member of the BA OnBusiness corporate reward scheme, and the traveller must be a member of the British Airways, Iberia, American Airlines or Qantas frequent flyer programme – whichever one is appropriate.

With Business Bespoke your organisation can enjoy flexibility without having to pay the “full” fare.

Business Bespoke fares are only available through a select number of BA “corporate partner” TMC’s (of which Amity World Business Travel are one)…and are not currently bookable via ba.com.

To see how Business Bespoke stacks up against the special corporate fares we have with other airlines, please contact our Business Travel Team and we’ll be delighted to give you a full cost comparison for your next trip. Alternatively, send a request to news@amitytravel.co.uk and we’ll send you the full Business Bespoke briefing document including T’s & C’s.

BUSINESS BESPOKE.  FLEXIBILITY, BUT NOT FULL PRICE.

For long-haul flights, Business Bespoke enables your company to enjoy the convenience of flexible fares—no advance purchase, no change penalty, and no cancellation penalty—together with affordability of a discount off normally restricted booking classes.

Business Bespoke fares are available in all classes as follows:

First: 5% off published A class

Club World: 5% off published C,D,&R class

World Traveller Plus :5% off published W & E class

World Traveller : 5% off published Y class

The 5% discount applies to the fare only, and excludes taxes, fees and charges.

* OnBusiness points not available on these fares in lieu of the up-front discount

Vueling to launch Southampton – Barcelona. Rejoice! »

Vueling, Spain’s leading low fare airline, is to introduce direct flights between Southampton and Barcelona from 23 June 2012. The news comes hot on the heels of an increase in the number of destinations Vueling is offering from Cardiff.

The new Vueling Southampton route will be operated three days a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, operated by an Airbus A319 aircraft.

Fares on the Southampton-Barcelona route will start from approximately £60 one-way with tickets now available to book at Amity World Travel. Vueling offer a network of onward connections via their successful Barcelona Hub, with more than 40 destinations throughout Europe and North-Africa, including the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza as well as Malaga, Palma, Rome and Naples, with full through baggage check-in from Southampton to final destination.

“We are delighted to incorporate Southampton in our expanding UK route network,” said Vueling CEO Alex Cruz. “Southampton, with its strong catchment and complementary ties to the cruise lines, is an obvious choice for Vueling as we look to develop our UK presence beyond Heathrow and into the regions. We are pleased that with the arrival of our new smaller A319 aircraft we can introduce this route this summer.”

Welcoming Vueling and the new route, Dave Lees, Managing Director of Southampton Airport said: “Barcelona is a very important new route for Southampton Airport and the surrounding area. We are delighted to be welcoming Vueling in 2012 and the regular flights to Barcelona. We have had many requests for this service from the cruise industry, marine industry, universities and language schools, as well as passengers wanting a city break in Barcelona. Visitors from Spain to the London 2012 sporting events in both London and Weymouth will also find Southampton an ideal starting point with high speed rail links located just seconds from the airport terminal.”

The new Southampton-Barcelona route will be welcomed by business travellers for whom Vueling has created unique features. Its recently launched Duo Seat, which guarantees a front row double seat and hand luggage space, preferred boarding and online check in at selected airports, plus a free drink and snack.

In addition, Vueling’s Go product offers greater flexibility to passengers enabling them to change flights for free up to two hours before departure, provides complimentary seat selection and the opportunity to board the flight when desired.

For further details and reservations, contact our Business Travel Team now on 01489 589958 or sales@amitytravel.co.uk

Ryanair adds EU emissions surcharge »

Ryanair is to introduce a 25p levy per passenger per flight to cover the cost of compliance with the new EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) from January 17^th.

The carrier says it is necessary to cover the costs of ETS which it expects to be between €15 million and €20 million in 2012.

Airline spokesman Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair does not believe that European aviation should be included in the ETS scheme since it accounts for less than 2% of the EU’s CO2 emissions. This latest EU stealth tax will damage traffic, tourism, European competiveness and jobs at a time when no other economic block is including aviation in their ETS schemes.

This new ETS tax is the latest in a long line of cost increases imposed on Europe’s air passengers by the European Union, which reduces the competitiveness of EU air transport with yet another misguided ‘environmental’ tax which does nothing for the environment but penalises EU consumers and families.”

Ryanair is the first major European airline to add a surcharge specifically for ETS although Lufthansa has signalled a fares increase to offset increased costs due to ETS – which was implemented for airlines from January 1.

Several US-based airlines including Delta and United Continental have added $3 one-way ETS surcharges on flights to Europe in the last week but these charges so far only apply to bookings made in the US.

Air Asia X axe Europe routes blaming APD »

Malaysian airline AirAsia X is to withdraw its services from London Gatwick and Paris to Kuala Lumpur at the end of March.

CEO Azran Osman-Rani said the decision was made in the light of continued high fuel prices, weakening demand and “exorbitant government taxes”.

“The implementation of the Emissions Trading Scheme and the escalating Air Passenger Duty taxes in UK, which will rise yet again in April 2012, has forced our decision to withdraw our services to Europe,” he said.

Gatwick Airport issued a statement saying: “We are very disappointed to be losing AirAsia X, which has been operating a direct route from Gatwick to Kuala Lumpar since October last year. The airport said the airline’s decision is “clear evidence that the burden of additional taxation in all its forms is a material consideration for long haul airlines flying to the UK”.

BA dangle their First carrot. Again. »

“To many, an upgrade to First is the ultimate privilege. Now, for a limited period, you don’t have to hope for the best; you can actually book it” says the BA press release.

Yes! British Airways have once again wheeled out bookable upgrades to First to bolster their premium cabin market share – safe in the knowledge that most other carriers can’t match the offer.

So… if you book an eligible Club World flight in R/D/D or J booking class before 31 January to travel before 30 March you can claim a one-way upgrade to First subject to availability at the time of booking.

Well, it would almost be rude not to, wouldn’t it?

This is always a popular promotion so if you’re planning a long-haul trip in the next couple of months, and are permitted to “turn-left”,  call our Business Travel Team on 01489 589958 and they’ll be delighted to talk you through your options.

Happy New Year ! »

With our best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2012 – from everyone at Amity World Travel.

Merry Christmas! »

The “Christmas Fairy”arrives at Amity Towers! »

Sarah V... incandescent with the spirit of Christmas!

Osborne hands CDG, AMS & FRA an early Christmas present. »

Chancellor George Osborne dealt British business travellers and holiday-makers a bitter blow today when he failed to defer or reduce air passenger duty (APD) in his Autumn Statement.

Instead, despite lobbying from the entire travel industry and many foreign tourist authorities, the Government has confirmed the double-inflation rise, announced last April, will go ahead in 2012.

Osborne used his Budget speech earlier this year to announce a delay to the rise in APD for a year, until April 2012, but the travel industry had hoped he would announce a further freeze in the tax today.

However, his speech to the House of Commons made no reference to APD and the Treasury confirmed a double-inflation increase ahead of the Government’s response to the air passenger duty consultation on December 6.

In 2008, the Netherlands introduced an equivalent to APD, but cancelled it within a year because although it raised $420m (£266m), the Dutch reckoned the loss to the wider economy as a result of the tax was over $1.5bn (£950m).

Eurostar raise Business Premier fares by up to 14% »

Eurostar are set to increase Brussels & Paris Business Premier fares from 7^th February 2012. A return Business Premier ticket from St Pancras to Paris will increase in price from £450.00 to £490.00 (9%) while Brussels will rocket from £430.00 to £490.00 (14%).

Here’s the cheery little press release received from Eurostar to justify the increase:

“From Tuesday 7 February 2012 we will be making some changes to our Business Premier fare range.

Since 2006, we have continued to invest heavily in our product. We launched services from St Pancras in 2007, enabling faster, more punctual and more productive journeys whilst working strenuously to improve our fleet. The latter is something that we will improve even more in the upcoming years with a complete overhaul of our existing fleet and the purchase of ten new trains”.

Happy days!