Latest news with #Volotea
Times
3 days ago
- Times
‘I was forced to abandon a case of expensive wine at Palermo airport'
✉ I booked a flight with Volotea from Palermo in Sicily to Tarbes in France last month and paid for an extra 25kg piece of luggage. It was a sturdy cardboard box, well packed and secured, holding 12 bottles of wine, worth about £380, for personal consumption. It weighed about 18kg and I've checked in similar items with other airlines many times over the years. At check-in the box was refused after I told them what it was. Apparently this was because I'd exceeded my personal allowance; because it wasn't in a suitcase; and because it was inflammable liquid. This legal item was refused on spurious grounds and I had to leave what was an expensive case of wine in Palermo airport. I've had no apology or offer of compensation. What further steps can I take to bring Volotea to account?Peter Harvey What a shame you had to abandon a case of delicious Sicilian wine in Palermo. Unfortunately it will be tricky to get compensation for your loss. Volotea insisted you'd exceeded your personal alcohol allowance, which was five litres, but this was irrelevant because the rule applies to drinks with between 24 and 70 per cent ABV and you only had wine, which is about 12 per cent. It added, however, that the decision was also made in line with safety regulations. 'The item was transported in a cardboard box rather than a suitcase, raising additional concerns about packaging and suitability, as items may be refused if their weight, shape, or nature is deemed unsuitable for transport under the applicable guidelines.' It will not offer any compensation and gave no clue about what happened to the wine. If you want to take your case further you could try the UK International Consumer Centre, which aims to resolve disputes with companies outside the UK ( Next time you might be safer using a suitcase and a roll of bubble wrap to transport precious bottles. ✉ I have nostalgic memories of childhood holidays in Switzerland and Austria, in Heidi countryside, with a stream, meadows and the sound of cowbells along the road each morning. I'd like to arrange a week's holiday in a similar place, with a friend or family member, and am looking for a good traditional-style hotel with a pool or spa, with easy access from London by plane or train. Any ideas?Viv Lowe Hotel Meisser in Guarda in Switzerland's Engadine Valley could have stepped straight out of Heidi, such is its fairytale setting. Tucked away in the Swiss Alps and surrounded by meadows, this deeply traditional family-run hotel is housed in beautifully preserved 17th-century Engadine buildings decorated with pastel murals and has classic stone pine panelled interiors. There's great walking from the door but if you prefer to stay put, there's a gym, yoga house and sauna, or you can drink in the magical views from one of the loungers in the garden. Half-board doubles start from £286 this month ( Fly to Zurich and then take the train to Guarda (there are two changes) and the post bus up to the village. • The Alps is my all-time favourite summer holiday. Here's where to stay ✉ We're looking for a change from the UK norm this Christmas and are keen for a relaxing ten-night long-haul break for a family of four, including two children aged 11 and 12. We'd love an all-inclusive hotel, direct flights from London and the opportunity to take them snorkelling, ideally from the beach at the hotel. Our budget is up to £12,000. Any suggestions?Kate Voss It's only June but Christmas long-haul trips are selling out and trying to tick all your boxes is already difficult. Mauritius, the Seychelles and Mexico are too expensive but a trip to the Caribbean is doable and if you stay at Dreams Dominicus La Romana in Bayahibe in the Dominican Republic you'll have snorkelling from the beach on a man-made reef directly in front of the resort (you can also snorkel along the right side of the resort's beach, near a jetty and more reefs). An 11-night all-inclusive holiday with flights from Gatwick on December 23 starts at £12,018 if you all share a deluxe tropical view room ( • 29 of the best winter sun destinations for 2025 ✉ As an expat Australian with thyroid problems I really suffer in London winters and would like to spend January in a warm climate, not too far from the UK. I want to fly from Gatwick and be within walking distance of a beach and places to eat and shop. I love art and history. I only need one bedroom and have a good budget. Can you recommend anywhere?Allison Holmes If you're looking for the perfect quick escape from a gloomy London winter, make sunny Malaga your base. It's an easy trip from Gatwick, has a beach within walking distance of the city centre and some of the best museums and galleries in Andalusia, including the Museo Picasso (the artist was born here) and an outpost of the Pompidou Centre in Paris. For history buffs, the Malaga Museum, with its fantastic archaeology section, is a must-do and once you've worked through the city's cultural offerings, Cordoba and Granada are an easy train ride away. Best of all, temperatures often creep into the 20s in January. There are plenty of centrally located one-bedroom apartments starting at about £1,200 a month ( ✉ My husband and I were caught up in the power outage in Spain on April 28 when we were due to board the 9.15pm British Airways flight from Madrid to Heathrow. With no electricity in the whole of the city, no phone signal at all and no feasible way to get to the airport, we had no way of contacting or being contacted by BA to ascertain whether the flight was still going ahead. When the electricity came back on at about 9pm, we got a notification from BA that our flight was going ahead with a short delay. It was still impossible to get to the airport, so with phone lines working again, we desperately tried to get hold of BA but to no avail. We had to get back so we booked the last two BA seats we could find the next day, costing £1,257.60 (£628.80 each), as well as another night in our hotel, which cost £464. I put in a claim but BA phoned me to say that because the original flight took off, the airline was unable to provide any reimbursement. Am I in the wrong for expecting some sort of recompense? We were forced to book those flights because in the chaos that day, BA was unavailable for passenger Simbulan BA really does need to sort out its communication and advice to passengers during critical incidents (I've also heard from a reader who tried his best to get into Heathrow Terminal 5 when it was shut on the day of the power outage there in March because the BA app insisted his flight was still going ahead). There was obviously no way you could get to the airport and BA should have followed the example of easyJet, which quickly announced that it was offering free transfers to other flights for passengers unable to travel. After I sent BA details of your case, one of its customer service team got in touch to offer a full refund of your replacement flight and hotel stay as a gesture of goodwill. • 19 of the best places to visit in January 2025 Have you got a holiday dilemma? Email traveldoctor@
Local France
27-03-2025
- Business
- Local France
New flights announced to south-west France
The low-cost airline Volotea has announced two new routes from Bordeaux's Mérignac airport. From November 2025, the Spanish carrier will run twice-weekly flights to Agadir, Morocco (on Tuesdays and Saturdays) and Prague, Czechia (on Wednesdays and Sundays). The announcement is the latest in a series of new departures announced from Bordeaux as the airport moves to fill the gaps in the schedule left by Ryanair's departure last year. The Irish budget airline pulled out of Bordeaux in October 2024 in an argument about airport fees. At the time, the airport's head of routes development, Cyrielle Clement, told The Local that they were in talks with other airlines to fill the gap, and expected that the airport will recover from Ryanair's loss "within two years". Since then, several other companies including easyJet have announced new routes from Bordeaux. READ ALSO The new flights to and from France in 2025
Local France
19-03-2025
- Business
- Local France
LISTED: All the new flights to and from France in Spring 2025
Air France Paris to Denver & Phoenix, USA (expanded) - Air France will extend flights to Denver and Phoenix, with three flights a week from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Previously, the Denver service had only been available in the summer, and Phoenix was only added in the summer of 2024. Paris to Orlando, USA - Four direct flights per week, with Orlando serving as Air France's 18th US destination, starting May 21st. Paris to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - a new direct route connecting Charles de Gaulle to Saudi Arabia beginning May 19th. Biarritz to Figari (Corsica) - from July 5th to August 30th, every Saturday. Air France has also unveiled direct flights between Los Angeles and Nice in May 2025 for the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix; while four additional flights will connect New York to Nice in June 2025 for the Cannes Lions Festival. United Airlines Nice to Washington DC - The US airline will operate flights four times per week from May 24th through to September 25th. Ryanair Toulouse to Manchester - The airline will add a twice-weekly flight from March 30th. More on other flights from Toulouse to the UK in our separate article . READ MORE: 7 reasons to visit France's 'top city of 2025' A twice-weekly service from Toulouse to Budapest is also scheduled to start this summer, though no start-date has been announced. The budget airline will also makes its long-awaited debut at Paris Orly, where it will operate daily flights to Bratislava, Slovakia, and Milan Bergamo, Italy. Lufthansa Figari, Corsica to Frankfurt - Saturday flights start on May 17th. Norwegian Toulouse to Oslo - from June 14th, running twice a week. Advertisement British Airways Bergerac Dordogne Périgord airport to London Stansted - A new Saturday flight will begin on June 28th. Tickets are already available for purchase on the British Airways website, as well as via the Bergerac airport site. The Bergerac airport is located a little over 125km from Bordeaux. Volotea They will offer flights from Paris-Orly to the Italian city of Verona from March 26th; to Genoa, Olbia and Turin from May 26th; and to Ancona from May 27th. These will replace existing flights from Charles de Gaulle. Volotea has also announced a service between Rodez and Corsica from the second weekend in April; and from Lyon Saint-Exupéry to Salerno, Italy, on July 4th. It is also planning new routes to Strasbourg and Barcelona from Caen-Carpiquet, though no dates have been scheduled. Swiss Montpellier to Zurich - Flights on Mondays and Fridays will run from March 30th. Lot Paris-Orly to Warsaw - The inaugural flight of this daily service will be on March 31st. KLM Biarritz to Amsterdam - April 19th to October 25th, two flights per week from April to June, September and October, and daily services in July and August. ASL ASL Airlines France is expanding its network with two new summer routes to Pristina, Kosovo, from Paris-CDG and Lyon. Starting July 3rd, 2025, these direct flights will operate weekly. Advertisement New flights from Clermont-Ferrand to Algiers will operate weekly from July 1st to September 2nd Toulon to Algiers - A more frequent service, this route will operate on Fridays and Sundays during three distinct periods: April 4th to April 20th, July 4th to September 7th, and October 17th to October 24th. Paris Orly to Algiers - a new daily service on this route starts on March 30th. Lille to Algier - Frequency will increase from three to four weekly flights between July 4th and September 1st. Lyon to Algiers - From March 30th, weekly flights will rise from five to six. Lille to Toulon - twice weekly services (Fridays and Sunday) between April 4th and April 20th; July 4th to September 7th, and October 17th to October 24th. READ ALSO Six reasons why everyone should visit France's 'City of Kings' Transavia general Paris-Orly to Amsterdam, Netherlands - Starting as early as April 2025, new schedule to be confirmed. Paris-Orly to Belgrade, Serbia - The budget airline will run two flights a week to Serbia, with one-way prices stating at €65. Services begin on April 10. Nantes to Essaouira, Morocco - One flight a week (on Fridays), with one-way prices starting at €48. Services begin on July 11th. Lyon to Paphos, Cyprus - One flight a week, running on Saturdays, with one-way prices starting at €39. Services begin on July 12th. Lyon to Bastia, Corsica - One flight a week, running on Saturdays, with one-way prices starting at €34. Services begin on April 19th. Marseille to Cairo, Egypt - One flight a week, running on Saturdays, starting at €75 for a one-way ticket. Services begin on April 4th. Advertisement Transavia new summer flights Paris-Orly to Chisinau, Moldova - Two flights per week, Mondays and Fridays, one-way tickets starting at €65. Services begin on July 7th. Paris-Orly to Sofia, Bulgaria - Two flights per week, Thursdays and Sundays, with one-way tickets starting at €45. Services begin on April 10th. Bordeaux to Faro, Portugal - Two flights per week, Mondays and Fridays, with one-way tickets starting at €30. Services begin on July 7th. Strasbourg to Istanbul, Turkey - One flight per week on Mondays, starting at €54 for a one-way ticket. Services begin on April 8th. Montpellier to Brussels, Belgium - Two flights per week on Thursdays and Sundays, starting at €36 for one-way tickets. Services begin on April 10th. Marseille to Athens - Two flights per week, on Thursdays and Sundays, starting at €60 for one-way tickets. Services begin April 3rd. Lyon to Ajaccio, Corsica - One flight per week on Saturdays, with one-way tickets starting at €34. Services begin on April 19th. Bastia, Corsica to Biarritz - One flight per week on Saturdays, starting at €34 one-way. Services begin on July 12th. EasyJet Strasbourg to Palma, Spain - Two flights per week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, one-way tickets starting around €35. Services begin on June 4th. READ ALSO EasyJet cancels tickets after cutting flights to south-west France Rennes to Manchester, UK - Two flights a week, Wednesdays and Sundays. Services begin on June 25th. Paris-Orly to Skopje (North Macedonia) and Sofia (Bulgaria) - from April 2nd and June 23rd respectively. Paris-Orly to Southampton (England) - twice-weekly flights for the summer season are expected to begin on March 31st, and the flights will run on Mondays and Fridays. Nantes to Menorca (Spain) - Three flights (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) per week from April 1st. Nantes to Rhodes (Greece) - Two flights per week (Wednesday and Saturday) from June 25th. Lyon to Bari (Italy) - Three flights a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) starting on May 23rd. Lyon to Brindisi (Italy) - Two flights per week (Thursday and Sunday) starting on June 5th. Lyon to Essaouira (Morocco) - Two flights per week (Wednesday and Saturday) starting on June 4th. Lyon to Zadar (Croatia) - Two flights per week (Monday and Friday) starting on June 23rd. Lyon to Reykjavik (Iceland) - Two flights per week (Tuesday and Sunday) starting on June 24th. READ ALSO Readers reveal: The best things about life in Lyon Easyjet is also running five new routes from Bordeaux-Merignac; Birmingham, Corfu, Faro, Dubrovnik and Budapest - full details here . It will also take over the Bordeaux-Edinburgh route, previously operated by Ryanair, offering a twice weekly connection, in the summer only. Advertisement Brest to London-Gatwick - The new service will fly from June 25th. There will be two direct flights per week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. Biarritz to Milan Malpensa - The new summer twice-weekly service from June 23rd to August 29th, 2 flights per week. Flights from Bordeaux to Dubrovnik and Lyon to Zadar will also start this June. French Bee Paris-Orly to Montreal, Canada - The new route by the newcomer low-cost carrier will run four times a week, and during the summer high-season it will run five times a week. It will start on April 30th. The carrier already operates routes to major San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami. Vueling Paris-Orly to Salerno, Italy - From June 20th to October 24th, three times a week. Odyssey airlines Nîmes to Ajaccio, Corsica - One flight per week, every Saturday, from May 31st to September 28th. Nîmes to Barcelona, Spain - Two flights per week, running on Thursdays and Sundays from May 29th to September 28th. Nîmes to Bastia, Corsica - One flight per week, every Wednesday from June 5th to September 26th. Nîmes to Milan, Italy - Two flights per week, running Mondays and Fridays, with a 30-minute stopover in Nice from May 30th to September 29th. READ ALSO Which parts of France have the most beautiful villages? Nîmes to Verona, Italy - Two flights per week, running on Mondays and Fridays from May 30th to September 29th. Nîmes to Nice, France - Two flights per week, running on Mondays and Fridays from May 30th to September 29th. Tours to Ajaccio, Corsica - One flight per week, every Saturday from June 1st to September 28th. Tours to Bastia, Corsica - One flight per week, every Wednesday from June 5th to September 25th. Nice Bergame to Milan - Two flights per week, on Mondays and Fridays from May 30th to September 29th. Malaysian Airlines Paris CDG to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - The Malaysian carrier will initially launch four weekly flights from March 23rd, and then it will switch to daily flights from March 30th. What about flights to be scrapped? In some potentially disappointing news for travellers wanting to head to the US this summer, Air France has announced plans to reduce flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Atlanta from 21 per week to 18 from March 31st, and again to 17 per week between July 1st and 31st. Advertisement It also plans to reduce services between Paris and Boston to 14 per week between June 2nd and August 30th. The move appears to be part of a strategic partnership between Air France and US airline Delta, which operates numerous flights from its main hub in Atlanta to Paris. There is no news, yet, on any changes to Delta services into and out of Charles de Gaulle.
Local Spain
15-02-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Inside Spain: Ryanair's replacement and 73 days to buy a home
Inside Spain For Members In this week's Inside Spain we look at how the regional flight routes being slashed by Ryanair may be replaced by another airline, and how if you want to buy a property in Spain you have to rush more than ever. If you've followed the news lately, you will have seen that Ryanair and the Spanish government are at war with each other, in the metaphorical sense at least. The low-cost carrier recently announced it will slash 800,000 seats this summer and scrap or reduce flight routes from regional airports in Spain due to Spanish airport operator Aena's allegedly 'excessive' fees. Ryanair's outspoken boss Mike O'Leary has gone as far as calling Spanish Consumer Affairs Minister Pablo Bustinduy a 'crazy communist' and used an image depicting him as a clown to promote the carrier's latest sale. Mockery aside, the real victims are flight passengers who regularly fly to and from Asturias, Valladolid, Jerez, Vigo, Santiago, Zaragoza and Santander, as their airports already had few flight routes to begin with. Fortunately, it seems like there might be light at the end of the tunnel. The CEO of Spanish low-cost airline Volotea Carlos Muñoz told a press conference this week that he plans to swoop in and replace the Ryanair flights the Irish low-cost airline will cut in Spain. "If Ryanair leaves regional airports, nobody should worry because there is Volotea," Muñoz said. The company operates from two bases in Spain, Asturias and Bilbao, and sees itself opening a third and even a fourth in the next five years. 'We have very little room to change our schedule for this summer season, but we could take Ryanair's position for next summer,' Volotea's boss added, suggesting that it won't be an immediate solution. 'We believe there is a commercial case for connecting regional airports,' he added, contrary to what Ryanair has said. Admittedly, Volotea offers nowhere near as many flights to the United Kingdom and Ireland to and from Spain, but it sees itself with the capacity to improve the connectivity of regional airports with other secondary destinations in Spain and Europe. So it seems that Volotea, or rather the affected regional airports in Spain, will need help from other airlines to fill the gap being left by Ryanair. Still, poco a poco (little by little). In other news, if you have your eyes set on a very sought-after property in Spain, you now have less time than ever to seal the deal. According to a study by Spanish real estate company Tecnocasa, the average time Spaniards are taking to carry out a property purchase is being sped up by the voracious competition in the market: 73 days on average now. And if we look at the most sought-after real estate markets, buyers are in an even bigger rush. In Barcelona, the average was only 68 days in 2024, in Valencia it was 67, 66 in Málaga, 62 in Seville, 61 in Bilbao, and in the Spanish capital it's just 60 days. Compare this to the average time it took to buy a home in Spain in 2020 - from pinpointing the desired property to signing the title deeds - and the average time was around 94 days. According to Tecnocasa, 55 percent of Spanish properties have been on the market for less than half a year. Then there are the real winners, which are advertised for just three months, representing 37 percent of the total. "Properties barely have time to appear on the listings before multiple offers compete for them in a real casting call," reads the report. Of course, then there are properties that don't jump out, be it because of their location, the state they're in or because they're overpriced. Properties for sale for a year or more make up almost a quarter of the total. The main conclusion the report has drawn is that there's a clear mismatch between rising demand for Spanish homes and the dwindling supply in the cities and towns where people want to buy. This explains the rush to snap up the best Spanish properties before another buyer beats you to the finish line. Rising property prices and rents are pushing people in Spain to act sooner because they see little chance of the market turning around and real estate getting any cheaper. Therefore, demand keeps increasing whilst supply falls further, a bad combination for prospective buyers in Spain. "A 39 percent increase in demand in a single year is not normal," Lázaro Cubero, director of Analysis at the Tecnocasa Group, concluded. See Also
Local France
13-02-2025
- Business
- Local France
EasyJet announces new flight route from London to western France
The low-cost airline easyJet announced on Tuesday that it will be adding a new flight route between the UK and France. "This new connection offers the opportunity for the people of Finistère [the département containing Brest] to discover London, a vibrant and cosmopolitan city known for its rich historical heritage and its unparalleled dynamism," the airline told the French press. The new line will run from London-Gatwick airport to Brest, in western France, starting from June 25th. There will be two direct flights per week - on Wednesdays and Sundays. Tickets are already available for purchase on the easyJet website, starting at €35 for a one-way trip (without add-ons), the airport reported in a Facebook post, though several tickets online are already being sold at a higher rate. What about other flights from Brittany? Seven airlines operate at Aeroport Brest Bretagne, the majority offering domestic flights. Travellers can also opt for a pre-existing flight to London-Gatwick via Volotea airline (on Thursdays and Mondays). Other international destinations include Dublin and Kerry in Ireland; Faro and Porto in Portugal; Palermo, Rome and Olbia in Italy; Athens and Heraklion in Greece; Marrakech in Morocco; and six destinations in Spain. What about other easyJet flights this year? At the start of January, easyJet announced several new flights from Lyon airport in eastern France. It also launched a new, once-a-week flight route between Lyon and Newcastle in the UK, as well as flights from Strasbourg to Palma (Spain). Later in the year, EasyJet has announced plans to run flights between Rennes and Manchester, as well as flights from Paris-Orly to Skopje (North Macedonia), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Southampton (UK). The airline will also offer new routes from Nantes to Menorca and Rhodes, in addition to five new flights from Bordeaux-Merignac (to Birmingham, Corfu, Faro, Dubrovnik and Budapest). However, the airport also confirmed it would be closing its base at Toulouse-Blagnac airport in south-west France. The airline also noted that flights to and from Toulouse would be halved this summer, with only 10 destinations out of 20 maintained, though they denied this is linked to the closure. While the airline may not have officially confirmed it, passengers in France who had bought tickets to the affected destinations said that they had begun receiving emails from the company informing them that their tickets were cancelled.
