This Week’s Air Travel News Round-Up

Here’s our latest round-up of air travel news and views from the wonderful world of airport parking, airport hotels and airport lounges.

Airport parking news – Rogue company dumps cars in field

As reported in the Daily Mail, this story proves it’s a good idea to make a few common sense checks before handing your vehicle over to an airport car park. The recommendation’s a good one when things aren’t always what they seem: one rogue parking company has just been fined for dumping a load of people’s vehicles in a field near Gatwick airport… and leaving the windows open.

The firm, called Airport Parking Ltd, charged customers £32.95 to park in a ‘secure’ place but the cars were actually abandoned in a nearby field and left unlocked. Worse still, Trading Standards staff actually discovered the cars’ keys had been thrown carelessly into a box and left unattended.

The dodgy company was fined £6,000 after their Directors admitted they had misled people, including making false website statements about the parking being secure, manned 24 hours and having regular security patrols, none of which actually existed.

Man comes back from holiday to find 800 extra miles on the clock

The Mirror tells another story that makes it even more important to ensure your airport car parking provider is legitimate and does what it says on the tin.

Phil Cockrell was surprised to find, on returning to collect his car after a two week holiday, a whopping 800 extra miles on the clock. Mr Cockrell’s extremely smart Mercedes was left at Gatwick airport while he was in Crete, but the ‘secure’ compound it was kept in didn’t prevent someone unscrupulous taking it for a long, unauthorised joyride.

On investigation the police found the car has been driven around four different counties over a period of a week, but at first the company involved insisted the car hadn’t been moved from the compound. They later said they were baffled by the event and would compensate the owner.

Airport car parking advice from the British Parking Association

Thanks to the British Parking Association for the following sensible advice. Follow this, buy your airport parking through a trusted supplier like us and you’ll stand less chance of something going wrong.

5 tips for airport parking safety and security

1. Is the person who greets you in uniform or wearing an ID badge? If so, check the badge. If not, ask why not – are they really from the company you booked with, or an imposter?
2. Are they at a kiosk or a stand? If there’s no official presence at the airport, are they legitimate? If they don’t have premises, probably not
3. Check where they’ll keep your car while you’re away. If they can’t show you it, why not? Is it off-site and if so, is that what you expected? Do they even have a storage facility full stop, and if so do they really own it or have the right to use it?
4. Look for the Park Mark, which is only awarded to car parks which have had a special annual police check
5. Ask for a receipt and make sure it’s a proper one, including all the company’s contact details. Check the address is the one you expect and that the company name is the same as the one you booked with

8 comfy new airport lounges for 2015

So far this year we’ve seen a plethora of brand new airport lounges opening across the world, proof of their popularity as well as a hint that more and more of us prefer to escape the typical airport hustle and bustle for somewhere calm, quiet and well equipped, where there’s everything you need in one place.

Here’s a list of eight of the best brand new and refurbished airport lounge facilities on offer around the globe.

1. Arlanda terminal 5 is your destination for SAS’ popular lounge, freshly upgraded and reopened
2. Etihad has reopened its refurbished premium lounge at Abu Dhabi airport’s terminal 1
3. There’s a new lounge at Salzburg airport’s terminal 1
4. Lisbon airport has a new lounge on the 6th floor
5. Emirates opened its first lounge in Japan at Narita International airport’s terminal 2
6. There’s a new Cathay Pacific lounge at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok
7. A new Plaza Premium lounge opens at Heathrow’s terminal 4
8. Visit the SilverKris lounge at Heathrow terminal 2, courtesy of Singapore Airlines

Istanbul’s ‘inclusive’ new airport lounge for economy class travellers

Airport lounges are getting more democratic. Turkish Airlines, for one, is on schedule to move to its brand new home at Istanbul’s new airport in 2018, and they’re determined to cater for economy class travellers as well as business people.

The airline’s CEO Temel Kotil says they’ll be opening a dedicated lounge for Economy passengers travelling long haul, and it’ll be just as smart and well equipped as any good business class lounge with free snacks, smart showers and more.

Manila Ninoy airport finally gets its lounge act together

Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International airport has long been a nightmare for delayed travellers, voted one of the world’s worst. But things are about to change.

The grand opening of the Wings Transit Lounge heralds a new era for the hub, a place where weary passengers can take advantage of showers, cosy bunk beds and dedicated sleeping capsules, an actual spa, somewhere to stash luggage and five cool new lounge areas.

The new lounge is a total of 402 square metres in size and you’ll find it in terminal 3’s 4th Level Mall area, just before you get to Security. And it’s looking more like an hotel than a typical lounge, with its reclining chairs, twin rooms and even a family room. But there’s more: a massage facility, barber’s shop, basic pantry, business centre and dining area, all open 24/7.

Attempted murder at Luton airport hotel

According to the Luton Today website a man attempted to murder another at a Luton airport hotel over the weekend. Apparently the suspect was seen ‘acting suspiciously’ before the assault in the Hampton by Hilton hotel, which is close to the airport, on Sunday night.

The victim of the assault, a man in his early 30s, suffered nasty injuries to his head and was hospitalised, where he remains in a serious condition. The attacker, a 21 year old Latvian, was charged on Monday with attempted murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ramada Glasgow airport take-over

The Cairn Group has bought Glasgow airport’s 114 bed Ramada hotel for a multi-million pound sum, and it’s set to invest a massive eight million pounds in the year to come on refurbishment and upgrades.

The hotel has four meeting rooms, all with wireless internet and natural daylight. And they’re an extremely important feature since business tourism is a vital market for the Group. They have several important corporate accounts with local, national and international organisations and five other Scottish properties under their belts, and they’re likely to want to invest in more properties as they become available, to meet growing business tourism demand.

Back next week with the latest news about air travel

We’ll be back next week with more. See you then!

Tags: air travel news, airport car park, airport car parking, airport hotel news, airport lounge, airport parking news, new airport lounges

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2015 at 10:08 am and is filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.