Beach

Airline giant British Airways once again returns to court to face a series of disputes in relation to the pilots’ holiday pay. This takes place just a few days after the cabin crew elected for strike action.

The British Airline Pilots Association or Balpa has taken its employer to the Supreme Court in a bid for the latter to give its members same pay during holidays. Holiday insurance is also part of the dispute.

Jim McAuslan, Balpa General Secretary, said that a pilot on holiday gets lesser pay compared to when he or she was working. He added that this agreement is unheard of in other industries.

The pay difference can go as high as 600 pounds, which is a significant difference if the employees are asked about this.

British Airways has maintained that the holiday pay arrangements comply with legislative requirements.

British Airways despite the bad press is still Britain’s favourite airline especially in the summer time taking Britons to a warm destination for swim & sun. Incidentally during this period the sale of swimwear onboard is ver popular.

Travel company Tui Travel said that there’s a sudden influx of demand for holiday destinations. Customers are flocking to go to scenic holiday destinations within the United Kingdom and the Nordic region.

Tui Travel, like other leading agencies, slashed its number of holiday offerings in a bid to support profit margins. The collapse of smaller competitors led the company to maintain its prices and eventually maintain profits.

Tui Travel chief executive Peter Long said that the group’s customer researcher revealed that positive outlook in personal finances and job markets has led to the increase of demand for holiday vacations. He revealed that late winter and summer bookings have increased for the past few weeks.

The company’s sales during the last quarter of 2009 were at 2.5 billion pounds, which is still down eight percent the year before. The operating loss was set at 107 billion pounds.

The growing number of unemployed citizens has led to the drastic decline of interest in going on holidays or vacation travels during Thanksgiving. This was revealed by AAA Carolinas.

AAA said that it estimated about 1,167,000 North Carolinians to travel more than fifty miles away from their homes this year which is just an increase of about 27,000.

AAA Carolinas spokesman Tom Crosby said that the figures last year were understandable because that’s where the economic slump started. However, the figures this year is still considered not back to normal as compared to the 2007 levels.

The reason behind this is the continuing increase in gas prices. This led people to just stay at home in the holidays rather than spend on gas for holiday travels.

Air travel has decreased by 7 percent this year due to gas prices as well.

Travel company Trivago claimed that financial crisis has led to an influx of great deals on European holidays, a ray of light for people who want to spend quality time with their families via a great vacation.

These great deals have surfaced due to the weaker British currency as compared to last year. As of now, a pound is equivalent to $1.5 as compared to last year where it was $2 to one pound.

Trivago spokesperson Sian Williams said that not many people realize that there are a lot of budget-friendly deals on European holidays. She added that in order to come up with the best deal possible, one must spend time comparing prices of flights and hotel rates online.

Another great tip of travelers, Williams said that the rates are usually higher during school holidays so if you want lesser rates, considering going on a vacation where there’s lesser demand or off peak. She added that European cities such as Barcelona and Madrid in Spain have good deals that you might want to consider when you go on a vacation. These deals are offered in light with the recent survey that more people are still saving up for a vacation despite the economic crisis.