British Airways Holidays

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money

Excellent

Advantages:	More Experience Than Virgin Holidays
Disadvantages:	Paul's Too Old For Club 18 - 30 Holidays

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN November 2000

We have used British Airways Holidays 3 times in the last couple of years. We took city breaks to Paris + Disneyland Paris, Brussels last year and Copenhagen recently.

We booked the holidays at the British Airways Travel shop in Regent Street, London. The booking procedure took about 1 hour. The staff were very professional + friendly.

You were asked if you needed travel insurance. In the past whilst booking at Lunn Poly the price of travel insurance was already included in the holiday price. This is because travel agents are paid commission for selling insurance.

There is a visa section in the BA Travel Shop for non-UK passport holders. If you pay by credit card there is a 1.5-% additional charge.

The travel documents arrived within a week. A free travel guide to the city is included which also contains commonly used phrases such as please, thank you, hello etc. I found the guide very useful when planning the trip. The flights and hotels were very good. Usually transfers to + from the airport are not included.

Prices are competitive but you can obtain a better deal if you surfed the Internet. You also get air miles or BA miles; the rate being 1 mile per £5 spent. You can book the holidays via telephone but I prefer face-to-face contact while booking.

I would recommend BA Holidays as the best travel agent in the High Street.

UPDATED January 2002

Unusually it was my sister-in-law from Calcutta, India who alerted my wife to the BA Travel Store in Regent Street, London. She had read about the store in a Calcutta daily newspaper.

My parents now travel to Calcutta twice every year. My wife goes once a year to Calcutta. British Airways is the most convenient flight to Calcutta. Other airlines, which fly to Calcutta, include Bangladesh Biman, United Arab Emirates, Romanian Airlines, KLM etc.

I found myself getting stuck in the middle of family politics whenever I went to India. I preferred staying with my in-laws rather than my own family. This has caused all sorts of problems. Give me a week in Dublin any time.

The BA Travel Store is about 5 minutes walk away from the Hamleys Toy Store. Regent Street is always full of tourists and it is always tiring getting to the Travel Store.

The inside of the building really hits you the first time you enter.

GROUND FLOOR

There are shelves of holiday brochures as you walk through the building. These brochures range from world-wide breaks to golf breaks to weddings abroad. Almost every kind of holiday is catered for.

The next section consists of suitcases, holdalls and other luggage. Most of the luggage has top quality names like Delsey but the prices are too expensive. A few times a year this department brings in new stock, which means selling the old stock at knockdown prices. A couple of years ago we bought a holdall, which cost £17. It was priced originally around £50.

The next section consists of maps and guidebooks. Every type of map is available here.

The next section is the Passport and Visa section. As my wife has an Indian passport we have used this service on several occasions. Different countries have different procedures for visa applications.

In most cases we had to fill in a visa application form. This was accompanied by 4 passport photographs, a marriage certificate, a passport, a bank statement, a utility bill etc. Once the documents have been deposited it took about a week for the visa to be done. The passport can then be collected from the Passport and Visa section.

The cost of this service is the visa fee plus an administration fee of £24 + VAT. It is slightly pricey but saves you the hassle of going to the foreign embassy itself.

A few years ago we went 3 times to the Dutch Embassy for our trip to Amsterdam. Once to collect a visa application form, once to deposit the completed form and once to collect the passport. We had to queue for over 2 hours on each occasion and felt like cattle in a market.

The Passport and Visa section is run by Thames Consular Services and is not a part of British Airways. Normally a man and a woman deal with enquiries. The man was an army type, very efficient but never smiled. The woman was much friendlier and quite sexy.

Behind the Passport and Visa section is a lounge for executive members and Concorde passengers. I made the mistake of sitting on one of the comfy sofas before being thrown off.

The next section is the Bureau De Change. I have bought travellers cheques and foreign currency from here. But the exchange rates are not very competitive.

The final section consists of travel accessories. The best items on sale here are the mosquito repellents. You can also buy travel irons, adapter plugs, travel pillows, deep vein thrombosis prevention socks etc.

LOWER GROUND FLOOR

There are stairs to take you to the lower ground floor. Alternatively there is a lift. But every time I use this lift I get a shock from static electricity.

The travel clinic is located here. Here you can get all sorts of jabs for exotic holidays. I have not used this service and so cannot comment on it.

Male and female toilets are also located here. There are about 4 payphones next to the toilets. Finally there is a passport photo booth which always seems to be out of order.

FIRST FLOOR

There is also an escalator link to the first floor apart from the lift and stairs.

There is a reception desk, which will point you in the right direction. There are about 40 desks where customer service advisors will deal with your flight or holiday inquiry.

At reception you are given a pager. When a customer service advisor is ready to see you the pager makes an annoying shrilling sound.

The waiting is longer at lunchtime for some reason.

At the rear of the floor is a food stall selling cakes and soft drinks. On a couple of occasions we have received freebies from this stall.

Throughout the floor are stands displaying brochures, flight timetables, travel tips, travel insurance leaflets etc.

SHAREHOLDER PERKS

As we regularly purchased tickets to Calcutta from here I decided to buy some British Airways shares. I am a great believer in buying shares in companies, which I use.

I bought the shares at 445p. After September 11th these shares dived to around 160p. Now the price is around 240p. So my portfolio has halved its value.

One perk of being a shareholder is that you get 10% discount on flights and holidays provided you own at least 200 shares.

Airtours also gives perks to shareholders. I think there is a 10% discount on all holidays and you get a free bottle of champagne on flights.

But Airtours may be changing its name to My Travel Group this year. So many companies change their name that I cannot keep up with name changes.

BOOKING A FLIGHT

My parents and other family friends always go via a bucket shop travel agent to buy tickets for Calcutta. A bucket shop travel agent will buy tickets in bulk from an airline at cheap prices before selling them to customers at a profit. The only problem is that there is no refund if you cannot make the flight.

Buying tickets from the BA Travel Shop means that you do get a refund if there is a problem. Nowadays the BA Travel Shop can match the prices of the bucket shop travel agents. This has meant that many bucket shop travel agents have gone out of business.

Booking a flight here was quite easy. You simply gave the travel dates and the details are inputted onto a computer screen. Sometimes there are special offers available.

The whole process took about 45 minutes. We even booked our airline seats at the time of booking, which was useful.

If payment is made via a credit card then there is an extra charge.

Nowadays no air miles are given with bookings as in the past.

BA flights are not the cheapest. The advent of low cost airlines such as Ryanair, Easyjet and Go has slashed fares. Cheaper fares can also be obtained from Teletext or the Internet. Finally I have noticed some discount flight companies on the High Street.

BOOKING A HOLIDAY

In the past my holidays with my parents were taken on boring coach journeys. Most of the tourists were over 40 and I was about 10. So I had to be on best behaviour at all times.

Having seen the ITV1 Series on 'Club 18 - 30 Holidays', which has plenty of boozing and sex, I feel that I have missed out. Perhaps in my next life…

Nowadays my ideal holiday is a week's break in a European capital city. BA actually devotes an entire brochure to European destinations.

Booking the holiday takes about an hour. We normally collect the tickets with my wife's visa about 10 days before departure.

BA Holidays give a nice little wallet with several handy documents such as a map, guidebook, a hotel voucher, notes about the city, luggage tags and some emergency telephone numbers.

I would have thought that prices would be more expensive compared to other operators such as Lunn Poly, Going Places etc. But the difference is not that great. The only compromise is that no transfers from the airport to the hotel and back are included.

The hotel staff gave us a better service once they knew that we travelled via BA Holidays.

BA Holidays have recently formed a company called Accoladia with Thomas Cook. It is too early to make any judgement.

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVISORS

The customer service advisors on the 1st floor are the slickest I have encountered in London. They are all smartly dressed, talk eloquently and are very professional. In fact I get quite tired just by listening to their fast patter.

On arriving at reception on the 1st floor I am frequently asked if I want to join the BA Executive Club. I got a glare if I said no. So I now say that I used to be an Executive Club member.

When making a booking I am always asked about taking BA's travel insurance. But I now simply take my travel insurance policy with Tesco to the booking. I am sure that commission is paid to the advisors if BA travel insurance is taken out.

I found out that all the customer service advisors get free flights anywhere in the world. This is some perk.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The update to this opinion is more detailed than the original opinion. I wrote the original opinion when the minimum Ciao word limit was 90. I felt I was wasting my time if I exceeded 200 words.

Nowadays I simply write Ciao opinions for the fun of it. In the past I used to churn out 4 opinions per week. Now the rate is about 1 opinion per fortnight.

I hope this opinion has given you a brief outline of the BA Travel Shop.

Booking holidays and flights here are the same as anywhere else. But you do have the advantage here of the Passport and Visa section, Travel Clinic and guidebooks section.

There are BA Travel Shops in other parts of London.

After September 11th BA have made 7200 people redundant. I am not really sure what the future is in the travel industry.

The beauty of the BA Travel Shop is that everything you want about travel is under one roof. No other travel company can match that.

UPDATED August 2002

BOOKING THE PRAGUE HOLIDAY

There was little problem in booking the holiday to Prague. The hotel room and airline seats were available. The whole process took under an hour. I got my 10% discount being a British Airways shareholder and things were going well.

All that needed to be done was to get a Czech visa for my wife as she held an Indian passport. Our problems were just about to begin.

CZECH VISA HELL

We booked the holiday on a Friday and then went downstairs to the visa section to sort out the Czech visa. We filled in the form only to be told that the visa could not be done in time for the holiday. Our only option was to go to the Czech Embassy itself.

The following Monday we took a bus to High Street Kensington. But the Czech Embassy was nearer Notting Hill than High Street Kensington. It took us an hour to walk uphill to the Embassy on quite a hot July morning. There was already a queue inside the Embassy and it seemed unlikely that our visa form would be accepted before 11 am. One woman manned the visa section and processed 2 visas in 40 minutes. At 11 a.m. she added an extra 30 minutes but there were too many people in front of us.

From the Embassy we took the tube to Oxford Circus and went into the BA travel shop again. We wanted a change of dates so that enough time could be given to process the visa. British Airways Holidays told our sales advisor that we would have to pay an extra GBP 155 each for the change. If we refused to pay up then we would lose the entire holiday with no refund.

Our sales advisor was pretty angry at this extra charge. There followed a few terse phone calls. The supervisors were called into the melee and a compromise reached. We would only have to pay GBP 25 for the change in dates. The main problem seemed to be different rules concerning British Airways, BA Travel Shops and BA Holidays.

Due to the change in travel date we had enough time for a Czech visa via the visa section. We submitted the relevant documents and told to wait for 2 weeks.

But 4 days later we got a call from the visa section saying that the Czech Embassy wanted to see us in person and ask us some questions. So I went on the Friday to collect the travel documents from the BA travel shop. Unfortunately our visa documents had not yet arrived. So I went again to the visa section on the following day. Amazingly I was told that I would have to pay for the courier expenses even though no visa was given. This charge amounted to GBP 70.

I was expecting a charge of about GBP 20 but basically we were ripped off. I know British Airways have had their financial problems but this is no way to treat their customers. First the company tried to charge us an extra GBP 310 for merely changing travel dates and now this excessive charge.

The following Monday we booked a mini-cab, which took us to the Czech Embassy at 7 a.m. We waited for 2 hours before the doors opened. There were about 25 people behind us most of who were Australian. We were the first in the queue. The question asked was if my wife was a housewife? We were told to come back on Wednesday of the following week.

On that Wednesday again there was a long queue. I simply handed over GBP 27 in cash and the visa was given.

Our subsequent holiday to the Czech Republic was very relaxing.

But the money grabbing antics of the British Airways Holidays staff and the visa section left a sour taste in the mouth. As a shareholder of British Airways I was a little ashamed at this behaviour. I hope that justice will be done.

UPDATED November 2004

KOLKATA HOLIDAY

Last February my wife and I had a life-changing holiday in Kolkata. The city has certainly changed over the past 37 years. There were no problems on the outbound flight but the return flight had more incidents.

There was a long gap between meals and a few passengers complained of hunger pangs. The staff efficiently dealt with the complaints by offering more food. The mistake BA did was not announcing to the passengers that extra food was available if they were hungry. But there has been an improvement in on-board services for long haul flights.

My Kolkata wedding a few years ago was a memorable occasion. It was only soured by my mother passing on most of our wedding presents, without our knowledge, to her greedy and selfish relatives. What do British Asians think about their cousins abroad? Les Dawson was right in his assessment of mother-in-laws. Life does imitate art. Beware of the Bengali mother-in-law!!!

UPDATED July 2005

I reckon that wedgies are the new flip-flops. Yes, the onset of the male menopause is now upon me.

I would like to say hello to Yomi, her blonde sister and her mother. We had a great afternoon in the Tattersall Tavern. Eindhoven must be a fine place to live in. I am even thinking of taking up clog dancing.

The BA Travel Store we now use is in Harrods. It is located on the lower ground floor.

The customer service staff are top notch. They are quite tasty as well. One lights up Greenford. Another one uses her feminine wiles. Another one likes her masala dossa.

Amazingly the staff don't have lunch in Harrods but get their food from Sainsbury's instead. Every little non-competition helps.

The waiting staff at Mo's Diner on the 4th floor are real temptation. Can you hear the drums, Fernando? Jesus to a child.

I read recently that Tuberculosis gave up smoking 15 minutes before his wedding as part of the bargain. If I was him I would have done a Monica on Ma Cherie Amour a long time ago. Every little vacuum cleaner helps.

Here are some more tales from the family holiday crypt:

About 2-3 years ago my parents told us to meet them at Heathrow Airport after their trip to Kolkata. We duely did so. My parents then boarded a pre-booked taxi to Hull. But they seemed to be in a hurry for some apparent reason. Anyway we headed home. But in front us the taxi took a London turning instead of the M4 turnoff to the M25. The outside lane of the London bound M4 is reserved only for buses and taxis. No doubt the stupid brainchild of our Deputy PM. On arrival to the flat we found the lock interfered with and some items stolen from the flat. The crooks had deceived us. They had committed the perfect crime. This is known in the Bengali Mafia as an Indian takeaway.

About 6 years ago my parents were again in Kolkata. They must like their own family more than me. My father-in-law had let slip to them that we had purchased our new Daewoo. Knowing them as I do they probably seethed with rage. They returned to the UK very jealous. My wife was also in India at that time. Anyway the 3 of us planned to meet her at Heathrow when she landed at about 5.30 a.m. My father always depresses the accelerator about 4-5 times to release the oil to the engine. This time he depressed the accelerator for what seemed ages. And lo and behold the car stalled when he started it. The engine was flooded. The only option was to take my Daewoo. Meanwhile my mother had sneaked upstairs to steal more stuff in my confusion. Luckily I caught her and we all went to the airport. Refer to my Daewoo Matiz op.

I have detailed my mother's kleptomania in other ops. But her stealing increases the nearer she gets to her Kolkata trips. No doubt to give as many freebies as possible to her greedy family. She is only 50% to blame. The rest of the time my father puts her up to it. He distracts us while she does the stealing. They always signal to each other via eyebrow movement or ishara - the Bengali word. Believe or not my mother also steals from BA planes. Cutlery, plastic beakers, airline food etc. But for some reason her pilfering is reduced on non-Kolkata BA flights. I bet that the return journey to Heathrow arrives before its scheduled time due to a lighter load. My BA shares also lose value to cover the cost of replacing everything. I feel that BA should ban passengers who steal from planes. They should also ban passengers who abuse BA shareholders.

Some Bengali doctors are cowboys. A few cowboys are Indian.

UPDATED August 2005

I am unlikely to visit Kolkata in future. These trips are more endurance trips than holidays. The family politics just gets me down. My relatives are always slagging off the UK. Accessorize. Looking back perhaps I should have mated with someone from the UK. Arranged marriages are a lottery. We should have told my wife's family about my schizophrenia. But then no wedding would have taken place. Are divorces made in heaven?

Norman Bates is fiction. Paul is a sad fact.

I prefer to watch TV travel programmes than go on holiday myself. I like Airport and Airline and Michael Palin's trips. Anne Gregg should not have been sacked from Holiday. I once came face-to-face with Jeremy Spake. He was representing the Hillingdon branch of the Cats Protection League at the National Cat Club Show at Olympia a couple of years ago. But I was too shy to approach him.

Indian women are improving in my estimation. But Pakistani women are better. Every little Jebina helps.

I have not been to Hull for a couple of years now. The reason was the last time my father became over-salacious with my wife. I shall return but only when he expires. In October 2004 my parents came to London to attend the Durga Puja. My mother stole 4 pairs of my wife's shoes and a kitchen spoon. Worse still she tried to force my wife against the door of the taxi nearly causing her to fall out. No doubt they are planning to come to London this August Bank Holiday and at Xmas. Probably to bribe the vermin which pollutes our society. If Gordon B wants to increase treasury coffers all he has to do is to put a stealth tax on bribes.

Looking back my life has always been riddled with loneliness, low self-esteem and insecurity. In my early years I was shunted from hospital residence to hospital residence. The schizophrenic gene was already dormant in me. A series of shocks brought on my illness. Why does a gynaecologist deliver babies during the day and hit his own bairn at night?

When I started school my father told me that if I worked hard everything he owned would be mine. But when I was 7 I discovered that the executor of his will was my uncle Sunil. He called me a donkey in the long hot summer of 1976. It is amazing how long a lie can be perpetuated. I was shocked by the move to a direct grant school which was intimidating. I developed a stutter for which I received no medical help. I was shocked at my mother opening my personal mail. I was shocked by her standing behind the door whenever I made a phone call. I was not allowed to think about women let alone look at them. I have been lied to constantly by both of the pathogenic, compulsive liars. The thing that scared me the most was having an arranged marriage.

I had a secret affair at school with Jenny but made no plans to meet. I messed up my A levels after that setback.

My parents were always attending some pharmaceutical do or other. I was not allowed to mix with other white people. I hardly ever played with children. I was simply a timebomb waiting to explode.

But if shocks caused my illness then it figured that a series of shocks would make me better.

Just before I started University I had a horoscope reading done. Basically I would achieve more success if I wore blue. So I bought about 5 blue tops which I wore all the time. After graduation they seemed to disppear. Then on a family holiday to Kolkata I saw my maternal uncles wearing them. I was speechless. And it takes a lot to keep me quiet.

Did anyone watch Live 8? Who's that Who?

Do we live in a holographic universe? Is anti-gravity propulsion possible? Is my worm tiny enough to fit into a wormhole?

More therapy now. I used to be anxious of being late for school. So one morning my parents deliberately delayed matters ensuring that I would be late for school. I ruined the school attendance record. I was even pointed out in the assembly which destroyed my fragile confidence. I have had a hang-up about time ever since.

My parents did not like me participating in school sports in case I took my mind off studying. On the morning of a school sports day my mother placed my father's razor next to my toothbrush. Obviously I cut myself which made that day's tug-of-war very painful even though we won.

I felt that my parents expected too much of me academically. My father pushed me too hard. One evening like many others my parents went out for a pharmaceutical do leaving me on my own. My mother removed the aerial from the TV so that I would not watch any programmes and study instead. I feel that Bengali parents are more concerened about their sprog's academic life rather than social skills. The ideal balance is a combination of the 2. I got the grades but failed miserably with women. Time to get the violins out.

I really developed an antipathy towards the pharmaceutical companies and reps. I associate them with my childhood loneliness. School runs were generally done in silence. I was very quiet and too well-behaved at school. The school lunchtimes were quite lonely. I seemed to be on a different wavelength to the other classmates.

Even now I hate silence. Watching QVC during the day has helped alleviate this. I also came to the conclusion that pharmaceutical companies provided a financial incentive for doctors to prescribe medication. This has turned me towards homeopathic medication in a big way.

I have only travelled by Virgin Atlantic once in 1988 on our holiday to Florida and the Bahamas. The service was exceptional and unique. But I travel via BA for psychological reasons. I get homesick when on holiday. There is nothing better at the end of a trip than to see the word British emblazoned on the airline you are travelling. Virgin is cheaper and offers a better service than BA. But I have dumbed down over the years. Why have silk when you can have cotton?

Sir Richard Branson is a brilliant businessman. My only criticism is that he does not leave any profit in his companies enabling them to grow stronger. Whenever he needs finance for a new venture he takes the profit out of one of his companies.

Sir Richard set up Virgin Atlantic to take on BA and succeeded. But he was undermined by their dirty tricks campaign. I think the success of Virgin Cola enabled to finance his successful court case against them.

Sir Richard has even met the great Adrian Chiles on at least a couple of occasions. My wife saw Adrian at Tesco about a month back but I was not convinced. Everyone knows that he does his weekly shopping at Safeway. Every little major competition helps.

He evens owns the V2 label where Liberty X are signed to. We could all do with a little bit more. Some a bit more than others.

I have not been on any no frills airline. EasyJet is better than Ryanair. I hope to go into business with Stelios. I hope to be marketed as an EasyLay.

The psychiatric care I am now receiving is the best ever. Previously my doctors did not know about my suicide attempt. The proper procedures were simply not followed. I hope that by writing about my illness the stigma of mental illness has been eroded.

Memories don't leave like people do - Patti Boulaye.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word - Elton Kenneth John.

I have always been fascinated by UFOs or IFOs as I prefer to refer to them. The number of IFOs reported by airline pilots is relatively low. Radar backup would corroborate the sightings. Perhaps the pilots have a secret clause in their contract?

My chances of scoring with alien women is smaller than with the human of the species. I have more chance of ogling Gillian Anderson in Beverley!

I was having a few miss-you-nights. So I called up my devil woman Cherie B for a chat over a drink of Portuguese vino. I said that "It's so funny that we don't talk anymore." She replied "Paul, I like you a lot but I am going on a summer holiday with the young ones." Tony unfortunately has a bigger corkscrew than me. I then poured out my angst to God in my nightly prayers. He said "Son, you are a bachelor boy and that's the way you will stay."

Absolutely!

I am now off to become a trolley dolly for Fresh Airways.

UPDATED September 2005

IN-FLIGHT MEALS

The food on flights is getting increasingly poorer. Presumably this is a consequence of increasing costs which airlines have to bear. In the past I used to look forward to my meal on the flight. Nowadays I make sure that I am reasonably full before boarding.

KOLKATA FLIGHTS

I have no complaints about the meals on the Heathrow to Kolkata flight. But the food on the return flight is dire. There was always a long delay before food was served. When it eventually came the quantity was insufficient. If the passengers are hungry and unhappy on the flight then BA is not doing its job properly.

THE CITY OF JOY

Incidentally in the early 1980s my father purchased property in Kolkata but my parents did not tell me about it. On one occasion my mother-in-law gave a parcel of stuff to my parents to hand over to my wife. But my mother opened the parcel and stole most of the items. I got so angry that I dismantled my parents' bed in our guestroom and got rid of it. If ever a film is made of my life a subtitle could be 'Carry On Stealing.'

FEED ME

Nowadays the dietary requirements of people have changed drastically : vegetarian, vegan, lacto-ovo, salt-free, diabetic, nut-free, gluten -free etc. The time has come for airlines not to serve in-flight meals. It would be great if there was a pantry on board where we could eat and pay for as little or as much as we wanted.

SURCHARGES BOTHER

In days gone by there used to be a single price for a fare which we all paid. Nowadays there are various surcharges and taxes added onto the bill. Every time there is a crisis in OPEC small surcharges are added to the price of a ticket. I feel that these hidden extras are a rip-off.

SERVICE / BOOKING CHARGE TARIFF

I recently picked up a leaflet from a BA Travel Shop. The service fees make interesting reading.

SERVICE --------------------------- CHARGE

All ticket sales -------------------- GBP 15 per ticket

Ticket re-issue -------------------- GBP 25 per ticket

Lost ticket replacement -------- GBP 25 per ticket

Refunds ------------------------------ GBP 15 to 30 per ticket

Special delivery ------------------- GBP 5

Arranging a pre-paid ticket ---- GBP 25
outside the UK

Credit card fee --------------------- 2% GBP 3 to 40

These service fees are non-refundable. I understand the need for the service charge but feel that they are too expensive. Does a booking charge for a ticket sale really costs GBP 15 to process? In my opinion these charges should be cheaper.

LOCATION OF BA TRAVEL SHOPS

We always book our flights and holidays face-to-face with a travel agent. I accept that buying from the Internet is cheaper but I find using the technology too daunting.

The BA Travel Shops are located at:

Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Cambridge, Croydon, Edinburgh,
London (Baker Street, Cheapside, Harrods, Piccadilly and Selfridges)
Manchester, Norwich, Tunbridge Wells and Windsor.

AIR CRASH PREVENTION

I always hate reading about plane crashes and watching the horrific scenes on TV. In the late 1970s (May '79?) I read a News of the World article about the actress Lindsay Wagner's mother. Lindsay played the bionic woman and was in many of my teenage dreams.

The article said that her mother refused to board a flight at Chicago airport. She touched a fellow passenger and saw the colour black. Apparently in psychic circles black means death. This means that the plane was pre-destined to crash before take-off.

Although there is no scientific evidence for it I would like to see psychics employed by airports to prevent crashes. What is the price for a life?

I have always been interested in astrology. My research indicates that it is a better predicter of one's health than one's future. Numerology is more accurate at predicting the future than astrology.

Surely all the passengers in a plane crash do not have the same astrological chart. The answer to the conundrum is that places have a stronger astrological pull than people. This means that in certain places at certain times people will die even though their horoscope says otherwise.

I am now off to the asteroid belt to feed fagioli to fabulous Fabiola.

UPDATED November 2005

WELL DONE BA 147 / BA 146

My wife recently returned from a nice holiday in Kolkata. The service on both flights was excellent. The staff were polite and humorous and the meals were very tasty and filling. Well done, BA!

The flight to Heathrow started at 7 a.m. This meant spending the night at Dum Dum airport. My wife and her family spent the time in a lovely rest room. This cost INR 1800 which is just over GBP 20. The alternative was spending the night on very uncomfortable chairs.

GREAT HARRODS SERVICE

I purchased my wife's ticket from the BA travel shop on the lower ground floor of Harrods. The queuing time was minimal and the customer service very professional and efficient. There is a blonde customer service staff member who would not look out of place on the catwalk.

OVERBOOKING HELL

We arrived at the check-in with over 2 hours to spare before takeoff. But to my dismay we were told