984 days ago
The Mrs and I needed to pass a covid test within 72 hours of a flight back from the Hellenic Republic in order to be readmitted to Britain. And that meant finding a test centre open on a Saturday and a trip to Kalamata. A day ahead of the Great religious celebration what better way to spend the day.
1456 days ago
British Airways currently empliys 4,346 captains and pilots. By Christmas it will have fired more than a quarter of them. And there will be no generous payoffs, just the bare minimum statutory notice period. The Airline says in a letter to the pilots union that if it does not act this way it will threaten its very future. The language is stark and a reminder that anyone predicting a V shaped economic recovery is dreaming.
2521 days ago
I was due to fly back to Greece on Saturday with British Airways but I did not. It is not for the reason you think, there being no British Airways flights at all out of Heathrow and Gatwick due to an IT bollocks up, but for other reasons equally damning of the airline, now part of International Airlines Group (IAG).
2692 days ago
My rucksack containing 15 kg of olive oil weighs 24.5 kg. The limit to gt it on the plane without paying a surcharge is 23 kg. But luckily I have a whole night at Athens airport to write nasty articles about liars but also to get that weight down. Cunning plan 1..
2723 days ago
Two years ago as I exposed Quindell, the biggest stockmarket fraud for 30 years, supporters of that company ran an organised campaign to get companies not to advertise on websites I ran - this one and ShareProphets.com. It is very easy to persuade companies that you speak for many if you are organised and vociferous and so British Airways, Waitrose, Hargreaves Lansdown and others told Google not to run their ads on our websites. Those backing the fraud, who also sent death threats while the company's expensive lawyers sent fascist lawyers letters threatening me with ruin, were more organised and vociferous than I could be and so they struck a blow against a free press. That was a blow on behalf of criminals.
Today we learn that a group called Stop Funding Hate has bullied Lego into not advertising with the Daily Mail. The left hates
2736 days ago
Andrew Monk does understand travel. Most brokers only understand it in that they collect air miles flying 1st class on expenses on Corporate jollies. Monk did actually run an airline as well as being a top City travel guru in days gone by. Thus his comment today on results from International Consolidated Airlines (IAG), the son of British Airways, are worth heeding.
2812 days ago
Sometimes the best investment calls are made not by looking at spreadsheets but from actually kicking the tyres. Hence I bring you a note in this morning from a broker on International Consolidated (IAG). Over to the broker:
2860 days ago
With some sadness I contacted British Airways today to move my flight forward and by Saturday evening I shall be back in the UK. I don't say back home because I feel more and more that my home will be out here at the Greek Hovel. I leave a lot of thoughts and ideas behind here in the mountains above Kambos. But I also leave something more tangible. It is with great regret that I shall not be here in mid August when the grapes below which trail from vines either side of the hovel, are large, ripe and tasting fantastic. Drat!
2865 days ago
I start this bearcast by being nice to a bunch of folks: the bosses of Nostra Terra (NTOG), Mirada (MIRA), a junior doctor and British Airways. Then I explain why today's news from IGAS is a disaster and heralds the shares being toast. Then take apart African Potash (AFPO) after being goaded by a poltroon on twitter. Finally a final impassioned but reasoned plea to you all to ignore the lies and smears and have faith in yourself and your country and to vote for Brexit tomorrow
2872 days ago
British Airways staff were again brilliant today. On Saturday I arrived at Kalamata airport with a barely mobile father and weak step mother. Within minutes a cute airline lady had helped me get a wheelchair for my father and i was told my job was over. The lady put them at the front of the line and I had nothing more to do. Today it was the turn of the Mrs. We arrived and the small departure lounge was again heaving with lobster pink Northern Europeans forming long lines to check in for flights to London and Paris.
I found a different cute airline lady and said that my wife was heavily pregnant, as she is, and within minutes she was again at the head of the queue leaving dozens of the lobster pink Brits and froggies fuming behind her. Then she was through passport control and was off and I headed back to town to face another three to four weeks at the Greek Hovel with just the snakes and rats for company.
When the Mrs is here I am on holiday so I only work 3-4 hours a day at my PC and I do no manual labour at all. I enjoy three meals a day and more than the odd drink. "After all we are on holiday" say I as I order another ouzo. I get to sleep on clean sheet in an air conditioned hotel and enjoy swims in luxury pools. The Mrs is paying and it is a treat. I enjoy my hols with the Mrs. We talk, we plan, we discuss. Life without the Mrs is very different.
Aware
3564 days ago
Andrew Monk heads up broker VSA Resources but in a former life was an airlines expert. He even set up one. It went tits up. But he knows how this industry operates and his views on THomas Cook (TCG) are clear. He noted this morning.
There are some things in life you should learn never to do – one of them we learnt from Bob Ayling at Br Airways, don’t try and get clever by changing your tail fins thinking it will solve all your problems. Well on Landing at Gatwick the other day I thought I had landed in a tissue factory !!! What have Thomas Cook done ?............what has a yellow heart got to do with global travel, excitement and experience – Kleenex would I am sure be impressed but if I want a tissue I don’t need a travel agent – me thinks Thomas Cook has caught a cold
3583 days ago
I have just booked my flight to Athens next week. RyanAir (RYA) was the cheapest flight but once you add in the charge for taking one full suitcase the gap between it and British Airways narrowed. And do I really want to trek out to Stansted rather than go to Heathrow on the tube which is much cheaper for me? The cost gap narrows again. And then O’Leary’s website tried to nickel and dime me on insurance and I just gave up and went with BA.
No I don’t want your frigging insurance O’Leary you shyster. It is expensive and pointless. So why have you opted me in for it? Ok you say that if I find a drop down menu I can opt out but try as hard as I could looking on your frigging website I cannot find it. You are not making it easy for me to avoid paying you an extra £13.20 for something that I do not want and which narrows the price gap with BA down to almost nothing.
As it happens the BA flight is at a time that suits me more - it lands at 3 in the morning so that I can drive without facing the Athens rush hour and be in the Mani in time for breakfast and to write my first Quindell article of the day.
I have done my maths
