Globe Merchant Travel Blog

I’m looking at flights from London to RDU and I get this quote from Delta..

Price per passenger: £216.00 (GBP)
Taxes/Fees: £264.16 (GBP)
Subtotal per Passenger: £480.16 (GBP)
Total for all passengers (1): £480.16 (GBP

Notice that the taxes are higher than the fare! hmmm… a 100+% tax….

Moral of the Story: Don’t rely on the fare only when comparing air fare because not including exorbitant taxes in their quotes is a trick airlines and travel sites use. When taxes can be over 100% of the fare, you’d think it was important to list by the “final fare”, not the fare without taxes…. but all is fare in the air fare wars…even if it means that the airlines/travel sites don’t care that they waste your time!

Greek Reporter
An opening to the Cypriot market has been assumed by Aegean Airlines, using the runway in Heathrow acquired by Olympic Air, for immediate flights for the route between Larnaka-London.

Aegean is attempting to get a portion of the air flights between Cyprus and Britain. Until now, it has been ruled by British Airways and the Cypriot Airlines. The flights to the British capital are expected to begin on March 27th and Aegean’s program foresees at least one daily flight.

Bulkan Business News

Michael Roberts – 04.03.2011

In a recent release, Olympic Air’s new Board of Directors, decided to reshape the company’s planning, focusing on strategic development. The target for Olympic Air is to become a leader in Southeast Europe by exploiting the competitive advantage of its high quality services.

EU’s Competition Commission recent decision not to approve the merger with Aegean Airlines disrupted the plans of creating a single major Greek airline with pan-European range. And now the difficult conditions and medium term prospects of the market, are leading the company to revise its flight schedule, in order to match the new planning.

In this context the following routes will be added in the domestic flight plan: Athens – Corfu, Athens – Alexandroupolis, Thessaloniki – Heraklion, Thessaloniki – Chania, Thessaloniki – Mytilene and Thessaloniki – Rhodes. Furthermore, the international network is adjusted as to maintain or expand flights to Amsterdam, Belgrade, Bucharest, Cairo, Istanbul, Larnaca, Sofia and Tirana, while canceling routes to Vienna, Brussels, London and Paris.

At the same time all existing agreements on code share flights with Delta Airlines for flights to U.S. and Etihad Airlines, to Australia and South Africa, will continue. Further international agreements will be evaluated in order to enhance services to our passengers.

Finally, Olympic Air together with Aegean Airlines will appeal against the decision of the European Competition Commission which had not approved the merger of the two airlines.

Olympic Air’s President, Mr. John Karakadas made the following statement:
“After 15 months of operations Olympic Air has presented obvious results to all Greek citizens. In our effort to revive our historical and national carrier, we plot a new course today in order to shield the sustainability of our initial commitments. Our new strategy obviously takes into consideration both the decision of the Competition Commission and the ongoing turmoil in the markets. However, our central and non-negotiable target remains to provide the highest quality services to our passengers, while the reorganization of our network will allow us to address more effectively the challenges that surround us and to maintain the leadership profile of Olympic Air in our region. ” Source; Olympic Air

Posted Friday, 4 March, 2011 – 11:16 by Sara Turner
Greek carrier Olympic Air will drop its flights to London Heathrow and London Gatwick from March 27.

The airline will also stop flying to Brussels, Paris and Vienna, instead focusing on expansion of its network in south-east Europe.

The move follows the EU Competition Commission’s decision to reject the proposed merger between Olympic Air and fellow Greek airline Aegean.

The two airlines have also announced they plan to appeal against the EU’s decision.

Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s Olympic Air says it will cut routes to London, Paris, Vienna and Brussels as part of a reorganization in the wake of the European Commission’s decision to block a proposed merger with local competitor Aegean Airlines.

An Olympic statement says both companies will appeal to European courts against the Jan. 26 ruling, which stated the combined carrier could monopolize Greek air travel.

Wednesday’s statement said Olympic’s board decided to reorganize its routes, increasing domestic flights while maintaining or expanding services to Amsterdam, Belgrade, Bucharest, Cairo, Istanbul, Larnaca, Sofia and Tirana.

The statement said Olympic aims to become a dominant airline in southeastern Europe.

Lufthansa also has some sales that are out. The look pretty good for some destinations and from some departure cities, but you’ll have to check to see if your departure city and destination are a good deal! http://www.lufthansa.com

Iberia Air is running a sale which is ok… not great but might be a little lower than other airlines… although they may soon follow… You’ll have to fly through Spain to your European destination which could be inconvenient if you’re in one of the US cities that flies direct to the country you want to go to!… http://www.iberia.com