Looks like it’s going to be another bad for iconic airline British Airways as in the news today is a survey story, by insurance company LV, which has revealed that one in 3 British Airways passengers have had their luggage lost, damaged, or delayed within the past five years. According to the survey it is the major airlines that have the worse reputation, with Virgin Atlantic being the second worse performing airline and Emirates being the third worse. Having had my bag lost only once, I know the sinking feeling that a passenger gets when you wait at the carousel and everyone around you collects their bags and you are the only one left with no bag. My only advice is to ensure that you pack few spare clothes in your hand luggage, such as swimwear so that if your bag does go missing at least you can still hit the pool.

There is an article in the news today about how Ryanair are raising the price of taking luggage on to their flights, just in time for the summer holidays. Although Ryanair prides itself as a budget airline with the amount of add-ons continuously rising, a £20 flight can soon escalate to over £100. Many years ago whilst I was at university I flew Ryanair, from Blackpool Airport to Dublin, for £25 and that was the total cost. Now if you want to check in a bag into the hold over the summer holidays (which the vast majority of travellers will do), the price is going to be increasing from £15 to £20, which if you are a family of 4 is a total cost of £80 just for bags. There were also rumours that Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary, wants to start charging people for using the toilet onboard his planes but this is yet to be confirmed.

I recently went to New York with Continental Airlines and I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to shop around for a good deal and to also book well in advance. I managed to get a return flight to Newark, New York non-stop from Manchester, England for £315. I managed this deal as I booked at least 6 months in advance and I monitored all the websites of all the major airlines that I knew flew from Manchester to New York. Then as soon as one of the airlines reduced their prices, all of the major airlines followed so I was able to get the best price, at the best times of day and the most direct flights too.  It might involve a bit of time and effort but when you consider that I saved over £300, it was totally worth it.