Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

Another bit of aviation jargon unravelled. Some listeners and readers have been in touch about “downgauging" – when an airline uses a smaller plane than planned. What happens if two dozen passengers are unable to travel as booked? The same rules apply as for overbooking.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join me, Simon Calder, as I chat with Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, about their groundbreaking 100% sustainable fuel flight across the Atlantic. We discuss the significance of this pioneering step and its impact on the future of sustainable aviation.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wish it could be Christmas every day? Probably not if you, like me, rely on public transport, because on 25 December all the UK trains close down. But this year the long-distance coach operators are providing more intercity links than ever.And on Boxing Day, ScotRail will offer the highest number of trains for three decades.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

News has just broken that Eurostar trains from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London will be canceled from June 2024 to January 2025. The Channel Tunnel passenger rail firm will still run London-Rotterdam-Amsterdam; the problem is space for London-bound frontier formalities while Amsterdam Centraal station is renovated. And Brexit is playing a part ...This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Traveling home for Christmas by rail? Good luck. Festive engineering works mean two key London stations, Paddington and King's Cross, are closed on Christmas Eve. So unless you travel by 23 December to/from Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland (King's Cross) or the West of England/South Wales (Paddington), you could be scuppered.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm at London Gatwick Airport talking to the chief executive, Stewart Wingate. He says that if a second runway gets the go-ahead, the Sussex airport would almost double the passengers it presently handles.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm on a rail route I've not done before today. That's right, I'm on the new course that's cost quarter of a billion pounds to build to transform the railway experience at London's Gatwick airport. Listen in as I explain what's different, what the owners of Gatwick are hoping to achieve and how I fared on my first journey.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join me, Simon Calder, as I chat with Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of the Advantage Travel Partnership, about current challenges in tourism, including Egypt's downturn and Brexit travel complexities. We also look ahead to 2024 and discuss how general elections influence customer behaviour in the travel sector.This podcast is free, like my weekly newsletter with the latest travel stories. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I'm exploring the impending rail difficulties in the UK. As we brace for a difficult period, with strikes and operational challenges, rail journeys face numerous hurdles. Stay informed on what to expect and how best to adjust your travel plans.This podcast is free, like my weekly newsletter with the latest travel stories. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rail strikes will resume in early December – but with a difference. Train drivers belonging to the Aslef union will walk out during the course of the first week of next month. But rather than being an all-out national strike, cancellations will instead ripple across Britain during the course of the week as drivers at different operators stop work. I explain how this will work and how its aim is to maximise the disruption caused to Britain's rail network.This podcast is free, like my weekly newsletter with the latest travel stories. Subscribe here to get it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.