Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

How many more things can go wrong this summer? Floods, staff sickness at Gatwick's air traffic control, and missed flights and ferries due to a manhunt. All exogenous events – but are they getting worse?This podcast is free, much like my weekly newsletter. Subscribe now to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recently we saw one of the busiest travel days of the year and a complete failure of the National Air Traffic Service. This meant that controllers had to reduce their workload to just 15%. With thousand of cancelled flights and hundreds left stranded, I've gone through the key events to try and get everyone some answers.This podcast is free, much like my weekly newsletter. Subscribe now to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

They say “no” – all the charges are published and highlighted, and these are optional extras. If you’re prepared to travel with just a small bag and don’t mind where you sit on the plane, then the fare you see is the fare you pay.My view: it’s perfectly fair to charge people extra for the extra cost of providing services. In the UK easyJet started that in 1995 when they started charging 50p for a cup of tea. When charges for luggage started in 2006, the cost of checking in a suitcase was just a couple of pounds – reflecting the cost of handling. But now the prices are ridiculous. In a couple of weeks I’m flying from Newcastle to Dublin. The flight is £17 but if I want to bring a decent sized piece of cabin baggage on board, I will pay £20 – more than doubling the cost. Charges for seating people together are also disproportionate.This podcast is free, much like my weekly newsletter. Subscribe now to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No fewer than four British Airways flights turned back after take-off from London at the weekend – on one occasion flying two-thirds of the way to the destination before making a U-turn. The considerable disappointment of the passengers will be assuaged by hundreds of pounds in compensation. But what happened, and should passengers be worried? (Spoiler alert: No)This podcast is free, much like my weekly newsletter. Subscribe now to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The podcast discusses the ongoing national rail strikes in the UK, including their impact on train services and the lack of talks between unions and the government. It also explores the expensive flights as an alternative and provides advice for train travelers to consider alternative transportation options and stay updated with the latest information.

I’m approaching Copenhagen airport on a driverless train, and enjoying what the Danes ever did for travellers – making journeys intuitive and smooth.This podcast is free, much like my weekly newsletter. Subscribe now to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're still feeling the effects of the air traffic control fiasco that crippled flights into and out of the UK on the bank holiday with little in the way of answers. After speaking with Martin Rolfe, the managing director of National Air Traffic Services (Nats), I've found out a little more - and importantly what everyone is trying to do to fix the problems people have encountered with flights since.This podcast is free, much like my weekly newsletter. Subscribe now to have it delivered every Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers booked to travel to or from the UK have had their flights cancelled or delayed after the air-traffic control system was hit by a technical issue.The National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the country’s leading provider of air traffic control services, said it had applied traffic flow restrictions on Monday to maintain safety.The company announced later that the issue had been “identified and remedied”. But passengers are still facing travel chaos, with more than 1,200 flights grounded on Monday and a further 200 on Tuesday.Here’s my guide to your rights. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week will see much debate about plans to close railway station ticket offices – including the wider question about how passengers with disabilities are to be helped. Yet in Scandinavia, this has already happened: the final three ticket offices in Sweden’s three biggest cities closed during the Covid pandemic as a cost-saving measure. In Finland, too, online booking is the norm.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox.And, if you'd like to take part in the UK ticket office consultation, click this link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bank holiday travel chaos arrived earlier than expected, with thousands of travellers stranded in various parts of Europe after large-scale cancellations – particularly on British Airways to and from Heathrow and easyJet to and from Gatwick. The cause: a combination of air-traffic control hold-ups and adverse weather. But whatever the cause of a cancelled flight, the airline has clear responsibilities towards passengers.This podcast is free, as is my weekly newsletter. Subscribe here to have it delivered every Friday to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.