Save an extra £100 in the BA Holidays sale

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• Patrick says:

  5 Sep5 September 06:13

  The Eurostar story, is probably one of the best recent examples of how much the British arrogance costs.
  As in, in any normal European country, this would not even be a matter of discussion, given that there are no customs or border controls to bother with. (And the crime rate is not higher than in the UK).

  It would good with Brexit, to quatify the economic losses and of course the gigantic 0 value added bureaucratic costs that go along with it…

  • Nick_C says:

    5 Sep5 September 07:18

    You lost. Get over it. This is a travel blog.

    • J says:

      5 Sep5 September 07:34

      I’m over it thanks, I left. For those who left I’ve no doubt Brexit will bring more opportunities – £ even further devalue and what ever Boris blusters the UK is about to get a lot poorer. Good luck to those still there

    • J says:

      5 Sep5 September 09:39

      @Nick_C: What a weird comment… What do you mean by ‘Get over it’? Put your fingers in your ears, close you eyes, pretend all is rosey, and never talk about it again?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      5 Sep5 September 09:53

      While I agree this is a travel blog.

      I find “you lost” and interesting comment. I think in the long we’ve all lost regardless of what side of the brexit camp you were on. If you haven’t noticed it already you’ll quickly realise that all the things that were promised were based on lies and aren’t being delivered.

    • James says:

      5 Sep5 September 11:28

      NICK_C – yes, this is a travel blog, its not a playground and you’re not the 10 year old school bully. Grow up.

    • Paul says:

      5 Sep5 September 22:57

      I don’t think the U.K. will ever recover from this act of self harm. Brexit was a mistake, will be catastrophic and will likely end the U.K. In that respect, every cloud…….

  • BJ says:

    5 Sep5 September 08:50

    Definite Europhile and Schengen fan here but this comment is just silly. It is simply a story about travel, the economy and the pandemic.

  • AJA says:

    5 Sep5 September 14:59

    You are incorrect about the lack of Border or Customs controls in “normal” European countries by which you mean the Schengen area. The Republic of Ireland, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria are all non-Schengen EU states. Switzerland, Iceland and Norway meanwhile are in the Schengen zone but are not EU members while the UK, Russia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia along with all the aforementioned are all normal European countries.

    Customs and Border controls exist even in EU states, just not necessarily at the physical borders inside the EU Schengen zone. You will also find them at most international airports that have international arrivals from outside the Schengen zone. They also exist at all container and ferry ports.

    I have no idea whether the decision to suspend Ashford International or Ebbsfleet is any more Brexit related than the decision to suspend ski routes or trains to the south of France. I suspect it is more likely down to lack of passengers boarding the trains at Ebbsfleet and Ashford.

    • John says:

      5 Sep5 September 16:21

      Excellent post!

    • Josh says:

      5 Sep5 September 17:06

      Customs and border officials don’t police schengen to schengen travel typically…

      • AJA says:

        6 Sep6 September 14:52

        @ Josh Yes but I was correcting Patrick’s false assertion that they don’t exist in “normal” European countries. He didn’t even clarify that he meant Schengen area countries. You’ve assumed that’s what he meant. Besides the UK has never been in the Schengen area so he will always have had to go through a passport check at a customs and border post to travel on Eurostar in either direction. And indeed at any of the other border posts we go through travelling between the UK and continental Europe. This has always been the case for the entire time the UK was a member of the EU and is not just a new Brexit related issue as he was implying.

• J says:

  5 Sep5 September 07:17

  UK in Schengen will very sadly never happen now. Populism, nationalism and exaggerated fears whipped up by racists will always trump common sense and economics in the UK.

  • BJ says:

    5 Sep5 September 08:58

    It is what it was and it will be what it will be. I would not bet against England (& Wales) applying to rejoin the EU within the next 25 years.

  • John Smith says:

    5 Sep5 September 09:00

    Who would have thought the utopian ideal of a multicultural state would end badly? Civil war, partition, expulsion and genocide never happen when you put competing groups in the same territory.

  • Chris Heyes says:

    5 Sep5 September 10:13

    who gives a damm lol

    • AndyGWP says:

      5 Sep5 September 10:53

      beavers? 😀 😉

• SWWT says:

  5 Sep5 September 07:29

  How are things in Islington this morning?

  • J says:

    5 Sep5 September 07:46

    The MP for Islington North is a lifelong Brexiteer… In any case we could leave the EU and be in Schengen (like Norway and Switzerland) but for the reasons I’ve mentioned it’ll never happen… So I’ll keep wasting time queuing for passports or more likely continue to keep my UK visits to a minimum.

    • Anna says:

      5 Sep5 September 09:14

      The authorities here are already near breaking point with the burden of extra movement of human traffickers, their victims, drugs and weapons facilitated by freedom of movement. Being in Schengen would have made that even worse.

      • BJ says:

        5 Sep5 September 09:37

        They are facilitated by demand within the UK. It isn’t helpful to avoid what are generally positive things simply because they have limited downsides. A small increase in corporation tax could probably do wonders for the breaking points of the relevant authorities were there political will.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Sep5 September 10:30

          On the subject of tax contributions paid by corporates, we urgently need to work with Europe to tax the likes of Google and Amazon based on a ‘digital VAT’ turnover (revenue) with clients in Europe and not om their falsely declared profits that miraculously mostly occurred in tax-free jurisdictions.

        • Paul says:

          5 Sep5 September 23:06

          That ship has sailed sadly, the U.K. is Trump controlled now both ideologically and in reality. The US says jump we ask how high!
          As far as Europe is concerned we are an irrelevant self destructive rock off their coast. We are like to be treated as a nation infection that they need to keep out.

        • Also says:

          7 Sep7 September 12:00

          The UK is introducing a digital services tax, for organisations with a revenue over £500m p.a. Any advertising spend that goes through a Google platform in the UK will (from November) have a 2% tax applied. Google is passing this cost straight on to advertisers in the form of a 2% media handling fee. Facebook, Microsoft, etc are all expected to follow suit.

          Austria and Turkey are both introducing similar 5% taxes.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 11:28

          I don’t think the families of victims would class the unknown and unmonitored presence in the country of their loved one’s murdererd and rapists as a “limited downside”, somehow. I would rather queue at passport control myself. There is no more demand than in any other EU country – the fact that we haven’t had a Bataclan-style gun massacre is largely down to the difficulties of getting illegal firearms into the UK.

        • BJ says:

          5 Sep5 September 13:03

          I did not mean that those issues were not a concern or of little significance. I meant that when considering free movement of people, services and goods as a whole, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. If the people of the EU (and others) did not agree, Schengen and the EU would have fractured long before England and Wales decided they wanted out in 2016. The situation has not changed since, I see numerous countries wanting to get in but none clamouring to get out. Even if/when free movement ends or is significantly constrained I think it is unlikely that you will see a substantial drop, if any, in the level of criminal activity you refer to in the UK.

        • Harry T says:

          5 Sep5 September 13:37

          I agree with BJ.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:42

          Harry T, as a doctor, don’t you get tired of non-medics insisting that their opinions are as valid as your training and experience?
          https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/eu-blamed-for-rise-in-trafficking-and-slaves-fd3dwp7s3

        • Harry T says:

          5 Sep5 September 17:28

          I don’t tend to find that happens, to be honest. I can’t recall an instance where a patient thought they knew better than me. Maybe I’ve been lucky? Unsure what your point was though, genuinely.

        • Erico1875 says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:59

          Me too

        • Erico1875 says:

          5 Sep5 September 17:00

          That was. I agree with BJ.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:05

          The countries clamouring to get in are overwhelming ones who which would make a net econoic gain from being an EU member. Two of the wealthiest European countries, Norway and Switzerland, are not noticeably clamouring to be admitted.
          Having witnessed, and had to deal with, the rise in certain crimes which correlate with criminals from other member states traveling to the UK, I feel equally certain that there will be reduction in those offences. According to the Ministry of Justice, at the end of 2017 there were over 4000 EU nationals in UK jails, and most of those will be entitled to continue living in the UK on their release. We have enough home grown criminals without foreign ones being free to settle here unchallenged.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:06

          *economic!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          5 Sep5 September 18:34

          And how many EU citizens are contributing to all the positive aspects of UK life? I’m sure the number is far higher than 4000.

        • BJ says:

          5 Sep5 September 21:04

          @Anna, I am not disputing the misery criminals within the EU have caused here in the UK and elsewhere. Sadly, however, were we to remove every single one of them then others, homegrown or otherwise, would move in rapidly to fill the void. Be they dealers, loan sharks, pimps, traffickers or anything inbetween because that is just the way it works. The problem is so acute that they do not even wait for a void to take over, they are endlessly at war with each other for supremacy in many areas. The problem, in my opinion, is best tackled by addressing the problems in society that make people vulnerable to criminal activity and exploitation. Only by substantially reducing the number of vulnerable people, in conjunction with low-tolerance law-enforcement, can we hope to make serious inroads into tackling such problems. Unfortunately we are nowhere close to doing so and even the current direction of travel is the wong one; a stroll along the Embankment (take your pick) in London at 2am and a quick look into St Thomas’ A&E would not be long in convincing you of that.

        • Ryan Gill says:

          6 Sep6 September 00:36

          The idea behind the E.U. great, but ideas can morph into vanity projects that serve some and cost others too much. The freedom of movement of people is very different to the unrestricted movement of goods. Allowing Alb, Bul and Romanian people the right to move where they want before theses Countries are up to the standards of Western Europe is plain stupid. Obviously their poorest will go to the place with the most generous benefit system and the least xenophobia. I don’t care if it turns out that we’re a bit poorer financially in leaving the EU. Overall I feel far “richer” that now my Government can decide who comes here, rather than Europhiles who are blinded by the project and keep wanting to expand (probably envisioning a statue in Brussels honouring them). These people are not protecting the World from war, but causing the rise of extremism. Honestly, if you’ve got good manners and a few quid in the bank most Countries will always welcome you. Don’t forget EU fans, we can still have a hard brexit and take a lot of the financial services sector work from Europe if you are that concerned we might be poorer. Why do some people think they can speak of the future so categorically? I wouldn’t imagine they trade shares with such certainty. Why such unshakeable faith we’re are going to be poorer?

        • J says:

          5 Sep5 September 13:45

          @Anna: And how does Tony Abbott’s plan to have mutual recognition on imports from all WTO countries under MFN help with keeping out weapons?

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 15:54

          I doubt that illegal firearms would be considered as imports for the purposes of such an agreement, J, so your question is irrelevant.

        • J says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:18

          It’s not that firearms will be welcome, but we will have to extend reduced customs checks that we currently offer (and he suggests we continue to offer) to the EU to all WTO nations under MFN rules in GATS article 1.

          I struggle to see how reducing our border security helps lessen the number of illegal firearms smuggled in to the country.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:30

          According to the government, they will be introducing more border controls, not fewer.

          Interestingly, even if you look at recorded date on crime, there are several countries in the Schengen zone with a worse rate than the UK, so I do wonder where you get your information from.
          https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2018&region=150

        • Josh says:

          5 Sep5 September 17:04

          Schengen facilitates illegal migration into the UK. Migrants are able to travel within the EU unhindered. In addition, I don’t quite understand why you think having a lack of criminal record checks on EU workers prior to them entering UK is a good thing

      • Spursdebs says:

        5 Sep5 September 10:10

        Stop with the common sense Anna, you are being totally selfish, poor old J might have to wait ten extra minutes for something. Think of his needs while he lives in Germany he’s clearly far more important than any one who voted for Brexit.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Sep5 September 10:32

          Other than J quite possibly being a ‘she’ I agree with you 🙂

        • Spursdebs says:

          6 Sep6 September 05:48

          You think J is a she ? It whines like a male.

        • J says:

          5 Sep5 September 15:50

          The UK loses billions of pounds from lost tourism because it’s not in Schengen and thus not part of the Schengen visa. Most areas within Schengen have lower crime anyway, so that doesn’t rank as a concern for me.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:09

          What are you basing those figures on? The countries with the highest crime rates are those with the most robust recording measures; so you will see that Switzerland, for example, has a shockingly high robbery rate, but that’s not because it’s full of robbers, it’s because the recording and investigation of crime is meticulous. Other countries allow huge numbers of crimes to go unrecorded (and uninvestigated), so on the surface their figures look better.

      • Lady London says:

        5 Sep5 September 10:58

        @Anna this is way OT but, if there’s this level of these problems in the UK when we always had a “moat” making it harder to cross from mainland Europe, then how are European countries that don’t have a barrier between them managing this?

        Or was @BJ hinting there’s more appetite for these things in the UK than in Europe?

        • BJ says:

          5 Sep5 September 11:34

          I wasn’t hinting any such thing!

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 11:35

          You can do some research online about the levels of (for example) illegal firearms and terrorist cells in Europe and the other problems caused by there being no checks on movement between member states once people have entered the Schengen zone.
          One thing people don’t generally know about is the trafficking of girls fromEastern European countries (often from deprived villages and with learning difficulties), not only for the sex trade and low paid domestic work, but to marry failed asylum seekers (who often have serious criminal histories) as once they have an EU spouse they are eligible to apply to remain on those grounds. The scale of the abuse of the system is breath-taking, and Brussels seems entirely uninterested in dealing with it – (yet) reason to vote Leave IMO.

        • ChrisBCN says:

          5 Sep5 September 12:23

          Y’all sound like you are stuck in your filter bubbles this morning.

        • Erico1875 says:

          5 Sep5 September 17:06

          Do you honestly believe Brexit will put a stop to that ?

        • Nick_C says:

          5 Sep5 September 12:12

          European countries are not managing it. Migrants are entering the EU in Greece, Italy etc and making their way to Calais. Huge problem for the French. Genuine Asylum Seekers would claim in the first safe county they arrive in.

        • J says:

          5 Sep5 September 13:11

          If a few million of us suddenly had to leave Europe, and seek refuge in North Africa – do you think all should claim asylum in Morocco, or could you imagine travelling a bit further, maybe to a country that better fits their circumstances (say you have family in Algeria, or feel unsafe/unwelcome in Morocco, or maybe, as an English speaker, you try to get to Nigeria).

          This idea that if you travel onward from Greece, you couldn’t possibly have a genuine reason to flea your homeland, is absurd and shows a ridiculous lack of empathy.

        • Anna says:

          5 Sep5 September 16:23

          Apparently it’s a misconception that refugees have to apply for asylum in the first safe country they enter and there’s no legal basis for it. The system’s a mess, in any case!

        • Josh says:

          5 Sep5 September 17:11

          I wonder if J is Gary Lineker…..

          I support your stance Anna. The UK, as I see it, will never sign up for Schengen and quite rightly. Why facilitate illegal activity and make travel for criminals easier?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          5 Sep5 September 18:39

          Just because they don’t want safe haven in Greece doesn’t mean they aren’t genuine.

          There a huge number of different reasons why a even someone at risk would like to settle in a certain country vs others.

        • BJ says:

          5 Sep5 September 21:19

          I suspect that for many the main driver will be the location of family and/or friends, just human nature I think. Absent that, perceived opportunity and tolerance.

    • Nick_C says:

      5 Sep5 September 09:41

      You are really limiting your options if you never leave the Schengen zone. Like an American without a passport.

• Gavin says:

  5 Sep5 September 07:33

  Probably an end to the Avis that operates at Ashford International too?

• Bill says:

  5 Sep5 September 08:10

  I stayed at the Hampton in Blackpool a few weeks after it opened. It struggled with the numbers st breakfast then. Hopefully they create additional breakfast space

  • Nick_C says:

    5 Sep5 September 09:46

    I stayed there a few days after it opened. Great location and sea views but cleaning was not up to scratch, I had no hot water for two days, and the fire alarm went off three times in the night. I never did get the promised refund. Hope it has improved since then.

    Parking is going to be a problem as the extension will be on what is currently a car park.

    • John says:

      5 Sep5 September 16:29

      I stayed last summer, surprisingly dirty for a new hotel, lots of tiny damage to the fixtures etc.

      Apparently the extension was approved because the hotel is funding the creation of resident permit parking which means the end of free parking for hotel guests around the area (not that hard to find, and even the paid spots are free from 8pm to 8am or similar)

• Lady London says:

  5 Sep5 September 08:28

  That Hampton in Blackpool has hardly bern open 2 minutes and already in current crisis has seen enough business to mske the decisionto expand by more than 50%.

  If Blackpool Corporation would stop making loony decisions – like not allowing the IBIS to perform external refurbishmemt works in *November* a few years ago, perhaps Blackpool will have a chance to thrive.

  You saw it here first – within 20 years or lesd Blackpool will omce sgain become a fashionable almost upmarket destination

  • Paul says:

    5 Sep5 September 08:39

    No it won’t.

    • Anna says:

      5 Sep5 September 08:53

      I used to think Blackpool was a far away, exotic place as it used to take so long to get their in our unreliable Ford Cortina on a summer Saturday, massively excited about the prospect of fish and chips, ice cream and a donkey ride. I actually live 30 minutes away now, and there is some fantastic scenery around the Fylde Coast and Blackpool itself has surprisingly good theatre. My OH had his stag do there 25 years ago, though we are a bit more sedate these days!

• TeesTraveller says:

  5 Sep5 September 09:01

  Blackpool could really be something once again with some effort. It has the name, attractions, nightlife, It’s on the motorway and has a direct train service to/from London.

  Problem is that the decent hotels are expensive and there lots of poor B&Bs without even en-suite rooms. There are too many businesses that haven’t changed in 50 years who are living off a declining number of guests. The place needs an overhaul, get rid of the cheap & nasty to attract the weekend break crowd instead if the stag & hen parties. The airport should have been a great asset, flying in people from London, Edinburgh and Dublin for mini-breaks, instead it was focused on outbound traffic (yes from a seaside resort) and closed. The casino would have driven investment in the town, another opportunity missed.

  • Nick_C says:

    5 Sep5 September 09:49

    Blackpool really started going downhill when they lost the major conferences. There were few large hotels in the town, and many delegates used small, well run, private hotels.

• Amo says:

  5 Sep5 September 09:20

  I can’t seem to get the £100 discount to appear when I search for club world flights with a hotel for 1 night. I also couldn’t find in the T&C that the hotel needs to be for the full trip. Has anyone else managed to get this working, or would a call to BA sort it (with the usual booking fee waived as the website isn’t allowing it)?

  • Andrew says:

    5 Sep5 September 09:57

    That loophole seemed to be closed a year or so ago, you need a hotel or car for the entire trip to trigger a holiday deal and in this case the discount too. If you just add a hotel for 1 night it just sells you 1 night in addition to the flight only price with no discount. Only advantage is the ability to just pay the deposit and the ABTA guarantee.

    • Amo says:

      5 Sep5 September 10:53

      Thank you for clarifying that Andrew

    • ChrisC says:

      5 Sep5 September 11:10

      I priced up a trip the other day. Flights with a weeks gap between outbound and return and hotel for the first night on,y and that gave me the BA hols extra avios and ability to pay a deposit and it was cheaper than flight only.

      But I used the flight + hotel option right from the start not choose flights then add on a hotel at the end.

  • Reeferman says:

    5 Sep5 September 11:08

    It does seem to be more than just 1 night being required, but a BA Holidays booking does not require a hotel for the whole trip.
    I’ve recently booked a 19 day trip to USA with a total of 7 nights hotel accommodation (spilt over 3 separate hotels) with BA Holidays. All worked fine and I saved around £1,000 compared with a flight only booking and separate hotels. Sadly, it was before the £100 extra discount – but still a significant saving.
    Whether I get there next March remains to be seen!

    • Anna says:

      5 Sep5 September 11:39

      You need to pick “customise my trip” and you can have pretty much any combination/length you want on a BA holiday. I also worked out a few years ago that changing your browser of device can help in making this work!

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