Rent a car in France

Virgin Atlantic boss, Sir Richard Branson, has hit out against last week’s decision to declare a blanket ban of flights over Europe because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. He claims that there was no danger posed to flights, and has even suggested that Britain’s government should foot the bill for the disruption.
IATA, the airline industry body, says that the cost to airlines of nearly a week’s disruption will come to well over £1 billion. Speaking in London, Branson said that the decision to ground fleets was the government’s, and that the government should now be looking at how it can compensate airlines for that [...]

The announcement that Germany’s railway group, Deutsche Bahn, is to take over British train and bus firm, Arriva, has caused outrage in the unions. The deal is worth £2.59 billion and has been slammed by the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, who warn that the company is preparing to use the liberalised transport markets in Europe to make more aggressive acquisitions.
Deutsche Bahn already runs the Chiltern Railways service between Birmingham and London, and will soon begin to operate the Tyneside Metro. The state owned German company also runs the Royal Train. Arriva currently owns shares in a number of companies [...]

Virgin Atlantic has strongly rebuffed claims that it has been involved in price fixing activities, as the Office of Fair Trading gives the airline a chance to defend itself. The OFT is icurrently nvestigating claims that Virgin Atlantic and rival airline Cathay Pacific have been involved in price-fixing. The allegations concern the London to Hong Kong route, and the allegations that employees of both airlines may have been swapping sensitive information about how they were charging customers who flew on the route.
Cathay Pacific has bought the matter to the attention of the OFT. This means that even if both airlines are found guilty of exchanging [...]

As the General Election looms, the SNP has said that one of its policies will be to try and do something about rocketing fuel prices. Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP’s deputy leader, said that something had to be done about the duty on fuel. She pointed out that in 1997 the duty on fuel was 39 [...]

Police in the Canadian city of Durham, near the US border outside of Toronto, have laid charges against two more suspects in relation to the slaying of two men found in a rental car.
The charges have come almost 12 months after the discovery of 26-year-old Puneet Singh Chhina from Ottawa and 28-year-old Brampton resident Harjinder Singh Sandhu, who had both been beaten, shot and left in the trunk of a rental car. The vehicle was found on May 5 last year, abandoned on the side of the road in Pickering, Ontario. Police have claimed that the killings show classic signs of a well [...]

The announcement of a new on-airport car rental facility at Orlando International Airport means that travellers can wave goodbye to the airport shuttle bus.
Hertz is now fully operational at the airport, having relocated into the brand new high quality facility that can be found at both Terminal A and Terminal B. The move will mean that customers can now save themselves valuable time as they are able to access their Hertz car rental directly from baggage claim, as opposed to under the previous system whereby customers were required to catch a shuttle bus to the off-site collection location.
Scott Sider, the Executive [...]

A £32 million deal will probably mean the end of the Streetcar brand in the UK. US rivals Zipcar are now the new owners of the pay-as-you-go car club, and its fleet of cars and vans will now be linked to Zipcar’s current operations in the US and Spain.
Streetcar currently allows its members to utilize [...]

European regulators are challenging a number of airlines over their treatment of passengers who were disrupted by the volcanic ash cloud over northern Europe. Ryanair has been accused by the Irish Commission for Aviation Regulation of unlawfully limiting the amount of money it has paid out for expenses such as hotel accommodation and food.
European Union regulations clearly state that any passenger who has a flight cancelled in or out of the EU with an EU airline, has the right to either a full refund or passage on another route. If the customer chooses to be re-routed, then necessary food and [...]

Expedia.com, one of the world’s best known online travel agents, has announced that in celebration of the 40 years since the first Earth Day, it will be expanding its Green Hotel program. The program is aimed at travellers who wish to place the environment high up on their list of priorities when it comes to choosing a hotel.
The program features a list of more than 1,700 hotels, all of which have been certified as being ‘green’ by a number of organisations including STEP, LEEDS, Green Key and Green Seal. Expedia.com’s Green Hotel program was set up in April 2008. It [...]

Deutsche Bahn, the largest state-owned railway organisation in Germany, has announced plans to take over CrossCountry operator Arriva.
The £1.54 billion deal, announced earlier this week, is presently undergoing negotiations with an offer anticipated by close of business on Friday.
The CrossCountry franchise, which operates between a number of UK cities and towns outside of London, was declared a loss-making venture by Arriva in February this year. The group at the time said that despite the declining revenue, they were waiting to see the results of a government subsidy scheduled for later in 2010. Arriva also runs a number of other services [...]

A British man is facing a fine of £1,500 after he drove home from Portugal in his rental car.
The volcanic ash cloud that has caused travel chaos across the continent led the Coventry native to make the decision while on holiday in the popular Portuguese resort destination of the Algarve.
Paul Stidworthy, from the suburb of Coundon, was left with little alternative but to make the emergency dash home after his family’s flights out of the Iberian peninsula were cancelled due to the volcanic disruptions which have only now begun to dissipate. He has looked for alternate means to get his [...]

The increasingly bloody Thai political crisis that has crippled the country’s tourism industry has been dealt a further blow after some of Bangkok’s best hotels closed their doors.
With the protesting Red Shirt demonstrations setting up camp in the upmarket areas around five-star hotels and shopping complexes in the capital, the worry that fighting may spill over onto their doorstep has forced hotels to evict guests to safer locations, with many refusing bookings till next week at the earliest.
The InterContinental and Grand Hyatt, two of Bangkok’s premier hotels, advised guests they would be required to check out today. The Four Seasons [...]