British Airways passengers could face severe disruption at Easter unless talks to avert strike action by pilots are successful. BA and the British Airline Pilots Association have agreed to take their dispute to a mediator after 3,000 BA pilots voted for strike action. The action could take place anytime over the next 28 days as long as pilots give at least seven days notice. If strike actions were to go ahead it could affect 100,000 BA passengers a day.

PC2Paper are proud to present our latest offering, the PC2Paper Printer. It quite simply makes sending letters from your PC as easy as printing to your desktop printer. We have released the printer as a beta to allow customers to test the service and offer their feedback.

Once installed the PC2Paper Printer will appear on your PC as a normal printer.

If you want to send a real letter from the Internet, you can do so directly from your desktop PC. Open up your favourite word processing program, type a letter and select print to send your letter.

 

Selecting print will bring up the following dialogue box that will enable you to enter the receivers address and select your postage options.

To get started on the beta version of the PC2Paper Printer click here

National Air Traffic Services (Nats) plans to change flights paths in and out of major UK airports to try and reduce the impact on urban regions. The proposals aim to reduce by 20% the number of people that are affected by departing aircraft flying below 4,000ft. The plans will mean a reduction in the number of flights. It will also mean that some rural areas will experience higher noise levels. Several towns including Southend, Sudbury, Hitchin, Hatfield, Princes Risborough and Royston that currently have high levels of noise should see a reduction. The plans will affect Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and London City and are the first overhaul of routes for several decades. The new routes will be brought in around spring 2009.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Honeymoon Around the World written by Steve and Christy. It follows their progress as they take time out from their jobs for an extended honeymoon travelling around the world. Their journey starts in June 2007 with their wedding in Mexico and then heads to Iceland, Europe including Ireland, England and Italy and then onto Africa before heading to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and eventually New Zealand.

There is a lot of interesting content on this blog but for  me a few posts stood out. The first from their time in Thailand is about the interesting food available at the street markets. One vendor was selling an interesting mix of fried bugs including meal worms, grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches. Steve and Christy were brave enough to sample the fried grasshopper (pictured left) with Steve describing it as a "a fried mass of legs of body".
 

Another post also on the subject of unusual food highlights the options available at a local  market in Laos. Here, Steve finds an appetising selection of fried rats and fried bats. Although Steve was not planning on purchasing anything a fellow tourist offered him a bat. Apparently you do not need to add sauce to enjoy a fried bat (pictured right), you simply eat it as it is. The verdict was that it tasted like chicken. Despite trying the bat Steve stayed away from the other delicacies preferring not to sample the fried rat or surprisingly the coagulated cow blood. I can't imagine why it all sounds very tasty.

Travellers at Heathrow were affected by a complete break down of Terminal 4’s baggage handling system on Wednesday. Economy class passengers who arrived at the terminal were told they could only take hand baggage with them meaning they either had to leave their luggage behind of miss their flights. Around 4,000 passengers were affected by the problem, with most of them decided to switch airlines or postpone their trip rather than leave their luggage behind. The problem was caused by the automatic baggage sorting system breaking down because of a software failure. It is now the 10th time the baggage handling system has broken down since last May.

An engine fault has been ruled out as the cause of the Heathrow crash a few weeks ago. The investigation also found that the engines had not been hit by a bird or a piece of ice. The news means that the investigators are still no closer to solving the mystery of why the plane came down short of the runway. There were also no signs of fuel contamination, however there were pieces of debris found in the fuel as well as unusual air bubbles in the high pressure fuel pumps. These findings are still being considered.

BA and Virgin will have to pay out refunds to customers who flew long haul between 11 August 2004 and 23 March 2006 after they were found to be fixing prices. BA was fined for price fixing on fuel charges. Virgin also admitted to breaching the law but escaped a fine. The two companies will have to refund one third of the fuel surcharge which would work out to between £2 and £10 per flight.

Satnav devices have been blamed for directing articulated lorries down small country lanes which then leads to damage to bridges. The problem was highlighted after rail chiefs found three of the most hit rail bridges were within a one mile radius in the same town. The three bridges in Grantham in Lincolnshire have been struck 62 times between them in the last year. The number of collisions nationally has also risen from 885 10 years ago to 1,340 today. A spokesman said: "It's a rising problem and satnavs are playing a greater role. They are great tools but they are no substitute for common sense and following the rules of the road." The problem is put down to the fact that when people are using a satnav device they rely on it blindly and do not question whether a bridge is high enough. Apparently drivers are no longer able to read the danger low bridge signs.

Monmouthshire council leaders have backed a campaign to stop six post offices closing. The council cabinet says that six post offices that have been earmarked for closures are essential in the county and that they provide vital services especially for the elderly. The threatened Post Offices includes outlets in Govilon, Llanellen, Mathern, Sudbrook, Tintern and Devauden.

A new system of luggage tracking has gone on trial at Heathrow. The system used radio frequency identification to tag baggage. The trial project will involve Emirates and will track around 50,000 bags each month over a six month period. It will allow staff to track bags at each stage of the process so that they know exactly where the items are and should help to cut down on lost items. Passengers that give their mobile number will also be able to receive a text message to let them know the location of their bag when they land.

Pakistan and India have agreed to double passenger flights between the countries. They will also expand the number of destinations which are served by the flights and allow more airlines to operate on the routes. There are currently 12 flights a week which link Delhi and Mumbai in India with Lahore and Karachi in Pakistan with only Indian Airlines and Pakistan International Airway operating on the routes. The new deal will mean that both countries will be able to operate up to three airlines on each route. The number of routes will also increase to include the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and the southern Indian city of Madras.