Bidding for exclusive tours around many of London’s historic palaces
May 20, 2008
People are being given an opportunity to bid for exclusive tours around many of London’s historic palaces. A roof top walk on Hampton Court Palace or glance around hidden areas of Tower of London is on offer. Other tours on offer include personal tour crown jewels, of the Royal Ceremonial dress collection and of Kew Palace. The money raised from the auction on eBay will be dedicated to the upkeep, maintenance and restoration of the historic palaces. The project is part of the national TopLots initiative.
An independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after the Tower of London, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Hampton Court Palace. The Historic Royal Palaces spokesman looks after the attractions, stated: “Members of the public are getting invited for bidding on these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities wherein they could find themselves firing a siege engine in the Tower of London moat with the TV presenter, Dan Snow, or on a private tour of the Crown Jewels.”
The offered items are a visit to hidden spaces at the Tower of London; a personal tour of crown jewels; a roof top tour of Hampton Court Palace; Attack the Tower of London with Dan Snow; Personal tour of the Royal Ceremonial dress collection, and a personal tour of Kew Palace! The auction runs up to June 15.
British Airways decides to delay T5 transfer until June
April 12, 2008
British Airways has decided to postpone transferring the remaining of its Heathrow operations to Terminal 5 after the opening fiasco of the £4.3bn building. The airline stated it would now defer moving its all long-haul operations, slated to happen on April 30, until around June while it grapples with a baggage system, which has caused the cancellation of over 400 flights so far.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh stated the airline & Heathrow owner BAA had made the decision ‘in the best interests of customers’. He added: “Though Terminal 5 is now functioning well, we need to be confident that good service can be given even when the terminal is handling larger numbers of customers. It’s only sensible to make sure that Terminal 5 is consistently operating at a high standard before the move starts.”
The delayed move will disrupt plans by other Heathrow carriers, comprising Air France-KLM, to switch to a renovated Terminal 4. However, a BA spokesperson stated the airline was ‘not liable’ for any resultant financial losses by the airlines. BAA chief executive Colin Matthews stated: “We regret this postponement and we recognise the impact it has on other airlines, but (we believe) it’s a wise precaution to make sure that passengers can have the maximum confidence once it (the move) takes place.”
Biometrics At Heathrow Terminal One
February 14, 2008
Flyers who need to wait in order to board UK-bound flights will now be offered access to the larger international departure lounge at Terminal One. But for that, they will have to go through biometric checks. They will need to give four fingerprints and allow security to take their photograph so that their identity can be proved at the gate. This way, no international passenger will be able to swap documents with any domestic passenger in order to avoid immigration control.
Fliers of UK domestic flights will be asked to follow the international route. But they can refuse to provide any fingerprints and opt to go to the domestic departure lounge instead. The advantage is that domestic passengers can take advantage of the larger international lounge. Biometric data is in use for the purpose of border control at various other airports in the UK like Gatwick and Manchester Airport. Now this system can also be used at Heathrow’s world class Terminal 5. British Airways, BMI and Aer Lingus have their domestic flights from Terminal One. The personal data is encrypted without delay and is destroyed within twenty four hours of use as per the UK Data Protection Act.
Normalcy at Heathrow a far cry
January 19, 2008
A day after crash landing of Boeing 777 which, ripped off the plane’s landing gear and at the same time severely damaged the two engines, Investigators were analysing the cause of the mishap. The crash landing has resulted in blocking of two runways, injuring 19 among the 152 abroad.
Even though around 50 flights including the prestigious one, supposed to fly Prime minister’s first entourage to China, were delayed, British Airways was confident of operating all of its long haul flights from Heathrow from Friday and almost 90 percent of its short haul flights.
It is hence important for the passengers due to fly over weekend, to be in touch contact respective airlines regarding the status of their flights to avoid inconvenience.
David Gleav, chief safety investigator at Aviation Hazard Analysis, a private company, told the BBC that since the plane was equipped with good systems on board for recording what’s gone on the plane, and since the airplane is in pretty good state retrieving of these recorders it will be quick enough for accessing and analyzing the cause of the crash.
