digby,

Around the wings is the centre of gravity (actually just forward of the wings) so it's the area of the aircraft where you feel aircraft movements the least. The further away from the centre of gravity you are, ie the front or rear, the more you'll feel the aircraft move.

Darren

Hi, Darren. So the book info was right then. Thanks for that, you always come up trumps.

The Saabs used for these short island hops are fine - roomier than many a cattle class no frills flight. Yes, they can be a bit noisier but then you're never in them for that long. It amazes me that the cabin crew ever manage to complete the cabin service between take-off and landing! I use them quite a bit to visit students on far flung placements and they are much more comfortable than some of the buses I have to use to visit those on many of the rural placements and the ferry crossing are generally much more prone to 'turbulence'!

SM

Hi all

Just thought some of you might be interested in this, just had email announcing the news.

http://www.flybeshopping.com/

Angie.

Flybe puts 300,000 seats on sale

The second phase of Flybe's 2010 summer schedule has gone on sale covering more than 300,000 seats.

The new wave of the summer schedule comes two weeks after the early release of a selection of routes from airports including Gatwick.

Tickets are valid for travel between March 28 and June 30 and include:

· Birmingham to: Guernsey, Jersey, Brest, Bergerac and La Rochelle
· Edinburgh to: Jersey
· Exeter to: Guernsey and Jersey
· Guernsey to: Birmingham, Exeter, Manchester and Southampton
· Isle of Man to:London Luton, Jersey
· Jersey to: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Newcastle, Norwich, Doncaster Sheffield and Paris Charles de Gaulle
· London Gatwick to: Bergerac
· London Luton to: Isle of Man
· Manchester to: Guernsey and Jersey
· Newcastle to: Jersey and Limoges
· Norwich to: Jersey
· Southampton to: Avignon, Guernsey, Jersey, Brest, Bergerac, La Rochelle, Limoges and Rennes

Chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said: "With people still very conscious of the need to manage their travel budgets, it makes sense to start planning for next year's holiday now.

"Despite the economic challenges of the past 12 months, we have continued to grow and develop the airline to provide the most cost-effective, efficient and flexible services possible for passengers."

With permission form Travelmole

I flew Manchester to Paris CDG on Flybe today, at the gate everyone with slightly bulky hand luggage were asked to place it in the measuring basket, if it didn't fit or you had to force it in then it was tagged and sent down to the hold, I'm sure also I overheard the guy said it was a £20 charge as they hadn't prepaid for checked in luggage but I may have got that bit wrong.

Dave

Maybe all no frills airlines have the same weird way of charging for everything, but I think it's ridiculous that after you see the charge for the flight, Flybe then charge you afterwards for your seat! We surely wouldn't be expected to stand, so why not just tell us the price upfront. Time for some new rules I think.

Airline moves to fill gap in Scottish air link

Flybe is increasing slights between Birmingham and Glasgow as a rival withdraws services.

The regional carrier said it was "significantly" increasing frequency on the route due to the "apparent withdrawal" of services by Bmibaby from January 29.

Flybe currently operates up to 78 flights a week between Birmingham and Glasgow using a combination of its 78-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft and 118-seat Embraer 195 jets.

The airline's chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said: "While other airlines unfortunately continue to retrench and cut yet more services, we remain committed to filling as many of these abandoned routes as possible so that business and leisure travellers can still have a wide choice of affordable and convenient options to key destinations.

"Flybe appreciates how crucial regional connectivity is as businesses work hard to climb out of these tough economic times and no other UK carrier has yet exhibited a bigger commitment to supporting the UK regions through thick and thin.

"This is why we have stepped in so quickly to make sure that passengers wanting to travel between Birmingham and Glasgow are not left in the lurch."

He added: "As our regional economies slowly climb out of recession, we understand how crucial travel is to thousands of businesses up and down the country.

"These two cities are playing an important role as real engines of recovery for UK plc and Flybe aims to do everything possible to help them in whatever way we can."

With permission from Travelmole

Gotta love the sincere comments from FlyBe - lol - now watch the price rise as they have a monopoly position on the route.....

Nivsy

Flybe's expanded summer schedule takes off

Twenty four new services have been introduced by Flybe as part of its summer schedule.

The carrier will serve 190 routes across the UK and Europe including destinations such as Croatia, France, Portugal and Spain.

The airline claims to offer the widest choice of summer connections to regional France, with 42 routes to and from 12 French and 11 UK airports.

These inlude new routes from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Gatwick.

Chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said: "Despite industry challenges over the past year, we are delighted to be offering passengers the choice of 190 routes this summer and to providing affordable quality flights to the widest possible range of desirable destinations.

"Together with our franchise partner, Loganair, we remain committed to keeping Britain on the move and, with holiday bookings already up on the same period last year, we are also pleased to report a significant return in business traffic over the last six months. We will continue to expand our route network and to provide innovative, quality travel options."

Flybe's new summer schedule includes new routes:

· Birmingham: Avignon (3xweek), Bordeaux (4xweek), Limoges (3xweek) Perpignan (3xweek) and Rennes (3xweek)
· Edinburgh: Manston Kent (7xweek); Limoges (2xweek)
· Exeter: Hannover (3xweek)
· Guernsey: Belfast (2xweek July 14-Aug 28), Edinburgh (3xweek July 13 - Aug 31), Newcastle (2xweek), Norwich (1xweek)
· Humberside: Belfast (4xweek), Malaga (1xweek)
· Isle of Man: Bristol (4xweek)
· Jersey: Once weekly Prestwick (June 19 - Sep 18) and Durham Tees Valley (May 29-Sep18)
· London Gatwick: Limoges (3xweek)
· Manchester: Avignon (2xweek), Bournemouth (6xweek) Bergerac (3xweek) and Limoges (3xweek)
· Newcastle: Hannover (3xweek)
· Southampton: Verona(weekly)

Returning for the summer 2010 (Until October 30) are:
· Aberdeen: Jersey
· Belfast City: Jersey
· Birmingham: Bergerac, Brest, Dubrovnik, La Rochelle, Split, Toulouse
· Exeter: Avignon, Bergerac, Dubrovnik, Norwich, Rennes
· Edinburgh: Bergerac, Rennes, Newquay
· Glasgow: La Rochelle
· Inverness: Jersey, Southampton
· Isle of Man: Southampton
· Jersey: Aberdeen,Belfast City,Dundee, Humberside, Inverness, Nice, Southend
· Manchester: Brest, La Rochelle, Rennes
· Newcastle: Limoges
· Southampton: Avignon, Bordeaux, Brest, Dubrovnik, Isle of Man, Limoges, Perpignan, Rennes, Split, Salzburg

With permission from Travelmole

Just received from FlyBe

Flybe add extra flights as service resumes for Saturday 17th April

As you may be aware we have been experiencing significant disruptions to flights in the past 36 hours that have been caused by a large volcanic eruption in Iceland.

We are pleased to announce that normal flight service has returned at Flybe for flights operating across northern parts of the UK for tomorrow and therefore our great low fare flights are available online now for the following routes, plus as shown below we are adding extra capacity to ensure we rescue stranded passengers:
Belfast - Manchester (extra flights and capacity now available)
Glasgow - Manchester
Edinburgh - Belfast (extra flights and capacity now available)
Manchester - Edinburgh
Manchester - Inverness
Manchester - Isle of Man
Belfast - Glasgow
Belfast - Newcastle
Leeds Bradford - Belfast
Isle of Man - Liverpool

With flights from just £21.50 one way Flybe has millions of last minute spring seats on sale to 70 destinations across the UK and Europe.

For those of you looking to travel to Scotland or Northern Ireland from the Midlands, why not take the short drive and fly from Manchester instead. With the extra capacity we will be offering on flights to Belfast, and the high frequency schedule we fly to Scotland, we will be able to ensure that you can still get to your destination during this difficult time.

We hope that the Met office and the National Air Traffic Service updates will allow Flybe to continue flying on Sunday; we therefore suggest you continue to check flybe.com for details.

FlyBE have been given special authority by the CAA to allow their Q400 aircraft to continue flying in future ash clouds that may pass over the UK, minimising disruption to their UK domestic services.

Darren

Very interesting. Do you know whether any other Q400 operators have followed suit on the mods?

Fly on the Q400's twice a week...why do I feel like a guinea pig

Sunbear wrote:

why do I feel like a guinea pig

In what way? To a certain extent, all passengers that have been flying over the last month have been guinea pigs. The CAA, engine and airframe manufacturers as well as airlines wouldn't allow aircraft to take off under those conditions unless they were confidentin the research was correct and risks were minimal. Their reputation is on the line.

Darren

Flybe have today announced they are to enter in to a codeshare agreement with Air France offering greater selection of services. More details on Flybe's website.

Darren

I flew back into Leeds Bradford from Belfast yesterday with Flybe, can someone please tell me they dont use the same plane for the flight to Malpensa to Milan, as I am due to fly that route in September.

7eric7,

It depends what flight number you're on. You probably flew on a Dash-8-402Q from BFS to LBA. They use Embraer 170/190 on the longer flights in to europe.

Darren

Cheers Darren, having googled Dash-8-402Q you are correct in that was yesterdays plane, the Embraer looks decent, what seating configuration would they have?

Cheers again.