LETTERS
Letter of the week
Ryanair’s spot of blog bother
Michael O’Leary never seems to
be content unless he’s hitting the
headlines every week. This time
it’s the return of the screen-scrapers.
When I read the article on the
Travel Weekly website ‘Ryanair
hits out at Thomas Cook fuel surcharge’,
I thought it was laughable.
Can’t this man just be happy
that some people in the trade still
support his business?
His ethos appears to have
spread to some of his, shall we
say, tactless staff . I’m referring to
the three Ryanair staff who responded
to a blogger who thought
he had found a way to bypass with posting that on the net? I’m
Ryanair’s fares to get them for so glad most agents aren’t send-
free. Unfortunately this wasn’t the ing any business Ryanair’s way.
case, but the staff members’ ry 30) way to stop Rebecca the tour Eady, operator Spa using Travel, Boston
with words was second his to none. brand name Spa, to Wetherby, trigger the West display Yorkshire
The poor blogger, Jason of Roe, Thomson was sponsored > Editor’s links note: on Ryanair confi rmed
told by one of the Ryanair Google. staff : to Travel Weekly’s sister title
‘Jason! You’re an idiot and a Running liar!’ a Travolution quick check that of the some of its staff
I would like to know exactly situation now, had this posted is what messages I found: on my a blog,
how they deal with customer search on Google but these for Libra posts Holidays were not authorised
complaints if they can get displayed away sponsored by the airline.
links for
Olympic, VFB Holidays and Cosmos.
Searching f
Have you got something to say?
Do you have a view about something you’ve read in Travel Weekly or
do you just need to sound off about something? If so, get in touch by
emailing travel.weekly@rbi.co.uk
Cruise staff need
training as well
I read with interest your article,
‘It’s time to step it up’ (Travel Weekly,
February 27). While I fi nd it
encouraging that the cruise industry
is taking the training of agents
seriously, your article doesn’t
address the importance of
implementing a comprehensive
health and safety training
programme for cruise ship staff.
www.travelweekly.co.uk
The success of the travel industry
is based on people power, and a
cruiseline can only reach high
levels of service and hygiene if
their employees are properly
trained. High standards cannot be
achieved without a considerable
amount of effort and dedication. In
doing this, cruise operators will be
protecting both their customers
and their reputation.
Tackling this problem is not
about quick fi xes. Cruiselines need
a long-term strategy, which starts
with training the staff in what is
and isn’t acceptable. For this
reason, it is essential that the
industry puts health and safety, and
hygiene at the top of its priority list.
By understanding that an outbreak
of food poisoning could quickly
cause potentially irreparable
damage to a reputation, they will be
able to protect the health of their
business as well as their guests.
Steve Tate, chairman, Check Safety
First, Chepstow, Monmouthshire
TUI says outlets
should not compete
With regard to the letter from Paul
Beech from Connect Travel (Travel
Weekly, February 13) concerning a
First Choice shop and Thomson call
centre competing against each other
for a booking, I can confi rm that it
is clearly not in our interests, or
indeed our procedures, to do this.
The market is very competitive
and we will do all we can to secure a
booking, while still making a profi t
as a retailer. We have policies and
procedures in place regarding price
matching competitors. However, we
do not allow shops within our own
portfolio to compete against each
other. Being part of the same
company, and running our retail
operations as a separate profi t
centre, it makes no commercial
sense for First Choice and Thomson
to compete head-to-head with each
other in this way.
It is not apparent from Mr Beech’s
letter whether the two agents were
Write to
knowingly competing against
each other, but I believe this to be
an isolated incident.
Since the Thomson/First Choice
merger, much work has been
undertaken to align the two
brands to ensure they work in
harmony. Our retail function will
be restructuring on March 1,
with our regional sales managers
taking care of both brands in their
geographical area, which will go
further to ensure incidents such as
this do not occur in the future.
Nick Longman, distribution
director, TUI Travel, Crawley,
West Sussex
Turkish Airlines
expresses sorrow
We would like to express our
deep sorrow for the loss of life
of our crew members and our
passengers as a result of the
accident in Amsterdam last week.
We are grateful to all our
friends who stand by us and who
share our deep sadness in this
incident. We wish to thank you
for reporting this undoubtedly
traumatic and shocking event to
your readers and watchers with
an objective approach.
Spokesman for Turkish Airlines
> Editor’s note: This is an extract
from a letter sent by Turkish
Airlines to Travel Weekly and other
media. Turkish Airlines has said it
will share all data it obtains in the
forthcoming investigation process.
The Travel Weekly team would like
to add their sympathies.
‘Letters page’, Travel Weekly, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton,
Surrey, SM2 5AS. Fax: 020 8652 3956; email: travel.weekly@rbi.co.uk
All correspondence must be accompanied by a name, job title and
company address. These will be withheld on request. We reserve the
right to edit letters. The deadline is Monday, 10am.
March 6 2009 | Travel Weekly | 39
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