www.uk-2-usa.com Newsletter
Quarter 4-2004

October 2004

 Welcome to the final www.uk-2-usa.com newsletter of 2004.

This newsletter will update you with any recent USA travel information I have come across and uk-2-usa.com web site changes that have occurred recently. All feedback is gratefully received about style or content. Click here to send me suggestions for improvements, additions or even things to avoid in future newsletters. This newsletter will be available via e-mail, on the web site or via the associated online uk-2-usa travel discussion group

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Contents





USA offers and travel news.

Bargain !
Our partners Complete North America are delighted to be able to offer some fantastic reductions on their already discounted rates with British Airways to reward those customers who are ready to confirm their 2005 holidays now. This offer is for flights avoiding high season in 2005 if you book before the end of November 2004. An additional reward for booking early is that you can secure your booking for a low deposit of £50 per person rather than the usual £150 per person. This offer is of course subject to availability.

To get a quote for next year and receive these excellent benefits click here now !

New National Park
In mid September Great Sand Dunes National Monument became Great Sand Dunes National Park, Americas newest NP.

Great Sand Dunes is in south central Colorado and is a place I have never been to despite several visits to Colorado.

Passports and visas
The US embassy website has now confirmed that the requirement for biometric data to be included in passports has indeed been moved back to October 2005. So with all these changes and media stories where does that leave you now the dust has settled ?

If you are a UK citizen and wish to travel to the USA on holiday for less than 90 days all you need is a machine readable passport (all passports issued in the UK for the last 10 years are machine readable - you will only have a none machine readable passport if your passport was issued to you from an overseas embassy).

If you do not have a criminal record and have not been previously barred from entry into the USA you can travel visa free under the visa waiver programme. You will be given a green form to fill out on the plane which you hand in on entry to the USA rather than get a visa before you travel.

Since the end of September 2004 all people entering the USA will have a digital photograph and electronic recording of your finger prints taken on entry to the country.

Any UK passport issued after October 2005 will have to have biometric data included in it. Checkout your passport to see when it runs out and get it re-newed before next October to avoid any potential problems if you travel to the USA after October 2005.

United Airlines and others
I've been reporting the status of United Airlines and other struggling airlines for some time now. The problems continue and United Airlines' 60,000-plus unionized workers, who have already accepted $2.5 billion in annual wage and benefit cuts at the money-losing airline, face the prospect of still more cutbacks after the airline told a federal Bankruptcy Court judge in Chicago on Friday that it will ask workers for additional concessions next month. Read more on this link

The unraveling of the ailing airline industry picked up speed Friday as a bankruptcy judge granted US Airways authority to temporarily cut the pay of its union workers by 21 percent, comparing the airline's financial outlook to "a ticking fiscal time bomb."

That wasn't the only bad news for the industry on Friday. Delta Air Lines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, said it was only weeks away from being forced to file for bankruptcy because of widening losses - ranging from labor and pension costs to fuel expenses. Read more here

Similar story at Northwest Airlines. Heavily indebted Northwest has its own payments to make, and has said it needs $950 million a year in concessions from workers. Pilots became the first to agree on Thursday, striking a $265 million tentative pact. Union chiefs at Northwest's Air Line Pilots Association unit are meeting in Florida through the weekend, where they will vote on whether to recommend the deal to pilots. Details of the agreement have not been released. Again read more here

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USA flight price survey

This survey is for travel in August 2005. All quotes were taken on 17th October 2004 for a return journey for one adult out on the 10th August and back on the 17th August (both Wednesdays - normally the cheapest day to travel). The average prices from surveys for the same journeys in 2003 and 2004 are shown for comparison

Perhaps not surprisingly given the problems the airlines are having with lack of profitability, there seems to be an attempt to push prices higher at this stage. From what I have seen in previous years, this is unlikely to last and competition will bring the prices down as we go through into the new year and the peak booking time. The really big surprise from this survey is that all of the companies surveyed agree that at this moment the cheapest way to book a flight from London to Orlando next August is to go via Reykjavic with Icelandair !

As is now the convention in these surveys, the cheapest quote for a given journey is highlighted in red.

uk-2-usa.com October 2004
flight price survey
for travel in August 2005
Previous survey summary details
 Quotes obtained October 2004
Route
 Average
August 2003
price
 Average
August 2004
price
 Average
August 2005
price quoted
October 2004
 Expedia
prices
 ebookers
prices
 Travel4less
prices
 Opodo
prices
London
to
Orlando		 £ 559 £ 617 £ 599 £ 604
Icelandair		 £ 601
Icelandair		 £ 622
Icelandair		 £ 572
Icelandair
London
to
Denver		 £ 554 £ 576 £ 642 £ 635
Continental		 £ 638
Continental		 £ 667
Continental		 £ 630
Continental
London
to
San Francisco		 £ 565 £ 574 £ 611 £ 599
Icelandair		 £ 604
Icelandair		 £ 617
Icelandair		 £ 626
Air France
Manchester
to
Orlando		 £ 626 £ 627 £ 673 £ 652
Delta		 Could not
quote		 £ 675
Continental		 £ 694
United Airlines
Manchester
to
Denver		 £ 551 £ 588 £ 661 £ 651
Delta		 £ 649
Delta		 £ 692
Continental		 £ 654
Continental
Manchester
to
San Francisco		 £ 610 £ 585 £ 625 £ 613
Air France		 £ 649
Delta		 £ 615
Air France		 £ 624
Air France
Average for
all 6 flights		 £ 578 £ 594 £ 635 £ 625 £ 628 £ 648 £ 633


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Web site updates/news

News
I have decided to venture into the relatively new area of internet communication - the Blog (weB LOG). You can checkout a write up of my own most recent USA holiday to the Pacific North West on this link.

Updates since the last newsletter
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About uk-2-usa

www.uk-2-usa.com is a privately owned website. It was written to share the authors passion for travel to the USA. It is none commercial in nature with all information and advice being freely given. Although commission is made on any holidays sold through the site.

There is an associated online travel group which is also free to join where a message board allows members to share experiences, ask questions and also quiz some of our American members about their country. You may subscribe by clicking the link below.

Click to subscribe to uk2usa
Or you can look without joining by clicking here.

You can e-mail with any questions here.




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Future Newsletters

Please give me your feedback about what you would like to see in future editions of this newsletter. I will develop the format based on feedback from readers. Click here to send me suggestions for improvements, additions or even things to avoid in future newsletters.

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Well, thats it for edition number 4 in 2004. Speak to you again next year !

Happy USA travelling

UK



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