Stefan

Jotty It depends whose "security purposes" you mean.  Most airline's only start asking for specific passport and Nationality details if you are traveling to somewhere with an Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS) requirement - and the France and UK do not.  Easyjet and BA certainly do not ask for your nationality at any point on line....sounds more like Ryanair are just harvesting data..  

Hi   yep tried that "fix"...it's quite an infuriating problem.  Initially we could connect both the Nintendo and my own laptop through the wifi without any dongle involved.  However once we started using second laptop (which needed a dongle) it seems the Dartybox has "learned" to ignore any other kit....as far as I know we've not altered any settings on the dartybox.  

I'm not sure how to start with this little problem but here goes.  We have a Dartybox which works fine with our Laptop using the duty dongle and originally my daughter was able to play with her mates on her Nintendo DS via wifi....however as of late she is completely unable to establish a wifi connection.  The Nintendo still "sees" the wifi signal, but won't connect. We haven't (as far as we know) changed any settings for either the Dartybox or the Nintendo DS...   Any thoughts? Has our Dartybox learnt to ignore the Nintendo ??? 

It'll be down to the Ground Handling Agents - i.e. the people subcontracted by the airline to do check-in and boarding. All done no doubt to try and speed up boarding of the outbound flight.

Official reply here -  it would appear one bag is the rule though the page appears to be dated 2007 so things may have changed. http://www.east-midlands-airport-guide.co.uk/security.html

Kevinmc Lack of Steak knife down to Security..I doubt it - sounds like BS to me - what do you think the chef is cutting the meat with backstage, a < 5cm blade.. [;-)] As for common sense returning to airport security - I doubt it, more like someone stuffed up!   Right, off to brace myself for another T5 experience tomorrow, and a TSA experience the day after....  

 Dibble, forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs but  please don't plan to "hang your hats" or buy a house here and then depend on being able to travel in perpetuity from a regional airport in the UK to one of the smaller regional airports in France.  Even now the current Summer TLS timetable shows Flybe operating one flight a week from Brum to TLS and as Baz has said nobody knows about next Summer's routes and timetables. If you are planning a purchase or move with a view to making frequent returns to the UK then bear in mid that at the moment all the airlines are very much on the edge financially and all the operators are looking long and hard at which routes are profitable and which ones are not.  Whilst places like TLS, LGW, Stansted and Luton are unlikely to be dropped from the major airlines route structures anytime soon a lot of smaller airports ( both in the UK and in France) are almost certainly going to suffer flight reductions and/or route closures, starting this Winter. Be careful where you buy, and if you are planning to make frequent journies between France and the UK have a back up route in mind, be it via London or Paris.    

Ron, in the interests of credibility at very least stick a "sometimes" in your statement as in: "the bigboys who sometimes charge 20 times as much"....I frequently fly from the France to the UK, have a choice of airlines from my region, including  BA, Air France, Easyjet and Ryanair, and if I run a comparison I rarely if ever see differences in fares of "20 times". It's not unknown that one of the afformentioned bigboys has given me the cheapest deal ( including all the charges/surcharges). Fuel surcharge: Agreed Ryanair has no such thing, but Ryanair's policy on fuel hedging over the last few months has been somewhat entertaining to watch - somewhere in Ryanair's fare structure you either are, or certainly will be, paying for the hike in the price of oil.  

I don't have a dog in this fight but I have to ask who says these sites are dodgy? That's a pretty serious accusation These comparison sites seem to allow customers to shop around for the cheapest flights....and just perhaps that is the motive for Ryanair's ban.  

Hate to be the duty pedant, but  it's Stansted..., but I know where you mean and I agree with your sentiments. Given the present financial circumstances confronting all airlines I wonder if MOL is serious about this or if he is just stirring up the war of words between himself and the BAA to generate more publicity for his outfit?  

Hard luck Luxembourg ( but a least a white Jersey for Andy Schleck) and, for, pretty much for all the reasons Gardian has come up with well done Sastre and the whole CSC team - especially Stuart O'Grady for working like a Trojan ( see, I'm not a complete Oozyphobe)  ....and yes, fingers crossed that the result stands.

Who's Chapman?   Now Cavendish has 4 and abandoned ..good call because he was never going to win the intermediates and hence the green.   Hey Pierre  ZFP -  good call at the start of the thread but I  fear the Schleck brothers /CSC  didn't do enough today to take time out of Evan's ...so it's all down to the Alpe-d'Hueze on Wednesday....did I ever say how appauled I was at the idea of an Ozzie victory??? Allez Luxembourg!!!!!! ( but I'm old enough that despite everything my heart is still with Major Tom.........I know, I know, but he was...etc....)

Jura   Thanks for the reply, we will indeed check out the local library.   Rgds

Fraid not..just hard ground , go on, buy the motor home, you know it makes sense (as do the Dutch/Germans/French)....who do you reckon - Evans? enjoy.

Ouch!!   Well as ex-Forces I could join in but...I lived in Aus for a while ..... How to annoy an Australian as a Pom? Tell them you have absolutely no opinion on wether they should become a republic or not, you don't give a stuff, your country, do what you want, etc.....for some reason that hits a nerve, certainly with the youngsters..in fact they can start behaving like my two when they had lack of attention tantrums....As for their attitude to sport? I'm dreading the possibilty of Cadel Evans winning Le Tour.....   As for our American friends...in general lovely people as individuals but don't get me started on their politicians.....or Immigration or TSA.

wiseinhindsite From practical experience with artisans and an architect I would say you are getting sound advice, as others have said thats the way it works here.  Like it or not you have to give the original Artisan an opportunity to fix any faults before getting somebody else in. .

Pretty much the same question as asked in the "French books for a teenager" thread. We have a 9 year old boy who delights in "reading" B.Ds and non-fictional works, but he seems unwilling to move on to French fiction.  As an interim measure we've tried translated works ( e.g. Harry Potter, Roald Dahl) but we are struggling to find anything genuinely French that will capture his attention. Can anyone suggest any authors and/or titles?   

I'm not sure exactly what the lady did, I've heard inside stories but I wasn't there, but if she at the very least intimidated crewmembers then she should quite rightly have been thrown off the aircraft, irrespective of her grounds for complaint, end of story.     As for the fall in standards, ...passengers are very cost aware - witness the numorous posts on this forum about how cheap a flight was.  People simple don't want to pay more for their flight, so less and less of the money passengers pay is going on providing the service and more and more is going on fuel...so the service is going to suffer and will continue to suffer unless passengers are prepared to pay more...

Hagar I believe the original theory behind "free seating" was that the airline didn't have to pay the extra expense of having to buy and run any seat allocation software...no doubt some-one from the LoCos will have the proper answer. And I agree that free seating is just as slow as pre-allocated.. personally I can't be bothered to climb over people to get 2A or F.. I just head down the back.   

[quote user="Val_2"]I prefer the back, that bit comes down last[/quote] Er, I hope it doesn't...

While I'm in the mood for it, I'll raise you: "Sir, there is a rule - no empty liquids containers with a Capacity of more than100 ml ...."  "Why?"  "Because you might fill it up with more than 100 ml of liquids when you go airside ". "But that liquid will (alledgedly) have been screened by you" "That doesn't matter Sir, hand it over" And........ "I going to confiscate your anti-perspirant  gel sick". "Why"? "Because if you heat it up it will turn into a liquid" I am most definitely not joking....[:'(][:'(]  P.S. One more incident springs to mind - A colleague of mine was being screened and Security found a packet of  powdered sports drink additive in his briefcase.  They confiscated it on the grounds that if he added water to the powder it would become a liquid......

If you stop looking for logic it all becomes clear. Last Summer most UK airports had a "only one item of handbaggage through the scanner rule"..so Handbag = handbaggage. Coat turned into Pouch = handbaggage. Coat not turned into pouch =   not handbaggage.   I know this nonsense tests everybodies patience- you ought to try putting up with this every time you go to work  [:'(]. 

[quote user="Cathy"] What happens to all the nail scissors etc that they confiscate? [/quote]   Rumour has it the Security staff have them for lunch......or am I thinking of the food and drink they confiscate?

  Kevin, I think there's some confusion creeping into the thread.  Airport Security does not, as far as I'm, err,  "aware", check compliance with each individual airlines' handbaggage policy. Airport Security enforce their own handbaggage policy which is usually based on their screening equipment,  manning levels and the whim of local management (which is why in the UK it can vary from airport to airport).  The various airlines' handbaggage policies should be policed by the check-in staff, failing that the gate staff, and the last ditch check is done by the Cabin Crew. Rgds Stefan ( a very very frequent flyer [;-)] ) 

Catherine To answer your question  - "Do your kids enjoy school?", and ignoring arguements about which system is best, we moved to France 6 years ago and after a year of rental settled in the Ariege.  Initially they were in the local village school.  The standard of education in village schools is sound, the head teacher was excellent, but there are no "bells and whistles", they get a solid basic education that anyone going through the UK system in the 60's and early 70's would recognise.  The eldest got advanced a year and they are now in school/college in the local town, enjoy school, and have never expressed a desire to return to the UK.... I hope this helps.