Those considering flying to France to avoid the ongoing chaos caused by Thursday's Channel Tunnel fire may wish to think again: major operators including British Airways and Air France have been accused of cashing in by charging £600 for flights between London and Paris. Though BA protest this is the standard price for a late booking in business class, and claim they have increased capacity by running larger aircraft, a French passenger group accused them......

BA may have embarked on an advertising campaign to remind folk that T5 is "working", but what's a much better way of getting people to forget said terminal's troubled birth? Show them that it's by far the only problematic part of Heathrow. Last night some 3,000 people were embroiled in chaos at Terminal 3, as a computer glitch resulted in two cancelled flights, several more delayed, and disruption to thousands of travellers. People were......

It's no secret that the opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 wasn't the greatest success in British aviation history. The words "pissup", "brewery" and "couldn't organise a" were very much to mind as the umpteen-billion pound Richard Rogers-designed structure conspired to lose thousands of bags and strand countless passengers (including that nice Naomi Campbell, no less) when the ribbon was officially cut in March. With things having settled into some semblance of order, top brass......

Time was that travellers driving to Heathrow were greeted with the sleekly moulded contours of a model Concorde as they drove past the airport's entrance roundabout, a sight rich with the promise of airborne dreams and the supersonic age. Sadly the 2000 crash-landing and post-9/11 penny pinching by joint operators British Airways and Air France meant the costly jet was soon sacrificed, with the remaining craft grounded in 2003 and sent to museums (including......

Of all the problems Heathrow's colicky baby T5 has been having in its first few months, we've mostly heard about masses of lost baggage and inconveniently cancelled flights. But now there's a whole new reason to be alarmed, or at least freshly disappointed, at the terminal's inefficiency -- security errors due to the the Fiver's confusing layout have allowed international travelers into the UK without any immigration or customs control by sending them to domestic......

Not that this is any surprise to those following the T5 bungle, but plenty of passengers still don't have their bags back, despite all the sorting, dividing, shipping to Milan and magical voodoo that BA has been up to over the past two weeks. Now one passenger, Michael Birtles, managing director of European Rail, who has been missing his bag since T5's opening day, March 27, is trying to speed up the process by offering......

With T5 still a mess, British Airways is getting creative when it comes to trying to clear a backlog of 19,000 bags. The company is outsourcing some of its sorting work by having thousands of bags shipped to a Milan courier to be dispensed across mainland Europe. May as well let some professionals handle this. Some of the bags are traveling by lorry to Milan, and they'll also be going overground to their recipients. So......

Olympic news items are like buses, or decent Boris Johnson policies: you wait for ages then two come along at once. This week we've heard about the package of security measures announced for the Games, while the International Olympic Committee popped by to check up on how we're doing. The announcement in July 2005 of London's Olympic triumph came just hours before the worst terrorist atrocity the city has ever seen, so from the......

This Londonista popped to Terminal 5 at Heathrow - due to open in a month's time - and live-blogged about it: It's 7.35am on a grey Saturday morning, and I'm on the piccadilly line. Sure - there are better things to do with my time, but I'm off to be a fake passenger and so to have a nosey around a new iconic building that swishly calls itself 'T5'. It's almost an airport in......

We very much hope you weren't on your way to Terminal 4 at Heathrow any time between 5pm yesterday and 10am today. Because all those lucky passengers had a special surprise when they checked in – they weren't allowed to check in any luggage. That's right. Hand luggage only. What a massive pain in the ass. Terminal 4 experienced what they're calling "a major baggage system failure", which has only just been resolved. And......

Macabre London: First, man denies murdering model but admits to necrophilia; then a headless corpse turns up in northwest London. We find ourselves suspiciously eyeing other commuters on our Tube ride home this evening. Corrupt London: We know that London is ranked first on all kinds of lovely lists. But we’d prefer to forgo the dubious distinction of being first in rates of debit and credit card fraud. Tonally challenged London: Londonist thinks it’s......

You just can't turn around these days without getting slapped in the face with some kind of airline news, can you? Something's crashing or something's taking off, something has been "downed" or has completed its spectacular maiden voyage, or something wonderful is about to happen for various "routes" and "hubs", or some Knife-Wielding Maniac (KWM) has struck again in a fit of random violence. Alright, that last one isn't really airline news. Today BBC.com......

Lots of international papers are picking up the story of a body found in the landing gear of a BA flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles: A pilot discovered the body of the young man in the front right wheel well of the 747-400 during a routine inspection shortly before it was to return to London, airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said. The FBI determined the stowaway likely died in the wheel well, Castles said.......

British Airways continues its ongoing campaign to prove to the world that airtravel for the 21st century is green, safe, convenient, and much cheaper than those using those stinky old trains. The Daily Mail reveals that British Airways has been attempting to sort out lost luggage by chucking it all on a plane and sending it to Italy where the Italian baggage handling establishment will sort it all out. No, seriously. We're not making......

BBC: British Airways has cancelled all mainline domestic flights to and from Heathrow airport for the rest of the day because of severe fog. Flights between Heathrow and mainland Europe are also being severely disrupted by the weather. Gatwick airport has also been affected and inward and outward British Airways flights are facing lengthy delays. The airline has urged customers due to travel on domestic flights to or from Heathrow not to travel to......

BBC Italian Mario Scaramella, a contact of dead ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, has tested positive for polonium-210. Mr Scaramella is not thought to be suffering symptoms but significant amounts of the substance are understood to have been found in the academic. He met Mr Litvinenko at sushi restaurant Itsu in central London on the day he fell ill. Meanwhile it turns out that both Tessa Jowell and Seb Coe travelled on one of the 'contaminated'......

The radiation poisoning story certainly has a long half-life and shows no signs of slowing down. Now BA have had to ground aircraft after finding traces of radiation on board: British Airways discovered traces of radiation on two of its aircraft flying to Moscow when police told them to check aircraft visiting the Russian capital after the death of Alexander Litvinenko. Three of BA’s Boeing 767s were tested, but the airline said today that......

After this week's Crucifix row, British Airways have decided to review their uniforms. Do you do a good impersonation of Cherie or Tony Blair? The producers behind 'The New Statesman - Alan B'stard's Extremely Secret Weapon' could be looking for you. Is Syd Barrett's breadbin your ideal Christmas present? Get bidding! There's another bus strike on Monday. Yippee! And finally, the awesome Client are playing Mean Fiddler tomorrow with Slovenian nutcases Laibach. We're going.......

Last week we went out to watch a man from Beirut with colourful trousers and big hair, sing songs about fat girls, gay affairs, and lollipops. Tonight, we think you should do the same. Mika was born in the middle of a warzone in 1983 (yes, we realise that makes him disgustingly young), moved to Paris and spent most of his youth in London. What you need to know is that he's Universal Records......

A flight from L.A. to London in February of last year is back in the headlines after it was revealed that the flight went ahead despite one of the engines catching fire only seconds after take off: Air traffic controllers monitoring a British Airways jumbo jet were stunned at the pilot's decision to try to "get as far as we can" after an engine caught fire on takeoff, a transcript of discussions between the......

The Harringey barister accused of filming up women's skirts has claimed in court that he didn't get any sexual gratification from his 'hobby'. You see it was "collecting and cataloguing the images" that he enjoyed....not the wanking. Snoop Dogg has been arrested at Heathrow airport after an argument caused by the refusal to let his '30-strong entourage' into the British Airways first-class lounge (Terminal 1). And talking of Heathrow, it's been announced that the......

Bad news for any money grabbing landlords who may have been planning to convert that last spare room into a support strut for the London Eye just in case it got itself evicted from the South Bank. It turns out that it's staying put. Following a judicial review British Airways London Eye - the genius group that insist on calling each turn of the wheel a 'flight' - have coughed up enough cash to......

As the Met begin their "swift" probe of the weekend's protests it turns out that the man who dressed up as a suicide bomber is in fact a convicted drug dealer who has been out of jail for less than a year. A British Airways flight heading for Heathrow from Newark, New Jersey was diverted to Boston's Logan International Airport after smoke was reported in the cockpit. It landed safely and there were no injuries.......

In the latest chapter of what is surely the city's most troubled attraction, British Airways has been accused of "betrayal" over their decision to sell their third share in the Londion Eye to the Tussauds Group. Architects David Marks and Julia Byfield, who own a third of the attraction thmemselves were negotiating with BA to buy their stake and had put together a funding package along with Tussauds, who also owned a third stake......

Just one more plug for our first birthday party, which is happening this Thursday at the Offside Bar on City Road, Islington. You should have this engrained into your memory by now, but just in case you haven't: the festivities kick off at 8pm until late, and it's free to get in (just let them know you're there for the Londonist party). We'll have DJs all night as well as images from the London......

Landlords... the rent's extortionate to begin with, then they screw you six months down the line by raising it and seem to have a knack of calling round uninvited and unannounced at just the wrong moment. Londonist then sympathises with The London Eye (as much as you can sympathise with a 135m wheel) which is under threat of eviction tonight after the South Bank Centre demanded a cool £1m - an increase in rent......

Strike a light! British Airways has compiled an online dictionary of London slang to help American tourists and ex-pats blend in and feel at home. Although Londonist can think of few more conspicuous things than an American tourist casually attempting to slip the words "tickety-boo" into conversation. This lexicon runs to 80 words, including "minger", "afters", and "beer mat", and BA claims it is the first of its kind, which Londonist frankly finds very......

Transport for London has just put its £15 million "media planning and buying account" up for grabs, which gives us a good excuse to look at lots of old, fantastic images that TfL have used in the past. Like these for instance: If you fancy throwing your hat into the arena for the TfL job then you should remember that you will be competing with a back catalogue that includes people like Man Ray. Although,......

It's 2005 and still the 'Da Vinci Code' stories keep coming. This time the claim is that the novel has helped the fortunes of Eurostar. The train operator released figures yesterday that showed 15% more people travelled on the line in 2004 than they did in 2003. And, of course, some of this is down to the exploits of the ruggedly handsome Professor Robert Langdon and his beautiful Parisian cryptologist sidekick Sophie Neveu. "We......