The writing's on My Bathroom Wall - travel news 1st of June 2017

33 Rwandair starts first ever direct flights between Kigali and London

The inaugural flight touched down at London's Gatwick Airport on the 26th of May, after an 8 hour 40 minute flight from Kigali. Rwanda's national carrier will connect the cities three days per week using a wide body Airbus A330-200, with return fares starting from £368. This also opens up new connections from London (via Kigali) to Dar es Salaam (from £308), Entebbe (from £345), Mombassa (from £378) and others. Other Rwandair destinations include Brussels, Mumbai, Dubai and Istanbul. 

  See Rwandair and Rwanda Tourism, and My Bathroom Wall for a write up of what it's like to be caught giggling at close range by a Silverback Mountain Gorilla.
33 Qatar Airways offer free Doha stopovers, and Dubai airport instals sleeping pods

Passengers changing planes in Doha offered free transit visa and a night in a hotel - with an additional night for $50USD per booking. Four star properties free for economy passengers include the Holiday Villa Hotel & Residence, the Radisson Blu, and the Amari; and hotels for First and Business Class passengers include the InterContinental, Four Seasons, and Shangri-La.

A new Sleep-n-fly lounge has opened in Terminal 3 at Dubai airport, with 27 sleeping pods and cabins. Designed in Scandinavia, the single pods costs from $17USD for an hour, and seven hours from $77USD, while double-bedded cabins with pull out beds for children are from $60USD for two hours, and seven hours for $160USD.
  Find more details at Qatar Airways and Visit Qatar. And re Dubai see Sleep-n-fly. For the world's best airport hotels, see My Bathroom Wall
33
 		 Perfectly located for tourists, three new metro stations open in Old Delhi

Delhi's new 'Heritage Line' opened on May 28th, an extension of the Violet Line with three new underground stations perfectly placed for visitors wanting to see the Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid (mosque) and Lal Quila (for the Red Fort).

 

See Delhi Metro and Delhi Tourism 

33 Other new airline routes for June

Low cost carrier Norwegian will start more long haul flights in June - from Belfast, Dublin and Edinburgh to New York (Stewart International) and Boston (TF Green Airport, Providence); Cork to Boston, and Edinburgh to Hartford/Springfield.

Plus Delta starts flights from London to Portland, Air India starts flights between Delhi and Stockholm, Aer Lingus start Dublin to Miami, AirAsia is to connect Kuala Lumpur with Sihanoukville (Cambodia's premier beach resort region), and Air New Zealand is to lay on 52 extra flights to assist fans getting to Ed Sheeran's 2018 concerts in Dunedin, Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington. 

 

See Norwegian, Delta, Air India, Aer Lingus, Air Asia, and Air New Zealand.
34 British Airways damaged by technical and customer service meltdown 

British Airways suffered a catastrophic computer failure on the 27th of May, grounding hundreds of flights around the world, and clogging London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports with aircraft unable to depart and huge numbers of angry passengers. British Airways may well be up and flying again, but the reputational damage will last for months, if not longer. The company seems to have forgotten the basics of how to deal with people during disruption, with only mealy mouthed and slow responses from the unsympathetic CEO, Alex Cruz.