Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

Nine weeks ago, before the US-Israeli attack on Iran and subsequent reprisals, the intercontinental travel world looked very different. I’ve been talking to Laura Lindsay of Skyscanner – the platform where you can search for flights, hotels, car hire and package holidays.

“People do still want to get away,” she says. But their destination choices are changing, with western Europe and Morocco benefiting from a drop in demand for Dubai.

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We have just launched our biggest ever network from the UK" – so says Yvonne Moynihan, Managing Director of Wizz Air UK. "Airlines are well used to crises– we're resilient and well adapted". She says: "We have fuel supply. We have other mechanisms for uplifting fuel. We're not seeing an Armageddon situation.

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Yesterday I talked to global travel editor Annabel Grossman about her first trip to Poland – a country I have been visiting for decades. Our colleague Maria Jelenska, who works for The Independent, heard the podcast and wanted to talk about her home town, the fine city of Gdansk.

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I have been travelling to Poland since before you were born (specifically 1985) and, every time I go there, the nation becomes more appealing – from cuisine and better transport to interpretations of a rich and complex history. But for Travel Desk Tuesday I am talking to global travel editor Annabel Grossman, who is just back from her first visit. She explored national parks and superb beaches, and even found herself on the very brink of Russia.

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Over the past few days, there has been controversy in the frequent-flyer community about the apparent extension of Silver and Gold status by BA to people who had done hardly any flying with the airline. Rob Burgess, founder of the Head for Points website, has been telling me more.

A spokesperson for IAG Loyalty, which runs the scheme for BA, said: "Due to a technical issue, some members (fewer than 1%) were incorrectly told they had retained their status, when they hadn’t earned it, or been entitled to it. Because of this, we’ll be contacting affected customers in the coming days to apologise and reinstate their correct tier.”

This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.