Traveller letters: Premium economy seats not worth the higher price tag

Then, as QM2 entered open waters and the pilot boat moved away from the ship's side, the following words rung out from the pilot's loudhailer. "Aloha, Queen Mary 2." It sent shivers through me. A magic moment.

Ron Blake, Austinmer, NSW

MISSING LINK

In 1979, just after Margaret Thatcher's election as Prime Minister, I negotiated the surly Heathrow officialdom and hopped on to the Piccadilly tube line to travel seamlessly to my central London digs.

Fast forward 39 years. I arrive at Heathrow, my encounter with officialdom altogether more civil and, with a wave of my Oyster Card, hop on to the Piccadilly Line train, to arrive expeditiously at my (this time decidedly more upmarket) digs.

Now back home in the "World's Second Most Liveable City" I recall all of the mooted proposals for a mass transit link from the Melbourne CBD to Tullamarine over my 38 years residence here. London to a brick we'll still be mooting them 38 years hence.

Michael Gee, Reservoir, VIC

TUNNEL VISION

I did enjoy the "Six of the best London War Museums" by David McGonigal (Traveller, October 13) and would like to recommend the excellent war museum in Dover Castle in Kent, UK, near Folkestone, where I was born. There is a network of tunnels in the castle that were a huge secret, even to the local population. My uncle served at the castle during the World War II .

At the end of the cold war the secret tunnels were finally opened for public viewing, with visitors now able to take guided tours of them.

Clive Cavey, Dalmeny, NSW

RIGHT TOWELLING

In response to the letter by Gillian Scoular ("Go The Swans", Traveller letters, October 13), I have recently returned from an Alaska cruise and, yes, the cabin staff on that ship also created various animals from towels.

However, I was delighted each evening on coming back to my cabin to find these cleverly constructed items displayed on my bed. The young staff, living many miles from their homeland, and spending months on board to provide money for their families, made me realise how lucky I am to live in Australia.

Sandra Jurkovic, Engadine, NSW

HELP ME RONDA

We are on our first holiday in Spain and travelling with us is Brian Johnston's Traveller article of June 2, 2018. This first introduced me to the fascinating Ronda, from where we write. Before heading out to our last dinner here I reread Brian's article. It mentions two mansions I have seen no other references to. We visited them en route to our delicious, cheap dinner in the Old Town.

Thank you, Brian.

Christine and Graham Bradbeer, Mont Albert North, VIC

EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE

Returning recently from a Caribbean cruise we were dismayed to find that American Airlines at Fort Lauderdale Airport would not book our checked-in luggage all the way through to Sydney on our connecting Qantas flight out of Dallas.

American Airlines and Qantas code share and both are members of One World. Once this arrangement between full service airlines meant that luggage could be checked all the way through. Apparently not any more.

This meant we had to collect the luggage in Dallas and, because we were outside the secure area, we were not permitted to use the train to change terminals. Instead, we had to trawl our luggage along the footpath to a shuttle bus.

After the 16-hour-plus flight from Dallas and clearing customs in Sydney there was another long haul to the Qantas domestic luggage transfer desk, which is another story.

Graeme Archer, Moonee Ponds, VIC

ONE RULE FOR THEM

Michael Gebicki's commentary (Traveller, "Everyone asks", October 13) on the different HomeAway rates charged to us in Australia really struck home.

Could he also explain why, when looking for a US east coast cruise (Boston to Montreal) earlier this year, we found price differences of between $1800 and $2500 (total fare of about $4500) between the US and Australia for the same cruise and cruise category?

A cruise in the US was offered by Expedia in the US for $1800 less but when we wanted to book it, it was only available in the US to US residents. We thought this was only an Expedia glitch, but no, all international websites offered a better price but not to Australian residents.

We started the booking process, in some instances we were even able to get through to the payment section but our cards with Australian prefixes were not accepted.

Katharine Stevenson, Pyrmont, NSW

CREDIT DUE

Traveller reader Linda Hughes really nails it (Traveller letters, October 13). When my wife was near death in a primitive country Greek hospital last year our travel insurer, RACV, offered no assistance.

We were told it wasn't any business of the Australian Embassy and Athens as it was a private commercial transaction. Only by surrendering our passports and stumping up cash could my wife be treated.

As my wife remained unconscious, it was a terrifying and lonely experience for 20 days. It was only on our return to Melbourne that we were informed by RACV our claim was denied.

However, three months later we claimed on our free credit card policy and received a sum of $30,000.

Lance Sterling, Burwood, VIC

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