A columnist from Gadling recently wrote about crossing the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary 2.

An excerpt:

"Was this going to be a regular cruise, just trumped up a bit to seem more fancy? It did share more than I expected with a typical cruise, but its distinctions set it far apart from any cruise I'd been on before. If I were to draw a line down the list, I'd say that it retains the good parts and mostly avoids the annoyances.

There are shops, but they're not peddling gold by the foot in the hallways. The servers don't sing and dance, not that I particularly mind that on other ships apart from when they're forced to sing the American National Anthem. The rooms have the typical amenities but are bigger and better appointed. The gym was surprisingly well equipped and much bigger than usual. The library had an amazing selection and a system for checking books out."

Check out the whole essay on transatlantic crossing here.

Check out Cunard's official site to find the dates for Transatlantic crossings.

There's a war brewing between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. They've never been the best of buds, in fact BA has continually tried to put Virgin Atlantic out of business.

Well, Virgin Atlantic is not going anywhere, but they take issue with BA's latest plans to merge with Iberia and have an increased partnership with American Airlines.

Richard Branson has gone so far as to put "No BA/AA Alliance" on the side of its airplanes. Branson believes that the alliance will give British Airways unfair monopolistic control of transatlantic air travel.

Virgin Atlantic is lodging an official protest with the Civil Aviation authorities in Europe and America.

I'm a BA apologist... I always fly British Airways because their prices are usually the lowest. It's be nice if this war between VA and BA meant lower prices for consumers. But, sadly, transatlantic travel seems to be only getting more expensive; especially as fuel costs rise along with the tumbling economies of the world.

Well, another one has bitten the dust. On August 30th, Zoom Airlines announced it was shutting down operations and filing for bankruptcy. It has been unable to acquire operating capitol and credit funding to stay in operations.

The collapse of Zoom Airlines, a player in the low-cost transatlantic travel market, left 40,000 people stranded all over the world, with no way to get their money refunded.

It's safe to say, that people were not happy with these developments.

It appears, the optimism of the Open Skies deal is proving to be too optimistic. It is becoming increasingly apparent, that in today's economic climate, there is only room for the big players in transatlantic travel. They have deeper pockets and can sustain more losses than newer players.

It's a shame, I was looking forward to watching a discount upstart give giants like British Airways a run for their money.

A memo was recently leaked with details of United's latest plan to cut costs and pass them on to airline passengers. They're going to start charging for meals on international flights and in domestic business class.

The major airlines have avoided punishing the profitable long haul passengers and business class travelers. But during these tough times for the airlines, no one is safe from their cost cutting.

Starting in October, passengers on transatlantic flights from Washington will have to pay for their meals on the spot. Snacks will run $6 while full meals will cost $10. So, on top of all the extra baggage fees, fuel surcharges and various other fees the airlines are getting away with, you now have to pay for your meal.

The indignity.

I personally don't care. The food is always terrible anyway. It would be great if the cost of the ticket was going down, but it's not. So, not only do you have to pay for your meal, you're not saving any money on the ticket, a cost which continues to rise; especially for transatlantic passengers.

Oh well.

I got an e-mail from Cunard last week announcing a contest for a free transatlantic crossing. All you have to do is enter.

Cunard is the only Cruise Line still operating transatlantic cruises with the Queen Mary 2. They run several Atlantic crossings a year. A trip that can usually be very expensive (approx. $4000 and up).

Transatlantic cruises usually take 6 days and leave from New York and end up in Southampton, England. It's a very classy way to travel and you'll be taken back to a time of luxury on the seas.

This is from the e-mail they sent me last week:

You could win a legendary six-day Transatlantic Crossing for two on the magnificent QUEEN MARY 2®. The winner will enjoy elegant accommodation and be royally pampered with a complimentary treatment in QUEEN MARY 2's Canyon Ranch SpaClub®.

On a Transatlantic Crossing, you'll be able to indulge in a wide array of sophisticated diversions, such as the thoroughly British tradition of Afternoon Tea and our signature Royal Nights themed formal balls. Allow yourself to experience Cunard's famed White Star ServiceTM – the most impeccable and attentive at sea. Sailing QUEEN MARY 2 surrounds you with an ambience of unrivalled sophistication and refinement.

Don't miss your opportunity to feel like the British royals and scores of celebrities who have experienced this grand voyage. To enter for your chance to win The Cunard Royal Treatment Sweepstakes, click here or visit cunardroyaltreatment.com.

I woudln't waste any time! Go over there an enter! I entered myself and I was sure to enter my wife. A transatlantic cruise would be a dream come true! We would get to travel to England in style! So, be sure to enter the Cunard transatlantic cruise contest soon, the contest ends October 31st.

Frequent visitors will notice the new design. I stumbled across the new design while searching for a Drupal theme for something else.

I thought it would be perfect for this site. It's much cleaner and just all around looks nicer.

I'm still ironing out the bugs to forgive me if you experience any problems.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been in the news for the last few years for being apart of an alleged price fixing scandal. Well, the lawyers got to work and now there is a huge settlement on offer.

If you flew British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between the US and the UK between August 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006, you are entitled to a partial refund of the fuel surcharge you were charged.

The amount you receive is based on $7 to $34 a flight. My wife and I travelled back and forth to England twice in the time period, so we should get a hundred bucks or so. Not a bad deal considering how pissed we were to see the fuel surcharge cost more than the tickets when we purchased them.

If you are in the US, you can go the Official Air Passenger Settlement Site to register and make your claim. If you are in the Uk, you can go to this site, the official UK Passenger Settlement Site.

Be sure to make your claim by September 12th or else you might miss out on this money.

The big news in transatlantic travel this week was the announcement that British Airways and Iberia Air are going to merge.

This is great news for the frequent transatlantic traveller. It will allow the two airlines to combine costs, partner on profitable routes and compete against other airlines on transatlantic fares.

Instead of focusing on competing with each other, they can now combine forces to compete with other more powerful European airlines. Competition is good in the airline business and consolidation will, in the end, benefit the consumer.

The merger will take years before the companies are fully integrated. And both airlines will keep their separate identities. They will mostly work together on backend operations such as route planning, back office operations, fare structures and placing large plane orders.

It's certainly and exciting for transatlantic airlines. This couple with the Open Skies Agreement will mean better travel for all transatlantic passengers.

Cunard Line, a unit of Carnival, recently announced it's 2009 Transatlantic Atlantic crossing schedule. Check out the transatlantic cruises page for more information. Cunard is currently the only cruise line left offering a traditional transatlantic cruise.

Next calendar year, Cunard will be traveling from Southampton (England) to New York transatlantic cruise, Hamburg, Germany to New York transatlantic cruise and Southampton to Boston transatlantic cruise.

All transatlantic crossings in 2009 will be on board the state of the art Queen Mary ship. The Queen Elizabeth II ship was recently decommissioned and will be turned into a museum in Dubai.

Check out the Transatlantic Cruise page for more information!

British Airways is due to launch a new transatlantic airline on June 19th called OpenSkies. The name is a reference to the new airline agreement between the US and EU, the Open Skies Agrement.

British Airways plans the airline to be an airline within an airline. It's shunning the business class only business plan of recent failures such as MaxJet and Silverjet. The planes on the new routes will feature Bussiness class, premium economy and coach. The planes will be smaller 757-200 jets.

The first route will be between Paris Orly and New York's JFK Airport. This is the first time that British Airways will run a flight that doesn't originate in the UK to the United States, a landmark idea that's part of the Open Skies Agreement. A route to Brussels in also in the workings. Future plans also include routes to Milan, Franfurt, Amsterdam and Madrid. Tickets prices will generally be cheaper than a ticket that would require a connecting flight.

BA Open Skies has a pretty snazzy website setup as well as a fun Open Skies blog.