What most of its passengers don’t realise, however, is that they may be able to find the same flights cheaper using an American-based website.

In fact, one reader, Roger Gibbens of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, saved 30% off the BA.com price on a flight from Rome to London by buying from the US site Orbitz.com. “I gave my address in the UK, paid with a UK credit card and confirmed afterwards with BA that the booking was all in order.”

So we did some digging. We compared British Airways fares from Rome to London on a series of dates, and consistently found prices lower on US websites. On October 6, BA.com had a flight from Rome Fiumicino to London Gatwick for £67.42. Orbitz.com , an American price-comparison site, quoted £38.31. But even that wasn’t the best deal available. On the aptly named Cheaptickets.com , we found the same BA flight for £35.78 – saving 47%.

This is all very well if you need a one-way ticket originating from Italy, but does it work if you’re booking flights out of the UK? Well, yes, it does.

Let’s say you planned to fly from Heathrow to Fiumicino on October 6, returning a week later. At BA.com the fare was £143, but the same flights were available at Orbitz for £116.43.

And the same applies to BA’s transatlantic fares. At Cheaptickets.com, the lowest fare from London to New York on August 28, returning on September 4, was £295.84, only £1.26 cheaper than BA.com. But BA’s fare was only available for passengers willing to return on a daytime flight out of Newark.

Those who wanted one of the 10 other flights BA operates from New York to London that day – including the redeyes – pay more. Indeed, other flight times quoted by Cheaptickets. com would have cost £419.10 at BA.com, a 41% premium.

So, where’s the catch? Will you get the same level of consumer protection and customer service if you buy from an American website? What would happen if the website went bust?

Neither Orbitz.com nor Cheaptickets. com is likely to go under anytime soon. Both are part of Travelport, a multinational giant that also owns more familiar brand names such as Ebookers and Travelbag. Orbitz was valued last year at more than £375m.

And BA says that once you’ve got your booking reference, it’s all the same. “There are no implications for travellers [if you book through an American website]. You can still check in and manage your booking online.”

So why the discrepancies? British Airways admits that it’s a case of one fare for the UK market and another for the American one: “We price differently in different markets, based on the state of the market and on what our competitors are doing.” The airline also claimed that taxes are higher on some routes if booked out of the UK. On Heathrow to JFK, the difference is about £15, it said.

This sort of tactical pricing is now outlawed within the EU, but not across the Atlantic. BA admits it may be forced to rethink its policy. “We will look at this in the future as part of our overall pricing strategy,” it said.

Are other airlines playing the same game? Virgin Atlantic said: “We do sometimes bring out promotional fares to stimulate demand in different countries, particularly in the USA at the moment.”

We couldn’t find evidence of tactical pricing on routes operated by Virgin Atlantic and BMI. There were discrepancies, but only marginal ones, but it’s clearly worth keeping an eye out.

Nor was it always cheaper to book British Airways flights through American agents. In many cases there was little difference between the fares, and, in a few instances, BA even undercut the US sites. But not by much.

The fares were found on August 7; the conversion rate used was £1 = $1.974

How to do it

THE SUREST way to find the lowest fares is through an American comparison site such as Sidestep.com , Kayak.com or Mobissimo.com . These will display a range of fares for a given route on a given date, and direct you to the booking pages of the relevant agents. To be sure you don’t miss a better deal, run the same search on a UK comparison site such as Travelsupermarket.com or Traveljungle.co.uk.

If you’re booking a flight within the EU on an American site, you’ll need to tick a box to confirm that you are an EU resident. Your fare will be quoted in US dollars. Once you have a booking reference, you can log on to the airline’s own website and manage your booking in the usual way.

The Pope has joined the likes of Richard Branson and Michael O’Leary by launching his own airline. The inaugural flight departs this earth later this month, flying from Rome to Lourdes (www.mistralair.it ). Headrests in the cabin will be emblazoned with the airline’s motto – “I’m searching for your face, Lord” – and if the venture proves successful, further departures to destinations such as the shrine of Fatima in Portugal and the shrine of the Madonna of Guadalupe in Mexico are planned.

The new A380 superjumbo will make its first commercial flight on October 25, it has been announced. Singapore Airlines, the first carrier to buy the Airbus double-decker – the largest passenger plane ever built – will fly the A380 from its base at Changi airport to Sydney. If you want a ticket for the historic takeoff, though, you’d better get your wallet out. The 471 seats will be auctioned for charity on eBay, starting next Monday – and thanks to the excitement the revolutionary aircraft has caused, prices are expected to go sky high.

Here is an example pdf.

I think it is great for infrequent travellers, or even for savvy travellers visiting somewhere for the first time (for instance did you know that the ECASA lounge used by Iberia at Havana is located airside but is open 24 hours?). My only gripe is I wish the lounge information included whether they had showers and free computer access.

Hopefully some more traveller friendly factors can be added, such as access to public transport systems.

For example, Hilton Times Square gets a score of 98 out of 100, while Courtyard by Marriott JFK gets a score of only 43 out of 100.

Currently it does not work too well with non-US addresses, although they advise they are working on it.