Open Jaw: Airlines go for Olympic gold

Where readers write back

It's wonderful having the Olympics in the UK, unless you wish to fly to the US in July and August. Return flights to New York then are over £1,300 (compared with around £350 in May). Eight months out, the airlines are making a considerable amount of hay while the sun shines. It's sad that independent travellers are being penalised in this way: families with school children cannot fly outside this period.

Philip Eley

In search of Britain's "ghost trains"

Well researched, well written, very readable. The way we run our railways is indeed totally barmy. The basic problem is the mindsets of the various unjoined-together bodies which are in charge. The sooner they have the priorities of giving passengers the best service possible, and really caring about them, the better it would be. Not much chance of this happening, however.

"Martin"

The writer might take a trip to Ruddington, a village just south of the city of Nottingham, where the locals do claim a real ghost train operates at night. The villagers say they hear engines moving from the disused army camp towards the city.

"Xianshaan"

Bendy buses head for Malta

The bendy buses are going to have quite a time of it in Malta, with the narrow streets and tight bends. Cyclists beware! Fare evasion will be less of an issue: the payment system consists of tossing any coin into a box beside the driver. This advantageous system worked well for years on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol.

Oliver Gray

Highs and lows of Ryanair

I nearly always travel with Ryanair, because they usually offer the cheapest fare, but everything about its product is tacky and unpleasant, from the garish colours and constant barrage of selling things to the cacophonous fanfare if it lands early. It has been instrumental in bringing fares down and opening up Europe. But it has also caused huge problems in areas where it has pulled out suddenly, as in France, Belgium and Spain, leaving blighted airports, and foreign homeowners and tourists, with no local hub to fly to.

Pablo de Ronda