If only the railway network could operate as efficiently as National Rail (www.nationalrail.co.uk). Someone is diligently posting details of all the latest delays on its website. Weekend engineering works can be found by clicking on the Service Alterations link.

· Lots of fuss has been made about Lufthansa's Connexion by Boeing (www.connexionbyboeing.com) free on-board high-speed broadband, but so far it is only available on the Frankfurt-Washington DC route. And it's only free until April 15. Lufthansa intends to roll out the service to most of its long-haul Boeings in the summer, but BA is catching up fast: a three-month trial on a Heathrow-New York 747 begins on February 18.

· Worldroom.com has some less obvious tips for conserving your laptop's battery life, such as unplugging peripherals and switching off the backlight. See www.worldroom.com/ pages/triptech/triptech20 .phtml.

· BA is introducing a new thrice-weekly Gatwick-Krakow route in the summer, as well as a weekly flight to Pristina in Kosovo. Daily flights to Bologna, Pisa and Vienna will leave from Manchester. The Manchester-Gothenburg service will be axed from April, leaving BMI with a monopoly on the route (www.flybmi.com). BMI is also launching a Norwich-Aberdeen service - an awkward journey badly and expensively served by rail. Fares from £73.50 each way.

· The British do a lot of business in Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bremen Hannover and Düsseldorf, but English-language guides to many German cities are hard to find. Lufthansa has put together some suggestions for places to eat, drink, exercise and while away any dead time at www.lufthansa.co.uk/gb/fly/en/pas. Scroll down and click on German Cities.

· If you need to find a hotel with meeting rooms or a conference centre in France, Maison de la France (www.meet-in-france.com/hotels_meetings.htm) has a comprehensive list.

· The Priority Pass (www.prioritypass.com) lets you into over 400 VIP airport lounges. The standard package costs $99 (£61), plus $24 (£15) for each visit; unlimited access for a year costs £247.