Travelling concessions for RN personnel

A friend of the family is being deployed to Afghanistan in the new year. She is a Maltese citizen who joined the Royal Navy two years ago. Before going to Afghanistan she is travelling to Malta to see her family and to take back some of her personal belongings for safe-keeping.

In the UK, personnel are given travelling concessions, so we thought we would contact Air Malta to see if we could get her an upgrade, or perhaps some extra baggage allowance so she wouldn't have to pay for excess luggage. As we all know, personnel in the navy, army etc. are not paid that well!

We were told that it was not company policy to give extra allowances. I know for a fact that people do get upgraded - it's usually at the discretion of someone with Air Malta.

This young lady is serving her country, and even though Malta is not active in Afghanistan, the work being done there helps everyone and not just British citizens.

I would ask Air Malta to reconsider their policy, and as it's also Christmas, perhaps give someone who is going to have a few tough months ahead of her an early Christmas present!

As Tiny Tim says in the Christmas Carol... "God bless us, every one!"