Where should I start and finish my trip down the Pan-American highway?

Simon Calder answers your questions on future journeys, railcards and the Boeing 737 Max

Panama City is the most exciting of the Central American capitals (Simon Calder)

Q I saw that one of your favourite journeys is along the Pan-American Highway through Central America. I’ve always been tempted by the prospect, but I imagine it has a few challenges. If I were to assign a couple of weeks to it, where would you advise I start and finish? I presume a one-way car rental would be impossible?

Patrick F

A The Pan-American Highway runs for around 12,000 miles between Alaska and the southern tip of South America, but for much of the distance it does not have much of an identity. Only in Central America does it come into its own – and you can use it as a splendid artery for adventure.

Let’s start at the end. Panama City is by far the most appealing and exciting of all the Central American capitals, and I urge you to enjoy your trip there. Besides a fabulous range of great places to eat and drink, there is a profound sense of history in the Panamanian capital. You are also able to explore one of the greatest engineering projects in the world, the Panama Canal.

Allowing three days for the city and environs, I suggest you start 11 days early by arriving in Managua – the capital of Nicaragua, and a place that has almost nothing going for it. Get straight out of town to magnificent Granada on Lake Nicaragua, a superb Spanish colonial city with echoes of Havana.

You can take a side-trip across to Omotepe, the pair of volcanoes that comprise an island in the lake. And before you leave Nicaragua, head down to San Juan del Sur, an idyllic Pacific beach resort.

Into Costa Rica, the best diversion is to Arenal, where the restless earth seethes and bubbles with red-hot lava. Don’t dwell in San Jose, but head along the most spectacular stretch of the highway over the mountains to the deep south of the nation. Golfito is the port that time forgot, and the nearby Esquinas Rainforest lodge is a great place to stay.

The road improves over the border in Panama, and there are various tempting diversions awaiting you along the way to the capital.

Given the poor roads, dreadful driving standards and tricky international frontiers, I urge you to avoid driving and stick to the buses, which provide excellent services along every inch of the highway.

Leisure travel will be especially important on the post-pandemic railway (PA)

Q Regarding your article about railcards and the refusal to extend them: is it the case that the train operating companies put the railcard processing out to an outsourced company and they cannot afford to extend? Or is it something the Department for Transport manages?

Brian McB

A National railcards – including 16-25, 26-30, Family and Friends, Disabled Persons, Senior and Two Together – are administered by the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the train operators. In my experience it does an excellent job, with impressively fast (and non-outsourced) fulfilment.

But for at least half the past year these railcards have, for the typical holder, been useless. During the successive lockdowns, leisure rail travel – which is what railcards are designed to facilitate – has been illegal, and this remains the case in all three nations of Great Britain.

Therefore a typical railcard holder who had hoped to get 34 per cent off the cost of many train tickets has been unable to benefit from their investment in a card: £30 for a year or £70 for three years. While single-year holders have been able to limit their losses by simply not renewing, owners of the three-year varieties have watched the validity and value of their cards gradually erode. Many Senior railcard holders have been shielding, too, meaning they could not take advantage even of the intermittent relaxations of the “do not travel” rules.

While National Express has extended the validity of Coachcards for a year, and ScotRail has done the same, the GB rail industry has not. The new nature of railway finance means this is squarely a decision of the Department for Transport (DfT).

With the collapse of passenger revenue, train operators have effectively become outsourced providers of rail services as specified by the DfT rather than commercial entities. I sense they would all prefer to extend the validity of railcards, but the government says no.

With taxpayers currently paying around £30m per day to run largely empty trains, the DfT is disinclined to offer anything free – even though discretionary leisure travel will be of increased importance in trying to lure people back to the post-pandemic railway.

I’m worried about flying on Ryanair’s Boeing 737 Max (Aaron Chesham)

QI read that Ryanair will be flying the Boeing 737 Max from this summer. I am quite concerned: I have flights booked for October with Ryanair but there is no way I can find out what aircraft it will be. What are my options?

Marie D

A As you know, the latest version of the Boeing 737 was involved in two awful tragedies soon after entering service. In October 2018, 189 people died when Lion Air flight 610 came down in the Java Sea soon after leaving Jakarta. The following March, 157 passengers and crew lost their lives aboard Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in similar circumstances after taking off from Addis Ababa. The cause of both tragedies was a software system that was designed to help pilots handle the jet, but which fatally malfunctioned and defeated all the flight crews’ efforts to save the aircraft. The plane is back in passenger service. Ryanair is by far the biggest European customer for the Boeing 737 Max, with an order for 210 of a special variant: it has extra capacity and can seat 197, eight more passengers than the current 737-800.

At a virtual press conference yesterday, Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said the airline will be taking eight of the aircraft in April and a further eight in May. He told journalists: “People are going to love these aircraft, and our accountants love them too – we can reduce our fuel burn by 16 per cent.” Mr O’Leary said Ryanair “don’t see any concerns”. But from social media polling I have carried out, it seems around one in three respondents have strong reservations about flying on the Max.

By October, Ryanair will probably still only have those16 Max aircraft, as the airline does not want to take on new aircraft in the main summer season. That will represent around 4 per cent of its fleet, and so the overall odds are 25-1 that a Ryanair passenger will find themselves aboard a Max. I believe it will be fairly apparent by October which routes are likely to feature the aircraft. The Ryanair boss said anyone who is hesitant “can travel on the next available flight” on a Boeing 737-800. But equally, you may feel reassured by then if many millions of passengers have flown on the plane in the next six months.

A proper package holiday should ensure gold-plated consumer protection (PA)

Q I understand we can’t travel at the moment and that everything is subject to change. In terms of placing a deposit for a holiday, that I appreciate we may lose or have to change, do you have a view on the best insurance for Covid consequences?

Jacqueline B

A The best policy for ensuring that you do not lose out financially from a future holiday booking is unconnected with traditional travel insurance. Instead it is simply a matter of booking a proper package holiday. By doing so, you qualify for gold-plated consumer protection in the shape of the Package Travel Regulations 2018.

To save you having to read them let me simply state: a package involves buying flights and accommodation in a single transaction. And the law says either you should get the holiday you booked, or a full refund. The tour operator (that’s the holiday company that puts the trip together) takes the risk that government action or other causes may lead to the package being cancelled. If it is, a full refund is due to customers within two weeks. If all you have paid is the deposit, you will certainly get that back.

How, you may reasonably ask, can you be sure of booking such a precious commodity? The easiest way is to talk to a human travel agent, who despite everything are continuing to trade – though with many of their bookings for 2022 rather than this year. They should be able to confirm that the arrangements you are considering do comprise a package.

If you prefer to book online, take care. In theory, flights and accommodation booked through an online travel agent (OTA) should comprise a package, with all the protection that status bestows. But the coronavirus pandemic has revealed some interesting interpretations of the regulations by OTAs, with some customers losing money for the flight component.

Recognised and reliable travel companies such as Tui, Jet2 and Virgin Holidays have good websites – though make sure you go to the official sites rather than getting inadvertently diverted.

Finally, when you have made a choice, you can shop around for travel insurance – though personally I would not fret too much about Covid cover.

Email your questions to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder