Ever locked your keys in the car or lost them? I had some friends lose my house keys recently. They tore apart their car looking for the keys (turned out they had been dropped behind a tree in the garden!). Imagine finding you had locked everyone’s luggage in a Boeing 747 and could not get it out?! This happened to Virgin Atlantic last week. Flight VS029, arrived from London into Barbados with 288 passengers. On the ground,staff tried everything (and failed) to open the rear hold door of the plane. Eventually. it was decided to take…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2012.
Tuesday Trip Report: Gulf Air
It has been over a decade since I last flew Gulf Air. Australia was a Gulf Air destination in those days. James Hogan (now at Etihad) was CEO and the airline had new A330s and new uniforms. It was in the middle of a major transformation. Its crews were very international and the airline felt like it was going places. A lot has happened to Gulf since with its major shareholders all setting up rival carriers including Etihad. Booking- 10 out of 10 I cannot fault the Gulf Air booking webpage. Worked quickly and logically…
What is Hot in Boston this week?
This week is mostly centred on the US East Coast starting in NYC, heading down to Philadelphia to see family, up to Boston and down to Pittsburgh. Any advice on what is hot in Boston this week? I will fly Jetblue (one of my favourite US airlines) from Boston to Pittsburgh, on an Embraer, one of my favourite aeroplanes. Watch for future blog post! Thanks for following along.
Japan- One Year On from Tōhoku Earthquake
Thoughts with the people of Japan, one year after the horrific disasters inflicted on their country: March 11, 2011. More than 19,000 people died or went missing in the natural disasters, which also destroyed more than 370,000 houses. “The devastating disaster has had an enormous impact on Japan’s inbound tourism. While many areas in Japan remained unaffected by the disaster, they are also suffering from the sudden decrease in international visitors,” Tadatoshi Mamiya, President of the Japan National Tourism Organisation The number of tourists visiting Japan in 2011 was down by 27.8 percent on 2010 , the…
Kingfisher highlights Indian air woes
The Indian air market is estimated to be the ninth largest in the world but with the population size the country has, the Indian government believes it will become the world’s third largest market by 202o. 87 foreign and five Indian airlines fly to and from India to 40 countries. Approximately five million Indians fly every month domestically. Domestic traffic more than doubled between Jul-2006 and July 2011, with growth of 101%. One reason for the growth was the deregulation of Indian domestic aviation in 2003- 2004 followed by international deregulation in 2007-2008 Today, India’s airlines have some of the youngest fleets in the world…
Wednesday Weirdness: Grumpy people
There are some grumpy people travelling sometimes. I pray that they are not me! It was 540am, in the Virgin Australia lounge at Melbourne airport. A passenger on learning from the check in agent, that his 615am flight to Sydney would be delayed by 15 minutes ripped into the woman serving. He said “why on earth is the second flight of the day delayed” She explained calmly that because of a massive storm in the Sydney area, Air traffic control had reduced landings into Sydney airport. He continued to rudely berate her, telling her it was not good enough and she should be ashamed…
Tuesday Trip Report: Etihad Internet On Board
I blogged last week about Etihad‘s newly wifi equipped planes. I did not think I would get one so quickly. I had the chance to use wifi on a flight between Abu Dhabi and London this week. I logged on with my cell phone. I found the wifi to very slow. I made a five minute Skype call, checked email, opened my Facebook and checked half a dozen posts. The service was not cheap and the cost for this browsing was $25. I would not do be in a hurry to repeat the experience unless the…
This Week: 5th to 11th March
One of those crazy weeks- five flights, three countries and five cities!
787 drawn across USA
I love this. Randy Tinseth, vice president, marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle shared in his blog that a 787-8 with GE engines, on an 18 hour 9,000 nautical miles Maximum ETOPS (Extended Operations) Duration flight test managed with its flight path to effectively draw the numbers 787 and then the Boeing Logo! Here is what it looked like. Related Posts See 787 handed over to ANA – LIVE
United and Continental – Married at last!
Once upon a time there was a USA airline that I really liked. Texas based Continental Airlines flew to 140 cities with an attitude to service I really liked. Between 1991 and 2001, I flew Continental the equivalent of two trips around the world. I ranked them consistently the best US “legacy” airline for a while In the same story was Continental’s beau- United airlines. I have long had a love hate relationship with them. Flew United a lot but don’t ever feel I really bonded – especially when they served me up some of the worst flights I have been on. I have travelled 103,586…
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