Tickets will be auctioned off for charity for a special Lumpur to London Air Asia flight next May. The focus of the flight will be the sight of Virgin Atlantic owner Richard Branson wearing a female Air Asia flight attendant uniform and serving drinks. The reason for the dress is a 2010 bet between the two over which team would finish higher in a Grand Prix race. AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes Lotus team finished 10th and Virgin 12th. No doubt there will be plenty of photos! Will Branson be wearing his beard too?
12 Places to celebrate Christmas
Seasons Greetings from down under. If you are celebrating today, where are you doing it? Where would you like to celebrate it? Here are 12 options for next year. While, I have been to all of these places I have only had Christmas season in six of them. More on which six later! Quebec City, Canada – one of the most romantic cities in the world. At Christmas, it has a very high possibility of snow, giving you a white Christmas. New York, New York – this city does holidays well with shops full of amazing food,…
My 20 Top Travel Tools
Got a new smartphone? Wondering what apps to download? I am not sure how I travelled before the internet and my smart phone? Today I travel with a lot more information and a lot less paper. There are plenty of list of apps but they can be overwhelming. The first ten on my list are the apps and tools that I consider “essential” and the remaining are “very useful”. 1. Kayak.com Free: Web, iPhone and Android This is my favourite fare and hotel search engine. My only niggle is that Kayak have evolved from just a travel site to a seller…
The Mayans were wrong and we have had no End of the World!
Despite the fear mongering of some doomsdayers, the Mayan calendar date of 21 December 2012, did not mark the end of the world. Seems safe to say the world has not ended? Glad you are still with me! I am stunned to see Skyscanner saw a dramatic rise in one-way bookings to “safe” havens. Why do people get sucked in by this stuff?
2012 Airport Top Twenty
Having been to 203 airports now, I have a fair idea of what I want in a good airport. I want first of all an airport that is easy to get around with good signposting. Short lines come next. Being well connected to public transit is more important than parking for me. I do like the car rental outlets located close by and not a shuttle bus away. Talking of shuttle buses, I hate being bussed to and from a plane, so give me enough gates please. Clean well maintained airports get my attention and I do…
Lavatory Traps
I was woken up a worried mum frantically shouting at the nearby lavatory door whilst en route to Melbourne, Australia from Los Angeles aboard a Virgin Australia Boeing 777. The woman’s four year old son was trapped in the lavatory. He had locked the door and now could not work out how to unlatch the door. Half asleep, I pressed the flight attendant call button. A flight attendant was there in seconds. She unlatched door and four year old was rescued. How often does this happen? A year ago, pilot of Delta flight 6132, traveling from Asheville, N. C., to La Guardia New…
Qantas ditches Wifi???
Qantas latest decision has been to ditch on board wifi after a six month trial period. In the period March through November, Qantas installed wifi on some of their A380s. The service was was offered for a fee on flights between Australia and London/Los Angeles. The response rate from passengers was just five per cent and Qantas is pulling the pin. Qantas did not say what percentage of passengers would need to use wifi to make it viable. The Wall Street Journal calculated last December that only three per cent of passengers on commercial flights with WiFi actually opt to pay…
Qatar and United 787 Electrical Problem
Seems there is an issue with Qatar’s third 787. The plane just handed over to them on December 9 was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow after it developed a faulty generator. This follows a United 787 having a generator failure on Dec. 4 forcing a landing at New Orleans. Boeing is quoted as saying that it isn’t certain that it was an identical issue with a faulty generator. Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Air CEO was quoted as saying , “Definitely we will demand compensation. We are not buying airplanes from them to put in a museum.” The…
12:12:12:12:12
Its 12: 12 on 12:12:12. A once in a lifetime date. What are 12 things you want to accomplish in life?
Shenzhen Air joins Star Alliance -No One World for China?
Following the recent addition of Xiamen Airlines to Skyteam, Shenzhen Airlines China’s fifth largest carrier has joined the Star Alliance after 16 months of planning. Shenzen is based in the city of the same name, 1,940km from Beijing. The airline links 70 cities domestically and internationally. In 2010, the airline was involved in a scandal when it was found that about one hundred of its pilots had falsified their flying qualifications and experience. There is much speculation, as to whether all of these false pilots were successfully removed from the company. Almost all of China’s largest airlines are now locked into either Skyteam or Star Alliance. In contrast with the…
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