He was 6’4 and sitting in the cramped row in front of me in the middle seat on an American Airlines flight. After the drink and “meal” service, he stood up and moved to the centre of the plane. There he stood in the aisle reading a paperback book. After 45 minutes, the person in the aisle seat next to where he was standing told him loudly: “you are creeping me out. Please go back to your seat.” The man moved forward one row of seats but continued to stand in the aisle reading his book until just…
US Airways A319: Spokane to LAX
Getting from Spokane to Los Angeles on a Sunday after Bloomsday, a major running race in Spokane, was not as easy or as cheap as I would like. My options were fairly limited as I had to fly out after the race had finished and get to LAX in time to connect to a flight to Australia. I could either travel with Frontier via Denver, Alaska via Seattle and US Airways via Phoenix. None very cheap! I chose US Airways which is a big step for me! I had studiously avoided them for years after some terrible flights. More recently,…
I just hit Two Million km!
Today’s flight with Virgin Australia from Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia tipped me over two million kilometres (1.25 million miles) travelled by aeroplane! This is a distance equivalent to 50 times around the earth. I have eaten, read, slept, chatted and worked for 16 and a half weeks of my life in the air. I record all of my 857 flights at Flightmemory.com. This database allows me to keep all of my flight information in one place and print maps based on the data. In case you think I am completely geeky,…
Bloomsday 2012
For the last few years, I have run in the annual Bloomsday race in Spokane, Washington. It is a 12 kilometre (7.5 mile) event that starts and finishes downtown. The course includes several stretches of running alongside the river, some sections through suburbia and one of the toughest hills in the world for a run. Spokane has made this event, in my mind, one of the best foot races I have done on the planet. It is very well organised and the people of the My results this year were a Finish Time: 1:09:09 and an overall place out of 47,841…
73 A380s in service
There are now 73 A380s in service worldwide with 7 airlines: Air France has six. Here is my January 3, 20112 review of their A380 Premium Economy Product which I scored at 78% China Southern has three. I have not flown their plame yet Emirates has 22. Review AKL-SYD September 30th, 2010 -Economy – My score: 92% Korean is up to five. My December 27., 2011 review of Economy scored them 86% Lufthansa is flying eight. See my October 11, 2011 review of Lufthansa‘s A380 Economy 80% Qantas has 12 of the planes. My rating of their A380 Premium Economy gave them 87%. No review yet. Singapore…
Air India 787 kicks off SC plant
This week, the first Boeing plane made outside the state of Washington since World War II* rolled off Boeing’s new assembly line in Charleston, South Carolina for delivery to Air India. Another three 787s will be built at the plant this year – all for delivery to Air India. Boeing, are aiming to build 10 787s per month by the end of 2013, with three produced each month in South Carolina. The current 787 production rate is 3.5 per month so they have a little way to go. Everett also will be focussing on the rollout of the 737NEO.…
Bye bye BMI
I have always been a huge fan of British Midland. Yet, sadly, they are yet another example of “A great airline but a lousy business”. British Midland Airways were born the year I was: 1964. They operated out of Manchester. In 2001 they became BMIBritish Midland and then just BMI in 2003. Ownership of the airline has always been vexed. SAS, BMI Chairman Michael Bishop and Lufthansa have all had involvements. Lufthansa has been full owner since November, 2009 and has lost a chunk of money on BMI (eg 285m euros of losses and disposal fees in 2011). In…
Zimbabwe gets domestic flights back
In my April blog post, I thought Air Zimbabwe maybe was gone for good. I did foreshadow though that: the Government formed a new State-owned company, Air Zimbabwe Pvt Ltd, dissolving Air Zimbabwe Holdings i the Transport Minister announced that they had leased an A320 for use on regional routes staff had begun re training Now we know. Air Zimbabwe have announced that they will be flying between Harare, the capital and Bulawayo, the country’s second biggest city and Victoria Falls, probably, the country’s top tourist destination. Four days a week. And they need a…
The D36 Connection
My flight from Miami to Dallas (AA 495) departed out of Gate D36 at Miami Airport. My connecting flight from Dallas to Vancouver departs from Gate D36 at Dallas Fort Worth Airport. How often does that sort of coincidence happen? Someone can probably work out the odds! It had me bemused! Related Posts: Buenos Aires, Argentina Argentinean Altercations
Argentinean Airport Line Altercation
After my plane touched down into Buenos Aires airport, there was a rush forward of people determined to get off first! Seated in the first row of Economy (Row 20A on this American Airlines Boeing 777) meant I had a little head start. I walked quickly and was soon close to the front of all the deplaned passengers. (Immigration queues in many countries can be horrendous so I try to be as close to first in the queue as I can!). Upon deplaning, we walked up a steep gangway to a gleaming new terminal. More twists and turns brought us to…
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