Wanting cigarettes, drunk 1 legged woman diverts plane

One wonders if some people should be allowed to fly? Thomson airlines may have second thoughts about letting one woman back on a plane after she threw food at their staff on a flight from Tunisia to Edinburgh on July 30. She then allegedly hit a child and attacked the cabin crew with her prosthetic leg which she had detached. Another passenger said that the woman was shouting “I want cigarettes”.  She then reportedly demanded a parachute to jump off the plane. The captain of Thomson Airlines flight 297 was so concerned that he diverted the plane to London’s Gatwick airport where police escorted her off the plane. She…

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Exraordinary Etihad deals from Australia

Tempted by this extraordinary deal from Etihad. Hot on their Australian status match promotion, the airline is offering ridiculously cheap fares to Europe and India from all Australian ports. I am trying to work out whether the airline has massive capacity or is trying to flex some muscle? For example, Sydney to Amsterdam or Paris or Rome or Zurich  for $A1230 round trip. The next cheapest price from any airline is around $1430 with Vietnam Airlines and China Southern, both of which take much longer to get you to Europe. The extraordinary bargain are the flights from…

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Tips for Copenhagen?

My 60th country will be Denmark which I will visit this September. Copenhagen, its capital will be the 182nd city of over 100 thousand people I have visited in my life. We are staying in the old quarter of the city near a metro station. The Tivoli Gardens, Little Mermaid, Strøget, and Christiania are the immediate attractions I associate with the city. What else should be on my list? Any other tips for Copenhagen?   Related Posts Visiting Myanmar Reflections and Advice Burma (Myanmar) Bound Any advice for Myanmar? My 58th country: Vietnam I visit…

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Snakes on the Plane

Today, the woman in front of me got called over for “special screening” at the security checkpoint. The officers were concerned about something in her bag. Turned out she had a large bag of candy which had not been sealed. There was candy all through her hand luggage. What had attracted the screener’s attention were the large candy snakes which were sitting at the bottom of the case!

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Etihad Free Gold Status match – for Aussies only

Etihad is trying to seriously wrestle Qantas and Emirates for some international traffic out of Australia. Until 6th August, they are have a deal to extend Gold status in their Etihad Guest” Frequent Flyer program to any Australian who holds Gold (or higher status) with any international airline but Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines.   Gold with Etihad gets you: 50 precent more miles on every Etihad flight access to business class lounges run by Etihad, Virgin Australia, Air Berlin, Singapore airlines and other carriers for the Gold card holder and guest 15kg additional baggage allowance priority baggage handling Business Class…

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The European Peace Walk (EPW)

It is 100 years since World War One. One means of commemoration is the opening of a  550-kilometre (323 mile) trans-national walkway through 6 European countries. The EPW will start in Vienna, the walk moves into Bratislava.  It then proceeds along the Danube into Hungary, then Croatia and into  Slovenia‘s famous wine region before heading downhill to end at the Mediterranean Sea at Trieste, Italy. On the morning of Monday 28th of July 2014, a group of 50 walkers will set about walking the full trail.   it will take them 23 days to arrive in Trieste in Italy.   Every day for 2 weeks, 50 new PeaceWalkers will leave Vienna for…

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Air Algerie flight down

What a weird week. I have just heard of the reports that Air Algerie flight ‪#‎AH5017‬ with 116 people onboard has crashed in Niger. The aircraft reportedly lost contact 50 minutes after take-off and is likely to be carrying many French passengers. The MD83 was  flying  from Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria and was operated by SwiftairS A . Swiftair is a Spanish airline which operates scheduled and charter, passenger and cargo flights in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.  This adds to a horror week in Europe with MH17, Asia with TransAsia 222 and now Africa. More people have died in plane crashes this week than…

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TransAsia Crash kills up to 50 [updated]

Not a good week for air travel. It has been reported that up to 51 people have died  and seven injured when TransAsia Airways GE222 made an emergency landing in post-typhoon weather conditions, ploughing into two homes in the village of Xixi, not far from Magong Airport on Penghu Island. The twin-engine turboprop ATR 72 was en-route from from Kaohsiung, a city in the south of Tawain to Penghu, an island archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan. There was heavy rain at the airport, the remnants of Typhoon Matmo which had earlier hit the island nation. There were 54 passengers and four crew members on board. Apparently, the pilot…

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Dubai Immigrant Workers Dance “Happy”

For those of who have been to Dubai, you will have seen the gleaming towers, spotless streets, stunning shopping malls and clean hotels. Behind all of this are an  estimated 7.8 million immigrant workers- 75 percent of whom are from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. There has been significant criticism of the working conditions of these workers. A charity that works with these workers is Smartlife Foundation, has a mission to “uplift the non privileged members of our community“. I  was taken by a video of the people they work with dancing to Pharrell ‘s – Happy. It really humanises the…

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