In the early days of Low Cost Carriers, non allocated seating was the norm. With Ryanair’s announcement of allocated seating from February, 2014, there are few airlines that continue to offer it. Easyjet made the transition to alllocated seating last year. Jetstar did it in 2011. Air Asia followed on 2012. Southwest continue to offer it but their boarding system is now so complicated it may as well be a form of allocation! Now airlines (Low cost and full service) almost universally offer seat allocation on line. Some carriers charge a fee for advance seat…
A friendlier Ryanair cuts fees
Yes, you read that right! After being accused in 2013 by consumer group Which as the worst brand in the Uk and after years of being perceived that the airline is above addressing customer complaints, Ryanair have been introducing a whole raft of improvements. This follows chief executive Michael O’Leary’s comment to shareholders last September that it should scrap its “macho” image and eliminate things that “unnecessarily p*** people off”. Ryanair has a reputation for publicising very cheap fares while charging passengers high fees for a whole raft of things check in luggage and to…
Lost in Transit
As I lined up to withdraw from an ATM at Singapire’s Changi airport, I became aware of a disturbance . An elderly Sikh gentleman was clearly struggling to use the machine. Firstly, he did not appear to know how to insert his card. A young couple behind him showed him this. Entering the pin stumped him next. Dressed simply, in sandals, open necked shirt and a wrap and clutching an ID card, atm card and some cash, he looked vulnerable and out of place in this vast bustling mega airport. At this point, some of…
Yell No
In 40+ years of travel, I have only had one incident where I felt I could have been mugged. As I changed money at a Paris railway station, I realised I was being observed. Worse, the group of three followed me onto the metro and into my carriage. They then carefully watched me at each station to see when I got off the train. I spontaneously hopped off the train at a busy station just as the doors were closing. They jumped off too and trailed me down the platform to the exit. I turned…
2014 World Anniversaries
2014 marks 100 years since World War One. It is 75 years since World War Two and 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. How will you remember these events? Have we learnt from them?
Airlines that vanished in 2013
Twenty carriers disappeared in 2013 compared to twenty-six 2012 . Six of them were based in Eastern Europe/former USSR countries. Most of the carriers were small regional airlines with tiny fleets. Kingfisher of India was only one carrier that could have been considered major, although it has been some time since they were India’s largest airline. Nearly all of the airlinest that vanished are young but a few Evergreen, JAT, OLT Express and Ryan International are old names in the airline game. I thought Air Zimbabwe would finally vanish but they managed to get enough…
A century of commercial airlines
On January 1st, 1914, the first scheduled US commercial airline flight using a fixed wing aircraft occurred. The passenger was Abram C. Pheil, the then Mayor of St. Petersburg. He flew to Tampa, Florida paying 400 dollars for the round trip ticket in a charity auction. Pilot Tony Jannus flew a Benoist flying boat for St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line taking 23 minutes for the journey at a height of five metres (15 feet). There were reported to be over 3,000 spectators at a parade accompanied by an Italian band at the departure point. Kermit Weeks…
2013 Worst Airlines
I upset some people with my 2012 list of the worst airlines. One reader wrote “Sorry you have no idea what you’re talking about.” Another defended Tiger Airways which I would consider to be undefendable: “what is your problem!?! …tiger is alite! [sic – I think meaning elite] u r exhaggerating these airlines! these are not bad. do not listen to this person! they r provided wrong information!” I beg to disagree! Having now flown 985 times on 89 airlines, I have seen the best and worst of customer service, products and safety. My flights…
Unhappy Passenger’s revenge
If you could not get a seat on a plane, what would you do? After begging Merpati Nusantara airlines for five hours to sell him a seat on a sold out flight from Kupang (Timor Island) to Ngada (Flores) on Saturday 21 December, an Indonesian district chief, Marianus Sae, got revenge. Mr Sae sent public order officers to drive cars onto the runway of Turolelo Soa airport to stop the plane landing at its destination. He said “blocking Merpati from landing at the airport would teach the airline a firm lesson.” Airport officials could not stop the…
Free Facebook on 7 US airlines
From January 1 to January 30 passengers on AirTran, American, Alaska Airlines, Delta, Frontier, United, and US Airways flights can use Gogo’s inflight Internet access to log onto Facebook for free. Air Canada passengers can also access the service. According to Gogo, after accessing the Gogo portal on an Internet browser, it is a matter of following a set of simple instructions to connect to Facebook. Related Posts US Airlines switch on PED devices
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