I love the sounds of an aeroplane. The roar of the engines, the bang of the wheels retracting, the motors running that extend the wing flaps for take-off and the wind whistling past etc etc Of all the aircraft noises I hate the most, it’s the sound of slamming overhead bin doors! Some passengers, some airlines and some cabin attendants get it right. Others don’t and there is a cacophony of slamming hatches. Its fast and supposedly efficient -but irritating. Slam! Slam! Slam! Slam! To keep me happy: With one hand, hold the latch open.…
What do you think of Chinotto?
Whenever I visit an Italian restaurant, I enjoy drinking Chinotto. Chinotto is a carbonated soft drink made from the juice of the fruit of the myrtle-leaved orange tree This tree is believed to be a mutation from the sour orange. The result is a dark coloured drink which looks similar to Coca Cola but with a completely unique bitter-sweet taste. The main brands of Chintto are • San Pellegrino, who claim to have invented the drink in the 1950s • Bisleri in Australia • Fanta Chinotto in Italy • Fanta Amara in Malta • Kinnie…
Flying Air Asia Soon
In my airline ranking of last year, I placed Air Asia in my worst airline list. This caused some controversy! Air Asia are one of the world’s fastest growing carriers operating to 88 destinations in 26 countries from its base in Kuala Lumpur. Originally started in 1996, they were taken over by current CEO Tony Fernandes in 2001. They have the world’s lowest operating costs of any airline and have been awarded one of the world’s best low fare carriers by Skytrax in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009. I have not flown them this year…
No 787 answers
The investigation led by the U.K’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch into the fire on the Ethiopian Airlines 787 in London is continuing. Initial indications suggesred the fire began in the area of the Emergency Locator Transmitter ( (ELT). Inspections have been made subsequently, on the Honeywell manufactured ELTs across the 787 fleets. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Transport Canada, the aviation regulator iin that country inspected one of the Honeywell facilities that manufacture the ELT, near Toronto. Unlike many of the advanced technological features on the 787, the ELT is a standard off…
Etihad takes on JAT
The four key middle Eastern carriers have developed very different expansion strategies: 1. Emiraes have largely gone it alone with only one major partnership: Qantas 2. Qatar are joining One World alliance 3. Turkish have used their bridge between Asia and Europe 4. Etihad are expanding via equity stakes in other airlines Now Etihad have taken on the Serbian airline JATAirways which will be renamed Air Serbia on October 1. Etihad have: acquired 49 per cent of JAT-the Serbian government owns 51pc matched a $US40 million cash injection by the government agreed to put another…
Cheap Flights, Cheap flights, Cheap flights
Following my post about Ryan Air and Aer Lingus last week, I was reminded of the fun song by Fascinating Aida: Cheap Flights. See if you recognise the situations! Be warned! Some strong language! We recieved an invitation in the post one Monday morn’ To attend our cousins wedding in the town where we were born The do was back in Kerry; so wishing to be frugal We trawled the ‘net to find some decent travel deals on Google Cheap flights, cheap flights, cheap as they can be, Bedad we found an airline selling flights…
Rethinking Hotel Clubs
I have a wallet full of Hotel Loyalty Clubs. I have a philosophy that if the program is free to join and I am going to be staying in the hotel anyway, I join. I then get my bright shiny cards and take them with me on the road. In the USA in 2010, there were almost 2.1 billion Hotel membership cards floating around the wallets, pockets and drawers iof travellers. A study by Deloitte in the US with 4000 travellers found there that only eight per cent of travellers stayed loyal to one hotel brand. Of high frequency travelers, almost 42 percent…
Renfe train Crash Spain
I have always been a huge fan of trains and fascinated by the high speed options now in existence across the globe. The long term high speed rail operators of the world: France’s SNCF and Japan’s National Railways have enjoyed an excellent safety record.For example the JNR Shinkansen service has had no fatalities caused by derailments or collisions in its almost fifty years of service whilst carrying seven billion passengers. The French TGV has not recorded a single fatality due to accident while running at high speed over the last 32 years. The rail accident that is the…
787 fire update- is the plane troubled?
The jury seems divided between those who see Boeing’s 787 as a plane experiencing teething problems or an aircraft that is “doomed”. The media headlines have described the plane as “plagued”, and even “troubled”. This week, US aviation regulator, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published an airworthiness directive advising all carriers to remove Honeywell emergency locator transmitters (ELT) from their 787s. Last week, the FAA suggested airlines should inspect the units on their 787s for pinched wires in the casing and/or evidence of heat or moisture. United Airlines is the only US carrier currently flying…
Another Stunt: Ryanair v Aer Lingus -Episode 586!
The soap opera that is the Irish airline war continues… On one side is the lean mean low cost carrier Ryanair that has grown since 1991 to be Europe’s biggest low cost airline. Last year it carried more passenger’s than Air France-KLM on its 300 planes flying to 178 destinations in 30 countries. Their plane pictured above right has an Irish harp on the tail. On the other is the 25 per cent Irish government owned Aer Lingus, the country’s flag carrier which has shrunk services, changed its European model to “low cost”, dropped Business…
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