I have stayed twice at the New York Hilton Midtown. The largest hotel in the city, it occupies almost an entire city block on Sixth Avenue, between West 53rd and West 54th streets. It has almost 2,000 rooms. From August, 2013 there will be no room service. Instead it will open a cafeteria-style restaurant called Herb n’ Kitchen which will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner. This follows other Hiltons that have done the same thing. Not that I would notice, having never ordered room service at any NYC hotel! With a whole city of amazing late night food…
Driving on the wrong side of the road
An endless source of discussion with international friends is the division of the world into countries that drive on the left and countries that drive on the right. Which side is “wrong”? For my US friends, Australia drives on the “wrong side”. We feel the opposite. My understanding is that up to the 17th century, all rode on the left. In fact, in 1300AD, Pope Boniface VIII stated that all pilgrims heading to Rome should keep left. Napoleon reversed this. Some say because he could. Others say because he was left-handed and others so he…
Picturing Air Routes
58,000 air routes cross the globe. Michael Markieta from Arup has developed a visualization of them. The result are beautiful images that look more images of galaxies.
Rating US airlines
As a regular flier, I like to rate who I fly with. I am not alone. Over 16,000 readers of Consumer Reports magazine reviewed 31,732 US domestic flights in February, 2013 for the Consumer Reports National Research Center. The carriers were rated by the readers on six dimensions: 1. Ease of check-in 2. Friendliness and responsiveness of cabin crew 3. Cabin cleanliness 4. Baggage handling 5. Seating comfort 6. In-flight entertainment The results were not a huge surprise as to where the eleven US carriers ranked. The ranking was very close to my own assessments…
Airbus drops 100 feet
What caption would you put on this picture? This picture taken by Alan Cross and published to Instagram has gone viral. The two Singapore Airlines flight attendants sit calmly after being ordered to their seats when their Airbus A380 (registration 9V-SKH) encountered severe clear air turbulence 90 minutes into a Singapore to London flight on 26 May. Behind them is a scene of devastation. Breakfast was just being served when the plane dropped 100 feet. Eleven people had minor injuries as a result of the turbulence. The flight SQ308 continued onto London and landed safely…
Airline Alliances -no future?
Regularly, a debate seems to emerge as to whether alliances have an on going future. The latest salvo from James Hogan, CEO of Etihad: “The traditional airline alliances have evolved into slow-to-respond, bureaucratic organisations which struggle to deliver added value to their member airlines, many of which are no longer compatible with each other.” Tim Clark, CEO of Emirates said in 2009: We see alliances as having significant anti-competitive elements and believe that our membership in one would be an artificial brake on our own business plans Willy Walsh of British Airways owner which is part…
What floor am I on?
At a shopping centre in Bangkok, I asked for directions to the lavatory “second floor sir” For a moment, I paused, as my brain processed the information: “when she said ‘second floor’ what does she mean?” The world is divided into different types of conventions regarding how to count the levels of buildings: 1. The Ground floor is numbered 1 and all subsequent floors follow. In this case my lavatory would be a short escalator ride up one floor. 2. The ground floor is labelled G, the floor above is 1 so my lavatory would be…
Lion Crash-Scathing report
Lion Air, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, have been the brunt of a scathing preliminary report following a crash on April 13 just off Denpasar airport in Bali of a brand new 737-800. The plane, had been delivered brand new to Lion Air in February, 2013 and had only 142 hours of flying time. It was found to be airworthy. Four of the 108 (101 passengers and seven crew) on board, were seriously injured in the incident when the plane hit the water and broke up. According to The National Transportation Safety Committee (Indonesia’s…
Slovenia’s airline up for sale -again
Facing the prospect of an international bailout, the Slovenian government will sell 100 per cent of Adria Airways d.d. and airport operator Aerodrom Ljubljana plus 12 other state owned companies.The carrier has been flagged for ale before -with little real interest. Be interesting if they will find a buyer for the airline this time around. Air Berlin has been rumoured to be interested-although one would think they would be focused on their own financial survival.
Branson fulfills his bet
I would have loved to be on board but I missed out on seeing Branson in drag action on Air Asia in response to a long time bet with Air Asias’s owner: Tony Fernandes. On the flight, Branson dressed in the Air Asia uniform complete with his trademark beard, fumbled the safety briefing and tipped orange juice into Tony Fernandes’ lap. For revenge Fernandes sprayed champagne over Branson in Kula Lumpur. I wasn’t quite sure what the Malaysian public will make of the images of Fernandes kissing Branson -all in a good day’s work to…
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