This post is an update of my earlier post: Bye Bye BMI. Sector Aviation (previously known as Granite Aviation) successfully bought Scottish based bmi British Midland Regional Limited for £8 million cash from International Airlines Group (British Airways/Iberia). Handover was completed June 1. IAG inherited bmi Regional when it bought British Midland from Lufthansa earlier in 2012. This sale included all of bmi Regional’s fixed assets and long-term liabilities, including owned and operating lease aircraft. The carrier has 19 Embraers. Sector Aviation is led by Ian Woodley who is now Chair of bmi Regional. In 1987, Woodley founded Business Air. It became…
Wacky airline message for smokers
This Tweet caught my eye: @ardenbagni Love @WestJet #flightattendants. “This is a no-smoking flight. If you are caught smoking, we will ask you to leave the plane immediately.”
Travel Tip: Don’t Stress
‘Everything will be all right in the end. If it’s not all right, then it’s not yet the end … Don’t stress about travel. Its not worth it. Life is stressful enough. Things will go wrong with travel. – its inevitable. There are some things that can help: Time Leave enough time for your check ins etc. I add an hour to my check in time at Los Angeles compared to Melbourne Australia. Avoid flying on the day of an important meeting or wedding. Also choose flights with longer layovers. If you have the choice between 60 and 90 minutes, take…
United ditches Auckland-Houston
Remember the promise of a 787 flight from Auckland to Houston Intercontinental (IAH)? It was made by pre merger Continental. At approximately 11900 km (7400 miles), the new route was to be the longest from Continental’s Houston hub. I was very excited by this possibility. Houston is a much nicer airport than Los Angeles and the flight would get you into the heart of the USA. For me, Melbourne-Auckland-Houston-Philadelphia for example (as nightmarish as it sounds) is much more preferable than Melbourne-Sydney-Los Angeles-Philadelphia. Changing planes at Sydney is a hassle and in Los Angeles it is awful. The only…
The Interislander
Have a quick stopover in Wellington, New Zealand en route to the USA. I will be taking the Interislander ferry between the North and South islands of New Zealand. (To get to the airport in Melbourne, I will be taking bus and train. So on Thursday, I will manage bus, train, plane and ferry all in one day!) Am always excited to take the Inter- Islander. It is a stunning ride. When the water is calm, the trip is magic. When it is rough, it is shall we say more “challenging”.
Qantas -Back to or Ready for the Future
Of regular concern to me is the future of the airline I have flown the most with: Australian Flag Carrier: Qantas. The next step in CEO Alan Joyce’s Grand Plan for Qantas was unveiled last week. It came as the airline shut down its Melbourne maintenance base, eliminating over 500 jobs. From July 1st, 2012, Qantas will be split into four entities: Qantas domestic which has 65% of the Australian air market. This division will run Qantas’ engineering, catering and airport operations Qantas International which will control Freight operations Jetstar, the low cost carrier, which already operates as a separate…
Dad, look what was in my Teddy Bear
Anyone else seen this whacky situation? At Rhode Island airport, a TSA officer examining a child’s carry-on bag found pieces of a handgun hidden inside a stuffed teddy bear, a stuffed rabbit, and a stuffed Mickey Mouse toy. The pieces included the frame of a .40-caliber firearm, a magazine with two .40-caliber rounds, a firing pin and a slide. These would form a complete gun when re-assembled. The child’s father said he was “unaware” that the pieces of the gun had been nestled snugly within the plush bodies of his child’s toys. The father also stated that the…
Travel Tips
I get a lot of requests for travel tips, especially Money saving ones. From next Monday, I am going to share a travel tip each week. Feel free to send questions and/or suggestions! Thank you!
This Week: 28 May
I have not been inside a plane for three weeks! Consider, I have flown 45 times so far in 2012- an average of 10 flights per month. In 2012, I have covered 134 334km – three and a third times around the earth! 14 airlines flown to 11 countries! One week of this year has been spent inside planes! In contrast, for the last 21 days, I have had no check ins, no lounges, no safety briefings and no plane food! This has been almost a shock! This will change with an…
Not Wanting the Cheapest Fare?!
As a Qantas Frequent Flyer, there are some categories of American Airlines Coach tickets that earn me points and status credits. These are: GLMNSV Discount Economy and BHKY economy. Other fare classes do not earn me any points or status credits eg OQ. I don’t overly care about the points but Status Credits are important to me as I want to keep my priority check in, higher luggage allowance and lounge access. Often the difference in price between a Q and a N fare is very, very slight but the outcome is,of course, very different. The obvious…
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