I have just used Kayak to research a flight: Austin-Pittsburgh-Boston. The best option price and schedule- wise was an American Airlines/USAir combo sold by American Airlines for $US357.60 in Economy. Kayak gave me a link to American Airlines which I clicked on. This deposited me on the onto the American Airline homepage (www.aa.com). I entered all my personal data and scrolled through to payments page where I entered my Credit Card details including address. I discovered, at this point that there was not a drop down box for “Australia”. I could enter “USA”, “Canada” or the “UK” but not “Australia”. So I called…
Fry Tweets Qantas A380 Failure
British actor and Tweetaholic Stephen Fry was en route from Sydney to London today aboard a Qantas A380 operating as QF 31. Four hours out from Singapore, the plane was diverted to Dubai due to engine problems. Bizarrely one year to the day since a Qantas A380 Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine shredded in what could have been a disaster for that airliner. Fry kept us entertained with a blow by blow account of today’s situation which a Qantas spokesperson said was not connected to last year’s issue (Oh yeah? how d they know?): 82 stephenfry: Taking…
More on Qantas: Reaction to the Grounding
Roy Morgan has released results, from their regular phone poll survey of public opinion in Australia. Som key feedback from the Australian public suggets that respondents were: more inclined to blame management (56%) than the unions (42%) for the shutdown overall disapproving of the shutdown with 61% against it and 35% approving wanting federal government sooner (64%) -with 32% disagreeing This suggests that the Qantas Board and Management have a long row to hoe to get Australians to support their move and new directions.
Qantas is Back
21 days of compulsory negotiations between unions and company to follow. I will be interested in the outcomes! What the unions want: Transport Workers Union: 5 per cent pay rise per year, with an additional 1 per cent in superannuation (pension payments) protected against a rise in CPI. The Australian and International Pilots Association: 2.5 per cent pay increase, each year, for three years Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association : 5.33 per cent pay rise to cover wages plus additional allowances, every year, for three years. This, however, is not what the real issue is about. Qantas announced recently the…
Qantas and the Unions- Desperate Dejavu?
My friend Leanne has been planning her Italian holiday for 18 months. She was flying out tomorrow with Qantas. Not anymore. In a move thats bizarre, risky and inexplicable, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce told a news conference in Sydney, Saturday: “We have decided to ground the Qantas international and domestic fleets immediately,” Joyce said. How often does an airline shut down all of its operations? 108 planes grounded. Those in the air landed at their destinations. The rest are not going anywhere. On Monday the entire staff will be stood down without pay. There are seventeen…
Who gets BMI?
I have always liked British Midland (BMI) and its various incarnations. Owned by Lufthansa since 2009, the loss making BMI is now up for sale. I really hoped Virgin Atlantic would be the buyer of BMI or a Virgin/ Etihad combo would hop in with an offer. Vigin have had an interest in BMI off and on since 1999. The Virgin and BMI route networks would mesh well. Etihad are clearly looking for expansion by takeover. The major issue is that BMI is losing a lot of money. Virgin and its 49% owner Singapore, would not be keen to…
Delta & Korean -When an Upgrade means Downgrade
Skyteam* allow members of one airline’s Frequent Flyer program to use Miles from that airline to upgrade from Economy to Business Class on international flight itineraries of most of the other airlines in the alliance. I thought I would test this out travelling from Seoul, Korea to Los Angeles on Korean Air‘s A380. I wanted to do it in Business Class- without paying Business Fare! I planned to use my hard earned Delta Skymiles to get the upgrade. The catch is that to be eligible for an upgrade, my ticket would have to be a certain fare code.…
Flight Number 90
Last year, 2010, I flew 90 times and vowed to reduce my flying for 2011. I don’t think I set a realistic resolution. Today I flew my 90th and have multiple more flights waiting. Interestingly, I have flown almost 38 000 km (25 000 miles) further this year and spent about 68 hours more inside aeroplanes.
Tuesday Trip Report: Royal Brunei
Long been curious to try Royal Brunei. Due to a quirk in my schedule, I got the chance to last week. Even though it involved two stopovers, their flight got me out of London and into Melbourne at a time that fitted my schedule. My first Royal Brunei sector was actually the 787th flight of my life. I had hoped for a flight on the 787 but the timing didn’t work. (For those who have been following, I flew my 737th on a Southwest 737, 747th in a Qantas B747, then United for 757, Qantas for 767…
Qantas-Anyone worried?
As a Qantas very frequent flyer, I am watching Qantas in disputes with three unions. There is the classic “blame the management” by the unions and the classic “blame the unions” by Qantas spokespeople. For passengers, there’s inconvenience of cancelled flights. For the tourist industry, theres a fear of loss of passengers at this crucial time. For Qantas there is presumably the economic impact of revenue losses. I am interested that Virgin Australia is adding capacity to cope and advertising special fares. Since their conversion from discount to full service carrier, they have apparently snared 13 per cent of the Australian…
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