Which airlines have names for their planes- and why?

For centuries, sailing ships carried names, had captains, were Christened, experienced water salutes and had their left side referred to as port and right side as starboard. These traditions continued into the air but not all airlines name their planes . No one knows why some airlines in the world adopted the tradition of naming their “ships” and others did not.  When a plane is named, unlike ships, a bottle of champagne is not  broken when naming them, but when used, it is poured over the fuselage. Here are as many major airlines that I…

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4,000 hours of flying: 71 times around the earth

Stepping off my Malaysia airlines flight yesterday at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, I discovered that I have hit a milestone. I have flown  just over 4,000 hours in my life. According to Flightmemory, this is five and a half months I have sat inside tubes of metal. To be extra nerdy, I have flown the equivalent of 71 times around the earth or seven times the distance to the moon. Coincidentally, in the next month, I will celebrate a half century of flying. My first flight was, as a very young child from Kirkwall, Orkney…

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Hainan Airlines Cartoon Safety Video featuring Teapots!

This is one of the more unusual safety videos I have seen! I confess, I have still not flown Hainan so not seen their video on board. The “teapots” go off duty and go on holidays which includes their first time on a plane. They do everything wrong on the plane (luggage in the aisles, smoking on the lavatory, leaving electronics on, panic during a storm, brace inappropriately, take luggage off with them at evacuation etc) The video has one of the most graphic “emergency” situations, I have ever seen in a safety video.  …

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Priceline ditches Name Your Own Price Hire Cars

I was an early adopter of the Priceline Name Your Own Price (NYOP) for hotels. The deals that i got made me a huge fan for many years. For example, a Five star e suite in downtown San Francisco for $US99,  a Saturday night Chicago stay for $79 on a baseball game night and a beautiful Conrad Singapore four star stay during the Marathon, 500 metres from the start line for at least 66% off any rate I could find! Sure I did not get loyalty points for those stays but the price difference was…

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Air New Zealand Safety Video: Cool or Cruel?

I have been pondering about what to say about Air New Zealand’s safety video. On 28th November 1979, Air New Zealand flight TE 901 took off from Auckland for a sightseeing flight over Antarctica. Due to a computing error, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 slammed into  Mount Erebus a 3,794 metre (12,448 ft) volcano located on Ross Island. All 237 passengers and 20 crew were killed. This was followed by complex search and rescue mission and a bitter and complicated investigation. There was such grief in NZ as the small nation felt connected to the disaster…

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Qantas Spreads Aussie Culture through safety video

This year’s 2018 Qantas safety briefing goes further than the last ones. The safety briefings in 2016 and 2017 took us around Australia. Running for seven minutes, the video showcases how “far and wide the airline’s spirit goes” by taking viewers to global Qantas destinations with the soundtrack of “I still call Australia Home“. It also notes some of the Australian quirks that belong to the land downunder. The Introduction starts with young people saying farewell to their families at my home airport: Melbourne Airport before a pilot and crew welcome passengers aboard In New…

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World’s Most Popular Plane but I am not a fan 

The 737 concept first hit the drawing boards  back in 1964 and is now the world’s most popular aircraft having carried more than 22 billion people since that time. Right now, there is a 737 taking off or landing every one and a half seconds. Boeing handed over the 10,000th Boeing 737 ever made  to US Carrier Southwest Airlines (the world’s biggest 737  operator) this week. The event cemented their Guinness World record  for the most produced commercial jet, a distinction it has had  since  2006: Boeing says there are now about 4,645 of the Boeing…

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Thai Airway’s Beautiful new safety video

Just released. This is truly a work of art. It will grab my attention. Will it improve how people behave in an emergency? Thai Airways flies to 92 destinations with a slightly eclectic fleet of 82 planes including B787s, A380s, A350s, as well as B747s, B777s and A330s. I currently rate them at 92%.   The Verdict             Related Posts Laughing through the new British Airways Safety Video -for a good cause Airlines of Thailand receive key safety rating upgrade This year’s Heart Warming Heathrow Bears Ad makes eyes water-…

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The 20 Golden P and O Tickets don’t exist- Travel Scam Alert

People are sharing a competition on Facebook which supposedly means you can win A CRUISE for THREE people. Who would not want that? This is what it looks like… The deal is of course fake. The Golden envelopes are from the 2016 Oscars and contained the winner’s information for that year. The picture is a Los Angeles Times describing how the Oscars envelopes are made. When you follow the link and you add your name etc, you are giving your name details to a scammer. If you or your friends have shared it then you…

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Living with Social Media -Ten Commandments

I like Social Media (I am a blogger after all and am connected to Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!). It seems to me that there are lots of positives about Social Media connecting within friends,sharing ideas with many instantly etc etc.     There are also  four major negatives associated with Social Media for us users: 1. It is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE- social media companies have a financial incentive to create services that create compulsive behavior among their users. (Noting that I gain some income from the pages you visit on my blog) 2. It is…

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