The news that Qantas has been devalued by two rating agencies to “junk status” filled many of us with dismay. In 2020, Qantas should be celebrating its 100th anniversary. Only two airlines: KLM and Aviannca are older. Qantas has survived the Great Depression, World War Two, 1970s hyperinflation and oil crisis, the Asian Financial Crisis, the bombing of the World Trade Centre, SARS and the the global financial crisis. It has outlived other Aussie competitors: Ansett (1935 to 2002), Australian National Airways (1936 to 1957), Compass (1990 to 1993) and East-West (1947 to 1993). Today,…
A parody on cheap airlines
This is a thinly disguised dig at Ryanair or Spirit Airlines Related Posts A friendlier Ryanair cuts fees Ten Worst Airlines 2012 Why is Ryanair so bad? Ryanair Boarding Pass Charge halted (for the moment) Website: I hate Ryanair to close
Burning down the house
Built in the 1850’s, the Lebeau Plantation was once the largest plantation south of New Orleans. It survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, two world wars and Hurricane Katrina. Located in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi, in its lifetime it has served as a ahome, hotel, casino and Sugar Festival grounds. The two-story Greek Revival mansion reportedly had 16 rooms — eight on each floor — separated by a grand hallway that was 13 feet wide and 40 feet long, Hyland said. A spiral staircase was located on the outside of the home…
All about Feet and Travel
A little bit of an unusual post this week. This is an important one, however. Love your comments/feedback. Before Travel Consider what shoes you will need. Are you going to be sitting around the pool? Exploring cities on foot? Attending dinners and functions? Practice walking in your shoes before you travel. Wearing your new sneakers on day one of a Paris walk is not a good idea! In the air Don’t take your shoes off during take off and landing. Wear closed in shoes that will protect your feet if you need to evacuate Avoid…
Non allocated Seating Dead?
In the early days of Low Cost Carriers, non allocated seating was the norm. With Ryanair’s announcement of allocated seating from February, 2014, there are few airlines that continue to offer it. Easyjet made the transition to alllocated seating last year. Jetstar did it in 2011. Air Asia followed on 2012. Southwest continue to offer it but their boarding system is now so complicated it may as well be a form of allocation! Now airlines (Low cost and full service) almost universally offer seat allocation on line. Some carriers charge a fee for advance seat…
A friendlier Ryanair cuts fees
Yes, you read that right! After being accused in 2013 by consumer group Which as the worst brand in the Uk and after years of being perceived that the airline is above addressing customer complaints, Ryanair have been introducing a whole raft of improvements. This follows chief executive Michael O’Leary’s comment to shareholders last September that it should scrap its “macho” image and eliminate things that “unnecessarily p*** people off”. Ryanair has a reputation for publicising very cheap fares while charging passengers high fees for a whole raft of things check in luggage and to…
Lost in Transit
As I lined up to withdraw from an ATM at Singapire’s Changi airport, I became aware of a disturbance . An elderly Sikh gentleman was clearly struggling to use the machine. Firstly, he did not appear to know how to insert his card. A young couple behind him showed him this. Entering the pin stumped him next. Dressed simply, in sandals, open necked shirt and a wrap and clutching an ID card, atm card and some cash, he looked vulnerable and out of place in this vast bustling mega airport. At this point, some of…
Yell No
In 40+ years of travel, I have only had one incident where I felt I could have been mugged. As I changed money at a Paris railway station, I realised I was being observed. Worse, the group of three followed me onto the metro and into my carriage. They then carefully watched me at each station to see when I got off the train. I spontaneously hopped off the train at a busy station just as the doors were closing. They jumped off too and trailed me down the platform to the exit. I turned…
2014 World Anniversaries
2014 marks 100 years since World War One. It is 75 years since World War Two and 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. How will you remember these events? Have we learnt from them?
Airlines that vanished in 2013
Twenty carriers disappeared in 2013 compared to twenty-six 2012 . Six of them were based in Eastern Europe/former USSR countries. Most of the carriers were small regional airlines with tiny fleets. Kingfisher of India was only one carrier that could have been considered major, although it has been some time since they were India’s largest airline. Nearly all of the airlinest that vanished are young but a few Evergreen, JAT, OLT Express and Ryan International are old names in the airline game. I thought Air Zimbabwe would finally vanish but they managed to get enough…
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