Tomorrow will be my 950th flight ever! I am zipping up from Sydney to Bangkok with Qantas on one of their A330s. Although to be honest, the 330 is one of my least favourite of the Airbus family (along with the 320). This will be my 17th time at Bangkok airport. My Bangkok plans include the Amphawa Floating market, south of Bangkok. Thailand’s rivers and canals were used by farmers to transporting their produce by boat to the cities where they traded. Today’s floating markets are not quite the same but still a vibrant fun experience. Also off…
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Qantas/Emirates: Positive, Negative, Alternative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJmj_KgH_x8 With a spectacular flyover Sydney by two Airbus A380s, the Qantas/Emirates “partnership” was officially “birthed” a week ago. Announced in July, 2012, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce claimed this was the most important deal in the 92 year history of the airline. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission gave final approval for the alliance after deciding that the deal will not lead to negative effects for passengers. It however, rejected Qantas’ argument that its international operations face a ”terminal decline” without the Emirates alliance. There are lots of pluses for Qantas passengers but I have yet to…
The T shirt that stopped a plane (almost)
The 1987 Film: The Princess Bride is considered to be one of the funniest films ever made. It is number 50 on Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies,” and 46th on Channel 4’s Fifty Greatest Comedy Films list. It is regarded as a cult film by millions around the world who have seen it multiple times. The film contains many memorable lines. One of which is oft repeated: “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”. This phrase has been nominated by the AFI as one of the world’s most memorable movie quotes ever No one gave that information to…
The 28 airlines I have flown- that have gone
I was shocked to discover that of the 82 airlines I have flown, 28 are no longer in business! Who are they and what happened? Air Australia (2012) undercapitalised and badly planned, meant this carrier flew for only 3 months Aloha Airlines (2008) September 11, a contracting Japanese economy, intense competition between four airlines across Hawaii all impacted on Aloha Ansett (2001) I flew this airline 50 times before their Air New Zealand owners shut them down Australian Airlines (1993 and 2006) merged into Qantas, revived as a leisure brand and then scrapped in favour of…
My Top Airlines for 2012
This last year, I flew 121 times for a total distance of 331,127km (205,753 mi). This is eight and a quarter times around the earth. I was inside planes for a whopping 19 days of the year. Some airlines made my time with them a delight – and some made it not so fun. I rate each flight I take for every factor from Booking to Check-in to deplaning. and keep a tally of my rating using Flightmemory.com. The scores averaged out give me the ranking of flights, airlines and airports. I have placed my score for each airline…
Virgin Australia’s Next Move
The Australian airline industry has become like a giant game of chess. Virgin Australia 18 months ago, upped the ante with a dramatic series of movies including new planes, refurbished cabins, a business class product and expanded lounges. These changes began in tandem with new partnerships with Delta, Air New Zealand, Singapore and Etihad which plugged the airline into a worldwide network for a much reduced cost. The aim was to poach as many of Qantas customers as possible. Qantas responded by forming a major alliance with Emirates. This threw the gauntlet down again. I have been…
Qatar joins One World
To no one’s surprise, One World announced today that British Airways will sponsor Qatar Airways as a full member of the Alliance, a process that is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. This news is an interesting addition to the One World. The 13 airline strong alliance will count amongst its membership three five star airlines (as measured by Skytrax) : Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar compared to Star Alliance’s two: Asiana and Singapore. One World lost two members when Malev collapsed in 2012 and Mexicana was grounded in 2011. Kingfisher, a would be One World members has had significant financial woes – to…
Mid East Air Alliances: Emirates, Etihad, Qatar
The recent Qantas -Emirates partnership agreement seems to be having a flow through effect with two major announcements today. One World Alliance has been set for a week now to announce a “significant membership development” today in NewYork. The alliance includes American Airlines, British Airways/Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN and Royal Jordanian. The shortlisted options are: Qatar Airways or Emirates. In the meantime, Etihad snuck in their own announcement today with a wide sweeping relationship with Air France-KLM. Etihad’s a major code-sharing arrangement is between itself and 30% owned Air Berlin (itself a new member of One World with Air France-KLM), a Skyteam founding member The code-sharing agreement is seen as…
Trip Report: Qantas 93: Melbourne to Los Angeles
Booking 8 out of 10 I actually started my flight in Auckland, New Zealand. The fare for Auckland-Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne-Los Angeles was actually $A1000 less than the fare for Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne. Combining two New Zealand trips in was easy for me. The Qantas website easily worked out the multi city fare and came up with a better fare than Expedia.com or Webjet or Kayak could find. Sometimes looking at the airline’s website can be a bonus. Trying the same search with Virgin Australia online was not possible. Seat selection was easy. All the preferred seats were gone, These included the…
Crazy Week
Two things about this week: The first is I have a crazy schedule: five US cities in five days with flights from Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia. Will be flying Qantas, United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest. The second is that I will fly the 900th flight of my life! Sadly, not a very exciting flight on a Delta connection to Richmond, Virginia. Check out my flight memory which tracks where I have flown. I have now flown over two million kilometres (1.2 million miles). That is almost 53 times around the world! Related Posts Two Million…
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