Qatar Airways

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Reflections on Gulf Air

This week I fly from the Middle East to Paris where I will be competing in the Paris Half Marathon.  Then I have a quick train trip to see friends in Amsterdam! See map below. Last week, I landed at my 195th airport in my life: Bahrain in the emptiest plane I have ever been on. It was an Etihad 777 from Abu Dhabi that I swear was 10 to 15% full. Crew said the large plane was used because it was transporting freight. Arrival at Bahrain  was frustrating because of the “security situation” (petrol bombs, tear gas, rubber bullets…

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Spanair no more

The end came quickly for Spanair and her people.- very quickly.   History Established in 1986 as a charter airline by Scandinavian airlines with a Spanish travel company, Spanair began scheduled international flights in 1991 followed by Spanish domestic flights in 1994.  Membership of Star Alliance came in 2003. Skytrax rated them a 3 star airline.   Spanair struggled to make money and in June, 2007, SAS announced it would sell most of its 94 per cent shareholding.  SAS failed to find a buyer, however,  and finally sold 83.1 per cent for a euro to the government of the Catalonia region in Spain in January, 2009. This region gave the…

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Trip Report: Air France A380

This is my sixth A380 trip having flown A380s operated by Singapore, Qantas, Emirates, Korean and Lufthansa. Air France was  one of the launch customers for the A380 in 2001, ordering 12. They got their first A380 in October, 2009. Booking:  10 out of 10 Upon searching for economy airfares from the USA to Europe and back, I found Air France was offering a sale on its Premium Economy product (Premium Voyageur) so I treated myself to that!  Booking, payment and ticketing was very straightforward. Unfortunately the very small premium economy cabin had only two seats left- both  in the middle section of the cabin. I like my window seat!…

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