Economy Class & Beyond

Archives for November 2011

If 52,500 miles can get you to Hong Kong, 105,000 miles can get you back….

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An image will help you out here ;) Now for those of you needing a Wednesday afternoon fun task, I've done some colouring in for you. All you have to do... is guess the airlines. No prizes - other than bragging rights ;) ** UPDATE ** And well done to Jim who guessed the carriers BHX-FRA = Lufthansa AG FRA-HND-HKG = All Nippon Airline HKG-ICN = Thai Airways International … [Read more...]

UK Border/Public Sector Strike – Update II

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Well for those who are going through UK Border, this is turning into a damp squib of an action. Reports indicated that 2/3rds of immigration desks are open at London Heathrow and Gatwick, with other ports of entry suffering only minor delays. Or to quote The Telegraph's Neil Tweedie: Here in terminal 3 at Heathrow and the passport hall is a picture of tranquillity. 21 … [Read more...]

UK Border/Public Service Strike update

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Well the picket lines are manned and the public sector strike action day is under way. So lets see if this is a damp squib, or if HM Government have been overstating the matter. Again. According to the BBC, Take-offs and landings have been mainly unaffected at London Heathrow and London Gatwick with a few minor cancellations. Staffing at the border appears to operating at … [Read more...]

Those Air Passenger Duty Numbers in Full.

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Well here it is - the ugly numbers that Chancellor George Osborn and his flunky Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander will be asking you to pay if you choose to depart the United Kingdom on a flight out of the country:  2011 Economy  2011 Premium 2012 Economy 2012 Premium Band A 0–2,000 miles from … [Read more...]

The UK Autumn Budget Statement and How It Will Impact you the traveller

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Well as the dust from the UK Autumn budget statement there's a few things to take away from the statement. Air Travel Air Passenger Duty rises CONFIRMED. "Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates will increase from 1 April 2012, as set out at Budget 2011. The Government will also proceed with the extension of APD to flights taken aboard business jets, effective from 1 April … [Read more...]

** BREAKING ** American Airlines files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

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Breaking from The Wall Street Journal and American Airlines itself, AMR - the holding company of American Airlines and American Eagle has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. Quickly reading it, AMR is doing this to restructure its costs and debt to assure it's long term survival, and thus, has filed Chapter 11. AMR intends to operate all services through the … [Read more...]

UK Border Agency/Public Sector Strike 30/11 – It’s on

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Well with the Unions and Government itching for a smack-down fight, lets do a quick round of up of the facts thoughts, and damn lies Truths: Most public sector agencies will be down heavily tomorrow (30/11) due to a strike against the changes to the public sector provisions. This includes parts of Local Government, Schools, parts of the NHS, and the UK Border … [Read more...]

A380 Update: Thai Airways International first A380 goes into final assembly

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Lets have some nice pretty looking aviation news, and it's from Airbus who have released a picture of the first Thai Airways International Airbus A380 entering final assembly. Image - (c) Airbus SAS 2011. Now I don't know about you, but that Purple on the tail fin does look very pretty indeed (and I do like the colour scheme they've chosen for the "re-brand"). I'll look … [Read more...]

What’s that skippy? An iPhone ‘exploding’ inflight?

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News from Australia with an iPhone that was being a bit temperamental. Regional Express (REX) were operating a flight Lismore to Sydney, and after landing, the Apple iPhone4 decided to emit what REX calls "significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow" It seems however the flight attendant was on the ball, extinguishing the device before it could do any … [Read more...]