Economy Class & Beyond

Airplane Art – Qantas Airbus A380 at London Heathrow

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It's Easter Sunday, so it must be time for some more airplane art. This week we have a Qantas Airbus A380 resting at London Heathrow as the evening turns into night, with the aircraft being prepared for its return trip back to Australia via Dubai. Qantas operate a fleet twelve Airbus A380 aircraft, used on its long haul network connecting Australia to the … [Read more...]

Medium Haul Rail Travel done right – The Chiltern Mainline Silver Train

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Trains can be much of a muchness in the UK, with train operators moving away from the ideas of comfort to the point where they  densifying them to a point where an airline executive would thin "Maybe that's a touch tight". Recent express and long haul stock have done not a lot to change this impression. Chiltern Railways some time ago tried to change their game with some … [Read more...]

Virgin Atlantic take over Manchester – New York JFK route

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In an interesting turn, Virgin Atlantic will be taking over the full operation of the Manchester to New York route from Delta, with the airline operating the full timetable from October onwards. Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300 taxing at London Heathrow Airport - taken from the Heathrow Control Tower , Image - Economy Class and Beyond Virgin Atlantic will operate the … [Read more...]

Its the Easter Weekend – so welcome to rail engineering works

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As we head into the long Easter weekend, the UK rail network responds in its usual way -  by closing parts of network to shut down in bits and bobs to allow engineering work. London Paddington Train Station - Image, Economy Class and Beyond Major works include Heathrow Express 14th and 15th April - Every 30 minutes 16th April - Every 15 minutes … [Read more...]

SNAPSHOT: British Airways 294 in World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)

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It’s time for another snapshot - this time featuring British Airways 294 in World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy). The Plane It's a Boeing 777-200ER. This one is refurbished compared to some of the Boeing 777s in the British Airways fleet. The Seat This time, I would be sat in World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy cabin) as opposed to World Traveller (Economy … [Read more...]

SNAPSHOT: American Airlines 47 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare

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Time for another snapshot - this time focusing on American Airlines 47 between London Heathrow to Chicago O'Hare. For those who haven't encountered how I do trip reports on this blog: Trip Reports - These are full deep-dive reports taking you deep into the passenger experience looking at the big things as well as the small things Snapshots - These are bite-sized … [Read more...]

ATR and Geven to introduce a new seat… and its a major improvement

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ATR have been working with Geven seating (their current major supplier) to introduce a new seat for the ATR42-600 and ATR72-600. And it's an important seat. Why? Let's look at current seat - this is pitched at 30" (although carriers do pitch it lower). This was introduced by Geven in 2011 - a long time ago in seating terms. The current ATR Seat by Geven ATR … [Read more...]

As United discovers the term “contrition”, competitors dig in….

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I'm sure you're all aware of United Airlines incident aboard United Express Flight 3411 on Sunday evening... and the resulting fall-out of it. It seems that United has discovered the term "contrition" with their latest press release Although it's taken near enough 48 hours to get that apology out into the world. Not ideal. Meanwhile, other airlines are taking the … [Read more...]

Re-examining the Stelia Aerospace Celeste seat – who’s buying it?

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A couple of years ago, I looked at a seat that was impressive in its space - the Stelia Aerospace Celeste seat. But no-one had touched it in terms of orders. And that has been a shame as it is an interesting premium seat. Until now it seems. Stelia Aerospace has refocused its plans, and have redesigned the Celeste seat it to be a regional business class seat for narrow … [Read more...]

British Airways and Iberia go for the slimline Recaro SL3510

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Last week at Aircraft Interiors Expo, a representative of Recaro revealed that they had landed an order from a big legacy airline for their SL3510. Sadly, they did not disclose it to me directly. Recaro SL3510 seats at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2016 - Image, Economy Class and Beyond In a press release, Recaro confirm that the next customers for the slimline SL3510 … [Read more...]