Economy Class & Beyond

Another Aircraft Skids – Iran Air A300 comes off at Stockholm

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It seems that the skidding season is in full flow this year with an Iran Air Airbus A300 coming off the runway. Flight IR762 on Saturday 16/1 with service from Stockholm to Tehran, 149 passengers aboard, left the runway at low speed shortly after beginning its take-off roll, forcing the runway to be closed. No passengers or crew were injured, and the airframe itself … [Read more...]

Airplane p0rn – BMI A330 at Manchester

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It's Sunday again, so it's time for some more airplane p0rn.  This time another one from the archive, and one that will pass into history soon with a BMI Airbus A330-200 taxing for a Barbados departure from Manchester Airport. The A330 fleet was shifting in its entirety to London, where one will remain to serve the Saudi routes, and the remaining two will be returned to … [Read more...]

Maximing LHR-ORD – Part II – Segmentally Yours.

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Ok - I'm behind schedule (as usual) so here's part two of the LHR-ORD post. So you remember the numbers? Good.  I skipped Code shares for one reason - I wasn't willing to handle them at this juncture. BMI offer the UA flights of LHR-IAD-ORD and back for £362, with a £2 discount for going direct. CO is one who also offers cheaper fares - £330 on … [Read more...]

Baggage fees. Hint: They’re going up. Again.

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Airlines and Shareholder love more income. Alas, they're targeting the consumer once again with more baggage rises. A quick overview (Note if you have some sort of Elite Status with the airline or alliance, it will probably reduce these costs to nothing): United First Bag:  $25 at the counter,  $23 online for a US Domestic Second Bag: $35  at the … [Read more...]

Richard Quest on… Miles.

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Of course, there are wonder-people like Gary, Lucky and of course Randy Petersen, who are in the millions of miles. However, some of us are in the mere hundred thousands (or thousands in the case of some programs).  For those of us, we just muddle through. Although this space might get a bit more crowded thanks to increased perception through George Cluneys "Up in … [Read more...]

JAL: A Self Filling Prophecy?

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It seems banks and investors have made their mind up about JAL, with it's stock value dropping to ~7 yen per share, with people dropping out rapidly. It seems the offers from both American and Delta will be ignored, and JAL to head to bankruptcy with it's market value dropped by the hour. In related news, a new CEO has been selected for JAL by the Japanese Goverment -, … [Read more...]

More Snow, More Trouble…

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If there is one thing the british are obsessed with (and if you've been looking at this blog dear reader) is the weather. The UK has been gripped by another wave of snow, with London Gatwick closed to runway traffic to allow it to be cleared, London City closed due to poor visiblity, with Birmingham International right behind it (at time of writing) and London Heathrow … [Read more...]

BMI continues its downsizing stratagy – Kills off Dublin crew

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BMI is a funny old beast of an airline.  It launches into brand new markets guns ablazing, only to pull out less than a year later, or it kills routes at random. It's preferred method of doing this is to: Let Revenue management take over setting wild prices Realising no one want to travel because prices are to wild Cancelling the route citing load and yield … [Read more...]

JAL: Approching Endgame?

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JAL's shares have once again taken a nosedive as people fear it's heading into bankruptcy - even though American has increased its bid to $1.3 Billion and it's employees have voted to take cuts in the pensions scheme. With further cost cutting concessions - The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan will happily inject new cash - providing JAL goes bankrupt, … [Read more...]

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