Economy Class & Beyond

FTA Awards: BMI wins a Special Recognition Award

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Those of you with long memories will remember GhettoIFE's home airline (before I switched to British Airways) of bmi  British Midland International, and the joy of BMI Diamond Club Why was it so filled with joy? It had great value redemptions, it was easy to earn miles, easy to obtain and retain status and apart from the ICC, it had one of the first social media outlets … [Read more...]

Well that could had been worse….

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And we learn that not all AA Y seats are the same. This is one row back from the seat I sat at last time on an AA 777. Just a TAD more space than last time. Now time to rest at my usual haunt for a while, before the madness of a Chicago weekend kicks in... … [Read more...]

IAG to firm up more 787’s

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International Airlines Group - the owners of British Airways and Iberia is planning to convert the 18 options it has for Boeing 787 aircraft into orders. The 787's will be used in part to replace existing Boeing 747-400 aircraft in the British Airways fleet. Deliveries are scheduled from 2017 to 2021. Currently, IAG has orders for 24 787's - split into eight 787-8's and … [Read more...]

Air Samoa introduces “pay by weight”… Including how much you weigh…

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Samoa Air isn't that bigger carrier if I'm honest - covering American Samoa routes. However, it has introduced a new policy that will be watched by some airlines - paying by weight Now, we're used on some airlines to pay by weight of your luggage - but Samoa Air puts a new spin on this: the weight of your luggage and your personal weight. Rather than pay for a seat, … [Read more...]

1st April news: Virgin to launch Glass bottomed plane

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Well it wouldn't be the 1st April without some silliness, and today is no different. Apart from Google Treasure Maps, today Virgin Atlantic launches a Glass Bottom Plane. Virgin say: Today we've announced that our world-class engineering crew have been secretly working on the design and production of the world's first-ever glass-bottomed plane, created to ensure passengers … [Read more...]

Emirates to introduce fuel surcharges on awards

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It seems Emirates is joining the fuel surcharge party with awards. Fuel surcharges will apply to all awards in the Skywards scheme from 31st March 2013. You'll be able to pay the Fuel Surcharge in either cash or more Skywards miles and will form part of the taxes and surcharges. Emirates say: Until now, the surcharges have been excluded from Emirates Skywards reward … [Read more...]

A350 Watch: MSN1 gets engines

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From one new plane to another as we keep a beady eye on Airbus and the work going on with the upcoming Airbus A350-900. The good news is today that the first A350-900 - MSN1 has got a pair of flight ready engines, with the first one hung on it. Pictures are always good so lets have some: Ready to be hung Being installed onto the aircraft Slung onto … [Read more...]

787 Watch – Extended Twin Engines Operations to be limited?

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ETOP's - Or Extended Operations is an important thing for twin-jet engined airliners, as it defines the ability of an aircraft of an aircraft to be in range of an airport if one of the two engines fail on a aircraft. ETOP's rating can be found for both narrow-body and wide-body operations... such as the Boeing 787. According to … [Read more...]

Turkish Airlines to increase services to Edinburgh

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Turkish Airlines are preparing to increase their services to the Scottish capital. The current service operates 4 days a week between Istanbul and Edinburgh. This is due to a 5 day a week service from 31st March. The next jump to a 7 day a week (daily service) will be from 20th May. The route is operated by Turkish Airlines Airbus A319 and Boeing 737-800, with … [Read more...]