Economy Class & Beyond

Video Saturday – Come Fly with me: The Story of Pan Am

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It's Saturday, and its time for something different as its the end of the month. I've been scouring the interwebs for interesting things, and found another great documentary that was broadcast on the BBC shortly before the Pan Am series played for its one season. This is the story of Pan American Airways, telling the start with the story on Juan Tripp -from the highs of … [Read more...]

Ryanair loses Volcano ash case – more fare rises on the way

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Everyone's favourite airline - Ryanair - has a case at European Court of Justice, where they should had compensated a passenger who's flight was cancelled due to the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupting and spewing ash into the sky. During that time, planes that had to traverse through the ash cloud had their services scrubbed, with major cancellations. Ryanair argued at … [Read more...]

Iberia mangment and unions fall out – strikes ahead

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After a short period to negotiate, Iberia and its unions have once again fallen out over job cuts, with 5 days of continuous strike action to take place. No date has currently been set, although it is expected to take place in the 2nd half of February. The Unions rejected a plan that would cut the initial 4500 job cuts to 3,147, 30 percent,  lower wage reductions and … [Read more...]

oneworld elite benefits to improve for Emeralds

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oneworld is to improve some of its elite benefits for oneworld Emerald members - and for once these enhancements are actual enhancements to the programme Effective Midnight 1st February 2013, the new benefits take effect: Extra Bag above the limits of your ticket - either an either one additional item where the piece concept applies, or an extra 20 kg (44 lbs) where the … [Read more...]

Boeing goes on the defensive again over 787 batteries

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Boeing it seems is on the full defensive on the use of Lithium-Ion Batteries in its 787 Dreamliner plane in a rebuttal from Elon Musk (of Tesla Cars and SpaceX) who states the batteries shipped to Boeing are "fundamentally unsafe". As you're all aware, the 787 Dreamliners are all sitting on the ground after two battery incidents with the aircraft. In the FlightGlobal … [Read more...]

WiFi at London Underground stations – now chargable (but not TOO expensive)

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In Summer 2012, Virgin Media and London Underground rolled out a programme to introduce WiFi at London Underground stations. Well, the roll-out is mostly there, and in the first instance - it was offered free of charge. The free-for-all period has now come to an end, and now comes the part we all hate... paying. If you're on one of the following UK Mobile networks, you … [Read more...]

Scoot to deliver streaming In-Flight Entertainment

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Scoot-  the long haul low cost off-shoot of Singapore Airlines is making a very move. The airline currently offers In-Flight Entertainment via iPad's, and is expanding their offering onboard using a service called "ScooTV". The service is a streaming media service - think like Youtube/NetFlix/LoveFilm/BBC iPlayer service rather than an iTunes/Google Play service where you … [Read more...]

A Last Star Fling? So… No More Star Alliance for me?

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A Last Star Alliance Fling? To Chicago with United Airlines and Air Canada LHR-IAD-ORD, ORD-YYZ-LHR So... No more Star Alliance flying for me? Index: An Apology and The Introduction To London Heathrow, BMI Lounge, Star Alliance Lounge United UA923 London Heathrow – Washington Dulles International TSA Shenanigans, United UA221 Washington Dulles to … [Read more...]

Air France to introduce “Hop!”

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It seems airlines are in the mood to set up airlines within airlines, with Air France-KLM group setting up a new subairline called "Hop!" Hop combines the Regional Services offered by Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair under one banner with a jaunty exclamation mark, operating 530 daily flights, serving 104 destinations (32 destinations for Air France) with a fleet of 98 … [Read more...]

A Last Star Fling? Homeward Bound

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A Last Star Alliance Fling? To Chicago with United Airlines and Air Canada LHR-IAD-ORD, ORD-YYZ-LHR Homeward Bound. Index: An Apology and The Introduction To London Heathrow, BMI Lounge, Star Alliance Lounge United UA923 London Heathrow – Washington Dulles International TSA Shenanigans, United UA221 Washington Dulles to Chicago … [Read more...]