Economy Class & Beyond

Cathay Pacific considers removing IFE units to save fuel

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In an interesting move, Cathay Pacific is considering the removal of seat-back in-flight entertainment systems from its entire fleet. Why? To save weight and fuel IFE Systems add between one to two tonnes of weight on-board a plane. That weight has to be carried around where the plane goes, so more fuel is required.  Multiply that over a fleet of planes, and the savings … [Read more...]

Airbus introduces new seating idea… 2 small seats, 1 big one….

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One of the things I love about the A320 series in comparison to the Boeing 737 series is the personal space you have in the cabin. And we're talking seat widths here with Airbus cabin 7 and 1/2 inches wider that the Boeing equivalent allowing up to 18" wide seats installed in blocks of  two pairs of three. Well Airbus is pushing a new seating option for installation on … [Read more...]

Avois.com has an up to 30% bonus offer on purchases

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For those of you in Avios land, this is an offer that isn't great, but is reasonable if you're missing Avois. The offer is Buy Avios in quantities of 1,000 to 24,000  (in 1,000 Avois ) Image and data - Avios.com Whilst not great value at the lower levels, it improves after the 17,000 level and above. The Diamond Club offer of 20% more Diamond Club miles on … [Read more...]

LON-NYC… but which way?

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London to New York as we all know is one heck of a trafficked route with nearly every man and his dog trying to fly back and forth there profitably. Image - Great Circle Mapper Looking to the map and actual airports, here's a map of the routes - for once, I'm excluding anything that requires a connection The list: London Heathrow - New York John F. Kennedy … [Read more...]

Qantas in talks over its international division

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Qantas is having quite a bad tine of it, what with strikes, high fuel costs, the high-value Australia Dollar, and the reorganisation of the business into different units. So much so, Qantas has hired Macquarie Group and set up an internal team to advise on defending potential private equity bids, according to Bloomberg. Qantas seems to wish to move into commerical … [Read more...]

BMI – New Partners Award Chart

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The new award chart from BMI is out at https://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/loyalty-programmes/diamond-club/spending-miles/airline-partner-flights.aspx And it isn't pretty to say the least sadly. One way segments are allowed only on BMI fights. All other segments are return segments trip. No more cash and miles allowed except on BMI flights Single carrier itineraries … [Read more...]

SriLankan Airlines to join OneWorld… huh?

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In what seems like a move to cover more of the Asia region, OneWorld is inviting SirLankan Airlines to the alliance. I'm still trying to work this out, but this is looking like a cover move after the Kingfisher Airlines debacle without actually having to have a member airline in India itself, whilst increasing the OneWorld footprint. The airline will formally join … [Read more...]

Airplane Art – ANA Boeing 737-800

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It's Sunday again, and it's time for some Airplane art. This week it's an ANA Boeing 737-800 taxing at Tokyo Haneda International Airport, with the city of Tokyo and the Tokyo SkyTree in the background. The image is clickable if you want to see a larger version! More Airplane Art of course next week! … [Read more...]

Safety Video Saturday – StarFlyer Safety Ninja’s

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It's time to return one of GhettoIFE's favourite sections for the next few weeks - Safety Video Saturday. First up is StarFlyer of Japan who have deployed Ninja's to help in delivering their safety video. As any airline does ;) Well with planes in black, the airline does look very Ninja-y - and to raise a smile - as it's Smile Saturday on Boarding Area. As … [Read more...]