Economy Class & Beyond

Airplane Repaint Saturday: Qantas A380

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It's Saturday, and time for an aircraft to enter the paint shop As Qantas's Nancy Bird (their first A380) prepares to retake to the skies after it's extended break on the ground after her engine incident over 18 months ago, here's a video of her getting her first paint job in 2008. More airplane repainting next week! … [Read more...]

The Winners of the BMI Purchase

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Earlier today, I looked at the losers of the sale of BMI to IAG. Lets be more congratulative and look at the winners The big winner is of course International Airlines Group and its subsidiary British Airways who have got a total of 42 pairs of slots to play with at London Heathrow.  As well as that they get the staff, facilities and aircraft too. Lufthansa although a … [Read more...]

The Losers in the BMI Sale

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Whilst Diamond Club members  are probably sitting pretty and IAG has a bunch more slots, there are some big losers in the sale of British Midland International: Lufthansa. Oh dearie me. Lufthansa really bit off more than it can chew when it was forced to buy BMI from Sir Michael Bishop (and that's silly of Lufthansa to agree to the push/pull sale agreement in the first … [Read more...]

IAG takeover of BMI complete

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Well, it seems Lufthansa has some cash, and International Airlines Group has an airline, with slots at London Heathrow. IAG Has posted a press release stating as much at  http://www.iagshares.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=240949&p=irol-rnsArticle_Print&ID=1685377 The plan remains to integrate BMI Mainline out of London into British Airways. However there is a question of … [Read more...]

BMI Sale complete: 1:1 Avios CONFIRMED, BA Lounge Access GRANTED

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Well the big news is that the sale of BMI is complete. I'll look into that in a shake, but here's the news from Diamond Club: I’m writing to advise you of some important changes to the Diamond Club programme following the sale of bmi to IAG, the owner of British Airways, on 20 April 2012. As a result, there are some key changes to your Diamond Club membership, which I would … [Read more...]

Scoot scoots its start date, confirms timetable, first destinations

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Singapore Airlines offshoot Scoot has confirmed its first routes, timetables... and has shifted its start date by a three weeks... upward. Commencement of services will be 4th June 2012 (from 26th June 2012), operating to Sydney (Daily) and The Gold Coast (5 times a week), Australia. Singapore - Sydney OQ002 DEPART SIN 02:10 ARRIVE SYD 11:40 OQ001 DEPART SYD 12:50 … [Read more...]

Birmingham airport attracts a full time EasyJet service

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EasyJet is deciding to risk it again at Birmingham, with the launch of a Birmingham to Belfast International Airport (Aldergrove) Service. The service will operate daily to start with on 22nd October, and ramp up to a two flights a weekday and one flight a day on weekends service from 29th October. Currently Birmingham to Belfast is served by BMI Baby and FlyBe, who … [Read more...]

Last call for Lufthansa “Family” redemptions on BMI Miles

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In case you've been living under a rock, the sale of BMI will be executed over the next day or so. Here's the important bit for those who are redeeming miles: If you want to redeem on Lufthansa Family Airlines, TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY to do it - until 20:00BST! The Lufthansa family refers to everyone in the Miles and More scheme. This includes: Lufthansa Lufthansa … [Read more...]

MBNA offer an American Airlines Credit Card with up to 20,000 miles!

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Hold your horses people - here's a UK credit card with a DECENT SIGNUP BONUS! It's a MBNA Card Co-branded with American Airlines (follow the link on the AA UK Homepage as there's a cookie issue sadly) The offer for new card holders: 10,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles when you make a card purchase within the first 90 days If you apply by 31st May 2012 … [Read more...]

Thomson Airways updates its 787 plans – announces first destinations and operations dates

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Thomson Airways have today confirmed the first destinations for their batch of 787-8 Dreamliners. Thomson Airways is intending to operate the aircraft from Gatwick, Manchester, East Midlands and Glasgow to Cancun and Florida from 1st May 2013. They will also beat other UK operators to the punch being the first operator of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in the UK. For those … [Read more...]