Economy Class & Beyond

BA: Off to RAK (Marrakech), and bigger to LAS

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British Airways have announced a new route operating from London Gatwick to Marrakech. With service due to recommence next year, this is a continuation of the route previously operated by GB Airways (which EasyJet brought).This will bring BA into conflict with EasyJet and Royal Air Maroc (who also fly from Heathrow), and with Ryanair from London Luton.  BA will be … [Read more...]

BE: FlyBe makes it’s Frequent Flyer programme even worse….

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Flybe has released a statement, that it's changing it's frequent flyer programme by blocking redeptions to destinations in Croatia, Portugal, or Spain due to "heavy demand" on those routes Excuse me. For a scheme that is limited in the first instance (in terms of routes, earning and otherwise), least of all the amount of tax you'd have to pay on a redemption, this is rather … [Read more...]

QF: A380 Safety checks to continue until Wednesday

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Don't expect Qantas A380's back in the sky for a few days yet, as inspections are still ongoing. Qantas estimates it may not finish inspecting the engines on its grounded A380 fleet until Wednesday, and no re-entry into service has been given. Inspections on the damaged A380 are still on-going with the damaged aircraft that safely returned to Singapore after the failure. During … [Read more...]

Airplane p0rn – JAL 777-300ER

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Time for this weeks Airplane p0rn, and this is shot from the balcony of the hotel where I was staying in Chicago. This week, it's a JAL 777-300ER with wheels down in its landing configuration, about to complete the long journey from Nartia to Chicago. More of course next week! … [Read more...]

Trip Report – Mixed Classes, Infinite fun and/or Madness: The Autumn Run with United Airlines

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Mixed Classes, Infinite fun and/or Madness: The Autumn Run with United Airlines LHR-ORD, ORD-LAS, LAS-LAX-SFO-DEN-LHR   For those of you who have forgotten, this is my semi-regular audit to see how things are with United - if the service has improved, deteriorated or other. Whilst not perfect, it provides entertainment, amusement and of course, iPhones in sick bags … [Read more...]

QF: QF6 – Nothing to see here…

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Qantas are on the rebound with the 747-400 incident at Changi on Thursday, saying they will not ground that fleet. The fleet runs Rolls Royce's older RB211 engines, and to quote the Qantas CEO:"We've seen in-flight shut-downs take place before. They are a liability issue and not a safety issue if they are contained""The engine on the 747 is an engine we've been operating for … [Read more...]

QF: ** BREAKING ** QF6 in Engine Incident.

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It seems like something is up at Qantas with another jet in trouble.This time a Qantas Boeing 747-400 had to return to forced to return to Singapore after departure because of an engine problem. The plane landed safely with 431 people aboard.QF6 was operating a Singapore to Sydney service.Qantas have said  "Shortly after take-off the captain experienced an issue with one … [Read more...]

AA: We don’t want to give an AAdvantage to Orbitz…

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This is a big one in the airline vs ticket vs distribution race, and if you're booking AA flights, from December the 1st, don't head to Orbitz.According to ATWOnline, American Airlines will be terminating the right for Orbitz (and Orbitz allfiated companies) to ticket their flights, citing Orbitz of course is annoyed, citing this as a “broad attack on the distribution … [Read more...]