Economy Class & Beyond

Speaking of BMI Baby….

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... and I've moaned about United.bomb in the past. I never thought I'd run into such an incompetent check in procedure.Lets go through the pointsNavigation was all over the shopAuto seat assignment engine... I'd like to know if there was an algorithm to assigning seats or was it a case of picking a random number and letter together and seeing if it actually existed on the … [Read more...]

JK: Spanair – Nope, we won’t bother serving Birmingham after BMI Baby drops the route for them…

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Spanair made a big song and dance about coming to Birmingham, and BMI Baby dutifully moved aside to allow the full service Star Alliance carrier in and suspend it's own services.However, this has now backfired into BMI Baby's face as Spanair has decided not to offer the server BHX service any more.Spanair had been due to commence four-times weekly flights to Barcelona on May … [Read more...]

AA: Another AAincident – door falls off an AA bird on the ground..

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It seems an American Airlines 777-200 had a little incident today at Dallas Fort Worth when someone forgot to set the brakes at the gate, choc the plane... and the aircraft rolling back 200 feet, ripping off a door.There were no injuries reported thankfully.  Pictures at http://startelegram.typepad.com/sky_talk/2010/06/american-777-loses-door-at-dfw.html....and they say it … [Read more...]

BA and Unite.. and Acas too… means… More deadlock.

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Well things are not at all moving between BA and Unite with ACAS abritrating, with the latest negotiations failing. Whilst ACAS gave both sides new proposals on how to end the action, deadlock remains. Sadly no new meetings are planned to end the actions, however ACAS's doors are open. Whilst the strike was about staffing levels and changes to services, it has now gone onto … [Read more...]

EI: Reconsidering an Alliance….

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Well it seems Aer Lingus isn't happy sitting out in the cold any longer as an independent airline, and is going to consider a membership of a major alliance according to ATWOnline.And an admittance that maybe the LCC experiment started by a certain Willie Walsh is probably a bad idea as it tries to reposition itself as a higher value/quality carrier what emphasises better … [Read more...]

BA: Off to Cancun!

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Well, if there's one part of the BA empire that's surviving well throughout everyhting, it's the teams at Gatwick, who have today been rewarded with a new route to Cancun (Mexico), operating twice a week with a 777 in  3 class configurationIn other words, Club World (Business), World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)  and World Traveller  (Economy) seats Service … [Read more...]

Lunchtime reading: The Economist on Aviation in the Gulf

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Some "light" lunchtime reading for you all - from of all places The Economist.http://www.economist.com/node/16271573?story_id=16271573  is where to head to.It's a very readable article on why Gulf carriers (such as Emirates, Qatar, Eithad) are on the rise, and why European airlines should be very worried.Least of all if you're a certain British carrier that has been … [Read more...]

SQ: Maybe there is money beyond the main cities…

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Singapore Air is a funny old beast of an airline, running A380's across the world and keeping its fleet relatively young.It's also had a link to Manchester for quite some time, that has been recently under strain when the direct service went patchy to 3 days a week, and finally, the service was switched to 5 days a week with a diversion to Munich to pick up more passengers.Well … [Read more...]

Airplane p0rn – Northwest 747-200

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It's that time of the week again, and it's time for some Airplane p0rn.This week - something from my archives - a Northwest Boeing 747-200 at Seattle-Tacoma, shot in 2008.  More airplane p0rn next week! … [Read more...]

Kingfisher passes OneWorld safety audit – on target for joining.

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As airline alliances are start starting to buddy up together, Kingfisher has successfully passed the first stages of membership - a safety audit, the approval approval from India's Ministry of Civil Aviation and completing a formal membership agreement, and moves up to the status of "Member Elect"At this time, Kingfisher is now negotiating all the bi-latteral agreements with … [Read more...]