Shout out to Air New England. That was my first flight. I was too little to remember it, but it was Cleveland-Boston-Martha's Vineyard. I am assuming it was an F27. And the short-lived Compass Airlines of Australia (version one). I flew on an ex-Wardair A310 from Melbourne to Sydney and an A300 on t...
Jump to postI remember flying BA from Nairobi to London/Heathrow in 1986. I believe that was BA 55 (Johannesburg-Nairobi-London; maybe sometimes with a stop in Harare.) I was disappointed when we got to the gate in Nairobi. A 747 was waiting for us. At least once a week, the flight was on an L1011 with an addit...
Jump to postI have seen a few clips of practice and restaged evacuations. It seemed like the crew made a cacophony of top-of-their lungs, "Heads down! Stay down! Leave everything! Jump! Get out! Arms out front!" etc. They need to be heard, there is no PA option, there may be noise from the evacuation....
Jump to post@blacksoviet, US Airways started flying to Heathrow in 2008 (from Philadelphia).
In 2007, they moved from Orly to Roissy/Charles de Gaulle.
@blacksoviet, No. Prior to their 1993 investment, British Airways had a partnership with United. I even have a section from a BA annual report about their relationship.. This wasn't exactly codesharing, as I recall. It was more about coordination of fares and marketing. BA did not use USAir gates. T...
Jump to postI think there were a few factors. There were several fatal accidents. under the USAir brand: US5050 (1989), US1491 (1991), US405 (1992), US427 (1994), US1016 (1994). USAir was suffering from a poor public image as well as an unfortunate series of fatal accidents. The airline was complicated due to a...
Jump to postAir New Zealand also has a London/Heathrow crew base.
The carriers must be doing the math about recruitment, staffing coverage, taxes, unions, benefits, etc.
You are absolutely correct, GalaxyFlyer. It was in 1990. My mistake.
Jump to postAs a little kid, I remember flying TWA into New York/JFK, and we arrived into the International Arrivals Building (IAB), now Terminal 4. At what point did the airport install FIS (Customs and Immigration) in other terminals? Did they always have it at the Pan Am WorldPort, or did those flights arriv...
Jump to postWhen I worked there in the late 90s, United had two beautiful check-in lobbies. There was one in Terminal 6 just for Los Angeles and San Francisco flights. The other lobby was in Terminal 7. For a while, United also had a combined check in with Varig at Terminal 7. The gate areas weren't anything sp...
Jump to postThere are several ways to look at this: 1. Tags and one-stop flights Pan Am operated many flights within Europe that were one-stop. For example, New York/JFK - Oslo - Stockholm. This was an A310, which was the same aircraft through to Stockholm. In many instances, the destination of the second leg v...
Jump to postI took this flight in 1986. It was a 747-Combi. The flight departed from a strange, tiny "international" building apart from the rest of the airport. There was a small check-in desk. Security was on the jet-bridge immediately prior to entering the aircraft. It was perhaps 50 percent full (...
Jump to postAnything to put TUS on the map. Now if only there could be United to Newark and Washington, American to Miami, and American to Philadelphia. I wonder what it will take to get those routes. There is also a golden opportunity for at least seasonal service to a number of points in Canada. Tucson is ful...
Jump to postI think the Tel Aviv problem had more to do with inherited TWA labor disputes. United has always claimed that Tel Aviv is one of its most profitable routes: year-round, cargo, business, groups, and high demand for business class. Now that El Al is back flying to Miami, that leaves American with the ...
Jump to postWhen it was a connection with Continental, it was US Helicopter. They installed TSA checkpoints at the helipads, and they had a gate around C71 or C73. The idea was great, but I guess it was never economically viable. When Blade worked with Delta, they arrived landside at JFK. I assume the same will...
Jump to postI've repeatedly considered a holiday in San Andres, but the travel logistics have always interfered. It's 1474 miles from Houston or Atlanta; 916 miles from Miami, 1102 miles from Orlando. Even an Embraer 145XR can handle a Houston or Atlanta flight without difficulty. As I see it, the hotels and re...
Jump to postI flew on the DC-10 from Vancouver to Chicago in the late 80s.
No DC-10s across the Atlantic, I'm afraid.
The airport is open 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Most of the shops and restaurants remain open on Shabbat. The airport is certainly quieter: less traffic, fewer flights. The only changes that I can think of: 1. El Al does not fly on Shabbat, so their entire section of the airport is shut down. 2...
Jump to postI gave up on HHH. Too many cancellations and long delays. The Dash-8s seem pretty darn tired, and they're quite noisy. I also dislike Concourse E at Charlotte. If you're headed to Sea Pines or thereabouts, the drive from SAV is around 50 minutes. Form HHH, it's about 25 minutes. Fares are usually th...
Jump to postLaws in most countries require that passengers observe the "Fasten Seatbelt" sign, but enforcement is so tricky. I found that Finnair was by far the strictest, followed by British Airways. European carriers are more likely to suspend cabin service, and definitely will not serve hot drinks ...
Jump to postfranofilier, I think your idea makes a lot of sense. Regulating seat width and pitch will result in too much pushback from the airline lobby. But the government could regulate that the airline has to state the dimensions of the seat. The only snag would be variations among aircraft in the event of a...
Jump to postI spent a bit of time Googling the photography question. There is nothing on the aa.com site, and the online version of American Way magazine does not include inflight information. So American already has a legal problem because the rule is only in fine print somewhere in a magazine. If this is some...
Jump to postA lot of factors to consider... WINNERS Within the USA: Houston/<acronym title="Houston - George Bush Intercontinental (IAH / KIAH), USA - Texas">IAH</acronym>. It's sprawling, and some hallways are narrow, but it's usually a friendly and fast place to connect. Customs and Immigration is incredibly ...
Jump to postI flew on it once, a Jetstream 41, from <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym> to <acronym title="Baltimore / Washington - International (Friendship) (BWI / KBWI), USA - Maryland">BWI</acronym>. This was in either 1998 or 1999....
Jump to postThis happened to my sister and brother-in-law on Air France. My nephew, who was five-years-old, was seated in another cabin of the airplane on a longhaul flight. The Chef de Cabine fixed that with ease. He had clearly done this before. I have given up my seat many times for families and couples trav...
Jump to postIt was rumoured that Continental considered a third daily flight from Newark to Tel Aviv, but they chose not to. A third flight could dilute revenue: they fill up two 777s with passengers and cargo, lots of premium traffic, and a third flight could leave open seats and reduce fares. If United decide...
Jump to postQuoting mats (Reply 3): 3. Eliminate transit security for passengers arriving from "clean" countries: That's not just impossible, but to my knowledge also doesn't exist anywhere where you have <acronym title="Winston-Salem - Smith Reynolds (INT / KINT), USA - North Carolina">INT</acronym> to <acrony...
Jump to postI think these are a function of airline and national cultures. I found that that both Lufthansa, SAS, and KLM tend to be warm and inviting on board and on the ground, but Northern Europe is known for being "colder" (literally and figuratively.) Brussels Airlines and Finnair weren't mean, but they we...
Jump to postIt's kind of a tragedy of airport design. Air New Zealand has a "transit lounge," which I believe is the only one in the USA. Otherwise, the US would have to reorganise its airport concourses. In most international-to-international transfers, there is no way to enter the country without clearing imm...
Jump to postYes, Roger Cohen was featured on "Flying Cheap," a Frontline documentary. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/
(Incidentally, the journalist, Myles O'Brien, just lost his left arm in an accident.)
It's been a while, but some delegates from North Korea were supposed to fly on American Airlines. They were insulted by the contract security agency's procedures, which may or may not have identified the delegates as "selectees:" There was no evidence that they were banned from flying, but they did ...
Jump to postThe problem is one of terminal design. There is no immigration checkpoint for flights leaving the United States and thus no separation between domestic and international flights. Airports in other countries split international and domestic departures, so one would have to go through an immigration c...
Jump to postSorry about my error regarding Bahrain. I got it stuck in my head from watching "Madam Secretary." One of the episodes mentions that there are no flights from Dulles to Bahrain, only Doha. Instead of questioning a Hollywood <acronym title="Virgin Express (Belgium)">TV</acronym> script, I somehow ass...
Jump to postUnited Continental Holdings is in a state of some financial improvement, but it still hasn't merged! So perhaps they want to stabilise themselves as a company before any more significant expansion. I think that with the fall in the Euro and the improved US economy, United might have its eyes on othe...
Jump to postThank you for your report, and for your fantastic photos of Paris.
Oooh. The A320 from Paris to Tel Aviv does not look comfortable in business or economy!
United had a pretty massive longhaul operation out of <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym>, but it wasn't really a hub. At one point, they had co-located with VARIG at Terminal 7. (United was split between Terminal 6 and Term...
Jump to postI really think that individual discretion is the best policy. If you have a little kid, an elderly person, or someone who is clearly ill and there is a cart blocking access to an aft lavatory, it's just common sense to let the passenger use the forward lavatory. On international flights <acronym tit...
Jump to postThat sounds like a pretty miserable trip. I especially liked that they had FIVE boarding groups for a little Dash-8. It's all a bunch of silly marketing schemes gone awry. I never really liked mainline US Airways, but I've had a long list of bad experiences on US Airways Express flights. I was once ...
Jump to postAlthough American/Saudi relations are a bit more strained than in the past, I don't think this is a totally ridiculous route. But it requires a very long use of an airplane, relief crews, and security arrangements. Saudia already flies to Dulles and <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy Interna...
Jump to postAmsterdam/Schipol requires full body scanning for all flights to the USA. I wonder if that will go away if they move to a centralized checkpoint. Or will they body scan everyone? Hmmm. It used to be that Helsinki did not require passengers to re-clear security. I do not know if that is still the cas...
Jump to postInternational "tags" for US carriers died off for several reasons: 1. Codesharing and Alliances Genuinely seamless transfers are now available in European hubs. A passenger can fly on United from San Francisco to Frankfurt, only have to clear immigration (no security), and transfer directly to a Luf...
Jump to postI reported a Pinnacle Airlines flight attendant for skipping the demo. It wasn't that she missed the demo, it was that she was so busy talking on her phone during taxi that she was distracted. In other words, I had greater concern for my safety than just the demo. It was a delayed flight from Columb...
Jump to postAUA now flies to Newark terminal B. They serve <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym> and Newark now. Although I agree that <acronym title="San Francisco - International (SFO / KSFO), USA - California">SFO</acronym>-<acronym ti...
Jump to postI don't see United expanding much right now. The economy isn't too stable, and they have major business markets covered. EUROPE <acronym title="Newark - Liberty International (EWR / KEWR), USA - New Jersey">EWR</acronym>-<acronym title="Keflavik (KEF / BIKF), Iceland">KEF</acronym>: already served b...
Jump to postThere are two problems: the first is the large O&D market; the second is building ownership. Unlike many US airports, <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym> is a very heavy O&D market, so a particular airline's location...
Jump to postMy understanding is that US law strictly forbids passengers from aft cabins from using the first class cabin washroom on inbound flights to the US. So the sharing of lavatories across cabins is fine with me, but the law gets in the way when it comes to arriving international flights on US carriers.
Jump to postI'm so glad that you had a positive experience with United. Your photos of Terminal 2 in London look fantastic. And you certainly got a chance to see the beauty of Waikiki (without the recent hurricane!) Los Angeles Terminal 7 is actually a lot BETTER than it used to be! I agree, there are few shops...
Jump to postI flew on <acronym title="British Airways">BA</acronym> from Baltimore to London/Gatwick in 1999. I was using Executive Club points, and Baltimore was the only East Coast gateway with available seats at the time. Since I lived in New York City, I took the train to <acronym title="Baltimore / Washing...
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