BHD’s terminal used to get quite crowded at peak periods so having larger aircraft and more passengers would also likely drive the need for a further terminal expansion (unless longer flights only depart in quiet periods of the day). If you are incurring those costs you might as well just stick with...
Jump to postThanks for an enjoyable TR. Central Australia is on my wish list to visit at some point.
Jump to postAnd THAT, folks, is why I said Virgin has chosen to victimize Alaska. Virgin CAN simply license the mark to someone else, but CHOOSES not to because they can extract $8M a year from Alaska while expending no effort at all. That after making a deal with themselves to plant a poison pill. Skimming th...
Jump to postThe judgement of the English High Court is online. It’s a lengthy read (but probably not long by U.S. Supreme Court standards), and includes extracts from the Licensing Agreement. The decision seems the right outcome to me based on the extracts of the agreement, as an impartial bystander with some l...
Jump to postGreat trip report. I really enjoyed the level of detail.
Jump to postVery comprehensive trip report. Thanks for sharing.
Do BA Club World passengers have access to the Qantas Lounge at LAX? That tends to be a far better option.
Another fantastic trip report and great to get this different perspective. Why did the captain request that you keep the existing aircraft when connecting through LGA? Was there something particular about the aircraft, or did it just avoid you having to do an extensive preflight on a new aircraft? W...
Jump to postWhat were your thoughts on post-COVID Japan? Has life returned to normal, particularly for foreign tourists visiting local sights and attractions? With Japan being closed to foreign tourists for so long, I’ve read differing accounts of the tourist experience recently, but I am very keen to get back ...
Jump to postHow did it work for non-U.S. FA bases? I seem to recall UA had bases in London and possibly elsewhere pre-Covid. Presumably that would be based on a bespoke local pay scale rather than just a local currency equivalent of the U.S. rates?
Jump to postI really enjoy these trip reports. Great to get a different perspective.
It’s interesting to see just how much padding is added to the scheduled trip times - many of your flights left quite late yet still managed to arrive on schedule.
Thanks for a great review.
Jump to post-sarcasm- I am already waiting for the news that the Heathrow Concorde needs to be scrapped to expand some parking lot or similar. On the topic of which, has there ever been any statement from BA what they might eventually do with that remaining Concorde (eg any remaining museums they could cut it ...
Jump to postThanks for a great trip report. I am in Phuket next month and flying on Bangkok Airways so looking forward to checking them out.
Jump to postFor comparison, the British and French have a form of pre-clearance on their respective opposite sides of the Eurostar (I.e. French immigration in St Pancras: UK immigration in Gare du Nord) before you board the train, for passenger convenience / avoiding queues on disembarkation. I don’t think anyo...
Jump to postDon't care about the U.S. market. Rest of world can't afford to wait for their labour market to sort its sh!t out and E.U. should be incentivising a 100 seater turboprop for Europe and Rest of World. As much as I love aviation and traveling by air, I’m still not clear why the EU would or should be ...
Jump to postThanks for a great series of trip reports and providing a perspective we don’t normally get to see.
Jump to postThanks for sharing. A fascinating account of the accident. NATS seem to be quite good with social media.
Jump to postOn the topic of perpetual startup airlines, we haven’t heard from Avatar Airlines (formerly known as Family Airlines) for a while now. I guess the scrapping of so many 747s have finally dented their business plan for good this time (amongst other things).
Jump to postI posted above in reply 44 that QF do not sell standby fares, QF do place passengers on standby and waitlist for flights if requested. If you buy the ultra cheap tickets like red-edeals they will not normally offer you to go on an earlier flight as they allow no changes (they can if they foresee di...
Jump to postFor security and logistics they need to know who’s “accepted” to take this flight. At the gate they then know who or haven’t boarded. When the gate is about to close they need to know who is missing. If they don’t turn up (drunk in the bar often) their bag is off loaded for security. Also it’s need...
Jump to postDid you work out what the electronic box was attached to your luggage in your last trip?
Jump to postThanks for the unusual trip report and an interesting insight into the Chinese quarantine process.
Jump to postProbably not too much. It should be possible to use tickets sold for draft calculation, and that is all what checkin data would be good for. Now-shows are relatively small %% of sold tickets. Standby/non-revs, misconnects, connecting bags misdirected and/or left behind would be a greater fraction o...
Jump to postGreat trip report and great photos. Thanks for posting.
Jump to postInteresting to see a Hungarian C-17 directly overhead London today, having seemingly flown from Eastern Poland via Sweden on to Cape Verde.
http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/BRK93
Any guesses on what it might be up to or where it is going, given the current climate?
The government is planning to revise compensation payouts by airlines to give passengers great rights. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60197462 Under the new plan, which is under consultation , passengers would be entitled to: 25% of the ticket price for a delay of more than one hour but less t...
Jump to postAs mentioned above, controls are not "slammed", or "pulled". We use adequate force, which typically is not very much. Positive but delicate movements. Side note: Airliners have thrust levers, not throttles. Off topic but I never understood why footage from inside the Concorde co...
Jump to postThanks for a great trip report. Good luck with the rest of your Med School studies.
I am curious to find out why you had to be towed out to the runway as a matter of airport policy. If you have B727s at the airport I’m guessing it’s not due to noise sensitivity!
Out of curiosity is BA (or VS) experiencing any crew shortages at the moment given the high CoVid infection rates in the U.K.? Or is the reduced winter flying schedule mitigating the impact of increased crew sickness? I read in the press that the U.K. rail industry is facing increased cancellations ...
Jump to postThanks for sharing the link. It is a fantastic website on airport histories generally. I first visited SIN in 1982 arriving fromJKT on a GA DC10 and leaving on a QF 742. Obviously only T1 in those days but it was considered state of the art at the time and has stood the test of time. It remains rare...
Jump to postCool routing - we don't often see big great circle routes in the southern hemisphere. I wonder if the test team even notices? Others have also been asking about the return - whther it will travel via the US to pick up cargo, or other duties elsewhere. Does anyone know the answer re expected return ...
Jump to postNot sure how accurate this is, but for the European Commission looks like it is charter flights:
http://www.politico.eu/article/eu-plans ... te-change/
When I worked for WN at LAX I had a period where my car was in the shop for a few weeks. I lived walking distance to BUR. For that time and a few other random times during my career there I would walk to BUR catch a flight to LAS or OAK then fly down to LAX for my shift then repeat for the way home...
Jump to postgregorygoodwin wrote:
It seems to me that our MD10's, MD11's and B767's do not have as many strikes as our B757's which seem to be a magnet for lightning strikes.
3. What was the actual reason that Boeing built the -138 for Qantas? I have heard conflicting accounts of this one as well. a. Qantas had inspected the Comet 4, DC-8, and 707. The Comet had a range too short for the needs of the airline, the DC-8 was too big and Douglas would not modify it, so they...
Jump to postWell QF has a LHR crew base and NZ just closed theirs as route cancelled. Both bases existed purely because of the LHR hotel cost issue- and yes it was cheaper to pay local LON admin staff. Are hotels cheaper- normally yes, but LON is the exception. Another unique LON issue is many hotels don't wan...
Jump to postThanks for a great trip report (and it also answers my query of why the detour via Geelong - I’d always wondered that!)
Jump to postIs there significant demand for cargo between Australia and Canada, that can’t be satisfied via the existing (albeit reduced) cargo services to Australia from the U.S. or Asia?
Jump to postIt’s also about who takes the risk on the residual value of the aircraft at the end of the lease - the airline (for a finance lease) vs the lessor (operating lease), although sometimes that distinction can get a bit blurred.
Jump to postI would be pretty amazed if BA pilots flew the plane. You should be amazed then, because they did. I used to play cricket with one such pilot who had some interesting stories about flying the DC-10 compared to other types in the fleet at that time. scbriml - I’d love to hear some of those stories.
Jump to postThe Qantas 747 fleet was sold in the early hours of Friday morning and will ferry to Mojave in the coming weeks. That flight from SCL was the end of a chapter in Australian history. Thanks jumbo! PS tribute on Sam Chui’s site https://samchui.com/2020/03/28/qantas-to-retire-b747-this-weekend Sam Chu...
Jump to postThanks for a fantastic trip report. You have inspired me to add Vietnam to my list of 2020 destinations to visit.
Jump to postTo all responses to that last post. Thanks. I suppose my point was, even if the sell on purchase price was just $1k per seat - for the airline selling them (taking VS as an example) that’s $33k per 330 cabin, x 8 cabins, that’s $264k. That’s a drop in the ocean holistically but it’s money for old r...
Jump to postBack in the 1960s and 70s Qantas had a HS-125 jet they used as a trainer:
http://www.aussieairliners.org/hs-125/vh-ece/vhece.html
Thanks for a wonderful TR. Very well written and some great photos: especially of the delicious food in Malaysia! You’ve given me a craving for laksa and some (proper) satay.
I hope Alex is feeling better now after being unwell on the return flight.
Does the UK have anything similar to Chapter 11 (Reorganization)? Or do companies go straight to the equivalent of Chapter 7? Under administration, the creditors (or their representatives) can attempt to restructure to keep the business operating. If administration fails, a business is closed and a...
Jump to postGenot wrote:Bad juju over the Pacific, not so bad over the lower 48..
The ABC article seems to suggest the delivery flight was “top secret”. I was fairly young at the time so don’t remember much about it, but was it the case that Qantas kept the flight quiet beforehand? If the flight happened these days there would be a massive marketing campaign launched around the f...
Jump to postI agree with the above. The only caution I will flag is if you arrive through the gates at Terminal 5B or 5C, or a remote stand and have to be bused to T5A. In those cases the “commute” to the main terminal and then more frustratingly the wait at baggage collection can be quite long. In those situat...
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