Getting off the TAM 777-300ER in Sao Paulo
TAM AIRLINES BUSINESS REVIEW BASICS:
Airline: TAM Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (reg PT-MUI)
Departed: John F Kennedy Airport (JFK)
Arrived: São Paulo’“Guarulhos International Airport (GRU)
Stops: None
Class: Business Class
Seat: 10A, no 10C, no 10H, no really 10C, heck why not 11G?
Length: About 8.5hrs
Cheers: The good customer service really made this flight stand out
Jeers: The product is old, but is in process of being replaced
Bottom Line: I hit some bumps, but still felt this was a good flight experience
The Business Class product currently on TAM’s 777-300ERs
FULL TAM AIRLINES’ BUSINESS CLASS REVIEW:
I was recently invited by TAM Airlines to travel down to Sao Paulo to check out their operations. Of course, with any trip, one of the best parts is the flight – especially when it involves business class.
Previously, I had the chance to check out the interior of a new TAM Boeing 777-300ER, but I was excited to put the product and service to the test. My flight originated in New York at JFK and I ended up with a two-hour layover in JFK (was supposed to be four, but had a flight delay out of Seattle). I was a little bit nervous since I didn’t yet have a boarding pass for my TAM flight.
A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER in the midst of a turnaround at YVR
On the heels of Cathay Pacific retiring the Queen of the Skies from the North American services, they have announced a service expansion to add another US city. As of May 1, 2015, Cathay Pacific will begin service to its sixth destination in the United States with the addition of Boston.
The Boston service also comes fairly quick on the heels of Cathay launching their service to Newark earlier this year and adds another connection to the Northeast. With multiple daily services to New York’s JFK Airport, a daily flight to Newark, and now a four times per week service to Boston, things are picking up for the east coasters.
Why Boston though? Like Newark, it doesn’t seem the most likely of destinations. According to Cathay Pacific, among its connecting passengers to Hong Kong, Boston is the largest market with over 53,000 passengers flying between Boston’s Logan Airport and Hong Kong. All 53,000 of them having to connect somewhere along the way. That sounds like a fairly decent reason to add a daily service to me!
How well do you know your airline liveries?
I think this challenge was a nice mixture of easy and hard liveries/airliners. Some of you were amazing and got all 12. Many of you were very close. Others took a nice stab at guessing. Without further adieu — here are the answers:
#1: TAM Airlines Boeing 777-300ER by David Parker Brown
#2: Fiji Airways Airbus A330-300 by Jason Rabinowitz
#3: Alaska Airlines Salmon-Thirty-Salmon livery on a Boeing 737-800 by Bob Garrard
#4 Mongolian Airlines Boeing 737-800 by Bob Garrard
#5 China Airlines Sky Team livery on a Boeing 747-400 by Bob Garrard
#6 Biman Bangladesh Airlines Boeing 777-300ER by Bernie Leighton
#7 Fly Dubai Boeing 737-800 by Bernie Leighton
#8 Delta Air Lines Air Freighter Lockheed L100 Herecules by Bob Garrard
#9 TWA Convair 880 by Bob Garrard
#10 Air Malta retro jet livery on an Airbus A320 by Ken Fielding
#11 PGA Portugalia Airlines Fokker 100 by Ken Fielding
#12 Volotea Airlines Boeing 717 by Ken Fielding
It seems that #5 and #10 threw off quite a few people. I was surprised how many of you got #9. As always, I am super impressed with how you fine folks do. I don’t think I would have gotten but 75% of these if I wasn’t the one tracking down the photos.
Have a great weekend!
An example of Dispatcher-suggested storm deviation. The green line shows the planned route, and the pink indicates the path actually operated to steer clear of the weather
Story written by Phil Derner with NYCAviation.com…
I have a love-hate relationship with thunderstorms. As a Dispatcher, thunderstorms bring what I feel is the biggest challenge to the job. It is also a Dispatcher’s time to shine and when their pay check is truly earned, making the job fun, rewarding and incredibly satisfying.
The level of challenge sometimes surprises many people because thunderstorms have a relatively short life. Snowstorms present some challenges, but when a blizzard is present, if conditions are that bad, the airport will often shut down in advance or the airline will have canceled enough flights to where the dispatch workload is lighter. Snowstorms are easier to predict and sit over an airfield for a long period of time, so when you can’t get in, you know you’re done for a while. Thunderstorms, on the other hand, tend to pass through a location in about 20-30 minutes. Though fast-moving (average from 25-40mph, or faster!) there are multiple influences that affect the growth, dissipation and speed of the storm, making predicting the time of the storms arrival very challenging. Not to mention that storm cells may be in clusters, where an airport can receive a torrential downpour, while a neighboring town a few miles away can be dry as a bone. Try forecasting that 8 hours out!
Continue reading Lesson in Safety: How Airlines Deal with Thunderstorms
Cathay cabin crew lined up to bid farewell to their North American 747 operations – Photo: Cathay Pacific Airways
On August 13, 2014 Cathay Pacific Airways celebrated its last 747 flight of any sort to North America. This is an iconic moment, as Cathay Pacific has been flying the 747 to North America, starting with San Francisco, since 1986. That’s 28 years of daily 747s. Cathay itself has been in the commercial 747 business since August 3, 1979. The actual last 747 flight to San Francisco will take place on August 31.
Cathay Pacific’s 747-400 farewell luncheon took place in San Francisco Airport’s museum – Photo: Cathay Pacific Airways
Cathay was not going to let this event pass without fanfare. At San Francisco Airport, they hosted a luncheon to celebrate the 747’s service in Cathay’s fleet.
