Ah, creative advertising. I love it. I also love ad-wars. This cleaver ad is brought to you by Germanwings and was filmed on a easyJet flight. At least easyJet made some money when the people paid for tickets!
Thanks Max for the tip!
TSA badge
Fort Wayne International Airport is the latest airport to get the full-body scanners, which brings the total US airports to 23. I have not hidden my opinion that full-body scanners are a bad choice due to the fact that they violate a passenger’s privacy and can be easily avoided.
Last week a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) worker at Miami International Airport ended up being arrested, after a co-worker teased him about his genitals.
Rolando Negrin was being scanned as a training exercise when a co-worker started to repeatedly harass him for the size of his “manhood.” Witnesses say Negrin lost it and started to hit his co-worker with a police baton. Negrin could be heard saying in Spanish, “get on your knees or I will kill you and you better apoligise [sic].”
The TSA has a zero-violence policy and stated, “we are investigating to determine whether other officers may have violated procedures in a training session with coworkers and committed professional misconduct.”
The TSA likes to note that this incident was internal and did not involve the general public. However, we have already seen the body scanners abused in public once and as they are used more, I am sure we will see them abused again.
When scanning passengers, the TSA says that a screener views the live image in a remote location and the images will be permanently deleted, never being stored. However, in a letter to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the TSA states they have 2,000 test images stored, using TSA personal, at its test facility. This means that the system has the capability to store images, not to mention workers could sneak in cameras or phones.
EPIC has tried to gain access to the test images to see how privacy might be violated, but the TSA has refused to release them. EPIC has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security under the Freedom of Information Act seeking details about the government’s use of advanced imaging technology. Many fear if the scans are publicly released, it will allow people to learn how to beat the system. Right now the system is really easy to beat, just refuse to be scanned and ask for a pat-down.
How much is all this wonderful security costing you, the tax payers? Only $6Billion per year. According to Stanford Daily, when airport security was still privatized in 2001, it only cost $700Million. Even in comparing with 2001 prices, that is $700million versus $4.6Billion.
It is frustrating to see stories like this continue to pop-up. I am sure this will not be the last story of a passenger’s rights being violated. Stay tuned…
Image: Tektum
Computer drawing of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental from Boeing.com
On May 8th, Boeing announced they have started the construction of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (747-8I). What the heck is the Intercontinental? It is the passenger version of the Boeing 747-8 Freighter (747-8F) that took flight back in February.
Lufthansa already has 20 orders with 20 additional options. “We are very pleased to see that the production on the 747-8 Intercontinental has begun,” said Nico Buchholz, senior vice president, Corporate Fleet of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. “We are looking forward to welcoming the aircraft in our fleet as it is a component of Lufthansa’s strategy to modernize its fleet and increase environmental stewardship. The 747-8 shows our clear commitment to customer orientation.”
The Boeing 747-8I is 18.3 feet longer than the Boeing 747-400 and can hold 51 more passengers in a three-class configuration. Visually you will be able to tell the new aircraft by the swept wings and larger upper-deck. The new version will have the next generation GEnx-2B engines and a wing design like the Boeing 747-8F, which will make the aircraft more fuel efficient. The Boeing 747-8I will incorporate some of the cool features of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Boeing is hoping the 747-8I will take flight by the end of the year and then deliver by late 2011.
Currently Boeing has 32 orders for the Boeing 747-8I and 76 for the Boeing 747-8F.
Check out Boeing’s image gallery and website for a sneak-peak.
Should Jetstar just add these signs to their planes?
Back in December I blogged about a wheelchair-bound passenger who had a terrible experience with JetStar. I was hoping that would be the end of Jetstar’s poor treatment of disabled passengers, but unfortunately it was not.
Jude Lee is disabled, needing a wheelchair, and last August wanted to fly from Darwin to Melbourne on Jetstar. The airplane was not at a jetway and an airline employee informed him the lift was broken. Lee claims he was treated like “troublesome baggage” as a male employee carried him onto the aircraft.
Then January of this year Lee was looking to fly from Singapore to Darwin. He was checked in and waiting at the gate to board, when he was told the airline did not have an aisle wheel chair. Again, to be able to fly he had to be carried onto the plane by hand.
Jetstar does not deny the fact that Lee was carried on the aircraft, but they do deny they broke the Anti-Discrimination Act.
This is where it gets bad. In Jetstar’s reply they state, “Given the nature of its operations, Jetstar does not have the systems, staff or facilities to provide the same level of special assistance to its passengers as provided by full cost carriers.”
Wow. If you read my blog, you know I try my best to defend airlines and look at the positive spin. I was hopeful Jetstar would learn from their mistakes when this happened previously. But to do this twice to the same passenger and not even be sorry about it? I am sorry, but that is a total disgrace to the other airlines out there that work hard to treat each and every passenger equally.
Lee wishes he would have more options, but states that due to his regular business travel, Jetstar is the only option. “I find myself embarrassed, harassed and having to constantly plead my case with improperly trained Jetstar staff just for the right to be treated equally and to simply board its planes almost every time I travel,” he said in his complaint.
Lee is a lawyer and is in the process of suing the Jetstar for his treatment and the Northern Territory Anti-Discrimination Commissioner has determined that Jude Lee has a case.
I hope that Jetstar can see that just because they are a low cost carrier, doesn’t mean they have the ability to treat passengers with disabilities at a lower level. I understand that when you pay a lower fare, you will get less service. But no matter how low the fare is, each and every passenger should have the basic rights of being treated like a human being.
Jetstar is a low-cost subsidiary of Qantas and has a fleet of about 50 airbus aircraft flying to 30 destinations around Australia and Asia.
Source: News.com.au Orig Image: David McKelvey
United Airline's new livery and logo (does it look familiar?)
While I was out of town last week I was trying to keep up on the United Airlines and Continental Airlines merger. The news is pretty old right now, so I am not going re-hash all the talk about it [check Google News for the stories if you haven’t heard]. When hearing about the merger one of the things I thought about was the combined livery.
I have not been a fan of United’s most recent livery. The blue and white looked aged when it first came out. They have also been very slow to change over from their last livery (which I like better) to the newest one. While flying Continental recently, I realized how clean their livery looks. The blue and gold. Simple, classy and timeless.
I was really happy to see that with the merger, the United name will survive, but so will the Continental livery. The “Continental” name will be replaced with “United”, but the golden globe will stick around. I will miss the “U” from United Airlines, but overall, I think this is a very wise idea. Not only will part of Continental still survive the merger, but United will end up with a better livery.
My main fear is it will take forever for United and Continental to share the same livery, I just hope that is not the case.
Check out their merger website for the most up-to-date information.