Today the third (although it was the second one made) Boeing 747-8 Freighter (N5017Q) took to the sky. The first flew on February 8th and the second just took off on March 14th. I missed the second take off, but was able to make it to the Future of Flight to see RC521 take to the skies earlier today.
At the time of posting this, the 747-8 did a loop over the Olympic Peninsula and now is headed towards Moses Lake, WA. When watching the video, be sure to hear all the frek’n frogs that were croaking by the Future of Flight.
I hope that everyone has a fun and safe St. Patrick’s day. I know it is kind of cheap to go with Aer Lingus for the post, but I didn’t want to do another Ryanair one :). I did create a special Twitter icon for the holiday, something I haven’t done before:
easyJet gets down and dirty, but Ryanair started it!
I can’t figure out if Ryanair and easyJet really hate each other or love the fact they can constantly fight. Recently they have been going at it over their advertisements. Ryanair struck first by asking why easyJet won’t publish their on-time numbers.
The ad shows Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the Founder of easyJet, with a Pinocchio nose and asking why easyJet says, “punctuality…is a top priority,” but hasn’t published their on-time stats for 37 weeks. Ryanair claims they have “lower prices and better punctuality than easyJet,” in the ad.
EasyJet struck back with their own ad pointing out that Ryanair states they fly to certain cities, but really fly to much smaller cities up to an hour away from the city advertised. This ad got Ryanair worked up and they complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), stating that easyJet was trying to accuse Ryanair of false advertising. The ASA ruled in Ryanair’s favor and the campaigned was banned.
Seems a little bit like Ryanair can dish it out, but doesn’t like to get dirty advertising back.
Yesterday, Continental Airlines announced they will be cutting their free food for most domestic flights starting near the end of the year. The airline will charge for meals in economy on all domestic and Canadian flights of less than six hours. However, they will be keeping free meals on longer flights and still offering free peanuts and drinks on all flights.
There is a lot of rumbling on the internet of “another airline caving in” and screwing over the passenger. However, I see this as a smart move and was really surprised Continental held out as long as they did.
Free food is almost non-existent on most domestic flights anywhere in the world. Passengers have come accustomed to not eating or buying food on board. I would assume that most leisure passengers weren’t even aware that Continental still served food, but it would be a nice surprise when aboard.
If passengers have the expectation to not get free food, why should Continental pay for it? Plus Continental can make additional revenue by charging for food and maybe lower their prices.
Would I love to have free food while flying? Of course. But I understand Continental’s move and with passengers demanding the lowest fares possible, I think it is a smart move for Continental to do this!
Apolo Ohno outside of his special livery plane. "Follow Apolo to Hawaii"
Previously I talked about Alaska Airlines having a special “Follow Apolo” livery to help support a local Olympic celebrity Apolo Ohno. He had great success during this winter Olympics and is the most decorated US winter Olympian in history — quite a feat. To help celebrate, Alaska Airlines recently launched their “Follow Apolo to Hawaii” sweepstakes where you could win a Hawaiian vacation for two with Ohno.
Five people and guests will win a trip to Maui, a private luau with Ohno and four nights and five days at the Grand Wailea in Maui. Not too shabby.
“What better way to celebrate the most decorated U.S. winter athlete in history than to give fans the chance to say ’˜congratulations’ from Maui,” said Greg Latimer, Alaska’s managing director of brand and product marketing.
On Friday, passengers on flight 859 from Seattle to Honolulu were greeted by a nice surprise – meeting Ohno who was handing out leis.
It is easy to enter. Just head over to FollowApolo.com and sign up for your chance for a little relaxation in Hawaii. If you sign up for the Alaska Airline’s newsletter or have a mileage plan number, you can increase your chances of winning!
