Some of these seats could have been free in Ryanair's promotion
On Oct 12th, the BBC aired a documentary called “Why Hate Ryanair?” The documentary heavily criticized the airline, saying they had no respect or dignity for pilots or cabin crew, that ’œpeople feel cheated by Ryanair’ and that its chief Michael O’Leary ’œis a bully’.
Ryanair strongly denies the claims and says they are all lies. To show how friendly RyanAir is, they gave away 100,000 free tickets for every lie that the documentary said (11 of them). After 1.1 million tickets were quickly taken, the airline gave out another 500,000.
The BBC stands by its documentary and I am sure that O’Leary and Ryanair is always happy to get any publicity (I actually think they prefer the negative kind).
Horizon Air's UW livery taken during the football game yesterday. Photo taken by Sam Al-Khoury, UW Seattle graduate and co-worker.
I am a proud graduate of the University of Washington (in Seattle, WA) and yesterday was their homecoming game against the Oregon Ducks (43 to 19, we lost, I don’t want to talk about that…). During the game, Horizon Air flew one of their Bombardier Q400’s over the field with a special UW livery. I would have loved to been there to see the flyover myself (and oh yea, the game too), but I was not able to. Luckily I made a call out to all my friends to take photos of the flyover for me. Had quite a few people come through with flying colors!
Dan Russo, vice president, Marketing and Communications for Horizon Air said, “This is one of the most ambitious promotions we’ve ever done. It will generate a lot of excitement around our partnerships with these schools and strengthen Horizon’s brand as ‘Wings of the Great Northwest.’ ”
The plane flying over the stadium. Done by Brice Hammack with HAM designs and UW Bothell graduate.
This is one of five current variants of collegiate liveries. The others include: Oregon, Oregon State, Washington State and, on Nov. 8, 2009, Boise State will join the fleet. I was a little upset to see that University of Washington had a prop and our rival Washington State University had a jet. However, Clint who works for Horizon Marketing told me, “We’re in the process of phasing out the jets and they will all be props once that is done. BSU will also be a prop,” which makes me feel a bit better! I think it looks better on the Q400 anyhow.
My team might have lost the game, but I think Horizon gained a great publicity idea!
Each week, Benet Wilson from AviationWeek posts some of the craziest aviation news out there. Here are three examples of the stories she found this week:
Drunk pilot, part one. Air India can’t seem to catch a break. First it had to deal with two pilots allegedly molesting a flight attendant. And now it has to deal with a pilot preparing to fly from Mumbai to New York failing a pre-flight breathalyzer test, reports The Australian.
Drunk pilots, part two. Pilots in India who show up drunk on the job usually don’t face serious penalties, reports India Today. A shortage of experienced pilots cause airlines to turn a blind eye to alcoholic infractions, it added.
I hope it was at least good beer! A 23 year old passenger on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Fort McMurray, Alberta, caused the flight to be diverted. Why? He had stolen a beer from the beverage cart and tried to hide the evidence by flushing the can down the toilet, reports The Standard. The flight diverted to Kelowna and arrived 75 minutes late.
Retro is so awesome. Southwest Airlines is well known for their sparkling personality, and it was no difference in the past! This video was created in 1986 as a reaction to the Chicago Bears’ Superbowl Shuffle. It was once featured on the CBS program 60mins and it was also used as an orientation tool for new hires. I really think they should do a re-make with their rapping flight attendant.
I don’t think anyone really wants to give birth on a plane. However 31-year-old Liew Siaw Hsia gave birth to her child while on AirAsia flight AK 6506 this Wednesday. The airline made an emergency landing, but the kid didn’t want to wait. The baby was delivered by a doctor on board and at about 2,000 feet.
Not only did the mother arrive with a new baby, she also arrived with free flights for life! “To celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to present both mother and child with free flights for life,” said AirAsia’s director of operations Moses Devanayagam after visiting them in hospital.
This is great publicity for the airline and a wonderful story to tell the child when he grows up!
