Virgin Atlantic's Upperclass Suite
Unless you haven’t been watching the news and this is the first time reading this blog you are well aware of this wonderful global economic mess we are in. Businesses have been looking at ways to cut back and save a few dollars.
One of their solutions is putting their frequent travellers back in coach instead of paying for Business or First class. This leaves airlines with a large hole in their revenue with premium passengers down 21% in February and almost 17% in January of 2009.
With these additional empty front seats, airlines have to start asking – is it time to re-arrange their aircraft? Will business travellers be upgraded back to the front of the plane when the economic turmoil is over or will businesses enjoy the money it saved on airline tickets and continue to only pay for economy seats?
Airlines, like British Airways, who rely heavily on long-distance premium travellers for their revenue are hoping to see more frequent travellers returning to the front of the plane soon.
Source: Guardian Image: Start Creative
United Airlines Boeing 777-222 N772UA is on short final
“Man this flight is gonna bite,” is along the lines of something I say when I find myself in the middle seat. But on a recent United Airlines flight from LA to London, a woman decided to do some biting on her own. After enjoying some nice prescription drugs, wine, and (my personal favorite) liquid soap, she got aggressive with the flight crew and acted “like a dog.”
The flight was diverted to Bangor where the unruly passenger gets to face federal charges of assault and interference with a flight crew.
Source: Boston Herald Image: Thomas Becker
People lining up at Seattle's Airport before the Starbucks opens
A frequent 8yr old flier who flies regularly from Washington state to Kentucky had an interesting experience. She was flying on a Northwest Airlines flight and her parents paid an extra $100 each way for their unaccompanied minor program (someone supervises the child from parent to parent). The child complained of being tired, so the supervising Northwest employee told her to get a large coffee at Starbucks and made her pay using her own money.
Sure, there might be some out there who say a little coffee for a child won’t do any harm, but I doubt anyone can say a large coffee is a good thing for a child.
The excess of caffeine caused her to get sick and she had to make use of the “courtesy bags.” By the time she arrived in Seattle, WA it was obvious to her mother something was wrong, “She was pale, shaking and talking a lot.”
Northwest is investigating, and of course states they take the care of unaccompanied minors very seriously. Although this sounds like a story where it is easy to get upset at Northwest Airlines, I would like to give them and their employees the benefit of the doubt, since we know that sometimes kids can exaggerate stories, especially when it keeps them out of trouble!
Source: NWCN Image: dcortesi
Alaska Airline MD83 at SeaTac
Alaska Airlines has gotten rid of all the blankets and pillows from all 114 planes in its fleet. The airline states it is in response to the recent Swine Flue outbreak and want to increase the sanitization efforts in its planes. They have also been using a virus killing cleaner inside the cabins to take care of any flu viruses left on their aircraft.
Although I have always been a little un-easy using a “shared” blanket and pillow, I wonder why they haven’t gone the route of some other airlines and allow passengers to purchase their own set of blanket and pillow they can keep?
Source: Business Journal Image: sfPhotocraft
Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-28E
Boeing 777 loses one engine, luckily it has two!
Yes! Another good story that could have turned much worse. A Boeing 777 lost an engine shortly after take off at Sea-Tac airport in Seattle, WA. Asiana Flight 271 took off heading to South Korea with 179 passengers and 16 crew.
Then, something none of us want to hear and see — a few loud explosions and flames coming out of the left engine. At this time, it is not known what happened, but we will be keeping a close eye on this story.
CLICK HERE to see a video of the safe landing.
Image: Thomas Becker Source & Video: KOMO