From a WSJ article comparing the various US airlines on various measures: “US Airways mishandled about one bag for every 130 passengers — roughly one on every flight.” Backing up my experiences. My US airline favorites, JetBlue and Southwest, came in first and second. Again.
Category Archives: Air Travel
Air NZ gets it
The transformation of Air NZ to Jet Blue continues… they are putting video screens in the back of every trans Tasman seat. (I’d ignore the analyst comments in the article- this is about future profitability, and demnstrates nthing about current profits on the route.) now let’s put those seats further away from each other (rather …
Going to Paris?
How about renting my friend’s great Parisian Pad? It’s a funky little apartment in St Germain. And the relevance to here? well the website is done on WordPress, and I helped out a bit.
Air New Zealand is shrinking leg room
This drives me nuts. Air NZ is plonking an extra row of seats into domestic planes. Seating was already cramped for passengers of medium height and those taller than 1.9 metres (6ft 3in) “find it uncomfortable as it is”, Mr Thomas said. It’s uncomfortable for me at 6ft. It’s not just about the literal leg …
Improving airport security efficiency
NZ recently started demanding that travellers remove laptops from bags when flying. This has been happening for a while in other countries, so you’d think it was no biggie. (I noticed the change as the first time it happened to me I happened to have two laptops in my carry-on.) Unfortunately the screening system has …
Blenheim air show
Somewhat randomly I went to the Blenheim airshow the other week. It was remarkably good. I was on the phone to a colleague in Australia when this trundled around the corner: Before you knew it a full-on dog fight was in progress, complete with bombs: Some airforce stunt pilots made for this lovely shot: While …
Gliding in….
Apparently, from Wednesday week, some Qantas and AirNZ planes will be gliding into Auckland airport (with jets set on idle) to conserve fuel. Hopefully they won’t announce the fact to passengers. Or maybe they should announce it to passengers – frequent flyers will know something is up…. ” [These planes] typically arrive at times of …
Pimp my plane…..
How cool is this? AirNZ lets us pimp my plane… <update: a picture!> Scoopit!
No such thing as a free chocolate biscuit
Mauricio is upset that free biscuits are on the way out for AirNZ domestic flights. I’m glad. I have no desire to pay for everyone else’s biscuits (coke, beer, hot meals etc.). If I am thirsty offer me water, but make me pay for everything else including food, alcohol and fizzy drinks (and you pay …
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Jetblue vs Eurostar
Jetblue have introduced a passenger bill of rights after last weeks debacle. If you are delayed departing for 1-2 hours you get a $25 voucher, and 2-4 hours gets you a $50 voucher. This, by the way, is the best airline in the USA, and I am a loyal customer whenever I fly one of …
Go ahead – be brave – charge fatties more
Go on AirNZ – please start charging by total weight…. I do like Rob Fyfe’s take that airlines would start offering discounts to the slim rather than charging premiums for the large. That may well be how it goes, along with surcharges for the super-fat. On the other hand why not just weigh the passenger …
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London vs DC airport transport
London. Tube to Paddington station, up and down one flight of stairs and onto the Heathr0w Express. A walk for about 800m and then the check-in counter. No queue for check-in, no squabbles about bag weight, fast -tracked through security and then a range of excellent shops. A quick pop-in to the Virgin lounge and …
Virgin America
What a great product – Virgin America promises to shake up the US airline industry. It’s a shame the forces are conspiring against them – in spite of compliance with the law the department of Transportation just knocked back VA’s application. Enter VA’s grass roots campaign, along with a substantial restructuring in the ownership of …
Sleeping your way to the tourism dollar
Rob Fyfe mentions some airlines are toying with economy class bunks. It is something that AirNZ has to make work if we are to attract increasing numbers of tourists to New Zealand. The space of an economy class seat is used poorly right now, but a combination bunk and perhaps stand up seat for landing/taking …
AirNZ fare cut
Good news – I’m a huge fan of value based flights, which increase volume of travel and thus reduce the dependance of the airline on the wealthier segments of business and society. It’s not for nothing that the two biggest discounters (Jetblue and Southwest) in the USA are the two most profitable (and liked) airlines …
Lance Wiggs 