Airplane p0rn Extra ** N331UA ** LAST UNITED 737-300 ARRIVAL - WATERCANNON SALUTE

And for some Airplane p0rn extra pictures - the last United 737-300 (N331UA) arriving at San Francisco International, receiving a full water cannon salute.

Taken from the United Red Carpet Club, G gates, International wing.
Pictures (c) Kevin Marshall - For reproduction, please ask.

A full gallery is at http://picasaweb.google.com/kevincm/LastUA737?feat=directlink

 

 

 

 

So long United 737-300s... you won't be missed to much..

Greetings from the Apple Store, San Francisco

Hello from SFO.

Been souvenir shopping at.. well... umm...

Those who know me, know I'm totally original in my shopping ;)

Next update - Heathrow Airport and beyond...,

Leaving Las Vegas...

It seems I've seen McCarren Airport FAR too often this week.

However, America's finest at LAS were fine as usual with a full idoitcracy in progress.

Camera film - it's just fun to confuse people with ;)

And that's that mileage run over and done with...

... although US Airways is it's usual stellar self.

Much more in the trip report when I write it. 

This is what drinking in LA does to you...

Ah well. Back to Vegas shortly ;)

A quickie from Phoenix

Greetings from Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport. What a rush around to do lounge hopping!

More *much* later when get I get back to LAX/S

On the plus side, both LAS and PHX have free WiFi...

Greetings from the airport with one arm bandits...

... and off again - today, its mileage run day - Las Vegas - Phoenix - LA  and back!

What fun... on a US airways planes too.  This will be updated as and when!!!

What the hell am I doing drinking in LA?

Waiting for the next flight of course!

(and I should add - a MUCH better lounge than the one in Chicago!)

Unsurprisingly, I took the bump and got upgraded to First on United 531, with a 2 and a bit hour wait at LAX for my next connection to LAS.

More soon enough...

Greetings from Chicago O'Hare C17 lounge

Three letters.  OMG.

What a dump!

And now the sorry excuse of a lounge at O'Hare. (Hmm. My Typo O'Hate - that seems to work too)

TSA were as slovenly as normal as we played Security Theatre, and the film scanned by hand.

I'm now on the bump list - so anything is possible

And that's it from Chicago...

... next stop LA then Las Vegas!

I have a nasty feeling that there could be things that go "bump" in the night though..

Airplane p0rn -United 737-300

It's Sunday, so it must be time for some Airplane p0rn (if a bit late).

To celebrate the near withdrawal of UA's ageing warhorses, this week - it's a United Boeing 737-300.

More next week ...

First pictures are on the way up....

Greeting from the bar at the Hyatt.

As I'm still hacking away my cough from hell, I'm a really pleasant person to know at the moment.

So instead, the first pics from the trip report are starting to appear.

How do they all fit together? What do they mean? Do we really care?

http://www.photoblog.com/kevincm/2009/10/21/ - Luggage
http://www.photoblog.com/kevincm/2009/10/22 - The Lounges

More to come over the next couple of days..

Note: GhettoIFE News is suspended this week due to the fact I'm doing real work - sorry!

Trip report Teaser...

From 9H on a United 767-300 on 21/10.

For non regular business class flyers - look at the seat angle.  Correct. It's in REVERSE...

What does this all mean?  You'll have to wait for the actual report when I've finished writing it... ;)

Greetings from Chicago

... and hello from the hotel.

2 words to make any frequent flyer happy: Battlefield Upgrade :D


More much later!

A hint: Switch your phone off.. and DON'T Drop the darned thing...

 This entry will appear as I'm entering the USA. The joy of timed entries ;)


That wonderful LCC Jet2 provides a salutatory reminder why you're reminded to Switch your phones off - but also to put it away carefully.

Why?

A poor phone dropped into an air vent. And it was still on whilst on the ground. The net result was a partial stripdown and rebuild of the cockpit and the front few rows of an aircraft.

Ouch.

Lets be careful out there eh?


From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/8317349.stm

Breakfast is served!

Alas whilst the BMI Number One lounge may be excellent, its food offerings are poor. I've therefore decamped into the Star Alliance lounge for the traditional breakfast of Bacon/Sausage Rolls with far too much mustard, and an orange juice with vodka.

At least I'll sleep on this flight....

(there's an automated post whilst I'm flying... it's a goodun)

Good morning from the BMI Diamond Club Lounge..

And it sure is pretty. Here's a quickie shot taken with the Mac this morning.

More later - I'm into my second coffee of the day, then Breakfast of Champions at the Star Alliance lounge.... 

Almost time to go and pack....

Well it's nearing that time again! With a few hours to go at work and the last minute, comes the joy of last minute packing, repacking and the new languages I'll invent.

People may wonder why I curse when I pack - this should be a hint...

Travelling light - I've heard of it.

More tonight...

XKCD sums up the War on Liquids....

From the highly entertaining and geek friendly xkcd.com - it's view on the war on liquids, laptop batteries and a few other wonders that keep us travellers in constant pain...

Airplane p0rn - Dash8-100

It's Sunday, and as usual, it's time for some Airplane p0rn.

This week as I'm in the run up for a Chicago trip, it's got to be something different from the norm, so it's a US Airways Express (Piedmont Airlines) Dash8-100

More airplane p0rn of course - next week!

The News Roundup

Sorry I haven't had a chance to do this this past two weeks - life at Kevin Towers has been close to a living hell. Those who know the words "Exchange Server Migration" will know where I'm coming from.  As last weeks news is more or less irrelevant like any news (ask the The Daily Mail after this weeks furoiri over the death of Steven Gately commentary piece by one of their so-called columnists), this is from last Saturday to today.


Lufthansa IFE - adds a C with the return of LONG HAUL KU BAND INTERNET SERVICES

This is a BIG thing as companies develop ways of getting out their holes. LH is once again going to have a go at delivering In-Flight Internet Services.  Originally delivered as Boeing Connexition, LH has signed a Deal with Panasonic eXConnect - for rollout in late 2010 on LH only - BMI, Austrian or Swiss need not apply - yet.

Delivered over the KU band this is satellite to aircraft mobile connectivity.  Along with Row 44 (who are equiping Southwest's 737 ENTIRE fleet) and Aircell, the battle of Internet Connectivity is starting to warm up...

Flight, Runway Girl, Cranky Flyer


Boeing 748-8F - Growing Pains. 
It seems Boeing is just not having ANY Luck with airframes with the first flight of the first 747-8F being pushed back from first flight on Dec 9th and delivery next year to Q3 2010. Delays have been placed firmly at the door of the minor engineering errors that have been missed thanks to the resource pulling to get the 787 out of the hanger.

Expect more delays here - I'm seeing nothing from Boeing to indicate this frame will be out of the barn on schedule.

Flight

Cathay Pacific - 2% traffic drop in September

Its still bad if you're a premium carrier as CX is proving. With a few "local" events, there is a small traffic upswing, but it is extremely tough going out there

Flight

Avianca-TACA tie up to go toe-to-toe with COPA.

It seems COPA Airlines will have a challenge shortly with the tie up of Avianca and Groupo TACA pooling their resources and joining forces. COPA says their network will be strong enough to resist.

I'm not sure - with COPA's exit from Skyteam on the 25th October, they'll be partnerless for a fair bit before entry to the Star Alliance is considered...

Avanica-TACA  don't want a flight it seems, as they wish to grow resources instead of going toe-to-toe with LAN or COPA.  We'll see on that front.

Flight

Blended winglets save cash - Air New Zealand.

Apart from getting neekid and doing the bodypaint thing, Air New Zealand appear to run airline services too, with good cash and fuel savings on the 767 fleet which have blended winglets.

Improved deployment has meant 19% fuel savings - or 7 Dillon liters of fuel a year. That's a lot of go-go juice - before you get the green crowd happy.

That and those blended winglets do look very cute on a plane. More on Winglets in a GhettoIFE.com article when I get round to finishing it.

Flight


Air India switches entirely to Boeing 777's from it's motley collection of aircraft. Also gets bailed out at the same time

All westbound flights from India have been switched to 777's - as well as Toyko. As well as that, Air India has been bailed out by it's home government to the tune of  US$1.1 Billion which is to be delivered in wages.

Alas, there are wage cut concerns  as well with this change with a previous strike the week before.  Expect further fireworks shortly...

Flight, BBC News

US Airways gets shot of its E-190's to... Oh guess who.

The fleapit of the Star Alliance has thrown in the towel with it's E-190 operations - and has flogged them to.. Republic (who incidednly helped US Purchase them in the first place). Initally the first four will go to Midwest Airlines.

Of course, this means more cuts and job losses at US...

Flight

Odious Little Man is at it again
See http://www.ghettoife.com/2009/10/once-again-bbc-and-odius-little-man.html

GhettoIFE.com, BBC News, TravelMole

Unions tell BA - Hold off on cuts

Unite has stomped its foot up and down telling BA to try and stave off the cuts that are needed. Further talks are upcoming on the 21/10.  However, if they don't go well, strike action is on the horizon..

BBC News

Mesa consider more CRJ-200's to GO! to the Hawaiian Islands.

After driving Aloha out of the market, Mesa is considering deploying a 6th CRJ-200 over to the islands, with Shuttle America E-170's moving out, and CRJ-200's moving in to meet size and requirments.

What a downgrade. More on the flying coffin that is the CRJ-200 in a few weeks.

717's head south of the border to Mexicana.

Mexicana is accelerating the collection of it's 717 fleet with the displacing of the Midwest 717s, with 10 currently in service, and the full collection in-sitiu before the end of 2010with delays down to pilot training if anything.

The 717 as readers know is basicly a warmed over MD-90 with new avionics - which although is a very good beast isn't compatible with the previous MD series or Boeings own 737 series.


It's good to see these birds still flying.


Air France considers PE Cabin on A380s and decides to copy other carriers. 


With the rapid introduction of Premium Voyageur shortly on 777's, they would like to deploy them on their new A380's... if they can actually consider the retrofit to the aircraft.

In better news, A380 traffic between Paris CDG - New York JFK is due to kick off on 23rd November.

That's your lot for this week. Next weeks news update will be delayed as I'm back in Chicago. Hopefully there should be *something* up...

KLM offer free Personalised luggage tags... for US Residents only :(

One of the best promotions is thankfully back again - alas for US Residents ONLY :(

We all like luggage tags... yes?  Well now you can have some custom design ones with your own photos on them - thanks to KLM. Oh - and it costs nothing!

http://baggagelabel.klm.com/  is the magic link - however as stated - it is for US Residents only. 

Now KLM... show some love to us in the UK and the rest of the world please?

Madness is a trip like this....

Once again, I'll be taking my own advice and be on my travels soon

But surely - even this is madness (within 8 days!)?

See - The Great Circle Mapper for the breakdown on my flights.

More to come on this over the coming days!

The Kiwi's throw down the challenge to Southwest....

It seems Air New Zealand is once again out to cause a little mischief with music, rapping, safety videos and of course... body paint.

I'll let the cabin crew say their words...



A safety video mashup. Oh well. Anything for a bit of fun...

So how about it then Southwest? Are you free to roam to New Zealand and play this game? ;)

United upgrades all Domestic sectors... Seat Bunfight ahead!

United seems to be getting creative with their Elite policy as Continental rears its head into Star Alliance.

This little thing popped up in the United Forum on FlyerTalk with the announcement from United:

"Hello all,

We want you to be among the first to know that Mileage Plus will be introducing Unlimited Domestic Upgrades in the second quarter of 2010.

All members that have premier and higher status will enjoy unlimited domestic upgrades that will include Hawaii, which most of our competitors don’t do. You will no longer need to request an upgrade; you’ll automatically be on the list, making it much easier for you to enjoy a more comfortable flight.

With our exclusive Economy Plus seating, new unlimited amount of domestic upgrades and systemwide upgrades that typically have the fewest restrictions compared to our U.S. competitors, you now have the industry’s most comfortable seating.

Stay tuned for an e-mail from Mileage Plus tomorrow explaining the program in detail.

Happy Upgrading!
"

Ok - Lets chip away at this and work at the details.

• Firstly, it's US Domestic Only - so for Elites thinking about booking that W fare to the USA from the UK, forget it. 
• If you want to fly the fancny United P.S. Service from JFK-LAX/SFO, no upgrades there.
  

United upgrades can be sponsored in a variety of ways:

• E-500's - Rewarded for Loyaly and flying (and can be brought) - Withdrawn (if you're holding E500's - they're usable until expiry)
• CR1 - Confirmed  Region 1 Upgrades (Lower 48 States) - Withdrawn (if you're holding E500's - they're usable until expiry)
• SWU - Single Way Upgrade - Useful for the entire network worldwide - Retained
• and of course Miles  - Retained.
  

In addition - how soon your upgrade will clear will be depend on your route and what status you are.  Leaving aside the route issue for a minute, lets break down the numbers:

Status

Processing time

Global Services	120 hours prior to departure
1K	100 hours prior to departure
Premier Executive	72 hours prior to departure
Premier	48 hours prior to departure

Table - United.com

So - providing space is avalible,
GS's (Global Services - Invite Only) clear in 5 days,  
1K's (100,000m/pa) will clear in 4 days,
1P's (Premier Executives - 50,000m/pa)  will clear in 3 days
2P's (Premiers - 50,000m/pa)  will clear in 2 days

Note this applies to United Elites ONLY. Other Star Alliance Elites will be treated with the usual contempt we've come to know and love.

Now as we all know there are limited First Class seats on a plane (although HOW some of those ratty seats can be considered "First Class" in the USA is beyond me).  For example:
Airbus A319 - 8
Airbus A320 - 12   (standard mainline configuration)
Boeing 757 - 24
Boeing 767 - 34 (US Domestic and Hawai'i)
Boeing 777 - 36 (US Domestic)
Certain Express services may have 3-5 "First" Class seats on too. Exculded for sake of arguments.

Now lets think about that for a second. There aren't a lot of F class seats to start off with - even on a Boeing 777.    For sake of argument, lets assume we are flying from Chicago O'Hare to Washington Dulles with an A319 (which is normal for a 9am service).

You have on that plane 8 First class seats. Lets assume that load isn't that bad today, with 6 paying F, and a smattering all round of other tickets. Lets also assume there are 2 GS, 4 1K's and another smattering of 1P's/2Ps.  The GS's will be the only benefits in this game.  Everyone else will have to stay in Economy.

Lets now look at this again - again an Elite Heavy Route from Chicago O'Hare to Los Angeles International. Can vary from an A320 to a B757 - and in this exercise, a 757 is up for grabs. Sales have been bad of F, so only 1/2 the seats are filled (12). There are a 4 GS's this time on the plane, 6 1K's, 10 1P's and a smattering of 2P's.  Of course, the GS's and 1K's are the imminent beneficiaries. The poor 1P's are stuck with the game of "who paid the most" - eg - Full Economy fares take advantage of lower paying fares - so 2 lucky 1P's who probably brought the fare 3 days before flight will be fine. Everyone else - it's a bunfight for a seat.

Oh, and those of you who brought non elite otherhalfs and children - they get treated like everyone else.


The bottom line: If you aren't United Global Services or 1K (100,000 miles per annum flyer) and you're on an elite heavy route - expect E+. Else, don't expect a F class seat upgrade.

Whilst United should be commended for a bit of the "Out of the Box" thinking, sadly all I can see are bucket after bucket of moans being delivered as people will travel on the elite heavy routes, finding no F seats - or having to route round the shops to if they want to travel in First 

A classic case of raising expectations - before dashing them in the same breath.

One Mile at a Time has excellent coverage of the coming changes.

Let the seating bunfight begin!

BMI "trys" practices double entendres

Oh dear. It seems BMI is getting into the viral advertising and practising its double entendres (Safe for work) ...








Of course.. they're talking about Rugby. Why... what did you think they were talking about? ;)

Seems as though BMI need to get a bit further from the playground to do their advertising though....

Once again - BBC and Odius Little Man Lock horns

It's turning into straight BBC vs O'Liar fight now, thanks to the growing spat.

For those in the UK - watch http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8285000/8285260.stm.

Of course, there's arguments of editorial bias, and downright arguments - FT Alphaville posted a wonderful transcript of the letter which Ryanair posted themselves (PDF)...

One page this document stands out...





It depends how you view it - do you view him as the great saviour of the industry ... or the sucm of the earth.  At every juncture where the interview was shown it was "Ryanair the best, Buy our share offering..." etc.

The safety concerns of the pilot are valid... 45 minutesto plan your flights for the day is not enough time... so you plop another 1:15 on top. And a lack of water onboard.


Not 100% dangerous, but I prefer the people aboard to be at least 1) Hydrated and 2) Briefed and planned with time allowed.

My views are clear - and the business model works for Ryanair - My main concern with Ryanair is how many more cuts can their be before there is a snapback? How can they keep their product without pushing consumers to the edge? How much more is the consumer going to take.

The industry and the consumer will decide. But decide for yourself please... after all - what else do you want to loose?

(Blog note - News Roundup for last week will appear shortly... I've been out of time...)

Airplane p0rn - SQ-B777-300ER/A380

Time for some more airplane p0rn. This week - it's a pair of Singapore Airlines aircraft - a Boeing 777-300ER taking off and a A380 taxing at Heathrow Airport.



More airplane p0rn next week!

Train Travel... and they wonder why they're loosing revenue hand over fist.

So muggins had to make a mission of mercy trip to London on Tuesday, and of course as time was short - I needed to catch the fast trains and pay the idiot fares to London.

Not that the fast train helped to be honest - we were 21 minutes late due to line problems near Birmingham airport. And nor that it help on the way back (as the slow lines were closed to a point, a slow train was put infront of a fast one resulting in a 15 minute delay when I arrived home at 1am in the morning)

No. What really peeved me off is the amount of times my ticket was inspected.

Have a guess..

... no ... really.
Have  a good guess.

If you came up with 4, you're optimistic, but 3 is about right normally.

But not event that. It was ONCE - At the manual barriers at New Street.

So theoretically, as the ticket inspection was not in force, I could had travelled to London on a very cheap ticket and not have it inspected at all. 

And the train companies wonder why they're loosing money, and people are defrauding the companies when travelling on tickets.

Sigh.

More Air travel news later - and a ring of fire for my specially selected ring of hell - US Airways ;)

Where BA goes, Aer Lingus Follows - Up to 800 jobs for the cut.

It seems the year of woe is continuing in the aviation industry with Aer Lingus now being forced to make cuts to their staff in an attempt to save £90 million over the next year.

In basic terms, 100 staff have already been told their when their contracts end, they will not be renewed. In addition new IT systems and modified working practices mean that another 676 people will see pink slips/P45's/Job Centres.

Also for those earning over €35,000 - they can expect their pay cut in certain bands with allowances cut for all. Management are trying to show their action by taking 10% cuts as well. 

Perhaps the most worrying long-term thing for Aer Lingus is the black hole of the pension scheme which is being renegotiationed.

Faced with the backdrop of a falling industry, and no sign of improving traffic numbers, this can only spell bad news for the Flying Shamrock.

Good luck to those affected.

**Breaking**: 1700 BA jobs for the cut

Hitting the wires right now is very bad news from BA with 1700 jobs for the chop from long and shorthaul crews.

Basic coverage at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8293536.stm

-- updated 12:15, 07/10 --

So, yes - to cover the still falling revenues, they're pulling out the stops to save more money.

They will be looking for 1000 cabin crew taking voluntary redundancy and a further 3,000 choosing to go part-time. In addition, the roles on the plane will change. Any new hires will be on "the new contract" which has different terms will be affected quite hard.

In addition, Strike Action is now becoming a serious threat, with BASSA and UNITE calling emergency meetings and finally getting their finger out.



Expect fireworks.

Soapbox: United... WHY? (Put the booking engine back to how it was!!!)

You know, I think airlines are turning more into confusopolyies these days (According to Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, a confusopoly is where a company or companies gains monoploistic powers by being too darned confusing for mere mortals).

And United Airlines seem to be taking this to an extreme.

For example, I'm pricing out a mileage run whilst I'm stateside next so I hit Star Gold for another year, and I looked at one of my regular ORD-IAD day returns via every airport possible (3 segment run).

Before, United decided to show the total price to make life understandable and easy. Now however.. well graphics are a good thing:




GRRR!

Most of us to be honest can't be backsided about the taxes - least of all we can 1) never reclaim them and 2) it's an accepted hazard of travel. All this has done is "optimise" the pricing engines so that a percived lower cost is offered before you hit pay.

I'm sorry. IT'S NOT CLEAR and HONEST pricing. It's there to confuse the consumer. Confusion leads to people wandering away or (what UA is hoping) people sighing and just ponying up.

So a plea  United - PUT THE SMEGGING BOOKING ENGINE BACK TO HOW IT WAS!

Airplane p0rn - Qantas 737

It's Sunday, so it's time for some Airplane p0rn.  This week, it's a Qantas 737-800 parked up at Sydney International




More airplane p0rn next week!

**BREAKING - Going TATL? You probably won't be - Problems at Shanwick Control - CLEARED **

Breaking news off the BBC News wire - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8288313.stm

"All transatlantic flights from the UK are grounded because of an air traffic systems problem in the Shanwick airspace area, says BAA.
Delays could be as much as three and a half hours, it is thought.  The problem concerns Shanwick Oceanic Control, which is the airspace area for the north east Atlantic."

BAA is showing also showing 3 1/2 hour days, with traffic affected from Mainland Europe, Ireland and the UK.

I don't envy ANYONE who has to travel today....

**11:09 - Swanwick has revered to a manual system. Not all flights delayed, but it's going to be murder out there... ***

** 12ish Problems at Swanwick have now been confirmed as fixed. However the backlog is going to take time to clear.**

The Friday News Roundup

It's Friday, and I've been under the weather with a cold, so lets do a roundup before I go for another bucket full of lemsip...

Qantas - From Bad to Worse to Bad

Qantas is having one hell of a rough time it seems, with the latest traffic numbers down again by 1.4% year on year. Things are slowly improving, but it's a hard road for the flying Kangaroo

TUI Group cancels 10 787's - swaps firms for options

TUI Travel cancel 10 of its 23 787 orders, but instead swaps it for 13 options, leading to a possible 13+13 fleet of them.  Originally part of the First Choice TravelGroup order, TUI group took these on when they merged with First Choice.

TUI insist they're committed to the 787,  however, there is going to have to be a management of expectation of the project, and containment of costs - however good the fit of the aircraft.


BA's Baby Bus goes back n forth across the Pond


BA1 and BA2 have successfully come to life, forming the London City - New York service. Good luck for this service, and lets hope the numbers are good to support it over the coming year.

US Carriers shore up the cash


It seems if what AA can do with getting cash, everyone else can. United, Airtran, Delta and US Airways have been issuing stocks and shoring up cash to improve day to day liquidity.


Air China - Double Digit Growth 

August was a good month for Air China - with 29% growth in traffic which includes 11% international traffic growth with load factors at 81.6%.

Pretty good work in this climate - however what is the fiscal numbers mixing in with those growth numbers? They haven't been released alas.

Emirates - the road to the higher density A380

November is going to be an interesting time to Emirates as they recivie the first of their High density 517 seater A380's (for those who collect numbers MSN007 - one of the test units which had Rolls Royce Engines - now with Engine Alliance GP7200's) - with some of the crew rest areas removed.  Of course this is for routes under the 12 hour marker.


Knowing Emirates alas, that assignment will accidental move around.



The 600 seater versions for Indian subcontinent hops has been put on hold for now.  One less packed sardine can to worry about in that case.


Jetstar respec's A330-200's - goes for High Gross Weight. 


Jetstar (Qantas) is specificing slightly different A330-200's to everyone else and are going for the High Gross Weight (HGW).  Launched by Korean air, these aircraft have an extra payload space for cargo (3.4 tonnes) or more range (610Km).


Perhaps slightly worrying for Boeing is the lack of availability and delays to the 787 project lead JetStar towards Airbus..


Frontier exit Chapter 11 - Formally a Republic Airline.



Frontier - the airline with the animals on the tails - has successfully exited Chapter 11 protection and is formally part of the Republic Airlines Holdings. 


It's good to see some survivors out there. Republic seems to have a winner on it's hands if they can manage it..

Auntie goes after the Odious Little Man... and makes a nice music video...

If there's one thing you can trust the BBC to do - and it's "Watchdog" programme - it's to go after companies.

Especially if Anne Robinson (of The Weakest Link) is at the helm.  This week it's the turn of the aviation industry's scum - Ryanair.

It's of course, an attack on Ryanair's so called cheap fares policy, and the idea of removing check-in desks and replacing them with fastdrop desks.

Of course, to grab more headlines, he wants to
- Charge extra for obese people
- Get rid of those pesky toilets or add a slot onto them

Now of course... how people can call Ryanair a Low Cost Carrier when you add in the fees up together is beyond me....

Perhaps the most telling lines are the final two sentences in the spoken in the interview:
Anne Robinson: Has he changed the minds of any of the anti-O'Leary's over there? Certainly not they say.
Michael O'Leary: I think my warm wit charm and engaging personality will win them all over.


Oh, and of course there was a nice little musical number too.



Those of you who have BBC iPlayer Access (UK Only) can see the episode and the Odious Little Man's Responses at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n1842/Watchdog_01_10_2009/. Those who don't and need to look at the script see http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/10/ryanair_makes_airline_history.html.

As I've said time and before, Ryanair in its drive to turn everything into a cost centre is slicing away at a fare until the element is free and you're paying for everything. The trouble is that whatever pleasure that there was in air travel, thanks to Ryanair, a lot of these are going down the pan. Adding charge after charge isn't a good idea and show Ryanairs complete lack of respect for the consumer.  If that's the case, go back to just selling off the younger aircraft and become an aircraft lessor. You'd probably make more money that way....

TSA: SnowGlobes - a weapon on the war on Terror.

This was spotted today at LaGuardia airport in New York - by Matt Daimler, founder of the www.seatguru.com...

OH GIVE ME STRENGTH!

Snowglobes are now formally a WMD it seems now.

I'm honestly speechless. Once again, the TSA are proving they are living up to the axiomin that they are a bunch of...

Thanks to Upgrade: Travel Better.  I'm going off to vent some more. Next on my soapbox list is that wonder called "United Airlines... "