Credit where due - Qantas has been very good today. Pleasant cabin crew, good snacks, and the bloke at the service desk managed to move me to a seat with no one next to it. Good work.
@timrichards Agreed, every time I fly Qantas, it's an excellent service. Rex a close second.
Friendly staff everywhere when you need it, excellent self service options when you prefer it. That seat change? Qantas is the only airline with an app that allows you to change the seat right up until boarding (IIRC).
Delays are communicated extremely well through all channels prior to getting to the gate. App provides opportunity to change booking to earlier flight if bad weather is predicted, for no extra cost. The only reason I couldn't shift my flight earlier when delayed at Canberra, was because passengers with international connections go first.
I'm on a roll here. Flying is already misery enough. Imagine a long flight in the economy class cabin in a seat like this. Um yeah, no thank you! #flying
Interesting read. IMO you can tell it's by a British writer from this para (I'm picturing a booze-soaked EasyJet flight to somewhere hot):
"Typically, alcohol consumption and the behavioural tendencies of different cultures under its influence are the primary threats to a peaceful flight. Passengers on some routes are infamous for drinking."
Flight attendant reveals how crew deal with aggressive passengers
@timrichards I’d go with that. Certainly it was a normal part of the holiday experience for many of my UK friends to fill the time between check-in and boarding at the airport pub “getting relaxed”.
@timrichards I have had the luck of being one of 5 aboard - including the crew.
Was in 2000 when travelling from Birmingham to Frankfurt to meet the old Qantas flight from Frankfurt to Australia.
I remember being late to check-in (had been in the pub) and them calling my name almost immediately - I ran to the gate apologising profusely so didn’t realise there was no one else onboard until I was asked where I’d like to sit.
Even better - being pre-2001 and me being a pilot - when I said “in the cockpit?” they asked the captain who said yes….
I also worked in Indonesia in the period leading up to the overthrow of Suharto when things were tense - recall one flight where there were about 30 passengers on a Qantas 747SP into Jakarta. To keep ourselves entertained we played cricket in the economy cabin
Sigh this is the problem with premium economy - it's still way too expensive compared to economy. I'd rather economy seats just had 25% more space for 25% more fare, than this pricey induced scarcity.
"Premium economy class is now an increasing focus for airlines since the revenue relative to the space these seats occupy now earns them more than any other class."
Crystal Cabin Awards: Qantas on shortlist for year’s best airline cabin innovations
@timrichards Given how much economy airfares have collapsed over the past several decades, and how much more unpleasant it has become, I wonder if we’re seeing a strucural shift to higher fares, via the expansion of premium economy. I mean, in real terms, a premium economy fare today is still much cheaper than an economy fare in the 70s - 90s. Even business class fares today are competitive with economy fares of yesteryear. Maybe end up with a rump economy cabin, & premium being the new normal?
@bhalla I can't see them maintaining the current PE fares in a much bigger cabin though, with therefore less scarcity. Something between current economy and PE fares would be ok.
So. More fun. After 2 days of battling excel (I don't use it that much!) here's a chart showing both radiation dosage (microsieverts per hour) and altitude for Air NZ flight 691 on Thursday night. I may have mentioned there was a geiger counter on board! #geigercounter#flying
Here's another, someone compile a list before I do?
A Boeing 777 has six tires on each of its two main landing gear struts, according to the airline. It is designed to land with missing or damaged tires.
Analysis of #SARSCoV2#transmission in #airports based on real human close contact behaviors, Journal of Building Engineering
> The average close contact ratio in 9 airport's areas is 25.4 % (ranging from 6.1 % to 55.0 %), with passengers having the highest frequency of close contact in manual check-in areas. During close contacts, the average interpersonal distance in airports is 1.2 m (ranging from 1.1 to 1.4 m), being shortest in boarding areas. Face-to-face close contact is highest in charging areas, with a percentage of 46.9 %. Dining areas have the highest virus exposure risk for both short-range inhalation and mucosal deposition, followed by manual check-in areas.
