May 25
Conductor… check.
Orchestra… check.
London Heathrow T5… check.
Flower Duet from Lakmé … check.
And what do you get when you combine this all together? Take a look below.
Now, you’ll notice the conductor wearing a British Airways uniform… and his story is below.
Different, creative, and fits with the BA Brand… even it if is near the dreaded Bus gate of A10 at London Heathrow Airport T5
Still – very nice work.
May 24
It’s Thursday evening and it’s time for some extra Airplane Art (in fact, there’s a lot extra than usual… must be that time of year)
Anyway, Singapore Airlines Low Cost Carrier “Scoot” has got it’s first bird painted up, ready for the big launch on the 4th June.
Images – FlyScoot via Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/flyscoot
Well, lets put it like this: If you’re on the lookout for this plane, you aren’t going to miss it! And whilst it does have the boring olde Eurowhite underneath, they’ve made an effort on the top of it.
It’s different. Lets leave it at that 
The draw for the 1000 American Airline takes place on Sunday 27th May at 08:00GMT – Have you left a comment there to stand a chance of winning those miles? If not, head to http://boardingarea.com/blogs/ghettoife/2012/05/24/win-1000-aa-miles-from-ghettoife/, tell me your good economy class story, hit post… and wait till I randomly select a winner!
May 24
Earlier this week by the joy of random.org, I won AAdvantage Geek’s prize draw for some Nuts.. and some AA miles.
Now, I’m keeping the nuts, but I like to share. Therefore I’m GIVING AWAY 1000 American Airlines Miles.
And to to win these 1000 AA miles - tell me in the comments box below about Your Best Economy Class Experience. It can be a short post, 5 miles long, but I want to hear your stories please.
You’ve got until Sunday 27th May 08:00GMT to get your comments to me. I’ll be drawing the winner via random.org thereafter
Boring T&C’s
Well – what are you waiting for? 1000 miles for grabs. Comment away!!!
May 23
Just a heads up that my poll on using your mobile phone in-flight to talk to people on the ground will be closing on 26th May at 08:00.
So this is your chance to let out what you think about the plans of Virgin Atlantic to introduce full mobile comms in the air (that’s Voice calls, SMS and Data)… or if another carrier tries it on.
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Polling ends: 26/05/2012 08:00.
I’ll be doing analysis afterwards, but there is a clear message to take away already – I’d better buy some shares in Shurtape Technologies, LLC.
Why? With all the Duck Tape I could sell at an airport if the plane you’re getting onto has full mobile coverage on it…..
May 23
Lets go back to Singapore Airlines low cost carrier – Scoot.
More details have been released about onboard services – and it’s relevant as its an In-Flight Entertainment system.. And it’s called an Apple iPad.
The iPads will be preloaded with what Scoot calls “popular films, TV shows, music and games”.
Those in ScootBiz will get these devices for Free-of-Charge for use in plane. Meanwhile if you’re on any of the Scoot Economy Class packages (Fly, FlyBag, FlyBagEat) and you want access to the system – its a rental charge of S$22 a leg.
It goes without saying for shorter legs this could be poorer value rather than longer legs where something to occupy you for 9 hours (on a SIN-SYD leg) could be welcome.
Scoot in the medium term will be looking towards installing a wifi stations on-board its planes too, offering wireless Internet Access. This will be free for ScootBiz, and paid for down the back of the plane.
Scoot is due to commence on the 4th of June, heading off to Sydney in the first instance, then Gold Coast, Tianjin and Bangkok.
The question is simple though – even with all these things, will Scoot work? Long Haul LCC’s have had varying degrees of success over varying distances. Asia/Australia seems to be working out well, whilst heading over to Europe doesn’t seem to have worked out well for others.
This is going to be one to watch.
May 23
787 route announcements are becoming more common with more planes entering service slowly. It seems that United are going to try and take advantage of the “thin and long” concept (thin demand, long flight) with their new 787 by opening a route from Denver International to Tokyo Narita International Airport.
Now don’t get too excited as the route is not due to commence until 31st March 2013, but here’s the schedule:
DEPART DEN 11:15 ARRIVE NRT 15:00+1 DEPART NRT 16:40 ARRIVE NRT 12:30 Booked equipment: Boeing 787 Operates Daily
Now a few little nuggets have come up from this, especially after consulting airroute.net who have GDS Maps.
Business Class will be from the looks of it in a 2-2-2 configuration. However my interest sadly is down the back.
Economy Plus makes up nearly half the cabin with 63 seats, whilst Economy is 120 seats. However, economy is configured in the one way that makes the 787 a pleasant method of travel that it is today to a living hell.
It’s configured with 3 seats on the left, 3 in the middle, and 3 in the right – That’s right – GhettoIFE’s most hated wide body configuration – 3-3-3.
Fitting 3-3-3 into a cabin is tight for the passenger as you get 19″ (48cm) of width in a 2-4-2 configuration, where as in the 3-3-3 config, you get 17.2″ (44cm) of space. So this is one flight to probably avoid doing in plain United Economy.
It seems that the beloved Jeff Smisek thinks this probably a change you’ll like to be crammed into a sardine composite tin.
That reminds Mr Smisek. When was the last time you flew in the last row of one of your planes in Economy Class on a 10 hour TATL? And whilst we’re here Mr Smisek, have you compared your amenities to the passenger to say other carriers who traffic those routes?
Or is not doing anything another “change I might like”?
May 22
I’ve had 10 minutes to breath today, and a quick inspection of my British Airways Exec Club Account showed something nice, surprising and stress inducing all at once…
1500 Tier Points. OUCH…..
May 22
Earlier this month, Cimber Sterling fell for bankruptcy after funding was pulled by Mansvell Enterprises. Today, the owner of Skyways Express and City Airline (also Mansvell Enterprises) have pulled the plug on these airlines.
All flights operated by Skyways Express and City Airline are cancelled.
Or to put it blunt:
“The owners of the company have decided not to fund the company any longer and therefore the board of directors was forced to decide to stop all payments and to stop all flights”
“We deeply regret that we have not been able to resolve the situation and that our passengers have been affected“
Those who booked with Credit Cards are advised to head back to their issuers to reclaim compensation. Those who booked with travel agents are advised to head back to them for rebooking. If you booked on the website without a debit card… you’re stuffed sadly.
As it’s a full bankruptcy, all staff at the airports have been pulled as well, with a recommendation to rebook with another airline or train.
Mansvell Enterprises seems to have given up funding Skyways and City after the failure of Cimber Sterling, with them seeming not being able to turn the companies around. So they’ve gone for the “easy” way out and declare bankruptcy.
Skyways Express and City Airline operated a mix of regional aircraft – Fokker 50s, BAe 146′s, and Embraer ERJ-135′s/145′s series aircraft, operating routes routes in domestically in Sweden and to some European cities.
The casualties are mounting up this year in terms of airlines heading to the wall – and my gut feeling is that there will be more losses before the year is out sadly.
May 22
Officials have been on the PR offensive this morning, promising that entry into London Heathrow will be ready for the increase in demand in the run up and aftermath of the London 2012 Olympics.
Marc Owen, Heathrow director of the UK Border Force has stated that “Hundreds of extra fully trained border staff will be brought in”.
In regards to border security, he also stated that ” security measures would be proportionate”.
With an estimated 80% of people who are attending the Olympics from overseas entering via Heathrow, it represents a major challenge to the UK Border, which recently hasn’t had the best performance in the world with those coming in from outside the EU suffering major delays to get into the UK.
Meanwhile, an effort to step up use of the e-Passport gates will be stepped up to allow some passengers to speed through the immigration process (although they’re not exactly “quick” in any sense of the word from my experiences)
To address to post Olympic rush, there will be 70 extra staff coming on-stream during the summer rush points and new student intake into the United Kingdom.
BAA Heathrow has spent over £20 million to get Heathrow to some sort of readiness and the airport management aren’t going to let the UK Border Agency spoil the preparations, the scary numbers of 137,800 people leaving on the day of the after the closing ceremony and handling over 200,000 bags that day.
Meanwhile, the Head of the UK Border Force – Brian Moore – ”does not anticipate long queues” to get into the United Kingdom during the games.
Mr Moore has indicated that extra staff have been deployed and “plans are in place” to prevent a repeat of the chaos that has been seen at various UK Border Points of Entry recently.
He has also stated that waiting 25 minutes or so to enter the United Kingdom
“is not unreasonable”
I’d love him to wait in a 25 minute queue with nothing to do other than shuffle along – and be forced to wait for an hour and then declare that reasonable to a camera.
Mr Moore also stated:
“Any delay of three hours would be unacceptable. There is no question about that. That is not right unless there is some extraordinary reason for that to be routine – which it isn’t.
Well when he waits 3 hours on his own coin in a queue, I’m sure he’ll learn how to get a grip on things.
480 extra Border Force members of staff will be on duty during the Olympic period. However, those thinking those 480 pairs of feet on the ground will have a serious impact, there also comes a stark warning:
“Staffing arrangements are improving all the time”
“I do not anticipate seeing large queues of two or three hours. However, there will always be circumstances beyond our control.”
“There might always be conditions that may arise which simply defeat us. Our job will be to make sure that at time of peak demand we have as much resources there as necessary to manage what is there before us.”
If you’re coming to the United Kingdom for the Olympics, make sure you have a good book to read whilst in the queue to get into the country.
And welcome to the United Kingdom. We’re not all ineffective process driven people. It’s the people in charge that pay us mere workers to be that way.
May 21
Firstly, I got post today. And when it says “Diamond Club” on the envelope, I started to wonder what BA/BMI is up to.
Well – it was this:
Well for starters, it’s a new Diamond Club card, with a few changes. Firstly, there’s a BMI Logo (that’s a bit late…), and secondly in the top left corner, the Star Alliance logo is gone, with a simple “Gold” left in its place.
This also came with a letter, and this is as good time to remind you all of some deadlines:
So here’s the BIG REMINDER IN LARGE LETTERS.
May 21
It seems the summer of discontent is continuing, this time with the GMB Union disagreeing with Swissport over the breakdown of rosters between union members and Swissport.
Seven days of strikes are on the cards with the following dates:
Swissport handle for a variety of airlines at Stansted, including
If you’re travelling those dates, expect flights to run, but also expect things like baggage delivery and door openings from the plane to be delayed….
