Archive for September, 2006
September 29 2006
Two of Qantas’ male flight attendants have been suspended after a third flight attendant complained that they were involved in a "sex romp" with a female passenger on a flight to London earlier this month. The flight attendants deny this (of course) and details are a bit sketchy (thank God), but the accuser says he saw the two men kissing and involved in non-specific sexual activity in the food preparation area of the plane. The food prep part is what disturbs me, frankly. Qantas is investigating.
Meanwhile, the article refers to the accuser as a "whistleblower" which for some reason, in this context, sounds far more dirty than it should.
Have a good weekend.
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September 28 2006
Be thankful you weren’t on this one:
A fight broke out on an American Airlines flight from Lima, Peru, to Miami after a passenger decided that his seatmate was smelly. The non-smelly passenger had some sort of freakout about the allegedly smelly passenger using an iPod in -flight. He then poured perfume on the man, poured water on himself (?) and vomited in the aisle. I know, it doesn’t make sense. American officials had denied the non-smelly man boarding the day before because he seemed disturbed. Turned out they were correct.
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September 28 2006
As you might imagine, other airlines operating in Hawaii were not happy when new entrant go! introduced a $19 fare between the islands. The insanely low fare caused a ton of heated discussion and threats of lawsuits, and it may now claim its first victim. Island Air has returned one of its airplanes and did not take delivery of 2 more scheduled Q400s because it said it could not compete in a $19 environment. Island Air isn’t going out of business tomorrow, but it’s the first sign that the marketplace is changing because of low yields.
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September 27 2006
An irate passenger nearly bit the ear off an Alitalia employee after he was told that he could not board his flight to Naples because it was overbooked. Italian musician Raffaele
Artesi was so upset by the overbooking that he started fighting with an airport employee and in the process bit his left earlobe so hard that it was dangling from his ear. I know, that’s kinda gross. Said the employee, "I don’t want to risk my life for an overbooking."
Insert Mike Tyson joke here.
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September 26 2006
If you flew on British Airways out of Heathrow recently, you were probably late. How do I know? Because last week, only 1 in 8 BA flights departed Heathrow on time. Horrible. I don’t have much more to add, but I thought you’d like to know.
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September 26 2006
A British Airways flight from London to Boston was diverted to Halifax when a woman gave birth to a 6-week premature baby. The crew helped deliver the child. No word on whether he got frequent flyer miles for the whole flight, or just the Halifax to Boston portion.
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September 25 2006
As if US-Venezuelan relations weren’t bad enough, US officials detained Venezuelan’s foreign minister at JFK airport for about 90 minutes on Saturday and threatened him with a strip search. The incident occurred when the diplomat showed up late at the airport without a ticket. This prompted him to be pulled aside for additional security checks. He was not happy about this. A bit of a disagreement ensued, and depending on whom you believe, he was told to go to another room for a strip search, or he was told he needed additional screening.
Either way, the minister said he responded with, "the
dignity of Venezuelan revolutionaries … with strength,” Maduro told
reporters at Venezuela’s mission to the U.N. “It’s a Nazi government, a
racist government.”
The US has since apologized for the incident.
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September 25 2006
If you’re flying Lufthansa business class within Europe, you’re in luck: the airline said that through the end of October business class passengers will always have an empty seat next to them. It’s a clever way to give passengers more room without having to spend any money retrofitting the cabin.
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September 22 2006
The OTR is taking a long weekend, so we’ve got nothing for today. We’ll be back Monday…
In the meantime, it turns out the A380 isn’t going to launch any time soon…
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September 21 2006
With the bloodless coup in Thailand, anyone with a trip planned (ie, my friend Jeff) to the country may be wondering if they’ll still be able to fly there. The good news is that except for one Emirates airways flight on Tuesday, all airlines are operating close to normally. Whether you should go or not, is up to you (though most countries are suggesting that you should wait a bit. Your call.) Bangkok’s oft-delayed new airport is still set to open next week, which, given the problem it has had over the years, is a coup unto itself.
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Flight Attendant “Sex Romp” on Qantas Flight