According to media reports 2 of Mexicana Airlines aircraft were seized in Canada and prevented from departure.  This was due to rumors and/or actual indications of financial trouble for Mexicana.  Specifically, Mexicana may have had trouble paying the leases on these 2 planes.  Some time ago I wrote about Mexicana and whether it was a good fit for the One World Alliance.  I based my observation on the product, not the balance sheet.  I assumed, in that post, that OneWorld dissected Mexicana’s balance sheet before bringing them into the alliance.

Apparently someone at OneWorld didn’t do their homework.  Mexicana just joined OneWorld in November of 2009, less than 1 year ago.  How could their financial viability deteriorate that quickly and dramatically?

I attended a funeral for a family member this week.  The deceased was also a member of the Greatest Generation.  I have been in somewhat of a fog since.

I often hear “older people” (passengers and airline employees) comment that flying is not like it used to be. When I hear or read comments such as this, my initial thought is: obviously you have not flown internationally recently.   One typical gripe is that passengers don’t dress up to fly as they once did.  My experience on the way to the funeral is one example of why people don’t or shouldn’t get dressed up to fly.

After we boarded the plane (ATL-EWR), the captain announced that we were ready to push back, but that he was waiting for our final numbers (weight & fuel) which he expected receive any moment.  After 30 minutes of sitting at the gate, sweating, the pilot said the ground crew was now adding more fuel:

“First they said we were too heavy, now they are adding more fuel”

After another 20 minutes, we were pushed back from the gate where we sat for another ten minutes.  It was at this point I realized something was not right.  Finally, we began to taxi under the plane’s power towards the runway.  We taxied to a remote location when the pilot came on and told us that we had missed our wheels up time and our next opportunity to depart would be in 1 hour.  In addition, he had to shut the engines down because if he ran the engines we would not have enough fuel to make it to Newark.

No engines means no air conditioning.  It was 94 degrees in Atlanta that day, so I could only imagine what the temperature on the plane was.  Bottom line, it became real hot real fast.  I wasn’t judging just by myself because I sweat in the shower during an Atlanta summer.  Other passengers were sweating and I sensed some panic.  The FA’s made several trips down the aisle with ice water.  I was quite happy to be sporting sandals, shorts and a t-shit.

The captain had the audacity to come on and say:

“I know its hot back there, but I can can guarantee you it’s at least 10 to 20 degrees hotter in the cockpit”

Uh… last time I checked captain, captains get paid to be in the cockpit, passengers pay to be on the plane.

After 45 minutes, the captain came on and said we had to go back to the gate.  Because of storm in EWR, we were given a crazy routing over Indiana and we didn’t have enough fuel to get to EWR with that routing.  I have to believe this is why we took on more fuel in the first place.  As soon as we pulled up to the gate and the seat-belt sign chime rang, the pilot came on said the flight had been cancelled.  Passengers moaned and mumbled obscenities under their breath.

The Aftermath

As passengers deplaned a few made snide remarks to the captain and flight attendants.  One flight attendant shouted back.  It was an embarrassing scene.  I was just happy to get off that hot plane.  I waited 30 minutes at the re-issue desk before the agents processed any passengers, despite 5 to 7 agents being behind the desk at any given time.

An experience like this may not have happened during the “good old days” of air travel, but every industry evolves.  Consumers need to adjust their expectations and behavior in accordingly.  In this case, the way the dress.

Sometimes I fly on an ordinary airline on an ordinary route and there is not a whole lot to report or highlight. I anticipated this ATL-FRA flight would be one of these flights.  In addition, I have written about Delta’s Business Elite class on a few other occasions.
The flight crew was fantastic, however, and the menu impressive so it warranted a post. The crew made the flight very pleasant by being very friendly and saying the small things:

“Is there anything else I can get you right now?”
“Did you enjoy your flight?”
“We really appreciate you choosing Delta”

I was pleasantly surprised by the menu. It seemed more complex with more choices than average. The effort in menu design alone was more impressive than United, never mind the originality and quality. My fillet was good when compared to other airline fillets.

Unfortunately, like my last Delta 777 flight, my in-flight entertainment was in-operable. The whole cabin system was reset several times and I believe most passsnegers’ system worked after the reset.  Mine just produced a loud hissing sound and the faint noise of what was playing. It wasn’t a show stopper because I slept for most of the flight.
This 777 had the “old” Business Elite recliner seats and I took no pictures of them, but the menu is below.

Who do you think has better business class food, United or Delta?

Two highlights of this lounge: the view of the apron and runway and the cheerful, friendly Lufthansa agent who was checking boarding passes outside the lounge.  I asked the gal if I could take a picture of the lounge entrance. She said absolutely and posed in front of the Lufthansa sign.  I did not post it as I’m sure she would have opted out of the picture had she known it was for a blog.

The only Lufthansa attendant I had interaction with inside the lounge was a bit snooty. Each of the two times I asked her a question, she smirked at me as though she was thinking:
“Are you seriously asking this question, you idiot…”
She also spoke perfect English and had no accent at all… go figure…

There was plenty of room to spread out which included some restaurant type seating near the food and beverage areas. There was an assortment of fresh breads, cereal and fruit. The only hot food was a Panini “bar” where one of the attendants heated up ham or veggie paninis. My ham panini left a bit to be desired a.ka. the quality of ham was not very good.
There was a solid selection of spirits, highlighted by Bouvet Brut and Famous Goose Scotch. Also available, 2 different beers on tap in addition to several varieties of Becks in bottles.

It wasn’t the Business Class Lounge in Doha but Lufthansa’s Tower Lounge was much better than 90% of the lounges I have seen in the US.

no free wi-fi but computers available opposite this work area

view

Here is another good fare I just came across. It requires a 14 day minimum stay and travel must be completed by 9/11/10. Other cities may be available; operated by a US carrier, example round trip business class fares including taxes and fees:

• NYC-Bombay $3400
• NYC-Delhi $3415
  

These fares may exist after 9/11/10, but I have not looked that far.
Available on Planereality’s Booking Engine
For questions or to check other fares:
chris@planereality.com

There is a “brick and mortar” travel agency next to the gym that I go to. I stopped in the other day and asked what airfare deals they were seeing.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know”

“I can’t really help you then”

Such is the case with so many, not all, travel distributors. One has to know where they are going before any other part of the planning process can take place.  A dangerous presumption in my book.

This concept, in part, is where the idea of this weekly post, Where the Good Fares Are , came from. Here are the fares this week.  All previous posts are under the FARES category. I used middle of September and a seven day stay as my random dates. Fares are R/T and includes fees and stuff.

• LAX-Seoul $3068 Planereality Booking Engine
• LAX/SFO-Heathrow $3411 Planereality Booking Engine
• NYC-Buenos Aires $2589 Planereality Booking Engine
• ATL-Honolulu $619 (Coach) Your Booking Engine of Choice

This was my 2nd attempt at flying on ANA’s Inspiration of Japan. ANA originally launched this new plane and new product on its NRT-JFK route and recently launched the new product daily on the NRT-FRA route. The first time, I found a great business class fare: SGN-NRT-JFK on the very first day of the scheduled launch of Inspiration of Japan. Unfortunately the launch was delayed at the 11th hour. The new premium economy seats, the original reason for the delay, are still not installed on the plane I flew from Narita to Frankfurt; registered as JA785A.

For this trip I had a coach class ticket. Upon check in, I attempted to get myself into a business class seat, but the best the check-in agent could do was moving me from a middle seat to an exit row: 30A. For this, I was thankful.

SEATS
Row 30, “window” seats have no window. You can see out a window if you lean back and turn your head. The emergency slide on both sides of this 2-4-3 seat configuration protrudes into the exit row. Boarding and departure were picture perfect for this flight that consisted of 11:34 flying time.

As was the case on my last ANA flight, all electronics needed to be turned off immediately after boarding. This was strictly enforced. The first thing I noticed was how narrow the seat was. My left shoulder was jammed right up against the wall of the plane. The seat was also hard as a rock. This aircraft was delivered to ANA in March of 2010 so the seats either have not been broken in yet or the manufacturer used a very tough material. By hour five of the flight, I was sitting on my pillow because my ass hurt so bad. By hour 8, I was sitting on 2 pillows! The backs of these new economy seats are fixed but the back and bottom of the seats do slide to provide a small amount of recline.
I took some quick pictures of the business class seats (below), which look narrow and there appears to be a lot of wasted space, but I have not sat in them yet.

FOOD
There were two meals served, The first was great in terms of quantity, quality and authenticity. The second meal was exactly the opposite. Terrible, in fact. I have had better coach meals on US carriers. ANA is offering “My Choice” dining between meals. From what I could understand, for a fee, economy passengers can order food and drinks through their in seat monitors, although that feature was not working properly on this flight. The food was still available though. I paid for a bowl of noodles and they were very tasty. Beer and wine were complimentary at meal time but were not available between meals for pay or free; that’s annoying; either make it available or don’t.

AUDIO VIDEO ON-DEMAND
The TV screen was the largest I have ever seen in economy. The music selection was pretty weak but the movies and games were great. There is a USB hook up to play your ipod through the planes system. There was also power at each coach seat, but mine did not work. If you are an airline and/or geography buff, you will love the half dozen, customizable moving maps and the nose camera.

CONCLUSION
I believe the Inspiration of Japan will be a success for All Nippon Airways. The food in economy needs some help, but the service was top notch. Perhaps 3rd time is a charm and I will experience ANA’s new Business Class seats on the Inspiration of Japan.

30a

view from 30a

mini economy cabin right behind business class

s-video, usb, headphone and power outlets

from top left: no clue, fruit, potato salad with fish roe, noodles with pork & egg, soup

my choice dining menu; different choices on different routes

whiskey 4 ways

business class

“meal” before landing

lufthansa cargo on approach to FRA

inspiration of japan; JA785A

I arrived at Narita on Lufthansa’s A380 early in the morning.  The first thing I wanted to do was grab a big bowl of spicy noodles with fresh vegetables and minced something or other.  There are um-teen places to make this happen in the Terminal 1 “mall”.  I couldn’t tell you where I ate, but I bet I could find it again.  It was so good I wanted to try something else, but first I wanted hit the open air observation deck.  I got these pics and went back for some more noodles. Enjoy!

As has been the case over the past few weeks, the best fares I am seeing from the US are across the Pacific.
Outside the US, there are some business class “deals” to be had if you can originate in Istanbul, Moscow or Athens. The Istanbul fares are below. You can click HEREor click on the “FARES” category to see the most recent fares I have posted. Some of those ares are probably still available.  For the details on how this post series came about and other details that are not terribly important, click here.  These fares are business class for the middle of October 2010.  Use the flexible date function when you search.  Tausend Dank!

• Istanbul-Sydney: $3504 Etihad; $3630 Singapore Airlines
• Istanbul-Melbourne: $3052 Etihad; $3616 Singapore Airlines
• SFO-Hong Kong: $3053 Planereality’s Booking Engine
• ORD-Shanghai: $3430 American; $3430 United; $3432 Continental

After I read the Time.com piece, I thought it necessary to point out some ”other” aspects of airlines and why, in many instances, for many travellers, flying can be pure bliss.

1) They give me free drinks
2) I can be in Hong Kong for dinner tomorrow night
3) I’m flying to Las Vegas this week for free
4) Seats that turn into beds
5) Connectivity
6) They recognize repeat customers (My supermarket doesn’t)
7) Safest way to travel
The view (Why is my “8″ automatically a smiley face?!)
9) Live TV on Delta
10) Surf and turf on Asiana
11) Fresh baguettes on Air France
12) Airbus A380′s
13) Boeing 747′s
14) A better movie collection than I own (Qatar Airways)
15) Moving maps on Lufthansa
16) Surprise upgrades
17) Airline lounges
18) Touchscreen ordering
19) Exit rows
20) Channel 9 on United: Air Traffic Control