I just read this excellent interview of Mark Gerhick, former chief counsel of the FAA about a book he wrote: ‘Full Upright And Locked Position‘ (I have not read the book. The full interview (on NPR) can be found here in both written and audio form. Here are some key points he makes:
Traveling in Economy is getting worse:
No objection to that statement at all. While some airlines now have Economy Plus or ‘better’ Economy seats for their Elites or for a fee, most economy seats are getting closer to the …

Editor’s note – I wrote these posts when I flew to India a few weeks ago. Forgot all about posting them during my trip. Here they are – in the original order and form as I wrote them. Let’s pretend I am still on the trip… . Beats being at work anyways…

I am writing this from 36,000 feet in the air, somewhere above Boston. More importantly, I am on the aBoeing 747-8i! Or as Lufthansa tags it – a 74H.
I am on the upper deck, in Business class! And …

On Thursday Nov.15th, the Diane Rehm show, a radio program on NPR, produced by Washington’s own WAMU had a very interesting discussion. The topic in question was the impact of the strict new regulations being adopted by airlines after the Colgan Air flight 3407 crash. While the changes were needed – that fatal air crash was the result of pilot error – some experts are arguing that the requirements are too strict and will result in a pilot shortage in the near future. You can find a transcript on the …

Kingfisher airlines of India got in the news in many ways over the years:

It was an upstart airline owned by a liquor baron, who tried to be India’s Richard Branson
It bought low-cost carrier Deccan Air to jump the line to get a license to fly internationally
It declared plans to be the first Indian carrier to buy the A380
It declared plans to fly from Bangalore to San Francisco
It became the 1st airline from India to join an Alliance (OneWorld). This is on hold for now.

Lately, they have been in the headlines …

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I had a long stopover in Zurich a few weeks ago. It is a nice airport. The Swiss Business lounge was a great experience and helped the 6+ hours go bye fairly fast. The best part was the view from the lounge. Here are a few pictures I took walking to the lounge and from the lounge. The ;lounge is actually in another terminal. I …

If you visit India and have lots of luggage – as much as you were allowed on your international flight into India, the domestic airlines will take you to the cleaners for any domestic connections. In the good old days, major Indian airlines like Jet Airways, Air India and Kingfisher (ok, Kingfisher is not ‘major’ any more), allowed you the international allowance on the domestic legs as long as you could show an international itinerary within 24 hours of the flight. That is not true anymore. Almost all the airlines …

Skytrak announced its annual rankings for 2012. They rank all the airlines in the world by polling 18m airline cutovers around the world. And for the year 2012 (drumroll please) the top 10 airlines are:

Qatar Airways (Qatar) – No Alliance
Asiana Airlines (South Korea) – Star Alliance
Singapore Airlines (Singapore) – Star Alliance
Cathay Pacific (Hing Kong, China) – OneWorld
ANA (Japan) – Star Alliance
Etihad Airways (Bahrain) – No Alliance
Turkish Airlines (Turkey) – Star Alliance
Emirates (Dubai) – No Alliance
Thai Airways (Thailand) – Star Alliance
Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia) – OneWorld (Starting late-2012)

I am particularly impressed by …

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Any flight can certainly feel like the longest flight of your life. If you have a kid sitting behind you kicking your seat, a crying baby sitting next to you, dramatic turbulence, angry passengers, an irritating seatmate, or runway delays, you might feel like you’ll never get off the plane. But even though some flights feel like the longest possible flight, others actually are. Read on to …

Airlines of the Middle East – Emirates, Etihad, Qatar are all hot commodities. They have excellent service, a great on-board product and are offering more and more routes all over the world. They are also buying up all new aircraft to make their flight experience even better. They also have kept away from alliances and have formed their own network of partners.
United, on the other hand, while it is also expanding its routes to the Middle East, has lost both its airline partners in the Middle East. It lost Emirates …

I was at Orlando airport (MCO) earlier this week. As I was walking to my gate, I saw a large cart with ice and cans of juices and sodas parked at a gate just before mine. I saw that it was manned by a couple of ladies in United uniforms, so I walked over and commented – ‘Hey drinks for everyone?’. The reply I got floored me! I was expecting them to say that it was for some special event – an inaugural flight, retiring pilot, new aircraft… but they …