Keno Omar

Routes flown in 2012 28 routes | 21 airports | 9 airlines | 15 countries

I must say that what surprised me the most is JNB, I always imagined that there's enough premium load on this sector. It's amazing how KUL-KHI-DXB on ailing A330 managed to survive the axe this long against the mighty EK. FCO could be made to work again if a joint service with QF ever to materialize someday. My theory is that FCO managed to survive all these while mainly due to SkyTeam membership ambitions.

My vision of what Sapphire might look like back in 2007 : http://www.malaysianwings.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=7351

Awesome!!! Finally MH is seeing sense to join the right alliance.

What are the chances of these Gulf carriers serving PEN (even LGK)? After HKT and DPS, surely our islands are next in the top list for vacationing Arabs, in this part of the world anyway.

I flew MAD-EZE and SCL-MAD last Dec. I knew there wouldn't be PTV on the A340 so I had to entertain myself with my iPod. The vegetarian option was abysmal - mind you I'm not a fussy eater. Booked it via Expedia UK but had to change dates afterwards, no issues there. I knew what I was getting myself into when I chose to fly with Iberia. This ain't Skytrax 5 star airline, so don't expect anything extraordinary.

MAS Holidays website clearly used a photoshopped image of Lonely Planet guide books. Doesn't copyright infringement mean anything?! http://holiday.malaysiaairlines.com/destinations http://holiday.malaysiaairlines.com/sites/all/themes/MASholidays/images/banners/innerpage/destinations/bnr_destinations.jpg (retrieved 13 Feb 2011)

@Azizul: I've been wondering about visa arrangements for Malaysians flown to Jeddah. At first I thought their stay in Jeddah is considered akin to transiting without clearing immigration, but doesn't seem like it if it's only for 7 days max. Would have been less pressing if they are transiting through other visa-free places like Cyprus, but I doubt we have any kind of facilities there... @Stryker: I suppose there's not much difference between government spending on this evacuation mission and the aid to flood victims of Johor for example - both are to help fellow Malaysians in need. God bless to all involved in this mission!

I've long waited for this, though I was expecting QF to codeshare on MH/SQ instead since the liberalization of the route. Finally we can book online to/from KUL to/from LHR, FRA and Australia

Nitpicking the dropdown list of bookable destinations: Belfast, Ireland Gardermoen Oslo, Norway Macau, null Riyadh, UAE Seoul, Korea AND Seoul, South Korea If anyone from MH reading this, go fix it.

MAS is starting to look wise now for hesitating to join Skyteam... more and more mediocre airlines joining in.

Point 1 accomplished, two short breaks in Malta and Tuscany. Point 2 accomplished, went home for raya on EK CDG-DXB-KUL, inbound on A380 - my first. Point 3 accomplished, finally conquered my 6th (South America) and 7th (Antarctica) continents. New airlines flown in 2010 = 9 = Air Malta, Kenya Airways, Rwandair, Air Excel Tanzania, LAN, LAN Argentina, Aerolineas Argentinas, Iberia & Firefly New countries visited in 2010 = 6 = Malta, Tanzania, Rwanda, Argentina, Chile & Antarctica* (*) not strictly a country since nobody owns it For 2011, I'm eyeing on Jordan, The Himalayas & Ecuador.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll be flying BRU-MAD-EZE on Wed, so this can't be good. Just when I thought the snow havoc in BRU has ended, now another fiasco in MAD?! Need to work out plan B asap, my travel plans don't have room for delays

MATTA deputy president, as quoted from The Star: How can deterring potential corporate clients be good for business?

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has issued a guideline to its members to start charging at least RM 30 of 'consultation fees' for each enquiry or request for quotation from customers (further enquires and amendmends would cost more). In the days when the relevance of traditional travel agents against do-it-yourself online portals is constantly being questioned, I see that this action would help to speed up the process even more. The travel industry is in no way not alone in offering free advice and quotations, in the hope that they are converted into actual sales - it's all part of doing business. The travel agency that I used to plan my upcoming trip even offered a call-me-back option, I only had to leave my phone number in their website. In the UK, some insurance companies offer free gifts just for enquiring, in order to encourage potential customers to contact them. What is your take on this? It would also be interesting to hear from those in the industry. Full media release here: http://www.matta.org.my/news/view.cfm?id=820547C6-188B-76AA-0065624D9CB5224E

It's misleading for the article to refer the 4 Australian stations as "hubs".

While most people could understand that flights do get delayed or diverted beyond the airline's control, it's the manner that the airline handles the situation that often pisses them the most. My Ryanair flight from Venice to Stansted in 2003 was diverted to Gatwick due to a fire at the airport (can't recall the details). The plane was parked at Gatwick tarmac for 2 hours before we were cleared to take off again. I would have appreciated if Ryanair could the very, very least do another round of food sales - I wasn't expecting miracles that they would hand out free food. I doubt that they have ran out of food or drinks by then, since I didn't see many people buying food during the first round. Instead, the flight attendants were almost nowhere to be seen, rather than attending to our needs. I truly despise Ryanair, but I still fly with them though

I hate it. Looks cheap. The old 'Malaysia' is more iconic than having to spell it out with in 2 distinct colours. If they really must, add 'Airlines' but keep the old blue with red corners. The red swishes are not easy to the eyes - I would have liked to see more soothing blue with a hint on red highlights. Less is more!! If there's enough people whining about the new livery then maybe, just maybe there'll do a 180 on this a la the recent GAP new logo fiasco

I'm no expert in the exact hukum hakam, so I opt for a practical approach instead of being technical about it. The last time I flew on KUL-LHR morning flight during Ramadan, I break fast mid-air based on the number of fasting hours, i.e. until Malaysian local time of around 19:30, although it was still daytime at that point (possibly near Ukraine). Otherwise, I would have had to fast for close to 20 hours if I were to wait for sunset in London. Ramadan is all about abstaining from food and other desires within a reasonable/normal amount of hours, and since time is 'distorted' when flying longhaul, I don't see why it has to be restricted by the exact time of sunset.

Azizul: be careful with the Timaticweb database, KLM/Delta also use the same system in their websites. Few months back, I checked our visa requirement to Senegal to join my friend visiting his family there, apparently based on this database we do not need visas for stay not exceeding 3 months, but I found no such information in Senegalese embassy websites. We checked directly with the embassy in Paris and indeed Malaysians need a pre-arrival visa, even visa-on-arrival would not be possible. I ended up cancelling the trip since I could not get time off work just to travel to the nearest embassy before the trip (there's hardly any non-EU embassy where I live). Another friend of my flew from Paris to Bangui in Central African Republic for work. He did not arrange a pre-arrival visa, since a company representative there has made special arrangements with an immigration officer for a visa-on-arrival (not sure if was legit or not). His flight was badly delayed and only got into Bangui at 1am, so by then the immigration officer has gone home. No surprise, he could not get pass immigration, and was kindly "deported" back to Paris on the same flight. Use this website with caution and always double check with the embassy website or call. You wouldn't want to end up in a foreign country without the right papers, since not all country would grant visa-on-arrival.

So, who won the bet on this one?

Another interesting read: http://industry.bnet.com/travel/10005764/volcanopalypse-ironically-icelandair-outperforms-other-european-carriers/ Volcanic Surprise: Icelandair Made Crisis Management Look Easy By Brett Snyder | Apr 27, 2010 And you thought the volcano situation was over and done with, right? Not quite. The aftermath of the Icelandic eruption will continue for a long time, and we’re starting to see a strong division between carriers. The strong are getting more creative while the weak are looking for handouts. The most interesting to me has been the case of Icelandair, which worked wonders over the last couple weeks. In terms of creativity, Icelandair has been the most impressive. When airports throughout Europe were closed, Iceland’s main airport in Keflavik remained open. From there, Icelandair operated a strategic mission every day. One day, Trondheim airport in way northern Norway opened, so they sent the fleet over there with several flights. Another day, they thought Heathrow would open so they scheduled the flights. When it didn’t, they sent the planes to Edinburgh instead. I would say that Icelandair probably served its passengers better than anyone. But after the volcano threat died down in Europe, shifting winds actually shut Keflavik for a few days. Uh oh, that’s the end of their work, right? Not so fast. Instead of just calling it quits, Icelandair opened a makeshift hub in Glasgow. Flights from the US went to Glasgow, where passengers could then connect to other parts of Europe. They even sent flights from Akureyri on the other side of Iceland to Glasgow so people could get to their destinations, if they were willing to endure a bus ride from Reykjavik. The whole time this was happening, Icelandair made masterful use of Twitter and kept Icelandair.com up to date for all stranded travelers. For some people from the US who weren’t able to get to their destination in Europe, Icelandair provided a first night’s hotel and meals in Iceland. Of course, it’s a lot easier for little Icelandair and its fleet of fewer than 20 airplanes to have this kind of flexibility than a behemoth like Air France/KLM, but it’s impressive nonetheless. Air France operated a few flights out of Toulouse and Marseilles while British Airways tried to run a handful in Glasgow, but really, none of those efforts were even close to what Icelandair was able to accomplish. People may resent Iceland and its unruly volcano right now, but they should have a lot of love for Icelandair.

Officially LUX is closed until noon Monday the earliest, but I saw a Cargolux 747 taking off around 1800 Sunday local time (surely enough, many heads were turned), the only one so far all weekend. Why would cargo flights be given special clearance?

Here in Luxembourg, the airport is closed to all until the earliest Saturday morning (officially) but most likely the restriction will be extended as in most other countries. My boss is stuck in Birmingham since yesterday not being able to return here on the planned AF BHX-CDG-LUX, the last time I heard he was trying to get back via the good 'ol Dover-Calais ferry.

Can you imagine if a Silverfly pilot makes a similar annoucement before attempting to take off? Their new unplagiarized route map shows Phuket at the location of Yangon.