Azman MN

I think the average passenger will not notice the difference between A333, A350 or 787. Perhaps right now a lot of people want to fly on the A380, but I don't think anyone would go out of their way to choose to fly the 787 over the A333. Last month I traveled with my wife and her mother on SQ - we got off the 77W in Changi and hopped onto the A333. On the way back we got an older 772 to SIN and I remarked that this is an older plane. It was only then they realized it. Then my wife said the other plane was better. Which other plane, I asked. She goes huh? They are different? She didn't even notice the seat arrangements were different. A380 would be the exception. Already people here in Switzerland are buzzing about the reports int he newspapers about the new seats and cabins in the A380. What... ? The 77W has been flying here for 3 years now and it has the same seats! So what if Air Asia advertises their "new A350". MH can also advertise their new "airbus". My wife certainly would not know the difference. If at all, she would notice the different cabins and AirAsia's cramped cabins will not be to her liking.

Depending on the weather, I will try to get a photo of its arrival in ZRH. WOuld be nice to have some snow on the ground too... like this week.

SQ has officially opened the booking for the A380 flights to Zurich - first flights will be on 28 March. Still it comes with the disclaimer that it is still subject to testflights... I heard someone saying that with EK also coming with A380, ZRH will already have 2 operators! Huh? I cannot seem to find this news about EK anywhere...

wow, maybe you pros know this already but this gave me an idea so I looked up prices for an economy class return KUL-LHR in April: MH about USD1500 EK: USD1293 Now, interestingly, for KUL-DXB only, Emirates is USD 1252! DXB-LHR is USD 813 Now lets say MH wants to fill up 200 Y seats. If they sell the 1 stop ticket at USD1250 instead of the USD1500 for non-stop flights (slightly cheaper than EK), and sell only 120 tickets, they would lose revenue of USD250 x 120 = USD30,000. The other 80 seats would be reserved for the 1 sector pax, and they can charge USD1200 (EK: USD1252) and USD750 (EK: USD813) for the respective sectors. This would be a gain of USD450 per seat x 80 = USD36,000. Already a USD6,000 profit (which I guess would go towards the additional stopover costs, but hey what a way to elbow yourself into a market!) I think I am beginning to understand Emirate's strategy!

Interesting routing, stopping in KUL despite the fact that 345 can do this route non-stop. I guess the equivalent would be like if MH would do a KUL-DXB-LHR route to steal passengers away from EK on the DXB-LHR route. Maintain a daily non-stop KUL-LHR, and then offer slightly cheaper tickets for the one-stop route, but then make money on the passengers flying only one sector by charging them >50% of the ticket price of the full route.

Interesting case. In some countries, especially the US, if the airline were to pay for it, it will also ask the passenger to sign a waiver to relieve them of any responsibility. Therefore the passenger can not then sue the airline. In most flights I have been on, there is a cabin announcement saying "pls. be careful when opening the overhead compartment as things may have moved during the flight.". Is this enough as a waiver? If it is, then in this case, the bottle moved (i.e., passenger's fault). But the compartment opened = airline's fault. What is stated in the conditions of the contract? Does it say that the airline will not be responsible for any harm caused during the flight? Or are airlines obliged to provide a safe environment? I remember years ago, when my family was eating in a McDonalds in the Netherlands, my brother fell and cut his head in the play area. The staff at McDonalds acted quickly to get him to the hospital. After all that, they demanded that we pay up. Despite their obiligation to ensure the safety of their patrons, there is a sign at the play area which basically said play at your own risk. If my brother had slipped and fell because the floor was wet... then it would have been a different story. My advice - make sure you get a proper insurance cover!!

give him a break... it was his first time...

Just read about the news. SQ has already decided, ZRH authorities still have to approve, but no one expects them to say no. I also found out a few months ago that SQ very quietly reduced the frequency from 14 per week to 12 per week. For a change, there won't be an airbridge to the upper deck. I guess the runways are long enoug... except if the winds are not right, not sure if the 2.5km runway is enough for landings. http://www.spotterswiki.com/index.php?title=Zurich_Airport_(ZRH/LSZH) Hmm... so next year onwards I will be on A380 a bit more... but I do love the 77Ws though...

quite normal in Europe. Had a female captain on my Jumbolino last Monday. Most interesting one I have met - a girl from Botswana flying for Air Botswana, fying a Dash-8 (I think) on my flight from Kasane to Jo'Berg a few years ago. She was only about 20 years old, and told me that she spent 4 months in Thailand flying for Bangkok airways or something like that as part of her training.

That depends on the airline. Some airlines say that up to 28 weeks is ok, beyond that you need doctor's letter, but 32 weeks is absolute max.

yeah.. I occasionally have an empty seat next to me... now they want to charge for this? And how are they going to stop me from enjoying that seat if it remains unsold? And why is the press release done is such a positive tone when in fact the passenger is being charged for something that was previously free?

Based on my wife's experience with pregnancy, feeling discomfort is all part of being pregnant. At about 27 weeks, the stomach is already sticking out, your back hurts, the baby is already moving, your digestion has gone bonkers, so she probably didn't think that it was a big deal when she boarded the flight. I think they mentioned that 28 weeks is the cut-off for flying, but it really depends on the airline. The baby is very premature though and luckily there were no complications. Very happy that both are doing well.

absolutely brilliant. Miss that show!

hmm... I did see some quite provocative pictures of the Captain in his younger days, semi-naked, partying with other scantily dressed crew members on one of his layovers. Can't remember... was it in the Sun? Wonder if Korean Air also reads the Sun newspaper...

Plenty of all-business class A319/A320s and 738s cross the atlantic. Some have quite long routes, such as AMS-HOU. Lufthansa operates several of these all business flights from various cities in Germany to the US. I've been on the Swiss one (operated by Privatair) and I must say it feels a bit strange to be in a small plane over an ocean. But then again, I don't think that the flight is more than 1 hour away from the nearest land on most north atlantic routes. The BA service will need to refuel in SNN as the runway in LCY is too short for a full load of fuel. But the time spent there will be used to clear immigration and customs. Plus the fact that LCY is only 15 minutes from the City compared to 1 hour to Heathrow! I remember discussing this in a meeting with Virgin... maybe 5 years ago. Apparently Branson toyed with the idea of having in flight-refueling ... he must have been in one of his creative moods...

I tried Jetstar for KUL-SIN last month. Quite good. Best part is that you leave from the main terminal, not LCCT. Aircraft is exactly the same as the ones in Australia. It happened to be the cheapest ticket on that day compared to Air Asia, Tiger, etc. Competition is good!

Huh? So you don't get into cars and busses? You've got to live a little, dude...

I love nasi dagang. For a long time I could not find it in KL, but in the last few years there have been numerous new places where you can get nasi dagang but still, not as good as the real thing. When I finally meet up with TK in KL, I am sure he will take me to the right place. Amsterdam thing must be new - I did not get this choice last year on the same flight. I do hope that it is better than their book-the-cook nasi lemak which sorry to say is disappointing. The Air Asia one is miles better. Even MH's Y class nasi lemak is better.

Exactly what the article said - they try to emulate Marks&Spencer's ready meals.

Not surprised BA won as the article mentioned, it focuses on homely or comfort food, and if the reporter is English,of course he would like it. It is not that Emirates is high on the list, it is just a sample of 5 different food sources and Emirates happens to be one of the meals which is sampled. So it is not a ranking of all airline foods, merely a ranking of 5 (supposedly) random ones.

Actually I think SQ is not doing so well with the double daily. I have done a few trips in the past year and there are plenty of empty seats, and flying economy is great as I get 3 seats all to myself... This is the way for SQ to cut costs and capacity. 1 x A380 is surely less capacity than 2 x 77W. There is also too much competition from the Middle eastern airlines. MH should have stayed and increased their frequency to capture more premium traffic. To come back in now would be very difficult if even SQ has to cut capacity. Anyway, this is just a rumour started by someone who used to work at the airport. The truth is that the Airport is not yet ready - the taxiways, gates have to be upgraded. By the time these are done, business might pick up again and it would make sense again to upgrade to 2 x 77W.

eh.. the report says that they have to do this because of "poor sales"...

well, for stunning views, you need the southern approach: arrive before 9am on weekends or before 7am on weekdays. Which means if you are arriving on weekdays between November - February, it will be too dark... and please seat on the left hand side! TK posted some approach shots in one of the forums some time ago...

Hmm.. I don't consider ZRH fancy at all. It is quite simple in design. However, it is very efficient - you hardly spend more than 30 minutes in the airport on arrival and with the frequent trains you are in the city within an hour of landing. My favourite part has nothing to do with Aviation - take the train from the E dock to the main terminal and look out the window on the left side... Heidi will blow you a kiss...

what about Jordan - Wadi Rum, Petra, etc.