Azman MN

Been following the Thomas Cook story for a while as I'm somewhat involved on the professional side. Have to say the govt. response has been amazing. English Newspapers have been highlighting news of people spending nights at the airport or being kicked out of hotels, but this is really a very very small portion of the hundreds of thousands of people who are apparently "stranded". For 99% of customers who are on their vacation, they can continue their vacation as before with the only downside being that their flight home might be delayed by a few hours or they may have to be bussed when arriving at alternate airports. The ones affected the worst are the ones due to leave for their vacation in the next weeks as they will have to find an alternative. At least they will get their money back from ATOL or CAA or other govt. imposed scheme in whatever EU country they booked their holidays. The MH380 will fly twice a day between MAN and PMI for the next week. It replaces PMI flights to MAN/BHX/ and some other small airports. Flying that route twice a day- does anyone know if MH sent 2 sets of crew to MAN? Thanks to the EU law on compulsory insurance for package deals, CAA's insurance for insolvent airlines, and just a general awareness from govt. agencies who cannot afford to get a bad rep for not doing anything, consumers are well protected.

just realized now that I am on the SQ119 on 15 April. Booked that one a long time ago.

Exactly. Govt. keeps on talking about keeping prices low, and everyone complains about prices going up. Instead, the focus should be on raising income, then rising prices should not even be an issue.

gosh! Suzanne's update from the last 4 years alone is more than what most people have in their lifetime!

I flew MH LAX-MEX in 1993. SQ with the GRU- BCN route - not sure if they made the right decision to kill it. I must have flown at least 10 sectors and it was always almost full, even in F. The one thing that was not so good is that the plane leaves BCN a bit too early in the morning. If it left only 1 hour later, it would attract a lot more connecting passengers from the rest of Europe.

I've done a few 737 and A320 ZRH-EWR and back flights some years ago when they had the all C class flights. Not surprised about the range as there is limited no. of pax and even less luggage than normal with the business travellers mostly carrying their cabin trolleys only. couple of flights lasted more than 8 hours, but very comfortable of course...

Was there yesterday. 36degrees hot. Tarmac temperature even higher for sure. Even in my linen suit and tie I almost fainted from the heat. Interesting to see the new winglets on the A380. When A321 neo started flying I thought it was the A330 neo. A350-1000 looks nice in the air, but on the ground the 787-10 looks a lot more impressive. The 737 Max also looks great. Unfortunately I did not have much time. Day trip, so much time wasted going through securit, and very hot weather....

I'm truly saddened by this news. Rest in Peace, Uncle Pieter. Thanks for coming to Zurich to see me.

The poor maintenance of KLIA is annoying. But the poor planning is even worse. There was a master plan when the airport was first built, and now it is just a mess.

Well said Suzanne. What MH did was not right, and even if within the rules of the contract, is lacking some common sense. But this blogger.. lacks finishing school.

Same old problem with MH, lack of a good recovery when something goes wrong. Things do go wrong, but how you handle it can really make a difference to one's perception of the airline. Having travelled with little kids myself, I can understand completely her situation. On the other hand, I read both her blogs and I find it very difficult to symphatize with her. Seriously, going around kicking signboards? What kind of behaviour is this? Of course I don't know her and she could be the sweetest person in the world, but surely she would win more support if she is less hostile. I can see where Sandeep G is coming from.

I used to love looking at the jungle. Then they built that elevated walkway around it and that blocked the view. Then I never bothered anymore.

Until some years ago, my Swiss colleagues who travel to Israel have 2 passports. One to use for Israel only, and one for everywhere else. The company pays for the 2nd passport. Now they simply ask the immigration not to stamp it.

As I mentioned above, the orthodox guys do mind if the person next to them eats pork. If SQ wants to compete against the middle east carriers for TLV traffic to Australia for example, this is food for thought...

This may not be the official procedure but I was told by someone in Swiss that they don't have so much through traffic from the middle east and besides, apparently most middle easterns don't mind so much (there is always the other option or they can request a muslim meal). But the Israelis do, and the orthodox guys do mind if the person next to them eats pork, and there is a lot of through traffic from TLV to the US, for example, and so Swiss find it easier to just not serve pork as a main course on all its routes. So it is not just about not serving pork on the TLV sector alone.