Hello from Chicago.
Finally.
High points: Crew on UA923
Bad points: Customs and Borders Patrol at Dulles: 3 people on duty.
Getting pulled over for CHOCOLATE.
and 20 minutes in the penalty box at Dulles waiting for a slot out of the place.
More *much* later.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Back to the Star Alliance Lounge
Well sometimes it's good to go back home - least of all for a decent bacon roll first thing in the morning.
And Orange Juice.
That may or may not contain vodka.
(sorry for the bad photo ... Photobooth is REALLY Playing up this morning).
More probably after the gate scrum... or probably from Washington or Chicago...
And Orange Juice.
That may or may not contain vodka.
(sorry for the bad photo ... Photobooth is REALLY Playing up this morning).
More probably after the gate scrum... or probably from Washington or Chicago...
Greetings from the "Great British Lounge"
.... Or as a lot of us know it better - the BMI Number 1 lounge.
National Express did there job - sort of - and check in was it's wonderful self.
More from the Star Alliance lounge in a bit. First I need coffee...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - apologies for the spelling!
National Express did there job - sort of - and check in was it's wonderful self.
More from the Star Alliance lounge in a bit. First I need coffee...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - apologies for the spelling!
On the road!
After a mad dash to the coach station, I am on the road... When it pulls out.
What a morning so far - no thanks to my memory cards finding an unintentional new home.
Although with two incidents so far - the moat recent departing from Stand 13 at Digbrth....
Next update: LHR....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - apologies for the spelling!
What a morning so far - no thanks to my memory cards finding an unintentional new home.
Although with two incidents so far - the moat recent departing from Stand 13 at Digbrth....
Next update: LHR....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - apologies for the spelling!
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
The winter of discontent continues - Aer Lingus delays profit announcement on staff rejecting cost cutting
It seems that EI is in a spot of reconsideration at the moment as its crew have voted against a cost cutting proposals.
With the rejection of the cuts, EI will post a trading update instead of profits published
To quote EI...
EI is really in a spot - squeezed from the bottom by Ryanair and EasyJet - whilst facing pressure from the high end and trying to make the codeshares with United and others pay off. With the Gatwick project falling apart due to cutbacks, Aer Lingus must refocus.
And pray like heck they can ride this out.
With the rejection of the cuts, EI will post a trading update instead of profits published
To quote EI...
"Following the outcome of recent staff ballots it is necessary to revise the provision for restructuring costs and amend the preliminary results accordingly."The proposals on the table have been accepted by Pilot unions, Middle Management and some ground crew and cabin crew. However, those represented by the Impact union have rejected the propsoal outright, with the maintence crews due to report on Tuesday
EI is really in a spot - squeezed from the bottom by Ryanair and EasyJet - whilst facing pressure from the high end and trying to make the codeshares with United and others pay off. With the Gatwick project falling apart due to cutbacks, Aer Lingus must refocus.
And pray like heck they can ride this out.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Welcome new readers - We're on another trip report!
Welcome new readers to GhettoIFE.com, your humorous and informative guide to travel. As most of you know, I'm Kevin - your eyes and writer on this journey, here to document yet another trip to Chicago through photos, text and of course at the end of it - the inevitable trip report.
I've just opened this post to create a tag you can search through the posts related to this trip (ORDVIII), so if you're not interested with rest of the innaine chatter head to this tag.
Coming up - the joy of packing, luggage allowances and bad food.....
I've just opened this post to create a tag you can search through the posts related to this trip (ORDVIII), so if you're not interested with rest of the innaine chatter head to this tag.
Coming up - the joy of packing, luggage allowances and bad food.....
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Airplane p0rn - BMI Baby Boeing 737-300
It's that time of the week again, where I do some more Airplane p0rn!
This week - it's a BMI Baby Boeing 737-300 taking off from Manchester International
As you may have guessed, a lot of the stuff recently has been from the archive. Well next week, I am getting my ass in the air and doing a LOT of photography, inculding some "live" airplane porn now I have a working blogger client for my iPhone.
Tune in next week!
This week - it's a BMI Baby Boeing 737-300 taking off from Manchester International
As you may have guessed, a lot of the stuff recently has been from the archive. Well next week, I am getting my ass in the air and doing a LOT of photography, inculding some "live" airplane porn now I have a working blogger client for my iPhone.
Tune in next week!
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Now this is what you call film making....
This via Flightblogger and from Balleka on Youtube - a Boeing 747 with a service from Johannesburg, South Africa for Maputo, Mozambique
Now that's my idea of In-Flight Entertainment!
Now that's my idea of In-Flight Entertainment!
The cost of loosing your passport....
Many trips ago, I managed to misplace my passport on a trip to the USA.
But what is the actual cost of loosing a passport? The numbers are actually shocking
Lets assume for some odd reason you loose your passport, and never want to travel again...
Costs - FCO/British Consulate, Chicago.
So... £107 to get home and never travel again. Think that's bad? What about the rest of the costs... and if you want to travel again?
For those keeping track, that's now a grand total of £350.50!
I don't care how you dress it up - it's a LOT of cash.
So what can you do to prevent turning into me and how my bank accounted after October a few years ago?
Safe Travels!
But what is the actual cost of loosing a passport? The numbers are actually shocking
Lets assume for some odd reason you loose your passport, and never want to travel again...
| Emergency Passport Cost | £100.00 | Embassy Charge (currently $147) |
| Photo | £7.00 | About $10. |
Costs - FCO/British Consulate, Chicago.
So... £107 to get home and never travel again. Think that's bad? What about the rest of the costs... and if you want to travel again?
| Emergency Passport Cost | £100.00 | Embassy Charge (currently $147, based on todays exchange rates of 1.46) |
| Photo | £7.00 | About $10. |
| Replacement UK Passport 48 Page | £90.50 | Can go down to £74.90 for a 36 Page Passport |
| Post office Passport Check Fee | £8.00 | Optional - but for the hassle saved.. |
| Telephone | £105 | Approx £1.10 a minute thanks to Orange |
| Data | £40 | A grand total of 5MB of data |
For those keeping track, that's now a grand total of £350.50!
I don't care how you dress it up - it's a LOT of cash.
So what can you do to prevent turning into me and how my bank accounted after October a few years ago?
- Don't loose the smegging thing in the first place. Sounds simple, but things happen - we all know this.
- Don't Panic - to quote Douglas Adams.
- Take copies of your passport before you go - either electronicly or in a paper copy. And keep them seperate.
- Consider getting a local SIM Card to the country you're in and not use the phone you normally roam on (it's actually a very good method of saving a few pennies). Least of all if you have to ring the British Consulate, or IPS back home, you'll be on the phone a lot to work out where you need to go.
- Look after and keep that passport safe!
- Know where your local British-Foreign and Commonwealth Office/British Consulate or British Embassy is and work out provisions to get there.
- Take Appropriate travel insurance to reclaim the costs when you get home
- Take an additional form of identification - separate to the passport (UK Driving Licence Card or other Photo ID)
- Don't Panic
- Contact local police and get an incident number
- Contact the FCO/BC/BE, explain the situation. If possible get your backside down there.
- Fill in Form LS01
- Pay money, get emergency passport activated
Safe Travels!
USA: Want to come in? That's $10 please.
Oh dear. It seems that Ombama didn't read the Travel Promotion Act 2009 that has been signed into law today.
Specificialy the bit how it is to be funded - a $10 charge for visitors entering the USA. The act is likely to come into force by the end of the year to help fund tourism marketing campaigns and "to explain US Security Protocols"
Of course, this has to be paid online, so watch those fees rack up a bit more.
Whilst it is a small charge, it's still $10. And $10 is $10.
With the USA still quite frankly not paying attention to its image in the wider world, IATA is concerned enough to note that it has fears that other countries could introduce similar schemes, enough to stilfle small trade.
You're darn tooting straight there.
And Bill Marriott thinks this is a good thing. Oh well, if it saves his little hotel chain a few pennies advertising the USA...
However, there is some travel advice that I will repeat until this thing goes live.
Links:
The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/mar/05/us-charge-tourists-to-enter
Daily Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1255655/Barack-Obama-signs-Travel-Promotion-Act-start-taxing-tourists.html
Bill Marriott's take - http://www.blogs.marriott.com/marriott-on-the-move/2010/03/great-news-president-obama-signs-the-travel-promotion-act.html
Cranky's Thought's at BNET - http://industry.bnet.com/travel/10005117/travel-promotion-act-is-government-gone-wild/
Specificialy the bit how it is to be funded - a $10 charge for visitors entering the USA. The act is likely to come into force by the end of the year to help fund tourism marketing campaigns and "to explain US Security Protocols"
Of course, this has to be paid online, so watch those fees rack up a bit more.
Whilst it is a small charge, it's still $10. And $10 is $10.
With the USA still quite frankly not paying attention to its image in the wider world, IATA is concerned enough to note that it has fears that other countries could introduce similar schemes, enough to stilfle small trade.
You're darn tooting straight there.
And Bill Marriott thinks this is a good thing. Oh well, if it saves his little hotel chain a few pennies advertising the USA...
However, there is some travel advice that I will repeat until this thing goes live.
IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT VISITING THE USA, GET YOUR ESTA IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
You can get your ESTA FREE OF CHARGE at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/
And the sooner you do it, the sooner you don't have to fund this STUPID tax.
Links:
The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/mar/05/us-charge-tourists-to-enter
Daily Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1255655/Barack-Obama-signs-Travel-Promotion-Act-start-taxing-tourists.html
Bill Marriott's take - http://www.blogs.marriott.com/marriott-on-the-move/2010/03/great-news-president-obama-signs-the-travel-promotion-act.html
Cranky's Thought's at BNET - http://industry.bnet.com/travel/10005117/travel-promotion-act-is-government-gone-wild/
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Lufthansa - No: We're not naming our A380 "Starlingrad"
The problem with the online world and social media is sometimes, things don't always go to plan.
Take Lufthansa for instance. They decided to harness the power of social media to name their brand new Airbus A380. With an offer of 1 Million Miles on the table, some wag was going to have some fun with this.
And so they did.
A Russian woman nominated the name of "Stalingrad," the Russian city where Nazi Germany suffered a defeat in 1943 by the Red Army, losses of up to one million troops. Almost straight away, people followed the lead and 10,000 of them agreed that Starlingrad would make a great name for this aircraft.
Silently, Stalingrad was removed from the list of nominated names, with the name "Sky Future" being popular now.
Lufthansa's comment is that the airline names is planes after German cities, and was looking for something that would appeal to children.
It's just another lesson of online media - giving the public 100% means you open yourself up to all sorts of troubles - and to never underestimate the public...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7351647/Lufthansa-embarrassed-after-Russian-Stalingrad-hijack.html
Take Lufthansa for instance. They decided to harness the power of social media to name their brand new Airbus A380. With an offer of 1 Million Miles on the table, some wag was going to have some fun with this.
And so they did.
A Russian woman nominated the name of "Stalingrad," the Russian city where Nazi Germany suffered a defeat in 1943 by the Red Army, losses of up to one million troops. Almost straight away, people followed the lead and 10,000 of them agreed that Starlingrad would make a great name for this aircraft.
Silently, Stalingrad was removed from the list of nominated names, with the name "Sky Future" being popular now.
Lufthansa's comment is that the airline names is planes after German cities, and was looking for something that would appeal to children.
It's just another lesson of online media - giving the public 100% means you open yourself up to all sorts of troubles - and to never underestimate the public...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7351647/Lufthansa-embarrassed-after-Russian-Stalingrad-hijack.html
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
EU Data Roaming Caps to come into effect 1st July - Will it drive down prices?
So the European Union has decided to act on the farce that is Data Roaming within the EU Zone, and in it's first stage, putting an initial cap of €50 (~£44) on the maximum data bill that a user can get via a Mobile Phone - with people being able to set a custom limit if needed.
The €50/~£44 cap goes into effect on 1st July for non preset limits, with a warning going off once you hit 80% of the data allocation.
Note that this is only within the EU. Go beyond it's borders and once again - you're on your own with the massively stupid data bills that are possible to rack up
EU Commisioner spokesman Jonathan Todd indicated this might reduce the cost of roaming within the EU
It depends to me if the mobile phone firm choose to remain greedy. Alas mobile firms still think to themselves as operators and not providers, and thus will still attempt to stick whatever they feel like on a consumer the moment they move out their home markets (for example, O2-UK Charge an idiot £3/Mb within the EU, £6 everywhere else - whilst Orange charge an idiot are at £3/£7.50).
Only by force have operators been forced to reduce prices in the past - I have this feeling that it will again take another slap by the EU for Mobile Operators to get their hinds in gear....
The €50/~£44 cap goes into effect on 1st July for non preset limits, with a warning going off once you hit 80% of the data allocation.
Note that this is only within the EU. Go beyond it's borders and once again - you're on your own with the massively stupid data bills that are possible to rack up
EU Commisioner spokesman Jonathan Todd indicated this might reduce the cost of roaming within the EU
"This measure is likely to bring down the cost of data roaming, because if people stick to their own cash limits and find they don't get much access to the internet for their money, the tendency will be to bring down prices so you get more surfing for your money," he said.
It depends to me if the mobile phone firm choose to remain greedy. Alas mobile firms still think to themselves as operators and not providers, and thus will still attempt to stick whatever they feel like on a consumer the moment they move out their home markets (for example, O2-UK Charge an idiot £3/Mb within the EU, £6 everywhere else - whilst Orange charge an idiot are at £3/£7.50).
Only by force have operators been forced to reduce prices in the past - I have this feeling that it will again take another slap by the EU for Mobile Operators to get their hinds in gear....
Monday, 1 March 2010
Malev renationalised - Another Legacy Suffering
Three years after being privatised, in an effort to save the carrier, Malev (Hungary) is renationalised with the government taking a 95% stake in the company, and the original privatisation owners (Airbridge) taking a 5% stake.
The main reason of course - is the bad economic climate that is only starting to had towards a recovery.
Malev has been through the fiscal mill recently with it's equity and liquidity issues needing resolution before much further - in other words, more restructuring of the airline - again (with the losses to be expected - both in routes, suppliers and sadly - in staff.
In some way - not unexpected - Malev has had a hard time of it, with most of its long haul network chopped and sliced, it's long haul fleet long since gone into charter operations, with it trying to focus on EU and shorthaul ops since 2008.
Let's hope Malev can pull through.
The main reason of course - is the bad economic climate that is only starting to had towards a recovery.
Malev has been through the fiscal mill recently with it's equity and liquidity issues needing resolution before much further - in other words, more restructuring of the airline - again (with the losses to be expected - both in routes, suppliers and sadly - in staff.
In some way - not unexpected - Malev has had a hard time of it, with most of its long haul network chopped and sliced, it's long haul fleet long since gone into charter operations, with it trying to focus on EU and shorthaul ops since 2008.
Let's hope Malev can pull through.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Airplane p0rn - Qantas Dash-8 400
It's that time of the week again - some more Airplane p0rn!
This week - A Qantas Bombardier Dash-8 400 just landing at Sydney Airport
More airplane p0rn of course - next week!
This week - A Qantas Bombardier Dash-8 400 just landing at Sydney Airport
More airplane p0rn of course - next week!
Saturday, 27 February 2010
iPhone Apps - Is there an App for your airline or alliance?
Update History:
- List Created 27/02
- Last Updated 28/02, Meridiana added.
I hate and love the iTunes App Store with both a single breath - least of all when I'm hunting for decent travel applications.
Even when hunting for Airline Apps, it can be a bit of a challenge - so to help things along, I'm going to try and build a list of Airlines who have iPhone apps - with links to the iTunes store. For ease of use, I'm going to split it along the lines of alliances
Now, before we go much further - This list is pretty incomplete. If you spot an airline who sneaks out an App, please let me know so I can add it to this list!
OneWorld
Oneworld Timetable
British Airways
Cathay Pacific (CX Mobile)
DragonAir
Qantas
Star Alliance
Air New Zealand
Air Canada
Lufthansa
Swiss
United *** (Not an Official App)
SkyTeam
None.... that I can find...
Non Alligned
Alaksa Airlines/Horizon Airlines
AtlasJet
Etihad
GOL
LuxAir
Malysian Airlines
Meridiana
SATA
Southwest
Viva Macau
- List Created 27/02
- Last Updated 28/02, Meridiana added.
I hate and love the iTunes App Store with both a single breath - least of all when I'm hunting for decent travel applications.
Even when hunting for Airline Apps, it can be a bit of a challenge - so to help things along, I'm going to try and build a list of Airlines who have iPhone apps - with links to the iTunes store. For ease of use, I'm going to split it along the lines of alliances
Now, before we go much further - This list is pretty incomplete. If you spot an airline who sneaks out an App, please let me know so I can add it to this list!
OneWorld
Oneworld Timetable
British Airways
Cathay Pacific (CX Mobile)
DragonAir
Qantas
Star Alliance
Air New Zealand
Air Canada
Lufthansa
Swiss
United *** (Not an Official App)
SkyTeam
None.... that I can find...
Non Alligned
Alaksa Airlines/Horizon Airlines
AtlasJet
Etihad
GOL
LuxAir
Malysian Airlines
Meridiana
SATA
Southwest
Viva Macau
Friday, 26 February 2010
Saying sorry - the Diamond Club way
A few days ago, a mystery transaction appeared in my BMI Diamond Club account for 1000 miles.
Now a 1000 miles is always useful... but whyfor? Well a carefully worded apology came from Donnington Hall explains it all..
Whilst the extra miles are always appreciated, a bit more communication when the outage was occurring would had been helpful - least of all so that some of us could stop guessing when next we would know how many miles are left in our accounts...
Now a 1000 miles is always useful... but whyfor? Well a carefully worded apology came from Donnington Hall explains it all..
"Over the last couple of weeks you may have noticed we've been experiencing some problems with the Diamond Club login on our website. To protect your data and personal details we immediately disabled the login functionality.
Diamond Club login has now been reinstated. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you and as a goodwill gesture have credited your Diamond Club account with 1,000 destinations miles."
Whilst the extra miles are always appreciated, a bit more communication when the outage was occurring would had been helpful - least of all so that some of us could stop guessing when next we would know how many miles are left in our accounts...
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
A salutory lesson on Data Roaming - 2.5GB for £8000!
For the masses out there who have brought 3G USB Modems (or as some call then "Dongles"), it's time for some sobering advice regarding them.
William Harrison signed up for a 3GB/month Contract with Orange UK for a Mobile Data Plan - so he would have access to the Internet whilst on the move and during his internship in Paris.
Now if was using his dongle in the UK,& 3GB would be plenty for surfing or Skype'ing. However, the moment you pass beyond the borders of the UK - International Roaming rules apply.
This lead to one small problem - a first month bill of £6101.56. William contacted Orange UK to block the dongle, which he did successfully - after racking up another charge of £1547.21 - taking his bill to £7648.77
I repeat in large letters:
That's painful in ANY Currency. Orange has agreed to halve William Harrison's bill, and has allowed two years for the debt to be repaid. That's still a lot of dough in anyone's book
Remember that EU roaming charges can vary, and can be expensive depending on the provider.
£3.00 - Orange UK
£3.00 - O2 UK
£1.50 - T-Mobile UK
£1.25 - Three
£5.00 - Virgin Media
£10.00 - Vodafone UK (per 50MB, charged per part)
These are EU Prices. Going out of the EU and you can double these prices without sneezing.
SO A WARNING: Unless your contract has provision or an agreement for out of country roaming, expect data bills to be BIG. It'll work out cheaper to find a WiFi HotSpot than to use the dongle. An alternative (which IS viable in the EU mainly) is to pick up a dongle and a Pay-As-You-Go plan when you arrive at your destination.
Links:
The Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/feb/21/broadband-dongle-roaming-bill-shock
The Register: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/02/22/student_hit_with_huge_roaming_bill/
William Harrison signed up for a 3GB/month Contract with Orange UK for a Mobile Data Plan - so he would have access to the Internet whilst on the move and during his internship in Paris.
Now if was using his dongle in the UK,& 3GB would be plenty for surfing or Skype'ing. However, the moment you pass beyond the borders of the UK - International Roaming rules apply.
This lead to one small problem - a first month bill of £6101.56. William contacted Orange UK to block the dongle, which he did successfully - after racking up another charge of £1547.21 - taking his bill to £7648.77
I repeat in large letters:
£7648.77
that's about 2.5GB of data!
that's about 2.5GB of data!
That's painful in ANY Currency. Orange has agreed to halve William Harrison's bill, and has allowed two years for the debt to be repaid. That's still a lot of dough in anyone's book
Remember that EU roaming charges can vary, and can be expensive depending on the provider.
£3.00 - Orange UK
£3.00 - O2 UK
£1.50 - T-Mobile UK
£1.25 - Three
£5.00 - Virgin Media
£10.00 - Vodafone UK (per 50MB, charged per part)
These are EU Prices. Going out of the EU and you can double these prices without sneezing.
SO A WARNING: Unless your contract has provision or an agreement for out of country roaming, expect data bills to be BIG. It'll work out cheaper to find a WiFi HotSpot than to use the dongle. An alternative (which IS viable in the EU mainly) is to pick up a dongle and a Pay-As-You-Go plan when you arrive at your destination.
Links:
The Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/feb/21/broadband-dongle-roaming-bill-shock
The Register: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/02/22/student_hit_with_huge_roaming_bill/
Aegean and Olympic to Merge... huh?
Ok - this one was completely off the radar. The New Olympic Airlines and Aegean Airlines are to merge to make a "New New" Olympic Air.
Olympic air was built out of the remains of Olympic Airways (and the sorry saga behind that). Aegan has had a health growth over the past few years.
Alas, Greece and a lot of companies in that zone have suffered badly during the recession, so a merger of equals will have the obvious effects (Sorry, I'm going to use the S word) synergies (translation - dumping of crap parts of the two businesses and saving money), and will hopefully allow the new company to survive in the current and future environments.
The merger is of course - up for EU Competition Commission Approval
Alas, Greece and a lot of companies in that zone have suffered badly during the recession, so a merger of equals will have the obvious effects (Sorry, I'm going to use the S word) synergies (translation - dumping of crap parts of the two businesses and saving money), and will hopefully allow the new company to survive in the current and future environments.
The merger is of course - up for EU Competition Commission Approval
So what does that mean for Aegean's entry into Star Alliance? This is very good question. Certainly a "Strengthened" Aegan is a good thing for Star, but this in turn begs another questions:
- Does Star wish to be associated with the damaged Olympic band?
- Is Star turning in an alliance of basket case airlines? (BMI, Austrian, SAS, Brussels, Air India to name a few...)
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Kingfisher Airlines to join OneWorld.
It seems spring is in the air for alliances as companies buddy up together. Today seems no exception with Kingfisher Airlines of India joining OneWorld.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed as a first step between the current 11 members of OneWorld and Kingfisher, and should progress into full membership - subject to Indian regulatory approval from India's Ministry of Civil Aviation.
British Airways will be mentoring Kingfisher during this period, sponsoring the airline (who is also sponsoring S7 Airline's entry into OneWorld)
Kingfisher is expected to join OneWorld (subject to approval) in 2011.
It's an interesting move by OneWorld, who are needing to plug to India gap as Air India is slowly moving towards Star Alliance membership - which puts SkyTeam back in the catch-up position again - even with it's recent admissions of TAROM and Vietnam Airlines.
The fate of Aegean airlines and Star Alliance is going to be an interesting question due to the tie up of Olympic Air and Aegean - more on this a bit later...
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/news/details?objectID=20873
A memorandum of understanding has been signed as a first step between the current 11 members of OneWorld and Kingfisher, and should progress into full membership - subject to Indian regulatory approval from India's Ministry of Civil Aviation.
British Airways will be mentoring Kingfisher during this period, sponsoring the airline (who is also sponsoring S7 Airline's entry into OneWorld)
Kingfisher is expected to join OneWorld (subject to approval) in 2011.
It's an interesting move by OneWorld, who are needing to plug to India gap as Air India is slowly moving towards Star Alliance membership - which puts SkyTeam back in the catch-up position again - even with it's recent admissions of TAROM and Vietnam Airlines.
The fate of Aegean airlines and Star Alliance is going to be an interesting question due to the tie up of Olympic Air and Aegean - more on this a bit later...
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/news/details?objectID=20873
Paris ATC goes on strike... who's next please?
It seems that going on strike is the in-vouge thing to do at the moment.
Both Paris-CDG and Paris-Orly controllers have walked out in a five day strike over job fears, with 25% running out of Paris-CDG and 50% of flights running at Paris-Orly
Staff are objecting to a six-national deal (between Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland) to improve and modernise Air Traffic Control, which it is feared jobs will be cut.
Air France long haul is allegedly unaffected, but short haul seems to be very affected. Check before you go and check http://www.airfrance.com for updates to this mad thing. If you're heading into French Airspace, double check if your flight will or operate.
Both Paris-CDG and Paris-Orly controllers have walked out in a five day strike over job fears, with 25% running out of Paris-CDG and 50% of flights running at Paris-Orly
Staff are objecting to a six-national deal (between Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland) to improve and modernise Air Traffic Control, which it is feared jobs will be cut.
Air France long haul is allegedly unaffected, but short haul seems to be very affected. Check before you go and check http://www.airfrance.com for updates to this mad thing. If you're heading into French Airspace, double check if your flight will or operate.
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