I flew two international sectors today from Brazil to Miami to Toronto My first flight left almost three hours late getting in 91 minutes before my second flight was due to leave. My long layover has vanished. 


Even though I was transiting from Brazil to Toronto, the US requires transit passengers to clear immigration and customs and then  come through security again.  I have blogged about not checking luggage in. Today's experience vindicated my decision!


Arrivals

• 1859h: Plane touches down at Miami International airport (right)
• 1907h:  Plane reaches gate- I am off quickly with no shoving
• 1911h:  Four minutes run/walk from gate to people mover to immigration hall. I arrive at the stop as it pulls in. The MIA people mover runs at 3 to 15 minute intervals. The guy next to me told me that he waited for 20 minutes once
• 1916h:  Passport control hall is handling multiple arriving flights. I join shortest line
• 1921h:  People behind me are also on an 830pm fight and are also nervous
• 1923h:  Realise reason for my short line is that I have chosen slowest immigration agent.  Switch lines to one moving twice the speed
• 1927:  I ask the three people in front of me in this new line, who're from Spain if they have  a connecting flight (which they don't). They allow me to go in front of them so I'm  2nd in line. The woman in front of me makes it clear she won't support queue jumping 
• 1928h: the agent in the line I was is really slow. He still  has 3 more people to process before the spot I was in
• The young woman in front of me goes forward. Oh no! She has a complicated immigration issue. Letters are produced from an envelope, visas are scrutinised and the clock keeps ticking
• 1933h: Agent finally deals with the woman after flirting with her too
• 1934:  As I am in transit, the agent immediately does my fingerprints and photograph but cannot tell me the fastest way to the new gate. He points to the exit.
• 1935: exit is blocked by an Italian group that are choosing this area to gather together.  Oblivious to the stressed looks of other passengers (including mine) they saunter chatting away down the narrow corridor to baggage collection and customs.
• 1938: the customs hall is bedlam. Indeed multiple flights have arrived simultaneously and there are lines everywhere cutting into and over each other to collect bags and get through customs. Bags are piling up. Its madness with no order in its chaos.  Tempers are becoming frayed and Happy vacation moods evaporating everywhere. I follow a determined couple who push through the crowds
• 1949h: I am thankful that I have no baggage to check as I cruise past a 120 strong person line waiting to check in bags for onward flights.

I firmly believe that the US customs department should hand over custom s control to Disney. They would make waiting fun and work to develop innovative queuing systems.  Cartoon characters could entertain the people whilst giving friendly and fun warnings and messages about smuggling and smoking!

United is reinstating a United 93 as a flight starting 21 May 2011.

The flight used to be  operated by United from Newark to San Francisco using a Boeing 757 until September 11, 2001. On that date, approximately 46 minutes into the flight, hijackers diverted the plane towards Washington, D.C. The asumption is the target was the US Capitol or White House.

The passengers attempted to regain control of the plane from the hijackers  causing the plane to crash into fields in Pennsylvania, about 240 km  from  D.C. killing everybody.

 A movie was made about the hijacking.

United removed Flight 93 after the September 11 hijackings.

The new flight number is a codeshare flight from Houston to San Jose CA and is actually Continental flight CO489. However UA 93 will appear in terminals. It is a 737.

I am not sure I feel okay about using this flight number.

Auckland to Wellington on Jetstar yesterday was my 745th flight...2 to go and I have my 747th! On a Qantas 747!

According to Airways Magazine for June 2011, one out of every 350 barrels of oil produced in the world is used by the combined United-Continental airlines to fuel their 1262 planes!

Every increase in oil has gotta hurt.
Whats their long term plan for oil one wonders?
If peak oil theory is correct then they face a very expensive future as oil becomes even pricier.

I just want to plug in my computer and charge it! Why is that so difficult? So many hotel rooms have no outlets. Others have a couple but the radio and lamps fill them. I have had to move furniture,  work in the bathroom, squat on the bedroom floor all to get electricity!

Anyone else have this issue?

Tonight I fly from Los Angeles to Sydney. I desperately hope this flight departs on time. 


Last flight from Australia to Los Angeles, left 11 hours late.


I had flown in from Auckland to connect onto the LA flight and was met at the gate by a V Australia rep. As a result of an engine explosion on a flight out of LA 
all of the V Australia services had been delayed in a roll on effect.


I was very impressed with the way V looked after its transit passengers. They bussed us to a hotel, gave us a $50 spend at the hotel (which I didn't spend). 


I got a gym workout , a run, some shopping and a lunch with a friend before I flew out.


All in all a nice delay! Thank goodness I made it to my destination in time though.

A huge contrail from an Airbus A380 filmed from cockpit of a KLM Boeing B747 above the South China Sea. You may need to watch it twice. 

Virgin Blue is no more. After 11 years affixing the sides of planes across Australia, Virgin Blue. Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue are all becoming Virgin Australia in the worst kept rebranding "secret" (was it meant to be a secret?).  I love the new TV ad:


First some history. For many years, Australia had a very cozy duopoly between two domestic airlines: Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) and Ansett. TAA became Australian Airlines and then merged with international airline Qantas.  Ansett was bought out by Air New Zealand who started with a small shareholding and grew that holding.

But there still remained just two major airlines across Australia with some independent regionals and an occasional brave smaller  competitor (East West, Compass, Impulse). These two airlines copied each other. When one started a frequent flyer program, the other copied it. One opened business lounges and the other copied it. All the time they wrestled each other for control of the lucrative business market.

In 2000, Richard Branson launched an attack on this cozy duopoly with Virgin Blue as it blazed into the market with discounted fares. The ensuing fare war between Ansett, Impulse, Virgin Blue and Qantas plus September 11 and a myriad of other issues led to the takeover of Impulse by Qantas and the collapse of Ansett. Australia lost its second carrier. Virgin nabbed the liesure market taking passengers from trains and buses and Qantas got the lions share of the business traffic.



Fast forward back to May, 2011 then.  There still remain just  two major airlines across Australia with some independent regionals and a smaller competitor: Tiger. These two airlines are now copying and trying to trump each other eg  frequent flyer programs, business lounges etc,  wrestling each other for control of the lucrative business market.

In the battle ahead,  am curious about fhree things:

1. Are Virgin Australia gambling too much?  Virgin Australia are having to spend to make themselves more visible.  New logo (which I think is underwhelming), new uniforms (which I love), new ads (see above), new A330 planes, new Business and new Premium economy. Their Lounges are shifting from a trendy hang out to a serious business environment.  Thats all costing money. They need to generate return soon. As well as a major change process and the new battle with Qantas , there is the escalating fuel price environment. The airline has already warned of a loss this year of $30 to $80m million.  Shareholders have marked the airline down by about a third this year.

2. Why Virgin Australia and not Virgin Pacific?

3. What will Virgin do alliance-wise? Qantas belongs to One World. Ansett were the Star Alliance partner in Australia. Now Star along with Skyteam have a big gaps in Australia.  In the meantime, Virgin Australia have formed their own major relationships with:

• Delta who are in Skyteam
• Air New Zealand who are in Star Alliance
• Etihad with no alliance

I sent this through to Qantas this week. (OK I know I am geek but let me geeky about something)

Dear Qantas
This is a very, very unusual request.
I am a Qantas Platinum customer (QF 1657665). I am also a plane geek.
This week I flew my 737th flight in my life. I flew my 737th flight on a Boeing 737. (see my blog post about it: http://mjtravlife.blogspot.com/2011/05/737-737-flight-report.html). The flight was in the USA with Southwest airlines.


My flight memory where I record all my fights is here: http://my.flightmemory.com/mjc3000 


Now to my request:
I am booked to fly MEL-AKL-WLG-AKL-LAX in June
The AKL-LAX leg will be my 747th flight. I thought that the segment would be flown by a 747 (it used to be).  It seems it is a A330 instead.
My request is this: Is it possible to change the booking so that I can fly WLG-MEL or SYD then MEL or SYD -LAX so I can do my 747th flight on a 747 without paying change fees and rebooking fees or higher fares? The significances are:

• 747th flight on a 747
•  of my 92  flights on a 747:  40 have been with Qantas. 
• Qantas used to be an all 747 airline. 
• Of the 737 flights, I have flown Qantas Airways for 232 of them. Jetstar for 6, Eastern Australia, TAA etc for an additional number.

This is a highly unusual request and not something I would pester you with but for a plane geek it would be amazing.


I do hope to hear a favourable reply. Thank you


Yours Sincerely


Martin J Cowling
CEO, People First-Total Solutions

From Time:

Investigators have located and recovered the memory unit of the flight data recorder of a 2009 Air France flight — a remarkable deep-sea discovery they hope will explain why the aircraft went down in a remote area of the mid-Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

This incident and the  7 October 2008, Qantas 72 incident where their A330 suffered a rapid loss of altitude mean I am very very keen for them to sort out the issue

Bombed building from civil war

Whats the first thing you think of when you think Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon?

Chances are: "war zone", "Destroyed", "unsafe", "terrorist". A website called Lebanon News: Under the Rug Swept features the Looks Like Beirut Certificate which notes  the times "people compare Beirut to destruction". For the world forgets that the Lebanese Civil War ended. It was a horrific war which claimed too many lives and did indeed destroy swathes of Beirut. But the war stopped over 20 years ago.

Today, Beirut is becoming the place to visit. Lonely Planet and the New York Times added the city to their "must visit" lists, I got my chance last month when I attended a volunteerism conference at the UNESCO centre in Beirut.


Landing in Beirut is jaw dropping. The planes make their approach from the water and the images of sparkling Mediterranean, snow capped mountains and residential towers fill your eyes. The rock formations above and below are known as La Roche (The Rock).




Visually, Beirut is stunning both naturally and architecturally. One of my favourite activities was running along the waterfront known as "The Corniche" (left) Filled with walkers, runners and pushcart vendors, moving through the area was always beautiful. I always had amazing views of snow capped Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean as I ran.

Beirut has a vibrant, crazy mix of new and old buildings, some bombed remnants and archaeological digs of showing the many layers of settlement (see below). Beirut has been settled for 5000 years and controlled  by Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader and Ottoman empires.

Roman Ruins in Beirut

There is a revitalized downtown with office buildings, churches, mosques, souks (markets) and restaurants (left) most of which has been  rebuilt since the war.

Infrastructure across the city varies. Some of the poorer suburbs lack footpaths. Traffic signals are distributed unevenly. Driving follows a unique set of unwritten rules.

Beirut's public transit system is very underdeveloped.  Buses ply mysterious routes and taxis hound pitilessly anyone the drivers suspects of being a tourist. See previous blog "Never Never Trust a Beirut Taxi Driver". I suspect if there had not been a civil war, Beirut might have financed a light rail or metro line across the city with a station at the airport. Petrol was very expensive sitting around $3.00 a litre ($10 a gallon).

I loved the Hamra street area, seen by many as the heart of Beirut connecting downtown Beirut with inner Western suburbs of Beirut. Its very close to the American University of Beirut.  Before the war, Hamra was viewed locally as the "Champs Elysées" of Beirut with tourists and intellectuals making it their home.

Today its been renovated and is home to great and reasonably priced high street shops (such as H & M where I stocked up on clothes) and stand alone retailers, coffee shops full of university students, restaurants with locals and tourists, and Lebanese young men driving up and down in their  cars with windows down and music up (they do this in Australia too!). The atmosphere was very vibrant.

The food in Beirut was of amazingly high standard with very good service. The food always seemed fresh and flavoursome. There are foods from all over the world but I only ate Lebanese foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner including:

• Kibbeh (meaning ball in Arabic). Made of  crushed wheat or rice and chopped meat,  it is seen as  Lebanon's  national dish.
• Ackawi  a salty white cheese salty or not depending on choice .
• Fattoush salad ( toasted pita bread with cucumbers, tomatoes, mint and hummus -blended chickpeas dip)
• Falafel - small deep-fried patties made of highly-spiced ground chick-peas
• Fried cauliflower
• Kunafi shoelace pastry dessert stuffed with sweet white cheese and a sickly sweet syrup
• chicken skewers  marinated in olive oil and lemon

I found people were super friendly (even the taxi drivers after you had negotiated price). Greeting people in Arabic and then switching to English and or French worked well. The exceptions to the friendliness were some of the many security guards and army soldiers one saw. Some were welcoming and some were forbidding. The presence of so much military hardware and personnel while there to protect did, however,  feel oppressive sometimes. Taking photos at times was frustrating because so much photography seems forbidden. You of course cannot take pictures of soldiers  check points, tanks, barriers, guns and military signs. This makes almost any picture downtown tricky because the downtown was full of these things.  One soldier appeared from nowhere and stopped me taking  a photo of a fountain downtown (oops here it is).


While everyone hoped for it, in many of the conversations, Peace still seems very fleeting and fragile. No one felt confident it was ever coming to Lebanon. When people talked openly about the war, they all blamed someone else for it.  In the meantime  Beirut parties hard! Enjoy! I cant wait to come back.