Showing posts with label Air France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air France. Show all posts

Korean Air has their A380

Sunday, June 12, 2011 Unknown
Korean Air took delivery of its first A380. The only 380 in the world to feature all business class upstairs, a duty free lounge and an in-flight luxury lounge for business and First customers with bar, sofas and TV.

 Their pilots are getting assessed. The Korean government aviation authority will approve the massive plane and then the sixth airline in the world will start flying between  Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo-Narita on June 17. Flights to USA and Europe will follow.

I hope to fly Korean's A380 in October. That will be my fourth airline A380 experience. I have flown Emirates, Qantas and Singapore. I compared my experiences on those airlines in this post. Yet to do Lufthansa and Air France's versions. Will aim for November for those services to catch up.

Check out the Korean A380 website for lots of pictures and graphics.
Labels: , , , 0 comments | | edit post

A380 Bang

Saturday, April 23, 2011 Unknown
Here's a great reason to ALWAYS wear a seat belt on a plane even when its stationery on the ground. I cant believe how many seat belts I hear being opened seconds after a plane lands.

Have you seen the video where the Air France A380 jet at  New York's John F. Kennedy airport hits the tail section of a Bombardier CRJ 700 Regional Jet? The smaller plane spins a quarter turn on the taxiway!

The A380 was operating Air France Flight 7 to Paris and was taxing to take off. It had 495 passengers and 25 crew members on board.

Its left wingtip struck the tail of Comair Flight 6293, which had just landed from Boston and was taxiing to its gate at Kennedy. The Comair  had 62 passengers and four crew members on board.

There were no reports of injuries.

Both planes were inspected Tuesday,  pilots and crew  interviewed and ground radar checked.


The Airbus "super jumbo", the world's largest jetliner has a wingspan of almost 80 meters (yards). About a third of a metre of the Air France left wing appears to be damaged. Air France said the damage was only "material". I hope so.

So who was at fault? The airbus has only been flying to JFK since Nov. 20, 2009. Lufthansa also flies the A380 into JFK since February, 2011. So the airport is still getting used to them. Check out my  review of the Emirates A380 comparing it to the Qantas and Singapore A380s. I have yet to fly the Lufthansa and Air France planes. Hope to do them in the second half of 2011. 

NTSB Photos of Wing Clipping at JFK Airport



Labels: , , , 0 comments | | edit post

Three Airlines-one plane- comparing the A380

Thursday, September 30, 2010 Unknown
How many people really care what aeroplane they are in? I do care -cos I sit in a 100 planes a year! These planes are my favourites: 













The plane I am in love with is the A380, the world's largest passenger plane. First flew it with Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Sydney last November. Then I travelled on the Qantas one in June from Los Angeles to Sydney (blog post here) This week's adventure on the mega Jumbo was with Emirates, the airline of Dubai on their service from Auckland to Sydney. Today I compare the flying experience between these three airlines. Sadly only in Economy. Sponsorship is welcomed to try the First Class product with all of them!
Passenger Reactions
I was curious to see the reactions from my approximately 500 fellow as they  filed past the plane. Just five of us stopped and took photographs of the 569 tonne monster (pictured)

Forty or fifty gazed, pointed and chatted displaying an excitement about flying the 22 wheeled Double Decker aluminum "Super Jumbo" aeroplane.
Some were more nonchalant, glancing at the plane as they headed to the Boarding gate
A very large number were clearly caught up in the excitement of the journey - just happy to be travelling. The type of plane seemed irrelevant in this situation. We had two large groups -a large Kiwi young rugby player contingent and a Chinese tour group on board.
A few slipped nervously on board, obviously dreading the three hours inside the 73m (239ft) long metal tube. Can you believe the the Wright brothers first flight was only 37 metres (120 feet) long. In other words this plane is almost twice as long as humanity's first ever powered flight. One would love to see their faces if they ever came face to face with this plane.
Emirates check in was astoundingly efficient considering there were three flights departing Auckland in a short time period -one to Brisbane, (B777), one to Melbourne (A340) and the A380 flight to Sydney. This means a potential check in number of a 1000 passengers. Plentiful desks and hired contractors directing passenger traffic made the experience easy . From queue to boarding pass was less than six minutes. This matched the Qantas check in and faster than the one at Singapore Airlines.


Check in:
Emirates (EQ) 10/10
Qantas   (QF) 9/10
Singapore (SQ) 8/10
Boarding
Boarding was also efficient -and fast. The welcome aboard by the on board crew was astounding. While the Qantas welcome on the A380 had been up to the usually Qantas friendliness,  I generally find the Singapore Airlines "welcome aboards" a little false and forced. With Emirates the ethnically diverse crew members greeted you in a way that seemed personal, unique and genuine.  It may not seem much but this contact reminds the passenger that they are special and are involved in the special experience of flying. I know many Airlines have reduced flight to that of a bus to the detriment of the flying experience I believe.


Boarding/Welcome aboard: EQ: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 7/10




On Board
My seat was 81K. This seat together with 81A and 68A and 68K  are the best seats on the Emirates plane. Located in the emergency exit, they have no seat in front of them. Thank you to my friend Brett for this tip. 
On this plane I had two very fun women sitting next to me in my row -thanks for a great flight! 
A gentleman seated a row in front of me was a different story. When I arrived at the seat, I found the very large luggage bin a disaster area with bags badly packed and a couple trying to shove lots of bags on top of the other bags in the bin. The couple were oblivious to contents or fragility. I suggested to them, we repack which they accepted. The repacking was a success! We got all the bags into the luggage bin including mine. I made sure that small bags were on top of big ones. As I did this, I asked who owned a blue bag that had been in danger of being squashed under an avalanche of duty free. I wanted to get the owners permission before I moved it. The owner, seated in 80J, who had been watching this activity  yelled at me threatening me if I damaged his bag in any way, he would be very angry. I pointed out to him, I was saving his bag and that a polite thank you would have been better. He looked at me and was suddenly chastened when he realised he was out of line. He didnt say much for the flight.


Safety Brief
Pre -flight inspections by crew were through and efficient. Safety briefing is only done over the TV monitors with the crew standing by. I prefer the way Qantas engages their cabin staff in the safety brief. To me it lends an air of seriousness --that the airline really knows its safety stuff.


Safety Inspections and Briefing: EQ: 7/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10

The Cabin Experience
Takeoff on the A380 is incredible. Firstly it is so quiet! There seems to be no dramatic roar  as the plane moves down the runway. Then the plane seems to simply glide up. The 380 feels like it wants to fly and is simply going back into the atmosphere where it belongs.


It is 40 years since the original jumbo started flying. The advances in air technology since then have been amazing. The A380 is a massive improvement over the 747. For example the A380 produces 50% less cabin noise than the currently flying 747 models and has greater cabin air pressure which makes travel more pleasant. The windows are larger. The bins are larger. The cabin is wider and higher. And of course more people can be flown for less fuel.

While Emirates has two versions of the A380: One with 516 seats and one with 489seats. However, Air France crams in 538 people into its A380 in three classes. Lufthansa reduces that to 526. Singapore has opted for 471 seats and Qantas has only 450. NB The overall capacity of the plane is 853 passengers. One airline has said it will aim of 840 seats when it gets its A380 (Air Austral). Ryanair would probably aim for 1000! The feel of all three A380s I have been on has been of incredible spaciousness.

The Lavatories on the Emirates are real class with wood panelling and nice moisturisers etc! Tip: use the ones in the front of the plane. Most people seem to congregate down the back of the plane.


Cabin atmosphere and feel: EQ: 10/10, QF: 9/10,  SQ 8/10


On Board Entertainment System:
I found the Emirates ICE entertainment to be clunky and slow to navigate compared to their counterparts on Qantas and Singapore.
One of the groovy features with Emirates, however, is the cameras they have built into the nose and tail of the pane which allow you to watch takeoff and landing from any direction -although the woman next to me and I decided : "it would be not a nice sight to watch your plane crash". 


Entertainment System:
Emirates ICE: 7/10 plus 1 for the camera 8/10
Qantas iQ: 9/10,  
Singapore Krisworld: 10/10

Meal
The Emirates meal was amazing. In a world where airline meals in Economy have declined or diappeared, Emirates seems to believe that giving a quality product may attract repeat business! Starting with a Prawn (shrimp) cocktail, this was followed by a main dish of lamb and pasta, a bread roll, cheese & crackers, a chocolate cake dessert and a small chocolate square filled the spot. Contrary to a popular mythology,  Emirates is not a dry airline on most sectors, so wine was available with dinner. (Flying into Iran and Saudi Arabia would be a very different matter).


 Meal: EQ: 10/10, QF: 7/10,  SQ 9/10

The Verdict
Our landing into Sydney was bumpy (we had been forewarned) with rain, wind and low clouds. We felt very secure in our seats as the plane bounced through the cloudbursts.

My seatmates and I decided that the Emirates Airbus A380 is worth going out of the way for. So my A380 Ratings out of a possible 60:
 #1 Emirates  55
#2 Qantas   52  (check out the blog post)
#3 Singapore  50
(Although I suspect if I was in first class, then I think Singapore's private suites might be the winner!) 
In July I complied my list of Top 21 Airlines I have flown. When I revise the list, guess who will be the new number one?!


Thanks to my fun seatmates, Emirates and the cabin crew for a great trip
Labels: , , , , , , 33 comments | | edit post

85 days in the air

Friday, August 20, 2010 Unknown
I just ticked over total flying time of 85 days or   2040:40 hours!  I was tickled with that number 2040:40!!!!   This has taken me  647 flights. I am on the way to the magic one million miles - about 1.6 million kilometres! Over half of those miles have been with one airline: Qantas. A third has been with United Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, American Airlines, Air New Zealand and Continental Airlines combined. The remainder is split between 60 other airlines!

























Labels: , , , , , , , , , , 0 comments | | edit post

Good bye and Good Riddance?

Thursday, August 05, 2010 Unknown
I am not sure why anyone has shares in any airline? It has got to be the worst business in existence for making money?

Airlines fly people around on unsustainable fares so they can fill their planes using what cash they can get to pay for the loans that are on their planes!  When the debts get too high, they re-organise. In the USA this  means going into "Chapter 11 Bankruptcy". This gives the airline the ability to reorganise To my eye, this seems to involve the  cancellation of mountains of debt so they can borrow more money!! In other places in the world, they try and get a government bail out.

If either measure fails, then the airlines goes bust. The number of failed airlines in the last twenty years is extraordinary!

Can anyone explain the economics better?

Some airlines go bust because of bad luck or bad situations-but the reality is most go bust because of bad management - a management that takes its eye off the fundamentals. For example:
"This is the worst airline ever! They should not be allowed to offer flights to anyone. I can't express enough how disappointing my trip with them was."

"Flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada was overbooked by 19 people! There were 19 of us that were not allowed on the plane. The representatives said this happens all the time"

"THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST AIRLINE EVER!!!! Their customer service is non existent. They have 5 customer service telephone numbers and they are all busy. Finally, when my call went through the person couldn't help me. All I needed was to check in online and their online service wasn't working. If I would have known they were this stupid and rude- I would have tried some other airline. "

These comments belong to Mexicana, one of Mexico's airlines.Mexicana only joined the One World alliance in November, 2009 (One World includes American, British, Cathay, Iberia, Qantas).

Skytrax gives them 3 out of 5 stars. The comments above come from Review Center where the airline is rated a mere 1 out of 5!


I am not sure they are the worst airline ever (my worst airline list) but....


 It has now has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Mexico. The airline blames high labour costs and has made their staff two offers. One of my favourite blogs Cranky Flier has a good analysis of the offers and he says they are both unpalatable offers.

Will Mexicana survive? I think so but I would not fly them!  Another reviewer says:
Drive, walk, ride your bike, take the bus, or even hitchhike before booking with this airline.

If you are flying to Mexico be warned: the US Government has downgraded Mexico's airlines from Category 1 safety to Category 2 based on an assessment of day-to-day oversight of carriers by the   government.

So flying to Mexico? I say use Air France, Air Tran, Alaska, Continental,  LAN, Lufthansa and United.

In the meantime, bets please on Mexicana survival?
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 comments | | edit post