Come fly the polite skies

by George Hobica on

I have a request.

Can’t we all just get along up in the air? Can’t we be just a little-no, make that a lot-more polite?

Consider: I was sitting in first class on a recent flight (yes, I used miles to upgrade) and the guy next to me flagged down a passing flight attendant by shaking his half empty highball glass at her. “More ice!” he bellowed. To which she replied, rather sweetly under the circumstances, “What’s the magic word!” To which he more or less replied, “Don’t try to teach me manners, just get me more ice.” (I mean, really, can you believe this jerk? What is it with some airline passengers thinking they’re grand poobahs just because they bought a $200 airfare and upgraded it with miles?) So the flight attendant answered him, “Sir, the ice is in the galley. Get it yourself.” If I didn’t have to sit next to this bozo for another two hours, I would have shouted out “woo hoo!”. And had I been she, I would have omitted the “sir.’

My seat mate was lucky that all he got was a well-deserved come-uppance. John Reed, a customer on American Airlines flight 614 from Sacramento to Dallas on December 6, had a less pleasant encounter with a flight attendant. As reported extensively in the blogosphere, Mr. Reed, a first class passenger with executive platinum frequent flyer status, asked a flight attendant for a glass of orange juice, was excoriated for doing so (“I guess you don’t know how this works,” she reportedly told him), and ended up getting a written FAA misconduct notification from the pilot. Reed and his fellow first class passengers all insist that the flight attendant was completely out of line and perhaps mentally unstable, and American has issued an apology to all those affected.Of course we weren’t on that flight, so we don’t know whether or not Reed used the magic word when asking for his OJ, but even if he didn’t, by all accounts the flight attendant’s behavior was bizarre and inexcusable.

Even so, I often find the rudeness of airline passengers equally bizarre. When asked, “Can I get you something to drink sir (or ma’am)” by a flight attendant (or by a waiter for that matter), it is not acceptable to bark out “Coke” without looking up from your Sudoku. It’s not acceptable in the air, and frankly, it’s not acceptable on the ground, either. But especially not in the air. Flight attendants are trained to save your life if there’s an incident. Flying is stressful for all concerned. We’re stuck together in an aluminum can, sometimes for six hours or more. This is not a flying McDonald’s.

And it is not acceptable when handed your beverage to skip the “thank you.” You are not the Sultan of Siam. She is not your girl. I think flyers should all take a lesson from my mother, who, when we flew together, laid down certain rules of decorum. “Georgie,” she would remind me near the end of each flight, “when we leave the plane you are to say thank you to the pilot and stewardesses.” To this day, I never fail to do so.

Not that all the politeness in the world will save you from the wrath of a flight attendant gone bonkers, and times have changed drastically since my first transcontinental flight with mom, on a TWA 707, as a bowtie-clad 10 year old.

On that flight, my mother suggested I help the stewardesses clear the meal trays, which task I gamely performed (after all, one of them had pinned plastic wings on my blazer, so I was crew, right?). In recognition of my valorous service, one of the stews pinched my chubby little cheek and said, “Oh what a nice little boy you are.” And then I got to ride up with the pilots for a thrilling half hour. As I said, things have changed.

Fast forward to a flight a few years ago when I was sitting in the back of a Continental Airline’s 737 waiting in vain for a meal tray to be removed. Needing a lav visit, I got up and placed the tray on an empty counter in the galley, where the flight attendants were busy gabbing away about whatever. “You can’t put that there!” one of them barked at me. Shell-shocked, but ignoring her, I went into the loo and upon emerging looked her in the eye and said, “You know, you could have said that a bit more politely.” She, indignantly: “I wasn’t impolite.” Me, equally indignant: “Oh yes you were, and you know it.” Luckily I guess, I didn’t get one of those FAA warning letters, but while I’m all for politesse in the skies, modern airline travel is fraught enough as it is, and it does take two to maintain a civil atmosphere. I’m willing to do my part. I wish more people were willing to do theirs.

George Hobica is the founder of Airfarewatchdog™, the most inclusive source of airfare deals that have been researched and verified by experts. Airfarewatchdog compares fares from all airlines and includes the increasing number of airline-site-only and promo code fares.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner finally flies

by Grant Martin on

After over two years of reporting on the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s long awaited aircraft has arrived. Yesterday morning, the aircraft took off on a three hour historic flight over Washington, landing successfully in Boeing field just outside of Seattle, Washington.

And now, the data analysis begins. A full year of testing as well as multiple test flights follow this first step, all towards making the final delivery to Boeing’s first customer, ANA at the end of next year. We’re looking forward to getting onboard.

Traveling on British Airways this holiday season? Not so fast —

by Grant Martin on

You’ve got to hand it to the unions, they’re hitting British Airways where it hurts. They’ve chosen the busiest and most profitable holiday season to strike in protest of the airline’s recent cabin crew cuts, a move that will disrupt over a million passengers soon-flying on the United Kingdom’s flagship carrier.

If the plans to strike move forward, crews will walk off the job from December 22nd until January 2nd, the time during which nearly all holiday travel will take place. Those booked on the airline will encounter either severe disruption or canceled flights altogether.

That is to say, unless either the union (Unite) or the airline folds. Given the strongly worded statement from the company CEO Willie Walsh this afternoon, however, that may be further away than we think.

In the meantime, those that are scheduled to fly during those dates have been given the option to reschedule for a different itinerary. Instructions for rebooking can be found here, while news of the impending train wreck is being collected on BA’s frontpage. Let’s hope that this gets resolved quickly.

JetBlue’s bizzaro holiday gift guide

by Grant Martin on

During a time of the year when we’re all inundated with holiday gift guides, sales and press releases it’s always fun taking a step back and laugh at the madness. I have to admit that I thought twice about clicking on JetBlue‘s gift guide earlier today, but I sure am glad that I did.

The guide, which is built off of their Facebook page is a complete fabrication — a series of impossible products that poke fun at the air travel industry and that help narrate the crazy world in which we live. Case in point, the Knee Jockey:

When you’re not jetting, legroom can be difficult to find. But not when you have a Knee Jockey-the holster for your knees. Just strap on the Knee Jockey to lift and tuck those knees to your chest, giving your legs the extra centimeter of freedom they deserve.

Perhaps the best part is the obvious effort that went into this: someone had to hire the models, graphic designers and marketers to come up with this page — it’s just so well done. And I can appreciate that, in a way. Nice work guys.

You can check out the full gift guide at JetBlue’s facebook page.

Onboard Air France’s A380 inaugural flight from New York to Paris

by Grant Martin on

The Airbus A380 has reached American shores once more. Late last month, Air France began service between New York’s JFK and Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of the few select routes on the planet served by this massive, double-decker jumbo jet.

As the third fourth customer to receive the now-famous Airbus A380, Air France is betting big on assigning it to this route. The gamble is especially perilous, considering the high volume of traffic already serving the route, the state of the economy and the recent drop in demand for air travel. Indeed, the only other A380 route from New York, an Emirates service to Dubai, was canceled earlier this year because of scarce traffic.

So Air France has a lot to prove; not only must they successfully operate this aircraft across the Atlantic, they need to look good doing it. After all, Airbus is based out of Toulouse and Air France is the country’s flagship carrier. With their national travel reputation at stake, these companies must seek perfection.

However, inaugural flights remain a time for festivity, and performance metrics were far from the minds of the travelers participating in last month’s flight. Kickoff activities played out over the course of a long weekend from Paris to New York and back, with 380 winners of a recent Air France charity auction joining passengers from the corporate ranks and media world. From the New York side, festivities started with a magnificent cocktail hour at the French Embassy on 7th Ave on Friday evening, then passengers had a full day to recover before departing eastward on Saturday evening.

And how is flying on Air France’s A380?

%Gallery-79543%Fantastic. To begin with, the aircraft is enormous. Staring at the aircraft from the gate (because you will) is like looking into the eyes of a monster, complete with a tiny little black strip near the eyes where the pilots sit. One gets the feeling that an entire regional jet could fit inside of one single engine and then be chewed up and spit out the back, an easy meal for a machine of this size.

It’s boarded by class and floor, and if you’re on the top deck (business and some economy) you leave JFK’s terminal 5 and walk up a fair distance until you reach the forward cabin. Like many other A380s there are curved staircases, situated in this configuration at the rear of the aircraft. There’s a lounge area in the front of the top floor, and speckled inside of the cabin are numerous galleys, where a small cutout is set aside to host drinks and snacks during the flight. Walking around it’s as if one is traversing a small cruise ship finding small features and treasures here and there and all around the cabin.

Mind you, the fuzzies usually wear off after getting to your seat and settling in. Apart from larger windows and an enormous interior, the seat pitches, widths and in-flight entertainment are fairly close to the regular Air France transatlantic product – there’s just more of it – 538 seats to be exact, with around 85 business class seats and only 9 in first class.

To that end, Air France continues to keep the standard high. The business class cabin on this Airbus A380 was roomy, classy and cozy, with mood lighting, plenty of stowage (even on the cabin wall) and the largest windows manufactured into a current commercial aircraft. The Rolls-Royce Engine Alliance engines are remarkably quiet, making the cabin hum smoothly as the business-seats recline into their almost-flat position. As passengers drift into sleep after their 8:30 departure there’s a sense of satisfaction that pervades through the crowd as they admire the clean, enormous cabin. Or perhaps that’s just the Champagne speaking.

Another nice touch to the A380 is the inflight media. It should be expected that Air France installed the finest of inflight entertainment systems into every seat back, complete with movies, seat to seat chat and television shows — but they exceed their standard excellence with updates to the mapping system and additional exterior cameras. This may not impress the everyday airline passenger, but there’s something thrilling about watching ground operations at JFK scramble around from the tail-mounted camera.

Inaugural festivities were kept to a respectable volume. At the New York gate there was a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony with CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta Pierre Henri Gourgeon and some of the charitable partners; while onboard a three piece brass band bounced around playing French music prior to pushback. All media on the flight was shuttled to the jaw-dropping Sofitel Arc de Triomphe for our nights on the ground, and, apart from a welcoming brunch and an outstanding dinner at Spoon, we were largely left on our own to explore the city.

I could gush volumes on my time and company in Paris, but we all know how the city of lights can have an effect on a person. Paris is an inspiring city: it earns its reputation as a beautiful, romantic metropolis with a cafe on every corner, amazing architecture, outstanding gastronomic fare and a lifetime of history. Air France’s A380 service from New York to Paris embodies this character perfectly, from form, to class to function. Like me, you won’t be disappointed.