Dakar to Paris: Layover in Algiers or Tripoli?

by Grant Martin on

You think that you know things about airlines until you start searching for flights in and out of African. There, the old knowns of KLM and British Airways go out the window and replacements like Afriqiyah Airways and Air Algerie come into play, carriers that many never knew existed.

The current itinerary on which I’m working involves a one way flight between Dakar and Paris, a three thousand mile trip over the Sahara Desert, Mediterranean Ocean and Southern France. With a connection.

Where is that connection you ask? Depends on the airline. Of the above two airlines, one (I’m sure you can guess which) involves a four hour layover in Algeria‘s capital, Algiers, in the Houari Boumediene airport. The other offers a similar stay in Tripoli, the capital of Libya.

The most comedic part of the operation in the the fare codes. Typical local carriers have complex fare codes like QE07A0NA to dictate the rules and routes of a flight. On Afriqiyah Airways? My fare basis (copied above) would be “BLOW.”

Whatever. The real question is whether I should fly through Algiers or Tripoli. Technically it would be interesting to spend a day or two exploring the cities on my layover (if that’s possible,) but North African nations aren’t the most welcome place for Americans — and could I go to a country that bans alcohol? I would have to bring a book or something.

So where would you go?

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Love in the air – Germans most likely to flirt, Swedes most likely to have sex

by Scott Carmichael on

It’s the most romantic time of the year – which means companies are releasing all kinds of love related news and surveys.

The latest comes from British Airways, who did a quick interview of European travelers, and how often they flirt with their fellow passengers.

According to the survey, Germans are the most likely to try and hit on you in the sky, followed by the Swiss.

The “passionate” Italians are all the way down in 6th place. At the bottom of the list are the Dutch and Belgians.

To spice things up a little, British Airways also asked passengers if they belong to the Mile High Club.

The results are quite surprising – 7% of Swedes claim they have joined the club, followed by 5% of Norwegians and 5% of the Dutch passengers who participated in the survey.

Once again, the Belgians painted a pretty bleak picture of their country, by coming last with just 1%.

Of course, these numbers could also be the complete opposite, and the results might mean that 7% of Swedes lie about having sex.

So, lets have our own little survey, and see whether Gadling readers are kinkier than the Swedes (or that we can lie more than they did!)

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(Via: Dutch Telegraph)

Which of these ladies got busted for “loving in the air”?

British Airways to allow cell phone use on London to New York flights

by Aaron Hotfelder on

British Airways has just announced that, beginning this fall, they will allow cell phone use in-flight, but only on business class flights between London and JFK. While talking on cell phones will still be prohibited, the airline will allow passengers to send and receive text messages and have access to the internet.

A BA spokesperson says that the airline will listen to feedback from customers in deciding whether to eventually permit actual cell phone calls. [Desperate plea: Don’t do it!]

This move follows a decision made last year by Emirates, which became the first airline to allow in-flight cell phone use, as well as similar experiments by Qantas and bmi.

What do you think, Gadling faithful? Smart idea by an airline trying to please its business-class passengers, or dangerous step on an insidious path leading to constant cell phone chatter on every flight?

More here.

What strange things have been found on planes?


Baghdad airport welcomes first European passenger flight in 18 years

by Scott Carmichael on

18 years after the United Nations imposed a ban on all commercial air traffic destined for Iraq, a Swedish charter plane has landed at Baghdad International Airport.

The charter was operated by Nordic Leisure and their 150 passengers were mostly Iraqis.

This is just the beginning of what should become a fairly popular route, as many Iraqis are in Europe waiting to return to their homeland. KLM/Air France recently signed an agreement for direct flights to Baghdad from several European locations.

Baghdad airport has seen a slowly increasing number of other flights in recent years, though most of it involved cargo flights. Regular scheduled passenger flights have greeted the airport from destinations like Jordan and Dubai since 2003.

Pre 1991, most major airlines in the world had Baghdad on their schedule, including weekly flights on British Airways from London. BA had originally planned to return to Baghdad in 2003, right after President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished”, but when violence on the road to the airport reached an all time high, the plans were delayed.

(Via: Google News/AFP)

Winona Ryder gets a British Airways airplane priority landing status. Could you?

by Jamie Rhein on

Two days ago, Winona Ryder’s British Airways flight to Heathrow airport was granted priority landing status after Ryder became sick on the plane. Jaunted’s blurb doesn’t say how she got ill. One wonders was it the food? Is this normal for her? What about me or you? Could we get special treatment? Could we get a plane to land before all the others?

I was on a flight once when the plane turned around before it took off because a woman was complaining of being sick. She did keep hitting herself in the face as she was being led to the ambulance that whisked her away. As much as going back to the gate wasn’t a fun picnic, it was a good thing that she was let off the plane. Better that she was hitting herself in the face as she was getting off the plane than miles up in the air.

A quick Google search found these two articles about other diverted flights.

In October, on a United Airlines flight to LA, a flight was diverted to O’Hare International Airport after a dozen or so passengers complained of being sick.

Back in March, a flight from the Dominican Republic to Canada landed in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida after eight passengers became ill.

What isn’t clear is how sick is sick. “I feel sick,” one might say. Does this mean, “I have gas,” “I have a slight headache,” “I feel as if I could hurl all over myself,” or “I think I’m having a heart attack and won’t live to see another day?” Any parent with a child has played twenty questions at times to find out just what ‘sick” means.

The woman I saw hitting herself in the face did say she wasn’t feeling right as rain when she got on the plane. The flight attendant did try to soothe her nerves, but with no luck, thus the diversion.

It seems that diverting a plane because of an engine failure or when the toilet pump is burning would be a much easier call to make. Sick? Kind of vague. And I still wonder, if you’re Winona, could you get that plane to land faster?

Winona did go to the hospital after she got off the plane, but only for a couple of hours.