It was back in 2007 when we first wrote about Lisa Robertson. This former cop turned callgirl turned flight attendant made the news when she admitted to having sex with actor Ralph Fiennes in a Qantas airplane bathroom.
Mr. Fiennes was on his way to speak at an AIDS conference to talk about the dangers of unprotected sex, when he had his unprotected sex with Ms. Robertson.
Since then, she has been fired by Qantas and recently declared bankruptcy. Sadly, she’s in the news again because she “forgot” to mention to the courts that she actually made about $180,000 from TV and newspaper interviews, all while still receiving social security benefits. She has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service.
This New Year’s Eve, Qantas will be taking one of their super swank A380’s to Antarctica. Seats are for sale to the masses starting (checking watch) NOW. This special flight is the first time the double-decker jumbo jet has ever flown this far south, let alone to Antarctica. The plane will take off in Sydney and pick up in Melbourne before spending four hours doing low, figure-eight patterns over the icy, white expanses of the seventh continent. (That sounds really, really cool but also sounds kind of like landing at Heathrow in winter.) Passengers will get to greet the “dawn” of 2010 (remember, the sun doesn’t set) and revel in the rare and incredible view of the southern polar summer without packing a coat.
If you don’t catch the inaugural New Year’s flight, there will be a repeat A380 flight on January 24th or you can take your honey on a boring old split-level Boeing 747 for Valentine’s Day 2010.
One is loath to mention–but must–the doomed sightseeing Air New Zealand Flight 901 of two score and three days ago, which smashed into Antarctica’s highest mountain, leaving shattered champagne glasses icily scattered across the coldest place on earth. There, I mentioned it.
These one-time Qantas flights can be ticketed with their travel agency partners at Antarctica Sightseeing Tours.
When passengers show bad behavior at the airport, everyone notices. Bad airport behavior is one place Hollywood gets it right, even when scenes are a bit outlandish.
Here are two scenes that show just what can happen when a passenger is vexed beyond sanity–either due to traveling with a family member or the actions of another passenger coupled with airline staff reactions.
Perhaps you’ll see an element of yourself or someone you know in one of these scenerios. If you happen to have one of these moments when traveling for the holidays, try to keep a sense of humor. It can help.
Along with a sense of humor, there are a few tips to keep in mind to help you not go bonkers. If you do go bonkers, check in with Gadling, we’d love to tell your tale. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!
First up: Rain Man. Here’s what happens when two family members have a different notion of travel. Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman may be brothers, but their travel preferences don’t match.
To keep from having your own Rain Man situation, particularly when traveling with children, talk over the trip beforehand. Explain what will happen at the airport before you get there. Go over the various steps like waiting in line, going through TSA and boarding the plane. One resource that’s helpful for traveling with children is Shae By Air, a DVD made for children about taking an airplane trip.
For adults who have a fear of flying, there are resources aimed for you. Scott previewed Flying without Fear. Also, in one of his Plane Answers posts, Gadling’s own pilot extraordinaire, Kent Wien presents other tips for those afraid to fly.
Second up: Honeymoon in Vegas. If there was ever an example of passenger rage, this is it. Nicolas Cage perfectly nails the emotions. Here’s what happens when a customer service agent is overly solicitous to one very irritating customer. Tom warned about this in his post about the problem with travelprofessionals going that extra mile.
When another passenger is driving you nuts, try to stay calm by realizing you’re about to reach your limit. If you are in a hurry because you may miss your flight, calmly ask if you can please cut because you are about to miss your plane. I’ve seen people do this before and it works. At all costs, don’t raise your voice and start spewing spittle. It just won’t help at all.
Third up: Meet the Parents. Ben Stiller doesn’t go nuts when he’s dealing with this gate attendant’s power hungry nonsense, but her behavior does add fuel to his going bonkers behavior once he’s on the plane. Let’s call this priming the pump. The video embedding function is disabled, thus I couldn’t put it in this post but it’s an hysterical scene that’s so worth the watch.
For another example of airline personnel’s bad behavior check out these videos. This is one flight attendant who needs a chill pill.
A Qantas Airbus A330-300 flew through what airline staff referred to as a “severe meteorological incident”.
The “incident” was actually bad turbulence, and it was so severe that the plane plummeted, sending passengers into the ceiling.
The flight was en route from Hong Kong to Perth when it hit the turbulence. Because the drop was so sudden, the flight crew did not have the time to warn passengers to be strapped in, though it does underline how important it is to have your seat belt buckled at all times.
It isn’t hard to see some similarities between this flight and the recent crash of Air France flight 447 – especially since both were on the exact same type of plane.
Planes often rely on information from other aircraft on the same route to report on turbulence, but if the route is not very busy, it may be hours between reports.
Bad turbulence can cause severe injuries, a collection of some of the most recent incidents involving bad turbulence can be found in the gallery posted below:
Like all airlines, Qantas is looking to cut costs. And, it saw an opportunity by forming partnerships with some of Australia‘s airports. If all were to go according to plan, Qantas could make a dent in its annual airport costs of $544 million (AU$700 million). While some airports are willing to play ball, others (like Sydney and Brisbane) aren’t … leaving an airline to complain about fees, for a change.
Taking a page from the playbook of (in)famous Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, Alan Joyce (top dog at Qantas) made a rather hostile public announcement, “Airports are very, very good at earning revenues out of everything you could imagine – if they could charge for oxygen at the airport they probably would.”
Joyce and Qantas recently came under fire for charging up to $124 (AU$160) exit row seating and calling it “giving passengers more of an option.” He also says that Qantas is following the trend rather than blazing the trail when it comes to additional fees.
Qantas is facing a loss for the second half of its fiscal year, the first time this has happened since the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Whether Qantas gets relief is immaterial … all that matters is that it’s found a way to pass the buck.