The Golden Age of Air Travel?

Quote: Nareed

. Old planes keep flying for some reason somewhere, but are eventually retired. The DC-3 was produced in very large quantities as a transport and cargo airplane for the US Army Air Corps. The surplus planes after the war were used by many airlines for passenger service. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if a few are still flying either passenger or cargo flights in some odd corners of the world.

There are no DC-3s listed by planespotters.net, but there are still a dozen DC-8's listed as active. Mostly in Africa with the Congo having one that first flew 50 years ago. Nasa has had one and it was modified in April 1986.

Quote: Pacomartin

There are no DC-3s listed by planespotters.net, but there are still a dozen DC-8's listed as active. Mostly in Africa with the Congo having one that first flew 50 years ago. Nasa has had one and it was modified in April 1986.

Any KC-135s left? That's based on the B-707, which is even older than the DC-8. For that matter, so were the AWACS.

Some cow-orkers took a business trip last week.

As usual they asked me to "help" getting their boarding passes (translation: they asked me to do it for them). One had a middle seat rather far back, and wanted an aisle seat closer to the front. All that was left were Aeromexico Plus seats (kind of like economy plus, I guess). We tried this, and he had to pay about $12 extra.

Well, he got priority check-in, which might have mattered as he had a case with samples. But he said there were no lines at 5:00 am when he got in anyway. He also got priority boarding, which he reported as being "nice." As for the seat itself, he said it has a bit more legroom than other seats farther back, but that it was "not as much as on Interjet." Snacks on the flight were a bag of peanuts and a cup of soda. AM doesn't give you the whole can.

Which leads me back to wonder why Interjet isn't higher up on passenger preference.

Quote: Nareed

" As for the seat itself, he said it has a bit more legroom than other seats farther back, but that it was "not as much as on Interjet."

Interjet is still flying to only 5 USA cities and 10 routes.

1. Houston
2. Las Vegas
3. Miami
4. New York
5. San Antonio

VivaAerobus is only flying to Houston

Aeromexico is flying to more (but no longer to Boston)

1. Atlanta
2. Chicago
3. Dallas
4. Denver
5. Fresno
6. Houston
7. Las Vegas
8. Los Angeles
9. Miami
10. New York
11. Ontario, CA
12. Orlando
13. Sacramento
14. San Antonio
15. San Francisco
16. Washington
    CANADA
17. Montreal
18. Toronto

Volaris is now flying to 21 USA airports.

1. Chicago (Midway)
2. Chicago (O'Hare)
3. New York (JFK)
4. Orlando
5. Miami (Ft. Lauderdale)
6. Reno
7. Las Vegas
8. San Antonio
9. Dallas
10. Houston
11. Denver
12. Portland
13. Phoenix
14. San Diego
15. Fresno
16. Los Angeles
17. San Francisco (Oakland)
18. Ontario
19. San Jose, California
20. Sacramento
21. San Juan

Quote: Pacomartin

Interjet is still flying to only 5 USA cities and 10 routes.

Yeah, I think Volaris was more nimble taking advantage of Mexicana's demise...

Photograph of Viva's 13th new A320 in Hamburg - Finkenwerder (XFW / EDHI) , Germany on 03 December, 2015.
Viva is slowly replacing it's old B737 fleet. They have retired six planes and have 19 more to go (average age over 24 years).

I am not sure what route they fly to deliver the airframes to Mexico. It is 3410 km from Glasgow to Gander Newfoundland which is well within the flying range.

I understand that they used to make stops in Glasgow, Greenland and Newfoundland when delivering a new short range aircraft. That would be a series of short hops, but would add a 1000 km to the total trip.
1347 km Glasgow To Reykjavik
1403 km Reykjavik to Nuuk, Greenland
1707 km Nuuk, Greenland to Gander, Newfoundland CA
4457 km
+
958 km Hamburg Germany to Glasgow
4684 km Gander to Monterrey Mexico nonstop

That seems very conservative to make that many stops, but I don't know what the rules are with a brand new jet.

Elvis Presley stopped at a small airport in Glasgow to refuel on his way home from Germany. They actually have a plaque commemorating the layover, and they named the bar after him.

Qantas will train 2,000 stewardesses to be top notch wine experts so as to bring quality wine and meal pairings to 35,000 feet.

Quote: Fleastiff

Qantas will train 2,000 stewardesses to be top notch wine experts so as to bring quality wine and meal pairings to 35,000 feet.

Qantas is now using Dubai as their stopover on the way to Europe. They are in intense competition with Emirates Airlines which also has extensive A380 service to four cities in Australia. Since both airlines are flying the same routes, luxury is very important in being competitive.

Quote: Pacomartin

, luxury is very important in being competitive.

In these times where we now fly instead of treking The Silk Road qualityis indeed important. Qantas recently made headlines with a snack that it served to a woman who then snapped a now-viral photo of the accompanying Japanese root plant which bore such an anatomical resemblance that the snack has been renamed "Dumpling Surprise". Not quite the image the airline wanted to have but as Hollywood is wont to say 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'.

I think you can include the photo since it made all the British papers. And no, I don't think anyone will book a different airline because of people seeing things in their food.



Comments on her facebook page:

A root vegetable is one way to describe it. I think you inadvertently just joined the mile-high club.

Is that food, or in-flight entertainment?

Did you ask for a stiff drink to accompany it?

This is a hotbed of innuendo.

From a food stylist's perspective, this will give you nightmares for years to come.

Definitely a root vegetable they couldn't serve on Virgin.

After much discussion it was declared that the confronting side serve was almost certainly eggplant.