Yet another aviation thread.

Quote: DRich

One of the problems with this is they would have to start paying the same or similar union wages to those companies if they bought the smaller manufacturers.

Oh, no. They'll have to pay Canadian union wages :)

Worse is that the Quebec government owns a chunk of Bombardier. I think the Canadian government is invested in it too.

Probably the most suitable thread for this one so will post it here.

I was searching for flights from YYZ-JFK last night for my trip in a few weeks time. Best option for me was the 6am on DL. I get the website up, plug in the search and find that Main Cabin fare was MORE than their Comfort+ by about CAD25. Fine, I'll pay less money for more pitch, complimentary drinks/snacks & extra miles/status credits.

First time I've ever seen a higher class for less money but I'm told it does happen from time to time.

Quote: Aussie

Probably the most suitable thread for this one so will post it here.

I was searching for flights from YYZ-JFK last night for my trip in a few weeks time. Best option for me was the 6am on DL. I get the website up, plug in the search and find that Main Cabin fare was MORE than their Comfort+ by about CAD25. Fine, I'll pay less money for more pitch, complimentary drinks/snacks & extra miles/status credits.

First time I've ever seen a higher class for less money but I'm told it does happen from time to time.

It does happen sometimes.
Coach is almost sold out and 1st or business class relatively empty
combined with some promotional discounted business or 1st fare class fare
I've seen it and sold it
That's when I get the call from the travel manager asking why some guy got 1st class and wasn't coded out of policy

Interjet's almost dead as a low cost airline.

A coworker is taking a trip to Monterrey tomorrow. For some reason he leaves with Aeromexico and arrives on Interjet. He emailed me his tickets to "help" with the boarding passes. AM's fare is a smidgen lower...

Oh, Interjet allows more luggage (50 kilos) vs AM (25 kilos). But that's not a consideration on a day trip on business. Interjet has better leg room on all seats, and charges no premium for bulkhead and exit row seats (and has 2 exit rows vs AM's 1 due to the designs of the A320 vs B737). That is a consideration, but for a ~60 minute flight it isn't much of one.

Still, I'll have to check AM for my personal travel as well.

Quote: Nareed

Interjet's almost dead as a low cost airline.

Southwest airlines used to be one of the best low cost carriers here but they are now mainstream and their prices are rarely a value anymore. I spend a lot of time on Allegiant, Spirit, and Frontier for personal travel and I appreciate their prices. I am very cheap and will gladly take an uncomfortable ride to save $50 on most flights.

Quote: DRich

Southwest airlines used to be one of the best low cost carriers here but they are now mainstream and their prices are rarely a value anymore.

I wonder if either Southwest or Interjet would have been able to become mainstream and charge fares to match, had the legacy airlines kept in-flight meals and had they not charged checked bag fees.

Quote:

I spend a lot of time on Allegiant, Spirit, and Frontier for personal travel and I appreciate their prices. I am very cheap and will gladly take an uncomfortable ride to save $50 on most flights.

For my aborted trip to Vegas this year, I did look at Volaris. If I wanted to bring two bags, the price was about par with Interjet. I didn't look at either Viva or AM.

I could take Volaris. I'm determined not to give Viva a single penny ever again if I can help it.

After more than two years, the search for MH 370 is nearing the end, without any glimmer of the plane. While there is a date, it will be over when the current search area is exhausted. If the plane's not there, we may never know what happened to it.

Be ready for much second-guessing regarding the area to search. In part it was determined by pings from the plane received by Inmarsat satellites, but in part, too, by flight simulations contained in the captain's computer which were discovered shortly after the crash. These indicated a flight running out of fuel around the general area of the search.

There also were assumptions made concerning the state of the pilots near the end. If they were both dead or unconscious, then the plane would have spiraled down steeply when the engines quit. But if one was conscious, he could have kept the plane going for as much as 100 miles, by gliding the plane and keeping wings level. The latter assumption would have required a larger search area.

And there may have been levels in between. Suppose the crash was deliberate, the captain then might have kept the plane going 50 miles, then let it spiral down steeply. Or he might have lost auxiliary power from the emergency ram air turbine for some reason.

Without the wreckage or the flight recorders, without even a crash site, it's impossible to determine much.

Be ready, too, for a surge in conspiracy theories, never mind that parts of the wreckage have been recovered.

As usual, the frenzy of speculations about Egypt Air's crash have died down once actual evidence started to come in, and also while little in the way of news has been forthcoming.

The last I know is the flight data recorder confirmed a fire on board, and that's it. It should take months, at least, for investigators to determine how the plane went down, whether the fire contributed to the crash 8very likely, but hos and how much is important), and what caused the fire.

The latter might be the most important part. Fire could be the result of an explosive device, for example, particularly one that malfunctioned or fizzled. It might involve an incendiary device. It might have been accidental, with something as innocuous as a passenger or crew sneaking in a cigarette in the lavatory, or an overheated smartphone bursting in flames (it has happened before). It might be related to cargo (see the ValuJet disaster in Florida). Or it might be a design or maintenance flaw related to the A320.

First Southwest and then Delta.

Obviously there's little money spent on backup systems...

Or it might be something else? I loathe conspiracy theories, but I also recall Auric Goldfinger's explanation to James Bond, more or less: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times it's a hostile act.

Systems are too complex, too many ad hoc programs, too many rules to be checked before a transaction is finalized ... too many chances for a deadly embrace.