The three Persian Gulf airlines

Quote: Pacomartin

The CIA maps simply say "The Gulf" as they don't want to take sides in this long running dispute.

The whole oil and shipping world says AG... therefore its AG.

They designed a temperature gauge for normal operations? On the assumption that their car radiator would never overheat?
That is like the German battleship whose radar controlled guns calculated the speed of incoming fighter planes only within a reasonable range of the latest, high speed fighters and were unable to deal with a suicidal attack by the obsolete Swordfish torpedo bombers.

Quote: reno

On Christmas morning, Etihad was offering some spectacularly cheap fares (for example: New York to Abu Dhabi for $187.) It turns out that the prices were mistakes. Etihad did what every business should always always always do when they make a mistake: they announced that they will honor the tickets. (Much to the dismay of libertarians, the U.S. government actually requires airlines to honor mistakenly low fares. This is a reasonable law, considering that airline passengers often book nonrefundable hotel reservations, car rentals, etc. after buying an airline ticket.)

The libertarians I knew in the UK would claim that the states only function is to provide a judicial system to ensure contracts are enforced, so a contract to purchase a ticket a $100 instead of $1000 would be the companies problem, and should be enforced.

Then again... libertarians come in many different flavours (one I know claims himself to be a true liberal, he's English, mind, not American).

Let us consider this concept of Middle East or Far East Airlines.

The Middle East ones have government bankrolls and high level connections.

They buy, it seems, largely Airebus planes.

The Far East airlines are less lushly funded and many operate as LCCs Low Cost Carriers.

In the USA ticket price is the main factor and miles a close second.

Middle East airline passengers might have a stronger security orientation.

But the problems are known. Training is marginal. Safety margins are eroding. Padded log books are common.Padded training is coming more and more.

Quote: Fleastiff

Let us consider this concept of Middle East or Far East Airlines. The Middle East ones have government bankrolls and high level connections. They buy, it seems, largely Airebus planes.

The Middle East has low populations. They are interested in primarily wide body planes with the intention of becoming the primary hub of the long haul air route world (replacing London-Paris-Amsterdam-Frankfurt)

Currently produced models as deployed in Middle Eastern Airlines (widebodies only)
Emirates
57 Airbus A380
143 Boeing 777

Etihad
1 Airbus A380
32 Boeing 777
1 Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Qatar Airways
4 Airbus A380
1 Airbus A350 XWB
37 Boeing 777
18 Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Quote: Fleastiff

The Far East airlines are less lushly funded and many operate as LCCs Low Cost Carriers.
In the USA ticket price is the main factor and miles a close second.
Middle East airline passengers might have a stronger security orientation.
But the problems are known. Training is marginal. Safety margins are eroding. Padded log books are common.Padded training is coming more and more.

Lots of high population urban centers less than 2500 miles apart. Easily flown by LCC.

In the USA you have some short haul routes like San Francisco to Los angeles which should be easily negotiable by train, but there is only two slow trains per day (more of a tourist or retiree thing) so it is busier than NYC to Boston. Also Honolulu to Maui (only 100 miles) but high winds make it difficult to travel by boat.

World wide you have Rio to Sao Paulo in Brazil which is very close, but there is no speedy ground transportation. Also Tokyo to the out islands where trains are very slow. People are really looking for flying bus service. Japan puts 500 seats in some of their B777's that fly domestically on routes of less than 500 miles.

The expectation will be that this low cost short distance flights will explode into Africa as well as East Asia.

It's like Mexico. Intercity bus trips are in the billions of trips per year. Luxury and Executive bus trips are 75 million trips per year. Domestic flights are 30 million per year. The airlines are eyeing the luxury and executive bus travelers with the incentive of much shorter trips, although LCC's are not as comfortable as executive buses. The primary issue is that the infrastructure of airports in Mexico need to be improved.

Quote: reno

Etihad did what every business should always always always do when they make a mistake: they announced that they will honor the tickets.

This morning, United's website was selling First Class tickets from the U.S. to London for $44. Ouch, that sort of mistake has to hurt. There's no indication that United's website had been hacked, it was just one of those screwy computer glitches.

We forget that this scenario could never have occurred 20 years ago. In the old days, (before the internet) buying an airline ticket entailed dialing an 800 phone number and speaking with an airline customer service rep who would sell you the ticket over the phone. Theoretically, that employee would inform the call center supervisor that there were $10,000 tickets being listed for $50, and the supervisor would get the fare corrected before any seats were sold. These days, the airline doesn't figure out what hit them until long after the damage is done.

Quote: Fleastiff

But the problems are known. Training is marginal. Safety margins are eroding. Padded log books are common.Padded training is coming more and more.

My brother told me that decent pilots can make six figures easy in China as they do not have enough good pilots. If not for the kids and if his wife would let him he said he would do 1.5-3 years and come back with enough cash to set up a business. He did a short time in Saudi Arabia and made enough to pay for his wedding.

Non-western cultures do not produce great pilots. They grow up knowing how to follow the book but not how to think.

To make that kind of cash I would have to find a broker needs me in ND or MT for a few months and live in an old Buick.

Quote: reno

This morning, United's website was selling First Class tickets from the U.S. to London for $44

It was a funny computer glitch. In order to get the incredible bargain, customers had to select "Denmark" on United's website as the customer's country of residence. My guess is that United's lawyers will fight this, and refuse to honor the tickets for U.S. citizens who lied about living in Denmark. (I could see the courts agreeing that lying about one's country of residence is fraud, and therefore the contract is void.)

Hopefully United is smart enough to allow genuine Danish citizens who took advantage of this mistake to keep their tickets. Denmark is a small country, so the damage for United would be minimal.

Quote: reno

Theoretically, that employee would inform the call center supervisor that there were $10,000 tickets being listed for $50, and the supervisor would get the fare corrected before any seats were sold. These days, the airline doesn't figure out what hit them until long after the damage is done.

The employee would also be smart enough not to blab the fare to the customer.

Before the internet, I used mostly travel agents. But on many occasions I called the airline directly to check the prices quoted. A few times, three or four at a guess, I was put on hold or told to stand by when we got to price. perhaps their systems were slow, or perhaps they found an erroneous fare.

Quote: Nareed

The employee would also be smart enough not to blab the fare to the customer.

Before the internet, I used mostly travel agents. But on many occasions I called the airline directly to check the prices quoted. A few times, three or four at a guess, I was put on hold or told to stand by when we got to price. perhaps their systems were slow, or perhaps they found an erroneous fare.

I would guess the reason is - Not pricing correctly due to false availability of a fare class.
I run into this from time to time.

If the flight is from NYC to London I don't see how saying I live in Denmark is some sort of fraud. I often told waitresses that I'm French or a Kiwi.