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Saturday 25 May 2013


British Airways jet makes emergency landing at Heathrow airport after engine fire

Reuters May 24, 2013, 02.19PM IST
LONDON: A British Airways plane travelling from London to Oslo was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow on Friday after a technical fault in an engine.
"The BA762, Heathrow to Oslo service, returned back to Heathrow shortly after take-off due to a technical fault," BA parent company IAG said. The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying 75 passengers.

Friday 24 May 2013

stairs to upper deck 747-100/200

14?

cafe?

early days

"hats girls!"

DC 10 FAs

yeagh

place of learning

"let's fly away?"

olden days cabin crew

They look happy passengers?

The good old days of air travel

Swiss A340

Ready, steady Go!

Lufthansa will make u smile!

no phone!


Friday 17 May 2013

Airbus A300

I have flown on this aircraft type many times before.  Twice with Thai Airways and both domestically and internationally to MRU (Mauritius) with South African Airways.  My last A300 flight was in 2004 from Cape Town to Johannesburg

Boeing 767 Rear galley


Wednesday 15 May 2013


And the most satisfying airline is ...

By Katia Hetter, CNN
May 15, 2013 -- Updated 1157 GMT (1957 HKT)
Customer satisfaction skyrockets when airline employees smile at passengers.
Customer satisfaction skyrockets when airline employees smile at passengers.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • JetBlue tops airline satisfaction study for ninth consecutive year
  • Passengers who use in-flight Wi-Fi report more satisfaction with their airline
  • An employee smile or two (or more) makes passengers even happier
  • Fliers still dislike bag fees but not as much as they did last year
(CNN) -- What makes airline passengers happy?
Sometimes it's as simple as a smile. Along with mobile check-in, Wi-Fi in the air and other technological advances, the simple act of airline employees smiling is increasing airline passenger satisfaction.
Airline passenger satisfaction has improved to its highest levels since 2006, according to J.D Power & Associates' 2013 North America Airline Satisfaction Study released Wednesday.
"Traditional carriers have improved significantly across the entire passenger experience, and it is a positive sign to see them turn a corner and starting to rise again, even as there is still more opportunity to improve," said Jessica McGregor, senior manager of J.D. Power's global travel and hospitality practice. "While satisfaction with low-cost carriers only slightly improves, greater gains in the rest of the experience are masked by lower passenger satisfaction with cost and fees."
Traditional airline rankings 

1. Alaska Airlines (717) 

2. Delta Air Lines (682) 

3. Air Canada (671) 

4. American Airlines (660) 

5. United Airlines (641) 

6. US Airways (630) 

Segment average: 663 

Airlines are scored on a 1,000-point scale 

Source: J.D. Power & Associates
The study measures passenger satisfaction with North American airlines based on the following criteria in order of importance: costs and fees; in-flight services; boarding, deplaning and baggage; flight crew; aircraft; check-in; and reservations.
Satisfaction improved in every category, but the largest yearly increases were in the boarding/deplaning/baggage, check-in and aircraft categories.
JetBlue, Southwest top the airline rankings
For the ninth consecutive year, JetBlue Airways ranked first for satisfaction among all North American airlines. JetBlue also earned the top score among low-cost carriers for the eighth year in a row. Southwest Airlines was a close second among discount carriers with 770 points to JetBlue's 787. Airlines are ranked on a 1,000-point scale.
Alaska Airlines topped the traditional carrier rankings, with Delta Air Lines in second place. Alaska scored 717 points and Delta scored 682 points.
Overall satisfaction with the airlines improved to 695 on the 1,000 point scale, a 14-point increase over the 2012 survey.
The power of a smile
Low-cost airline rankings 

1. JetBlue Airways (787) 

2. Southwest Airlines (770) 

3. WestJet (714) 

4. Frontier Airlines (708) 

5. AirTran Airways (705) 

Segment average: 755 

Airlines are scored on a 1,000-point scale 

Source: J.D. Power & Associates
Despite passengers choosing to check in online rather than talk to someone at an airport ticket counter, how an airline's employees treat customers still counts.
Passengers who are greeted by airline staff with a smile, even infrequently, report satisfaction scores that are 105 points higher than among those who never get a smile. Passengers who report airline staff smiling at them consistently report satisfaction scores that are 211 points higher than those who do not get any airline smiles.
"Airlines don't have to invest millions of dollars in the aircraft to get employees to smile," said McGregor. A few trainings, including information about the impact on customer satisfaction, may help the cabin and cockpit crew make better eye contact and smile more, she said.
Of course it helps to have happy employees. "One of things we see is that when you see companies that have high internal employee satisfaction, they have high customer satisfaction as well," she said.

MD11 in background

A380

training

Lufthansa