Aer Lingus Keeping the Celtic Tiger on Life Support

This would be ideal for lowering the fares in May...

When people expected Christoph Mueller to bring a Germanic influence to Aer Lingus when he was appointed CEO last year they probably weren't expecting him to bring something akin to the German hyperinflation of 1923.

I was looking at taking day trip to Manchester from Dublin and almost choked when I saw the fare quoted by Aer Lingus. €370.99 for the flights I wanted to take! That’s equal to €0.70 per kilometre. Applying this rate would mean a fare of €23,822 for Heathrow to Sydney. Unrealistic comparison? Yes, but hey this one of those pointless blogs where the author rambles on about anything!

The piece de resistance of this booking is the good people at Aer Lingus have put a star beside the €194.99 fare on the return leg from Manchester to tell you that there are just three seats remaining at that fare - as if you are supposed to feel luckier than when Charlie Bucket unwrapped a chocolate bar to discover he had won a golden ticket. Oh and the figure shown above doesn’t include the spurious €10 “handling fee” that comes with the booking.

So what is the reason for this madness? Well, it’s the last day of the English Premier League and Manchester United are playing a home game. It’s unbelievable that there are people out there willing to pay that sort of fare but there’s obviously life in the comatose Celtic Tiger yet. As for me I would rather fly to Liverpool on Ryanair for a third of the price or go retro and take the ferry for even less still. Or for just an additional €51 you could fly with Delta to JFK.

Spirit Airlines - Graduates of the Ryanair Nickel and Dime College

LCC typically stands for low cost carrier but it seems let's cripple customers has become more appropriate.

Spirit Airlines is an airline I have never flown and one I am now less likely than ever to fly. This is an airline that has decided to introduce charges of up to $45 for putting carry-on baggage in the overhead bins. It looks like Spirit are out-Ryanairing Ryanair.

It is possible to avoid the carry-on charge by placing the item of baggage underneath the seat in front. However, as someone who is relatively tall this is not something I would normally do due to the lack of legroom. I can understand why some baggage should be checked in rather than carried on (e.g. liquids, size, weight, etc) but I fail to see what stowing a bag under the seat in front instead of in the overhead bin achieves. Yes, the overhead bins can be crammed like crazy on some flights but if this is an effort to police that then the most practical way to tackle the problem is to just take oversized bags off passengers at the boarding gate. But sadly it's just another $cheme dreamed up at HQ to nickel and dime passengers - if they have any nickels or dimes left after all the other charges.

Meanwhile in Europe, Ryanair are hiking up checked baggage fees from €15 to €20 for July and August. That should nicely rip off families and other folks heading off on their summer holidays. As if the "per person" credit card fee wasn't ridiculous enough. Of course the attitude of most Ryanair supporters is "if you don't like it then fly someone else". Obviously the charm of Mr O'Leary inspires the faithful!

Everybody to their cars, boats and trains!

Putting the Amateur in Amateur Photography

Inspired by the experts on sites like airliners.net I recently decided to take the plunge and purchase a Canon EOS 50D. Buying such a camera and expecting to achieve similar results to the pros is foolish. It would be akin to buying a set of middle-to-top-of-the-range golf clubs and expecting to be able to compete with Tiger Woods (pre-Thanksgiving shenanigans at least).

I have only had four cameras in my lifetime and one of those was a Fisher Price contraption that my sister passed on to the me in the late 80s. Of course, I thought it was the bee's knees at the time! The best quality camera I had up until now was a Canon EOS 5000 but being relatively basic 90s equipment it has obviously become beyond obsolete and indeed I have not used it since 2004. My basic point-and-shoot camera is good for day-to-day (hmm I seem to be using lots of dashes in this blog) photography but not quite good enough when it comes to decent aviation photography. In conclusion, it was time to invest in something better.

So in December, while in the US, I parted with several notes featuring an assortment of presidents and purchased the 50D and a couple of decent lenses (28-135mm and 70-300mm). Since then I've only been on three photography 'missions'. I have had mixed results but I am enjoying learning all the time through trial and error and also by reading all sorts of advice. A small sample of the photos taken are shown below. In the spirit of the Winter Olympics (yes, I know it's over) I have been very global with this sample.

Yes, I probably need to invest in Photoshop.

Finally, I thought I had found the perfect book online until I saw the date of publication - 1988! In the meantime the learning continues and any advice is welcome.

Dublin to LA...For The Weekend (Part 2)

Normally a 6.09am departure would be a major pain in the rear but when your body clock is located in a time zone somewhere between Reykjavik and Labrador things are a bit easier. We were up bright and breezy at 2.45am and after a shower (and obligatory fight with the shower curtain – I hate those things!) we left the hotel and arrived at LAX’s Terminal 7 at 4am.

There were three flights ahead of us:

Los Angeles (LAX)-Denver (DEN)

Denver (DEN)-Newark (EWR)

Newark (EWR)-Dublin (DUB)

As mentioned in my previous blog the flights were booked through continental.com but as the first two flights were operated by United I could not check in on the Continental website. However, I could check-in on united.com but not for the final sector. Slightly annoying but them’s the breaks. The LAX-DEN segment was very full with no two seats together available so I ended up upgrading to Economy Plus. There were also very few seats available on the DEN-EWR flight but there was one set of two together – aisle and centre. Normally I prefer a window but again them’s the breaks.

Due to the lack of access to a printer at the hotel we decided to just pick up our boarding passes at the airport. We had no luggage to check-in but the self-service kiosk told us we needed to contact an agent nonetheless, presumably because we were travelling international on the final sector. We bided our time and eventually got ‘processed’ but we got boarding passes for the EWR-DUB so all’s well that ends well. There seemed to be an over-reliance on the self-service technology, i.e. not enough staff. A lot of people that had to check in luggage were losing their patience. But isn’t that easy at 4am?

We breezed through security and headed for a caffeine stop. We found a quaint little place called Starbucks – they must be up and coming…. Once we got the beverages I made a beeline for a bakery type place called La Brea. Two croissants cost over $8. “These better be good” I muttered to myself. They weren’t. Ironically La Brea is Irish for “bright day”. The place did play some pretty appropriate music though – “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses and “No More Mr Nice Guy” by Alice Cooper.

The B757-200 to DEN boarded and departed on time. There seemed to be quite a few passengers transferring from Hawaiian flights. I wonder how long their tans lasted in Colorado! The flight was uneventful but the extra legroom in Economy Plus was nice even if it was a relatively short flight.

Thanks to the winds blowing off the Rockies flying in and out of Denver was a bit like a mini rollercoaster - the sort of rollercoasters that wimps go on, the sort of rollercoasters I prefer. This was my first time at Denver Airport and it intrigued me. It is massive in land size and, with 51.2 million passengers, it was the tenth busiest airport in the world in 2008. However, there appeared to be no buildings or any sign of civilisation near the airport – landing, departing or when on the ground.

We were in Denver for just over an hour - enough time for my wife to insist that we upgrade to Economy Plus for the next flight at the United desk. After a few minutes of looking at a computer with a furrowed brow the United agent informed us there were seats in an Emergency Exit row. I'm not sure if this is Economy Plus but the legroom would be appreciated. That amounted to $54 each. $108 to potentially save people's lives. Nice.

Yet again our flight was on time. While the LAX-DEN flight was operated by a B757-200 in the ‘new’ United colours this flight was operated by a B757-200 in the old colours. It was overcast in Denver so the aircraft didn’t exactly brighten the place up!

I forgot about Channel 9 on United flights until my wife handed over her headphones and said "listen to this". Thumbs up to United for offering such a service. It was good to know what was going on especially with a weather system heading towards the East Coast from the west. Indeed 90 minutes out from Newark we experienced continuous light chop for about 45 minutes or more. As we approached Newark ATC informed our crew that due to the weather aircraft going into Newark were going to have to enter a holding pattern, starting with us. "I think you should start with the next guy" quipped our flight deck to ATC. In the end we held for about 15 minutes before being cleared to Newark and we descended through the murk. The cloud base was very low and we landed on a damp runway.

There was plenty of confusion for the passengers (including us) connecting from Terminal A to Terminal C. Firstly, people were escorted down something akin to an emergency exit and boarded on to a minibus that whisked them off to another part of Terminal A where people had to get off and get on a slightly larger bus to Terminal C. Then we were ushered up another emergency exit to the terminal. I was expecting to have to go through security but no we were straight into the airside part of the terminal. So from LA to Dublin we would only have our ID checked and bags x-rayed once despite taking three flights. As a passenger it's great but from a security point of view I'm not so sure.

Before taking the fifth and final flight of the trip there was time to have some pizza at Famous Famiglia Pizza. It was famously mediocre and boasted being the official pizza of the New York Yankees. “Figures” my Red Sox supporting wife said.

I found the terminal at Newark to be nice or am I just too used to Dublin Airport? We boarded and departed on time for “Dublin, Ireland”. It was re-assuring we weren’t going to Dublin, Ohio I suppose. The people that sat in front of us were the same people that sat in front of us on the outward DUB-EWR flight. Good to see we weren’t the only people that went to the US for the weekend!

I took some Tylenol PM shortly after boarding and passed out shortly after take off. It really speeds a transatlantic flight! I woke up a few times due to turbulence but quickly fell asleep on each occasion. We landed in “Dublin, Ireland” around 7am.

Overall, I enjoyed the Continental experience. In my experience they are streets ahead of the other US legacy carriers. Over the weekend we spent about 32 hours travelling, 16 hours sleeping and 22 hours out and about in LA. Would I do it again? You bet.

Dublin to LA...For the Weekend (Part 1 )

November in Dublin – grey, dark, gloomy. Longing for a trip to brighter climes and enticed by the low prices on continental.com I decided to book a January trip for the wife and me to California. Two nights in LA to be exact. Madness? Possibly. However, €261 (including taxes) per person for a return trip from Dublin to LA isn’t bad going. Viva off-peak season during a recession!

Not only would we get to see LA but the bright lights of Newark and Denver, the latter on the way back only. Sorry Greenpeace for all the flying but it’s good for my bmi Diamond Club balance (might as well make the most of it before Lufthansa impose their Scrooge-like Miles and More programme on us). The bmi points earned on this trip alone would be the equivalent of 1.5 trips from Dublin to London. Good work bmi and Star Alliance.

In addition to experiencing a bit of sun, I was going to use the trip as an opportunity to attend the LAX Airline Memorabilia Show and to put a newly acquired Canon EOS 50D to the test.

In the weeks building up to the trip my wife and I kept going on about how nice and sunny it would be in California and how it would be a welcome escape from the Irish wintry gloom. However, we departed Dublin on 23 January with clear skies and headed to LA where it had been raining heavily all week. Just look at the soggy Golden Globes the weekend before. After frequent consultations with a furrowed brow at weather.com it appeared the weather might be kind to us. Friday was supposed to be questionable with thunder showers possible but Saturday was to be sunny but a bit cooler than average (15c).

Ok, so back to Continental Airlines. Here are the major attractions to flying their service from Dublin to Newark:

- Pre-clearance of immigration at DUB
- 9am departure means an “am” arrival into Newark
- Lots of bmi Diamond Club points
- Good inflight entertainment (AVOD)

Many will say the main drawback of the Continental flight is the aircraft type – the B757-200. Yes, it’s a single-aisle aircraft but it’s all psychological when people think they need a widebody aircraft for longhaul flying. At the end of the day, you end up with the same legroom and seat width and service either way. In my opinion, the only advantage that Aer Lingus has over Continental on DUB-NYC is its 2-4-2 configuration on the A330 means you are less likely to have a stranger beside you when you are travelling as a couple.

As for the flight itself, all went to plan. Immigration at DUB was hassle-free, the flight left on time and arrived early. The flight seemed to be very close to being a full load. Then again with the fares being offered in recent times it wasn't surprising. We took a strange route out of DUB that saw us leave the Irish coast over Coleraine in Northern Ireland. The views of the Scottish islands were amazing, as were those of Greenland and Quebec (both covered in a blanket of white as you would expect at that time of year). I found it funny though that they served “lunch” shortly after take-off and about five hours before an 11.30am arrival into Newark!

Thanks to the immigration pre-clearance at DUB and the fact we were only carrying hand baggage we breezed through US customs and into Terminal C arrivals. We then went back upstairs and breezed through departures as again there were no queues. It was like being in a Carlsberg ad. There was time for a carb injection at McDonalds before boarding the LAX flight. I find it doesn’t matter what you eat after a long haul flight – it all tastes bland! Maybe it’s due to airline food destroying one’s taste buds... Who’s to say?

As departure time neared we just wanted to get on the next flight and get to our destination. After all we were just over halfway from DUB to LAX. We were to fly from Newark to LAX in another B757-200 but this one was adorned with the Star Alliance livery. SkyTeam will note that that didn't take long to apply. Personally I preferred the old school Star Alliance livery with all the airline logos along the aircraft fuselage but that was a nightmare for the airline and the alliance as its members changed so often (mainly through the addition of new members). Then there were the few inconsiderate members that changed their logos...

It seemed to take forever for us to be allowed to board. We watched as dozens of other passengers boarded ahead of us, nearly all with ridiculous sized hand luggage (thanks to the charging of passengers for checked baggage). Thankfully by the time we boarded there was still enough room in the overhead bins for our relatively small bags. Not long afterwards though, putting bags in the overheads became a game of Tetris for those unfortunate enough to board after us.

The flight left pretty much on time and again seemed to have a healthy load factor. The views of Manhattan on departure were amazing. Sure this was routine for the frequent fliers in and out of Newark but this was my first time passing through this airport. Then we turned left and headed for the west coast. For the first hour or so of the flight we experienced light chop but the air was even for most of the remainder of the trip. There wasn’t a whole lot to see out the window. There was no break in the clouds from the east coast until Kansas. Those irrigation-induced “crop circles” always intrigue me. Then the clouds came back, breaking briefly over Denver and then hiding the scenery below until southern Utah where the landscape was red and rocky. Then guess what… yes, the clouds returned again and as we approached LA the cloud grew darker and heavier.

As we came over the eastern suburbs there was light turbulence to accompany the darkening conditions. However, just a few miles out from LAX the sun broke through. It was almost like a sign. Shortly afterwards we touched down on Runway 24R by the In N Out Burger. This was to be followed a looooong taxi to Terminal 6. As we taxied the skies continued to clear to give way to a beautiful evening.

Again we breezed through our arrival airport and walked in a daze towards the airport courtesy bus stop. We had been up and about for nearly 20 hours at this point and it was only 4.15pm. There was only one course of action to take - drinks at the hotel bar!

2009 - My Aviation Year in Review

And so another year passes.

In recent days the media have typically been full of all sorts of “year in review” articles and programmes. So I might as well join in and do my review of the year. So here’s 2009 in a nutshell...

Flights: 51
Airlines: 14
Airports: 17
Aircraft Types: 13
Countries: 11
Distance Travelled: 92,831km

New Airlines: Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, Bulgaria Air, Air Moldova, Moldavian Airlines
New Airports: Toronto, Male, Sofia, Chisinau, Budapest
New Aircraft Types: B767-300ER (finally!), CRJ-100ER, Saab 2000
New Countries: Maldives, Bulgaria, Moldova, Hungary

Most Flown Airline: Aer Lingus (15 flights)
Most Flown Aircraft Type: A320-200 (16 flights)
Most Flown Route: LHR-DUB (6 times)
Most Visited Airport: Dublin (18 departures)

Grand Slams: None
Triple Crowns: Dublin-Toronto Air Canada B767-300ER, Chisinau-Budapest Moldavian Airlines Saab 2000
Double Whammys: Boston-Toronto Air Canada Jazz CRJ-100ER, Frankfurt-Chisinau Air Moldova A320-200

Greatest Achievement: only flying Ryanair twice

And so 2010 arrives. If it’s half as good as 2009....then I guess last year was twice as good as thus year. Happy New Year to one and all!

Chisinau That's What I'm Talking About

"Greetings from Laos. It may be the developing world but it's got free wifi". This is a text I received from my Dad last year. He couldn't believe that his hotel in Vientiane had free wifi while nearly all the hotels in Ireland and the UK charge for the privilege. Hooray for price gouging...

I'm just back from a business trip to Moldova and while in Chisinau I was reminded of my father's text. Not only was wifi free at the hotel but also at the airport and many other places. Take note, Dublin.

We're experiencing a bit of a "cold snap" in Ireland at the moment but it still seems a bit tropical after the temperatures (-10c or worse) in Chisinau. The photo below gives you some idea of the conditions.

The best thing about Chisinau Airport? The blast from the past Soviet era aircraft. At the entrance to the airport there is a Tu-134 while on the tarmac I saw at least three AN-12s, six AN-24s, one AN-72, one IL-18 and four Tu-134s. Unfortunately most of them will probably not take to the air again but it was still a refreshing sight to see in this age of bland Airbuses and Boeings.

Qatar Airways Revisited

For the sake of fair blogging I am posting this in relation to Qatar Airways. As per my blog on 11 October 2009 I had a mixed experience when I first flew with the airline in August 2008. I felt disappointed after all the five-star hype that preceded my trip. Behold, the power of marketing! However, I chose to fly Qatar Airways (in Y class) over a couple of other options when flying to the Maldives from London last month.

This may come as a surprise but I have few complaints after this latest experience. However, rather than waffle on aimlessly about everything I shall summarise my key points through bullet points.

Positives:

• All four flights arrived early or on time (probably the most important factor when travelling, after safety of course)


• Excellent crew and in-flight service on all sectors


• IFE not as good as Emirates but better than most competitors


• Legroom on A340-600 excellent (much better than on the airline's A330s and on most competitors' aircraft)
  

Negatives:

• Doha Airport


• The large IFE box under seat in front at the window seat on outbound flight (A330-200 A7-ACF)

• Slow check-in/baggage drop-off at LHR

The positives clearly outweigh the negatives.

However, the one thing that consistently lets down the Qatar Airways product is Doha Airport (DOH). I know this is not the fault of the airline, as it is the only airport serving the nation, but the place is just not a nice experience during the late night/early morning peak. The airport seems to have outgrown itself but that's to be expected for an airport that has grown rapidly from 7.1 million passengers in 2004 to 14.9 million passengers in 2007. The new Doha Airport (due 2011) can not open soon enough.

Skytrax may rate Qatar Airways as five-star but it only rates DOH as three-star - not exactly a match made in heaven. The toilet facilities are a disaster (lots of water on the floor and lack of toilet paper) and the airport is just too crowded. There are no airbridges so passengers are bussed to/from the aircraft. On the MLE-DOH and DOH-LHR legs our aircraft were parked on the far side of the airfield and it was a fair trek to/from the terminal. On the DOH-LHR leg one little girl started shouting "why are we going away from the airport???!!!" repeatedly as the bus made its way around the airport perimeter. To compound matters the bus was packed and then waited outside the aircraft for almost ten minutes before boarding could commence. Not a pleasant experience for most weary travellers but I am used to such experiences after many trips through CDG!

Cathay Pacific has HKG, Singapore Airlines has SIN, Asiana Airlines has ICN and Malaysia Airlines has KUL. Qatar Airways needs something better than DOH. Roll on the new DOH in 2011!

Overall, there is no doubting Qatar Airways is an excellent carrier and October 2009's experience was much better than that of August 2008. However, a true five-star airline must deliver consistently. I look forward to my next Qatari adventure.

Qatar Airways - Not Very Five Star!

Dear Qatar Airways,

In August 2008, my wife and I flew with you from London Heathrow to Doha and on to Dubai. We had high hopes as you claimed to be "the world's 5-star airline". We were left disappointed.

First of all, we called your airline weeks in advance to guarantee a window seat on the flight from London to Doha. No online seat selection or check-in was available at the time (not very five star!). So we checked in at the airport and were given centre seats in the middle of the aircraft with no direct access to the aisle (not very five star!). The people in front of us reclined their seats all the way back. I'm 6'4 and my wife is 5'11. A very uncomfortable experience (not very five star!). On top of that, the crew did not seem to be able to smile (not very five star!). When I asked for a beer the surly female cabin crew slammed the can down on my table and spilt some of it without even a hint of an apology (not very five star!).

When we got to Doha there were no airbridges. Passengers are bussed from aircraft to/from the terminal in the heat (not very five star!). When we got to Dubai the airport had airbridges but Qatar Airways did not use one (not very five star!).

We had thirty minute wait for our bag in Dubai. When it finally showed up, the handle had been ripped off. The bag was a decent brand (Delsey) and brand new (not very five star!). I reported to the damaged bag to the handling agent but nothing came of it despite subsequently writing to your airline (not very five star!).

I know all this makes me sound like a prima donna but I can assure you I am nothing of the sort. I guess I was just disappointed by the whole experience. I have experienced many LCCs that were better than this so-called 5-star airline.

However, I am prepared to try you again and I am flying you from London to Male via Doha this month. Let's try again!

Yours faithfully,
Global Aviator

Overheard at Manchester Airport Viewing Park

So there I was at the Viewing Park at Manchester Airport among the assorted spotters, general onlookers, old couples and families when the middle aged man next to me says, to who I presume was his grandson, "If you're lucky you'll see Continental Airlines".

How times have changed. When I was kid I felt lucky when my grandfather gave me money or some sort of diabetes-inducing foodstuff. But seeing a Continental Airlines aircraft? I can only imagine what that grandfather/grandson comnination would be like at Newark!

Ta daaaaah.... it's Continental Airlines at Manchester: