They are not all bad...
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
Age: 63
Posts: 1,257
Received 152 Likes
on
95 Posts
S.O.S
Not strictly economy but the subject started from there. I was in Business on trans Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver in late 80,s when I was awoken by cute Blond Californian girl laughing and running out of economy discarding clothes as she went, pursued by CC clutching a blanket. The race between the CC and the girl was won by the girl who managed discard everything, and remain running about for a good five minutes before captured. I do not think I have had a such a laugh, and shall we say visual entertainment in flight since.
Do I get a star, because the girl definitely got one from all the male passengers in my section of the cabin anyway.
Kind regards
Mr Mac
Not strictly economy but the subject started from there. I was in Business on trans Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver in late 80,s when I was awoken by cute Blond Californian girl laughing and running out of economy discarding clothes as she went, pursued by CC clutching a blanket. The race between the CC and the girl was won by the girl who managed discard everything, and remain running about for a good five minutes before captured. I do not think I have had a such a laugh, and shall we say visual entertainment in flight since.
Do I get a star, because the girl definitely got one from all the male passengers in my section of the cabin anyway.
Kind regards
Mr Mac
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Tapping the Decca, wondering why it's not working.
Age: 75
Posts: 166
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For European travel I now stick to Eurostar, SNCF, etc. Quiet, comfortable, only the Great Northern experience getting to and from London spoils it
Oh, and security check queues at St. Pancras -- Gare du Nord is a breeze though.'a
During the recent volcanic eruption on the Big Island of Hawaii, some passengers were treated to views of the eruption and lava flows by Hawaiian Airlines for free.
On the occasions when flights from Hilo left early (which occurs quite often here), the aircraft was flown at 2000-ft SE along the Puna coast and then turned around to let passengers on the other side of the plane see the view. The whole detour would add about 10 minutes to a 45-minute trip so was only done if they wouldn't arrive late. I don't know if the extra fuel costs got added on later to other flights, but I thought it was a nice touch. I'm sure the pilots enjoyed it as well. It was also quite unusual for us "locals". The helicopter tours went into full overdrive during this time (I lived under the flight path) but on the odd occasion, I would be driving home to see an HA 717 fly low just off the coast - definitely not something we see every day!
On the occasions when flights from Hilo left early (which occurs quite often here), the aircraft was flown at 2000-ft SE along the Puna coast and then turned around to let passengers on the other side of the plane see the view. The whole detour would add about 10 minutes to a 45-minute trip so was only done if they wouldn't arrive late. I don't know if the extra fuel costs got added on later to other flights, but I thought it was a nice touch. I'm sure the pilots enjoyed it as well. It was also quite unusual for us "locals". The helicopter tours went into full overdrive during this time (I lived under the flight path) but on the odd occasion, I would be driving home to see an HA 717 fly low just off the coast - definitely not something we see every day!
Paxing All Over The World
In December 1988, I took a weeks break in The Gambia. It was an old BCal route with the DC-10/30 (I think) still in the livery and the crews in BA. The outbound from LGW was overnight, and then an immediate return so I got a taxi to BJL very early. I chose Christmas Day for the return, as the flights were cheaper and I knew that it would be thinly populated.
On Departure, we stayed low and went across the beach remarkably low. The CC explained later that the inbound crew had said they were going to go straight to the beach and the low pass was so that the two crews could wave at each other!
The flight was only about a third full, so lots of seats and a real party atmosphere with some lovely xmas lunch. So relaxed, it was brilliant - until arriving in mid winter!
As it was 1988, there were also visits to the flight deck of course [but, [b]SoS, that is NOT the reason for including it in this thread]. It was a lovely day with a flight of about 5.5 hours was a delight.
On Departure, we stayed low and went across the beach remarkably low. The CC explained later that the inbound crew had said they were going to go straight to the beach and the low pass was so that the two crews could wave at each other!
The flight was only about a third full, so lots of seats and a real party atmosphere with some lovely xmas lunch. So relaxed, it was brilliant - until arriving in mid winter!
As it was 1988, there were also visits to the flight deck of course [but, [b]SoS, that is NOT the reason for including it in this thread]. It was a lovely day with a flight of about 5.5 hours was a delight.
From Hotel Tango
Maybe a tad philosophical, but...
Back in the last millenium, a guy on the Executive Board popped in to our office - doing revenue management/pricing for LH Cargo at the time - for a chat. Topic got around to the stupid sh*t that people did and got away with back in the day (ops agent doing the load sheet for a 707C to Bujumbura sees his VW turned up on the high lift, neatly palletized, tied down and tagged, purser on a 727 who was so small that he fitted into the waste container and had himself wheeled down the aisle with his hands sticking out of the top, collecting plastic beakers, hailing people via intercom walking past a security gate, asking them to help push it open and calling security to report people trying to break into the compound...) and he said "Where did all these people disappear to? And why did all the good ideas disappear?" Most of those "good ideas" came from a guy who became seriously rich from innovation premiums, (stringing a tennis ball on string across the remote B747F position as a docking indicator, finding space for an extra 10ft container at a 45° angle on 747Fs, the list goes on
It was because - over time - the Personnel department morphed into HR and became staffed with humourless buggers who would give transgressors a Good Talking To because what they were doing Wasn't On Anymore, oblivious to the fact that they were sucking the DNA out of the company. So the pranksters (who had a major overlap with the innovators) kept their heads below the parapet and any good ideas ran up against "Ohnoyouhaven'tgotanMBAthatdoesn'tsoundasifitcouldworkwe'llh avetodoafeasibitystudy". So you ended up with folks who reckoned that the new strategy would be based on standardised boxes which all customers would have to use (yeah, right...) and they'd have optimisation programmes that would work out in a couple of hours what went where. Instead of having the foreman with 30 years experience look at pile of cargo and say "This goes there, those ones here and here and fill up the gaps with the small stuff" In as much time as it takes to say it.
Of course, you've outsourced those 30 years of experience, so he's either earning less and demotivated to the max or sitting at home having a beer, having got out while he could.
You can transfer that to virtually any industry, not just ours, and you can ask THEIR customers about positive interactions and they'll say "Oh, it was waaay better in the last century..."
But note the common thread with them which is that they all date back to the golden days of air travel last century!
Back in the last millenium, a guy on the Executive Board popped in to our office - doing revenue management/pricing for LH Cargo at the time - for a chat. Topic got around to the stupid sh*t that people did and got away with back in the day (ops agent doing the load sheet for a 707C to Bujumbura sees his VW turned up on the high lift, neatly palletized, tied down and tagged, purser on a 727 who was so small that he fitted into the waste container and had himself wheeled down the aisle with his hands sticking out of the top, collecting plastic beakers, hailing people via intercom walking past a security gate, asking them to help push it open and calling security to report people trying to break into the compound...) and he said "Where did all these people disappear to? And why did all the good ideas disappear?" Most of those "good ideas" came from a guy who became seriously rich from innovation premiums, (stringing a tennis ball on string across the remote B747F position as a docking indicator, finding space for an extra 10ft container at a 45° angle on 747Fs, the list goes on
It was because - over time - the Personnel department morphed into HR and became staffed with humourless buggers who would give transgressors a Good Talking To because what they were doing Wasn't On Anymore, oblivious to the fact that they were sucking the DNA out of the company. So the pranksters (who had a major overlap with the innovators) kept their heads below the parapet and any good ideas ran up against "Ohnoyouhaven'tgotanMBAthatdoesn'tsoundasifitcouldworkwe'llh avetodoafeasibitystudy". So you ended up with folks who reckoned that the new strategy would be based on standardised boxes which all customers would have to use (yeah, right...) and they'd have optimisation programmes that would work out in a couple of hours what went where. Instead of having the foreman with 30 years experience look at pile of cargo and say "This goes there, those ones here and here and fill up the gaps with the small stuff" In as much time as it takes to say it.
Of course, you've outsourced those 30 years of experience, so he's either earning less and demotivated to the max or sitting at home having a beer, having got out while he could.
You can transfer that to virtually any industry, not just ours, and you can ask THEIR customers about positive interactions and they'll say "Oh, it was waaay better in the last century..."
Got an upgrade to business class last xmas which was a nice experience. (LHR to AUH and back)
One of my best memories is of flying from Gatwick to Alicante and back on the same day (Nov 79) in the cockpit of a Laker Airways BAC 1-11. I was only 13 at the time and it took a while for the grin to fade after that day.
One of my best memories is of flying from Gatwick to Alicante and back on the same day (Nov 79) in the cockpit of a Laker Airways BAC 1-11. I was only 13 at the time and it took a while for the grin to fade after that day.
Last edited by paulc; 4th Oct 2018 at 19:28. Reason: added more info
