We're probably doing xmas in western Australia this year so our Europe trip might end up going through London with the direct flight from Perth. I'd prefer a few extra hours in the air to a few hours in Dubai airport. Do they make you clear immigration in the UK if you're transiting and it's the same airport?
Agreed. My eldest had a big dose when having some dental treatment done as a small child - he went nuts. Ended up in hospital with a concussion because I couldn’t keep him from running and smashing his head when he fell. Holding him - forget it - was a writhing kicking screaming gran mal seizure. Dental work was done under general. Phenergen never became part of our medicine cabinet. A doctor told me he believed that some kids reacted and some didn’t due to an ADHD connection. Unsure if he was onto something or just trying to sound like he knew something, but none of the kids ever got that stuff again!
FWIW I flew Qatar business to Europe not so long ago, and the food was excellent. Good choice of Western and Middle Eastern food, but no pork or bacon etc . The best thing it was dine on demand, so you could order anything off the menu at whatever time you chose. Great for undisturbed sleeping.
Will be interesting to see how enthusiastic the engine companies are maintaining the power plants. There's nothing in it for them now..really
Power by the hour, Bebe Rolls Royce can be as enthusiastic as they like with their contract locked in lel
Yeah I just read about the 9 billion RR contract with Emirates wow wee In other news Big planes were a thing
Interesting but predictable demise , although hindsight is a wonderful thing. Credit to Boeing for making some of the most strategic market led calls in history with the non A380 competitive response , and the non Concorde response and investment in the jumbo , again the right calls at the right time. Whilst the hub capacity issue was a key driver in the rationale for the A380 , the emergence prior of the two engine wide body jet foretold of its doom . Total cost of ownership , power to weight to payload ratio were all working against any 4 engine jet of any size, particularly with the development of the 777 engines, whilst the advent of increased fuel costs tipped any prior arguments for pax /cost of 4 engine planes out the window so to speak . Whats the common attribute in both decisions , economic , over a 10 year horizon minimum. Concorde could never get the speed ,payload and economy right for a mass market plane, and unfortunately neither could airbus A380
The upsetting things is that when the Concorde crashed, which was one of the triggers for it to be pulled from service, it was because it ran over a piece of metal that had fallen off a DC-10 that had taken off in front of it. So they pulled the Concorde from service and let the DC-10 keep flying.
I lived in Paris for a period of time and regularly flew to England, I never tired of watching Concord take off and am disappointed that I never got around to flying on it, although my Dad did.
Ha Thats a very simplistic way of looking at the Concorde Too expensive, too old , too expensive for parts , subsidised by governments. Majority of its orders were cancelled.
Yeah, sure, but I was thinking more how unfair it is that the DC10 can leave bits of shrapnel behind on the runway and nobody bats an eyelid, but the plane that it brought down gets canned.
Maybe in the fullness of time the A380 will occupy a place in history in a similar way to the Concord- Worth remembering for the special aircraft it was rather than as an economic success.
wow, big thread, 2 x 380s being "Stripped " / but not Scrapped ... https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12205308
Yeah they are the Dr peters airframes the Malaysian airlines ones aren't far off Nor are the Korean i've heard
Interesting, we use Phenergen on both our kids. 1 diagnosed with ADHD and the other not. Works beautifully on them, but yes did a test run before considering it for travel.
100% agree. I reckon Qatar food is the best I have had in business (compared to CX, SQ, QF, EK and a few others) and the dine on demand works seamlessly from my experience. We did them the long haul back from Buenos Aires a couple of years back and despite it being a long trek (BA to Rio to Doha to Perth) would do it again in a heartbeat.
Kinda 330 is/was about 60t more than a 767 (using the same engine rating!) And the trippler another 70t over that. Of course that further developed to the very impressive later models ~350t or so
oh ok , fair enough ! yes the two engines have come along way , who would buy one of those little BA 4 engine city hopper jets these days.
Writing been on the wall for a while, but still sad. From a pure customer point of view, it can't be beat. There's something special about boarding the world's largest commercial jet. In decades to come we will remember when one could stroll up the front to kick back in a lounge space, order a cocktail from the bar, or even take a shower!
spouse wangled first class with Etihad once there weren’t any showers and we had to pass through Abu Dhabi airport
Sad this great bird will be gone from EK and SQ in about 8 years That being said all my next flights with SQ are A350 and B777 anways as I am avoiding Heathrow......
Etihad Dreamliner MEL-AUH was hard to fault. We were in the front row of Economy with a bassinet so that helped - we had the middle seat free which helps. Getting off we unfolded the pram in front of the seat and wheeled her off the plane which made life easy. Cabin staff were incredible with the baby. A330 AUH-MXP was a little pox, plus we had to bus out there in AUH which is never a great experience. Less leg room in the bassinet row, I could barely touch the end on the 787. I'm tempted to put my Amex points into Etihad before the April 1st downgrade. We are maybe going to Europe again in July which would put us into Silver and by then I'd have enough points for business upgrades.
Although, but definately not applicable to you though skiflat, the B777 is to be avoided on most all airlines if having to travel down the back for more than a few hours due to densification. Shame as it used to be not far behind the A380 in terms for Economy travel.
I spent 15+ hours on a Qatar 380 on Thurs/Friday, downstairs a few rows back from business / first two people with an empty seat between us it was somewhat more comfortable than the 350 on which I spent 7+ hours immediately prior other planes on my recent trip included a 330 and a 787 long flights are awful, but the 380 is the most comfortable
Indeed The 777X will be interesting as its wider than the 777... I am expecting seating to be 3-4-3 down the back. That extra foot won't be for your comfort
Never been on a 350 but the most uncomfortable plane I’ve ever been on my a large margin was an Emirates A340
I flew business on a Finnair A340 once, Helsinki to HK the bed wasn’t quite flat, noticeably since I had previously had a flat bed in a Cathay 747 otherwise an ok flight
While we are all on discussion of types other than 380: we had a nice journey on an olde 767 300 ER [3.5 767-300ER] from Syd to Van more than 15 years ago. Quite comfy. Front of eco, next to Biz, like person S was saying re the 3 8 0. Shoulder and leg room were adequate, staff were very personable.
Also flew Singapore Airlines A350 recently, was excellent even in the cheap seats. A few years back we flew business class Qantas A380 Sydney to Los Angeles then a 747 from Los Angeles to New York, interesting flying them back to back to compare the two. A380 noticably quieter and smoother, though the 747 had been refitted more recently so everything worked properly. Seats in the A380 were knackered and didn't recline properly.
Qantas styled the refitted B747 as 747N (N for New). Business class upstairs on the 747 was hard to beat even if a window passenger had to step over the aisle seat if laid flat. That small intimate feeling made a difference.
