Cathay Pacific has fired three members of their cabin crew after an incident that sparked off allegations of racism. The incident occurred during a flight from Mainland China.

Racism Allegations

In an audio clip that went viral, the cabin crew member appears to deny a request by a passenger for a blanket. Moreover, it has been alleged that the cabin crew also mocked the passenger’s lack of English speaking ability.

As per this report by CNN, the cabin crew is telling the passenger that if you can’t say the word blanket in English, you can’t have it.

“If you can’t say blanket in English, you cannot have it,” a voice is heard saying in the clip, recorded Sunday on a Cathay flight to Hong Kong from the southwestern city of Chengdu.

In a statement late Tuesday announcing the dismissals, Cathay Pacific (CPCAY) CEO Ronald Lam said he would personally lead a task force to improve service and avoid similar incidents in the future.

“We need to ensure that all Cathay Pacific employees must at all times respect customers from different backgrounds and cultures, and that we provide quality services consistently across all markets that we serve,” he said.

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SouthWest saved the day twice after I was on 3 different flights that I got cancelled from on the same night !!

The background:

I was in Las Vegas hoping to head home after a week of work. I was on AA flight 1871 flying at 16h50 and landing at about 21h30 in Dallas.

That was the start of a very intense evening which ended with me being on all those flights that got cancelled, buying points to top up my balance and then landing at Love Field at 01h20 in the morning. Of course on any normal Saturday morning after a week away this would have been fine. Get home late, sleep late and then carry on with my weekend.

But no!

A quiet weekend away with my wife ?:

This was the weekend I had arranged to fly to Palm Springs at 07h20 on Saturday morning with my wife for a weekend getaway. The dates ended up being chosen by work restrictions and the fact that I had a 50,000 point voucher from Marriott Bonvoy which was expiring on 26 May.

I had had 3 x 50,000 point vouchers, using the first 2 for nights at the St Regis in Bangkok. I would recommend everyone to stay at this hotel sometime, it was wonderful.

As a result of this I thought to myself, “why not stay at a local St Regis hotel ?”. Well, not so easy. It seems it costs much more to stay at most US based St Regis hotels. My surprise was that it cost 88,000 points per night to stay at the St Regis, Palm Springs on the dates I wanted. I was quite shocked by this, I cannot fathom how that hotel would be double as good as the one in Bangkok seeing as it was costing double the points.

So I carried on looking and then saw the Westin, Rancho Mirage, Resort and Spa. It seemed to be a nice resort type hotel with spa and golf course and pool complex so I booked it. (There will be a separate review of our stay at this Westin.) We booked 2 tickets on SouthWest using my wife’s Companion Pass and so were ready to fly from Dallas but now I am stuck in Las Vegas.

Back to me trying to leave Las Vegas:

I was booked on AA flight 1871 departing at 16h50 and landing at about 21h30. Then the delay messages started. First AA 1871 delayed to 17h08. Then AA 1871 delayed to 18h00. And AA 1871 delayed to 18h50. Finally AA 1871 delayed to 19h05.

I was staying at the Wynn and had arranged checkout for 15h30. I had originally planned to leave the hotel at 14h15 to drop off the rental car and then check-in for the flight. As each delay happened I was able to stay on in my room waiting. Once the delay to 18h50 happened I got worried that the flight might end up being cancelled. Now some of the next time details might not be 100% accurate as it got a bit complicated from here on but I will list it as I remember. On the app I tried to book a flight which was flying at 18h00 but for some reason it put my booking on hold, it would not confirm the flight.

I rushed off to the airport, totally forgetting that the car rental place in Las Vegas is a ways away from the airport. So I had to deviate to the car rental return place, check the car back in, wait in line for the bus to the airport and then ride the bus. All the while my battery was draining from 20% power left. After having to pause while I was driving I was back trying to confirm the flight. I was not able to and it eventually disappeared from my list.

The lovely gate agent Miriama:

I was told by the lovely American Airlines agent named Miriama that it was because I had not confirmed within 30 minutes. That is all good and well but my MyCWT site was convinced that I was on the flight and kept on giving me updates on the progress of the flight. Well, that flight was also eventually cancelled.

By now I had been informed that there were intense thunderstorms over Texas and there were all sorts of delays because of flights not being able to land or take off from Dallas. I was convinced that I was not going to get to Dallas in time for my flight to Palm Springs at 07h20. Sometime around this time my original flight AA 1871 was also cancelled.

I had by now taken over Miriama’s counter as I was asking her about either flights to Dallas after midnight or flights directly from Las Vegas to Palm Springs. Interestingly American does not fly to Palm Springs from Las Vegas even though it is so close. I would have to take an indirect flight. There was one via Miami. Yes Miami. I would have to fly to the other side of the country to get a flight to Palm Springs. I was not sure if that was a good idea as in a worst case scenario I could even hire a rental car and get to Palm Springs quicker.

Flying to Dallas after midnight !

So by that point because of the original cancellation American now had me rescheduled on AA flight AA 2649 which was to take off at 05h00 and land at DFW at 09h30. That was no good. Now I was dealing with agent Tina who was also lovely and helpful. She got me cancelled from AA 2649 and tried to help me get booked on AA 2526 that looked like it would take off at 00h30 and get me to Dallas by about 05h15. My wife could then pick me up at DFW and we could go on to Love Field for our SouthWest flight to Palm Springs at 07h20. Cutting it fine but still feasible.

By now there were flights being cancelled all over the board as one by one flights were not taking off from Dallas and so were not going to be landing at Las Vegas in time for their onward flight. The thunderstorms in Dallas were scheduled to run until around midnight and so with pilots and flight crews running out of time there were not going to be many flights from Dallas until the normally scheduled flights on Saturday morning. Unluckily AA 2526 also got cancelled.

SouthWest to my rescue:

Now SouthWest would save the day for the first time.

By now I was thinking about other ways to get to Dallas and so I thought about SouthWest. I tried to book a flight on SW 611 departing at about 17h35 and landing at about 22h10 but did not have enough points. So there I was sitting against the wall in Las Vegas airport where I know there is a secret wall plug that I can use to power up my phone (which by this time was down to about 3% power). In 2009 I had first used this spot to power my computer watching movies overnight while I waited for a normally booked flight at 8am after I had arrived in Vegas at 9pm. I have used it many times since. It is one of the few power plugs available outside security.

I bought 6000 points for $90, which was normally $180 dollars but there was a sale on. Lucky me !!! Back to my booking. Luckily the Southwest points updated quickly and I was able to go ahead with booking flight SW 611.

Then the delays started with this flight too. SW 611 delayed to 18h54.

Departure board at about 18h30

Then SW 611 delayed to 19h18.

SW 611 delayed to 20h06.

Departure board at 20h55

On this board you can see there are at least 14 flights delayed by more than an hour and 3 flights cancelled.

I had every expectation that this SouthWest flight would also be cancelled. But it wasn’t. Eventually a plane pulled into the gate and we were told to start boarding at about 19h48. Strangely enough with all the people affected by the cancellations this flight was only 2/3 full.

Quite empty rear of the aircraft

As a result of the flight being so late there were some taxi delays and we eventually took off at about 20h50. We landed at Love Field at about 01h20 and parked at Gate 12.

My flight arrived at gate 12

There was still a lot of activity at the airport at that time because of all the people impacted by the storm. My flight was still flying on to Kansas City at about 01h55 (only 2 hours late) and the passengers were drearily waiting to board.

Gate 12 at 01h20 in the morning

On walking out to the baggage area there were so many passengers draped all over couches and leaning against walls watching videos or sleeping. They had all been affected by the delays and were waiting for the next morning.

I waited for my luggage, called a Lyft driver and got home at about 02h20, then hopped into bed and slept for 2 hours before getting up in time to leave for the airport at 5.

SouthWest to the big rescue:

Now SouthWest would save the day for everyone.

Under every normal circumstance I would not have experienced what I did at Love Field that morning. I would still have been tucked up in bed catching up on sleep but for my trip to Palm Springs at 07h20..

On arriving at the terminal it was unbelievable how many people were there. There were about a hundred people in line to be helped by the counter agents. There were also about 80 people in line to check in their bags and this was in the section where you self check in, print the tag, attach it yourself and then stand in a (normally) short line to have your id checked and have the bag checked in.

SouthWest had brought in all the troops:

The really cool thing was I could see that SouthWest had pulled out all the stops. There were agents at every counter to help with re-bookings and to help with checking bags.

And then security. All the security gates were manned, every x-ray machine was active and there were agents everywhere. There were hundreds of people in the general line and my wife joined the end of that line. I went through TSA-Pre, there were at least 30 people ahead of me but the line went smoothly. The general line was interesting to watch. There was a continual movement of people moving forward.

I imagine SouthWest had called almost every employee they could gather to be at Love Field so early to help that Saturday morning. It was a very impressive performance by everyone involved. I did not see any passengers getting upset, and I am sure that was because they could see that the lines for baggage and security were moving so quickly and smoothly. I waited about 15 or so minutes and my wife came through normal security. There were more than a hundred people in line before her and it took her less than 20 minutes to get through the id check line and then through the security machines. I have seen lines like that take over an hour in Orlando.

There were many flights taking off early, I am not sure if SouthWest had booked extra flights or not, it definitely seemed like it.

Our plane to Palm Springs via Phoenix took off on time.

Congratulations SouthWest:

So well done SouthWest after the intense thunderstorms. You handled it very well and those few thousand people on Saturday morning must have been very grateful for your actions. It was a job very well done.

I don’t know who broke this news first, but it was the most disheartening part of the week. I’m glad I just flew Swiss Business class for 77,000 miles. That ticket would now go for around 100,000 miles. This really hurts.

OBESE PASSENGER ACCUSES UNITED AIRLINES OF DISCRIMINATION FOR NARROW AISLES – Live and Let’s Fly

Yes. Discrimination. That’s what the problem is.

Hear me out: airfare pricing based on weight x cabin class factor. It’s the fairest way, they say.

Travel Influencer Takes Upgrade and Leaves Child Alone in Economy – The Bulkhead Seat

At ten years old? I’ll pass on the upgrade. At fifteen? See you in Singapore, son.

Find An Interesting Story?

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Compared to previous years, this is quite the turnaround for Emirates. Imagine getting a bonus of almost half the year’s base wages!

First Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club to Open at Boston Logan International Airport – Miles to Memories

For being associated with “The Club”, this lounge looks rather swanky. I hope it lives up to the images and hype.

UNITED AIRLINES PLANS TO CONFIGURE NEW 787 DREAMLINERS WITH MORE BUSINESS CLASS SEATS – Live and Let’s Fly

I enjoyed flying the premium-heavy 767. I’m all for a high-J 787 as well. More business seats means more business awards, right?

Find An Interesting Story?

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This is the largest order from an Irish company for a US manufactured product, for one thing. The airline uses Boeing as their exclusive supplier and has done for a very long time now, so the continuity should surprise no-one. Let’s have a look and see some details on this.

Boeing 737 MAX 10

Certification of the new Boeing 737 MAX 10 is expected in early 2024 and Ryanair expects deliveries to commence in 2027. They will then run through to 2033. Half of the new orders will be for fleet replacement while the remainder will be for expansion.

These will seat 228 passengers in the airline’s single class configuration, which is 31 additional seats when compared to their MAX 8 200 aircraft. As usual, the press release touts the cost savings, lower noise and environmental credentials that a new fleet bring.

Overall Thoughts

Ryanair’s success throughout Europe continues unabated. The fact they expect to finance the transaction almost exclusively through operating cashflows underlines this. They have always stuck to their business model with virtually no deviation, which is probably partly why they continue to do so well.

The CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, was their CFO from 1988 and has been CEO since 1994. He will have 30 years at the helm next year and will be turning 63. There are probably plenty of years left in him to keep working but you have to wonder if there is a succession plan in place.

What do you think of this Ryanair order? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Steve Knight on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

This is some unexpected cooperation from the two major UAE carriers. At least they can get behind the common goal of boosting tourism to their country.

Seats.aero: a wonderfully nerdy tool for finding Unicorn flight awards [New: QSuites Finder] – Frequent Miler

This is a fantastic tool for finding last-minute award space. Award travel nerds rejoice! Well, at least the highly flexible ones.

Earn 2.5 American Airlines miles per dollar deposited at Bask Bank – Monkey Miles

I kept some savings with Bask Bank back when savings interest rates were in the toilet. In my opinion, you can find better cash savings rates these days, but 2.5 miles per $1 per year isn’t bad if you can use each for at least 2.0 cents.

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This is a fantastic chance to try the new Taiwanese carrier.

Hyatt Acquiring Mr. & Mrs. Smith, A Luxury Hotel Platform – One Mile at a Time

As a Hyatt loyalist, this is intriguing news.

Are Hawai’i Lawmakers Abandoning Tourism? – Suites and Lobbies

The state has to have a love-hate relationship with tourism – the reality is that they can’t live without it. Adding in slow and incompetent governing, and everyone is going to be frustrated.

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Being located far away from most places, the sectors the Kiwi airline operates are very long. Auckland to New York is around 17 hours in the air, which is quite some time to be sat upright in a seat.

Skynest Video

The announcement about the Skynest happened on 25 February 2020, which was right before everyone was locked down for the pandemic. That means it has been delayed a bit, as have so many things.

There’s plenty packed into the two minute video above. A lot of thought and design effort has gone into the concept, which is unsurprising as it takes up space that could potentially be used for other things.

All About The Skynest

Passengers will be able to book a four hour session in the Skynest. The duration has been determined by a person’s sleep cycle, which is typically 90 minutes. This will give people time to wind down, sleep and wake up. Inside is a USB port for device charging, a reading light and an air vent.

All six bunks will be occupied at the same time, so everyone inside is on the same four hour block. In between sessions will be a 30 minute period where the crew will change all the bedding and prepare for the next batch of sleepers.

People flying in economy and premium economy will be able to book a session in the Skynest. Pricing has not been finalised, but the airline has said they are thinking around NZ$400 to NZ$500 (€220 to €276 / US$245 to US$307 / £198 to £247). Seems reasonable enough to me!

Overall Thoughts

The Air New Zealand Skynest is expected to debut in September 2024 and should prove popular with economy class passengers. I know that if I was flying a long haul flight down the back that I’d give anything for a few hours to lay down.

Sitting upright for hours and hours is really tedious, to put it mildly, so this will be a gamechanger. It will be interesting to see how popular these are. With only six beds and only two or three four hour sessions possible on each flight, it means only 12 or 18 people will get to use them.

What do you think of the whole Skynest concept? Is it something you would be paying for? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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All images via Air New Zealand.

The flights will switch to Terminal 2 at London Heathrow from 6 May 2023, which will be very welcome. Onward connectivity is vastly superior out of Heathrow, opening up a wide range of destinations for travellers.

Derry To London Heathrow

There will be three flights per day from Derry to London Heathrow during the working week. LDY to LHR flights are LM0651 (06:35-08:00), LM0655 (14:10-15:30) and LM0657 (18:15-19:35). Return services are LM0652 (08:45-10:10), LM0656 (16:15-17:40) and LM0658 (20:20-21:45). Weekends see one morning and one evening flight in each direction.

According to the press release, this is the first time Derry has ever had air service to London Heathrow. This is operated as a Public Service Obligation (PSO) route, meaning it is government subsidised.

Connections will be available on the wider British Airways network as well as other airlines. Loganair seems to work with a number of other carriers, such as Air France, Blue Islands, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad, Finnair, KLM, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines and Widerøe.

British Airways codeshare on the flights, though it seems only the 14:10-15:30 service from Derry to London Heathrow as BA4005 and the morning flight 08:45-10:10 as BA4002 are bookable on their own. The others come up with you book a connecting itinerary.

What’s In A Name?

There is some contention about the name of the place. The original Irish city was named Derry, but was seized by the British in 1600. According to history, in 1613 King James I granted the city to the citizens of London who laid out a new city, built the famous city walls and renamed the place Londonderry.

On the Loganair website, it’s called City of Derry, which is the name of the airport. Over at British Airways, you will find it by searching Londonderry, which matches the airport code of LDY. Searching Derry on BA brings nothing up at all.

Overall Thoughts

Great news that there is going to be a new Derry to London Heathrow service, with good frequency at that. Hopefully the people in that city will find it enhances their travel journeys. I’m sure the people in Dundee in Scotland will be just as thrilled by their switch to Heathrow!

Will you be using the new services? Have you flown Loganair before and if so, what did you think? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Colin Cook Photo on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.
City Walls by SeanMack via Wikimedia Commons.

This is an excellent offer. I wish I would have waited to pick up the card, since this went live the first time a short while after I’d applied.

2 WING COLLISION INCIDENTS: DELTA AND AEROMEXICO + EVA AIR – Sam Chui

Back to back airport collision incidents.

5 Things You Can’t Miss: Atlanta – The Bulkhead Seat

I enjoyed a trip to Atlanta with my older son, and we hit the last two items on the list. It’s been a few years, though, and I’d like to get back.

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