I just came across these airplane pics of Kulula. Great paint job! I feel more airlines should get creative like this.

I’m trying to imagine what something like this would look like in Arabic. Kuwait Airways, maybe a new paint job “تحلق 101” could be part of your restructuring plan.

I found this very interesting chart on global airline traffic at Amadeus. It’s based on a study between airconomy and Amadeus.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) recently granted Executive Jet Management the permission to use iPads instead of large stacks of paper for charting and maps. This was after a 3 month period of testing including 55 pilots on 250 flights.

Seems the Mobile TC application developed by Jeppesen never failed during any of the tests. And neither did the iPad.

A lot of other airlines & pilots are bound to start with this trend. So long as that’s the ONLY app installed on the iPad, I think it should be fine. Wouldn’t want the pilots competing for the highest scores on Angry Birds instead of flying the plane.

British Airways organised a Bowling Tournament today evening for its GSA and top agents. The event was held at the Cosmo Bowling center at Discovery Mall. Although very few people were present when the event started, the place was packed full by the time it was over. All 10 lanes.

It was a great mix of pro players and amateurs. And then there were those like me who normally score 200+ on the Wii and can hardly touch 100 on the real lanes.

The Alghanim and Boodai teams ended up winning the champion and 1st runner up trophies. Great job guys!

I came across this interesting post on MSN taken from Woman’s Day. With almost everyone travelling more often than ever nowadays it’s nice to know what the people who serve you really feel and have to say.

I found this point the most interesting…

“We’re Here To Ensure Your Safety… not cater to your every need” …and all this while I thought otherwise. Looks like that may only apply in First and maybe Business class.

“Because — fortunately — most flights do not encounter safety problems, some people believe that we’re just luggage handlers and beverage servers”. Seems they go through rigorous training, including medical emergency training, CPR and training to evacuate an aircraft.

They make a good point here. I guess we’ll never really appreciate them till we get CPR … the “Kiss of life” in particular.

In general most flight attendants I’ve come across have been very professional and well trained. Reading this article reminded me of an incident on a flight to Goa where one of the passengers (Mr. Bebdo) jumped out of his seat the moment the plane landed and began taxiing. The flight attendant tried her best to get him back into his seat but I guess the booze just blocked his senses. I expected her to “tazer” him or something but she was so nice to him …in a stern kind of way. Seemed like everyone in the aircraft had their attention on the duo cause no one noticed the engine failure while landing. We learnt later that a few birds flew into the engine. Maybe they were distracted by Mr Bebdo too.

“A bulkhead is the physical partition that divides a plane into different classes or sections. Typically, a bulkhead is a wall but can also be a curtain or screen. In addition to separating classes from one another, i.e. business and economy, bulkheads can be found throughout the plane, separating the seats from the galley and lavatory areas.”

Bulkhead seats, which are the seats located directly behind the bulkhead separators, are some of the most controversial seats on planes. There can be a major difference in the bulkhead seat configuration based on which airline and aircraft you are flying on.

Some benefits of bulkhead seats are:

• With no seat in front of you, no one can recline into your space. This usually makes it easier to enter and exit your seat during flight too.
• Some bulkhead seats provide extra legroom. If the bulkhead wall is situated very far in front of the first row of seats, those sitting in the bulkhead seats will enjoy extra space.
• If you are on an aircraft with personal televisions, it may be stored in your seat’s armrest because there is no seat back in front of you. Having it come out of the armrest enables you to move and adjust the screen, but may reduce seat width slightly.
• Some passengers like to put their feet up against the bulkhead wall, something that cannot be done when there is a seat in front of you. This is a very popular posture on flights in the Middle East

Now for the not-so-good features:

• If you are in a standard bulkhead seat the bulkhead wall will be about a foot in front of your seat, limiting the space you have to stretch your legs.
• Without a seat in front of you to hold a seat-back tray table, tray tables for bulkhead seats are usually stored in the seat’s armrest. This makes the armrest immovable and slightly reduces the seat’s width. If you are on an aircraft with personal televisions, it will also likely be in the armrest.
• If bassinet positions are offered, they are often located at the bulkheads increasing your chance of being seated in close proximity to babies.

I always prefer to pick bulkhead seats if its near the window. The ones in the middle always tend to be either crampped or have people running across to reach the free lavotory.

This time from Kuwait to Dubai, we flew Emirates Business Class. The pic above is of their new Business Class cabin introduced on some sectors. 

We reached the airport about an hour and half before take off and were greeted by a huge (and I mean huge) unorganised crowd of travellers all going to Dubai on the same flight. The 14 check-in counters servicing this flight didn’t seem enough and tempers were flaring up in the crowd. After waiting for 5 mins I decided to flash my online check-in printout to the floor manager and he arranged for a 15th check-in counter to open so we could go through quickly. Must say that the distant counter didn’t deter some crazy Indian ladies from running and ploughing their over-stacked luggage trolleys into Ro and mysef. Tough luck ladies, its back to the end of the line for you.

So we check-in quickly into our pre-selected economy seats, move through immigration and decide to have a quick snack at one of the less crowded coffee shops before we board. Here is the best part, while boarding, we get the good news that we are upgraded to Business Class. Seems they were over-booked! This was good news for me after a long day at the office and some hectic packing before leaving for the airport! 

These new business class seats are fabulous. The seats had extra-large screens (for an aircraft), excess leg-room and best of all there was a built-in massage. Oh yeah! That’s the way to fly. The Wave option seems to be the best, pick a medium intensity and low speed and don’t forget to stretch out the seat and just enjoy!

The fancy touch-screen remote needed a bit of learning to operate the ICE navigation but it was fun to try it out. Emirates has done a really great job on this!

The meals too were served in style. Since the lights were off while I was being served I got chicken instead of lamb but it was great and I didn’t bother to make a fuss.

You have got to try this out, its a real awesome experience! This was truly the best flying experience for Ro and me so far.

If all flight attendants were like this guy, fewer people would be worried during take off and landing

Perhaps on our regional carriers like Kuwait Airways, Jazeera, Wataniya and Emirates, we could have some Arabic music and the attendants could let down their hair and shake their heads from one side to the other. Hope the men don’t come on board with  swords though!

Here is my first poll.

With all these options to book online its amazing to find Travel Agencies offering cheaper fares than those found online. Most of the big travel agencies get special discounted rates from airlines. Even if its just a matter of saving 20KD on your trip, its still fun to know you got a better deal that you could find online.

Whats even more amazing is that booking well in advance will not necessarily get you the best fare. Take Jazeera Airways for instance. They suddenly come up with a 5KD fare. That would truly suck if you booked a 45KD fare the previous day! That said, booking in advance will guarantee you a seat on the flight you want to be on. But with the choice of at least 2-3 low cost carriers and 4-10 daily flights to almost every destination, does it really matter?

How do you define booking periods? I would classify them as

• Well in advance: 4 months or more
• In Advance: 1.5 to 4 months
• Late: 2 weeks to 1.5 months
• Last minute: less than 2 weeks

These only apply to planned holidays or annual travel. Business trips don’t count. 

Personally most of my bookings have been either late or last minute. And I usually get a very good deal too. How about you?

I’m off to Dubai for a few days. Was amazed when I heard an announcement that we can use our regular phones in flight once we reach 37,000ft. Seems they also have on-board wifi. Had I known in advance, I would have kept my phone and laptop handy to try it out. Hope its available on the return flight.