Category: travel

  • Big Airlines Cramming Even More Seats Into Coach

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    I’ve always said that you never see an airline commercial on TV showing the coach section!

    What’s interesting is that the seat squeeze means discount airlines now offer more generous seat-pitch then their competitors. You get at least 34 inches of space in each row of a JetBlue A320, including the seat (the seat pitch, in industry parlance). At Southwest, seat pitch is 32-33 inches in 737s. But at American, United, Delta, Continental and others, seat-pitch is standardizing down at 31 inches in domestic coac

    From The Consumerist

  • British Museum – Shah ‘Abbas

    Hmm, I’m flying through London and will have a 9 hour stopover so maybe I should go see this? But the weather is going to be very British.

    British Museum – Shah ‘Abbas.

    Via The Travel Photographer

  • Britsh Airways Kuwait to Calgary

    The flights from Kuwait was about 70% full. I had an empty seat next to me so it wasn’t too bad. When the person in front of you reclines you have not much space to breathe. On the first flight the movies were fixed timings. On the second flight it was all on demand which means you can start and stop and even pause when you want. The food was OK, but for a long day of travelling you need to eat between flights. It is my old motto, never get on a plane hungry.

    Both flights were BA so the transfer was via the new Heathrow Terminal 5. However, I was not overly impressed by the terminal. It is a bit of a maze of escalators getting off the plane so you need to take care of where you are headed. Then there was a short train ride from the B & C part of the terminal to the main A section of the terminal. Once arriving in A there was a 15 minute wait for the security. This was annoying. It seems like they designed the layout of the terminal before security became such an issue. So lining up with the crowd was organized but very congested. This was when the terminal was not very busy. In peak times it could be a mess, with a long line down the hallway. So if you go via T5 lookout.

    Well on the way back to Kuwait I’ve got a 9 hour stopover, so I’ll probably just go into London for a few hours to do something.

    At least in the waiting area there are many shops including a Pret a Manger which is in most of the Heathrow terminals. Their sandwiches are very good. Whole wheat and even with bacon if you crave such a flavour after coming out of the Middle East.

    The flight London to Calgary was smooth. It left an hour late due to some cargo mixup but the flying time was an hour less. We had amazing views of Greenland. I’ve never seen it like that. The snow, huge glaciers, mountain valleys and cliffs descending to the frozen water.

    And finally we arrived in Calgary after holding for about 20 minutes for a landing spot. Arrival through customs was fast and then it was out to the parking lot in the -12 degree weather.

  • Passenger Etiquette

    2) Please control your children. Do not allow kids to kick the seat in front of them.

    I had the kid behind me bumping for most of the flight to Kuwait. I asked him once to stop, but he’s just a kid (about 12 years old and not slim).

    The rest of the points are from:
    Flying With Fish: The “Jetiquette” Card : Passenger Etiquette Revisited

  • Seoul to Kuwait via Dubai

    Well my bag, the green one made it onto the plain in Dubai for the final let into Kuwait. Then we waited as there was a problem with the air conditioning on the Kuwait Airways plan. An hour and a half late we took off. And the Kuwait to Dubai flight last week there was also a problem on the Kuwait Airways plane that they had to fix, which delayed us an hour and our bags didn’t make the connection to the Emirates flight to Seoul.

    Loading my suitcase in Dubai

     

    Then it is time to fly into Kuwait.

     

    Kuwait Airport Landing Approach

     

    Apparently the last week it has been sunny in Kuwait and it is only today that it is dusty.

    Kuwat Airport Termina

    We didn’t dock at a gateway, we had to board a bus to the terminal. Same in Dubai, as there is so much construction going on.