Year: 2013

I’m Guessing There Will be an Air Canada PR Opening Soon

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Air Canada lost a dog when one of their employees decided to take it on a walk during a delay. While a nice gesture, the dog’s guardian had left instructions that the dog not be allowed out of the crate except in an enclosed room. But, that’s not the worst part. When the local Sacramento CBS station e-mailed Air Canada about the incident, this is the response they received:

I think I would just ignore, it is local news doing a story on a lost dog. Their entire government is shut down and about to default and this is how the US media spends its time.

Clearly the e-mail was not meant for the CBS station but for a co-worker maybe? My guess is that the spokesman, Peter Fitzpatrick, is polishing up his resume. Be careful when sending e-mail, you never know when you are going to hit “Reply All”.

Update: It looks like Fitzpatrick has responded to his e-mail comments:

Fitzpatrick, a veteran public relations official, told the Star that he regretted this email, but to suggest he was callous or uncaring is “an unfair portrayal.”
He said the email was partly meant to be a joke, but he was exasperated with the line of questioning that he had no answers to.

You’re in PR, your whole job revolves around answering questions (even ones you don’t have answers for).

Hitching a Ride on History

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One of Lufthansa’s side projects is restoring vintage airframes and showing them off at airshows and museums. One of the airframes is a Junkers Ju-52 that saw service in Germany and Norway before being sold to Ecuador. An American bought the aircraft after that and in 1984 Lufthansa bought her back, restored her and now flies her on sightseeing trips. A while back I wrote about my desire to ride on this plane and during the summer I did just that.

Ju-52

Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung offers sightseeing flights and an option for point to point flights. The point to point flights take you from one airport in Germany to another, giving you a chance to explore some of the smaller airfields in the country. I decided to buy a ticket and a seat on one of the point to point offerings. Choosing the flight ended up being the challenge. Some of the airfields are merely grass strips with no nearby German rail stations, leaving passengers relying on taxis or family/friends to pick them up. The other issue is that a lot of the flying is done on weekdays. I needed to be in Germany on a Friday and back in New York City by Monday afternoon, again, limiting my choices on which flights I could take.

I found a flight from Köln to Egelsach, a small airfield south of Frankfurt, on a Sunday and booked it. I decided to fly Newark to Stuttgart since there was decent upgrade space available then take a train to Munich to visit friends, then take another train to drop my stuff at the Frankfurt airport and continue on to Köln on Sunday.

On arrival to Köln I did a little planespotting. They have a great visitor deck with three tiers of viewing space. Visitors get a great view of two of the runways, the passenger terminal area and tarmac and a perfect view of the cargo area. There were a number of families visiting and a ton of spotters (around 30-40).

The Ju-52 was actually doing a few sightseeing flights over Köln and it taxied out while I was on the viewing terrace. Everyone was in awe and the noise of camera shutters filled the air.

Boarding the Ju-52

Eventually I walked over to the meeting place for the flight, the general aviation terminal, and collected my boarding pass. Soon all of the passengers were gathered and led through a quick security check before heading for the aircraft in vans. The pilots, flight engineer, and flight attendant were waiting for us and the passengers made their way around the plane for a quick set of pictures in the beautiful weather. The crew was trying to gather everyone and I was unable to take any good shots in Köln (more on this later).

The pilots gave an introduction, in German, of the plane and their experience, they are all Lufthansa pilots who do this for fun. Our crew today consisted of a 747 pilot and an A330 pilot. I did not catch what aircraft the flight engineer operated. My German is so-so and I have trouble following some conversations and when we boarded they started giving some very detailed descriptions of the safety procedures and I wasn’t able to follow all of it. I asked the flight attendant if she could give some of it in English. She apologized profusely and explained they don’t get a lot of non-German passengers on these flights. My hat is off to her for taking a few extra minutes to point out the finer details of what should be done in an emergency in English.

Ju-52 Briefing

We taxied out and were off. The pilot took us on a bit of a scenic tour of the Rhine and overflew a small airfield on our way to Egelsbach, then he doubled back and gave a low pass to a large number of glider pilots and bystanders (all of whom seemed to have their cameras out). We continued on to Egelsbach and on the way the flight engineer left the cockpit and we were told we could visit the flight deck. I made my way forward and pilots handed me a headset and said they understood I spoke English. I asked a few questions and they pointed out the window that the weather was starting to deteriorate and that I should make my way back to my seat.

The entire flight experience was, put simply, incredible. The roar of the radial engines was drowned out a little bit by the modern insulation in the plane, but the noise was still fantastic. As we flew through light turbulence you could feel the plane react as the pilots compensated. Making wide turns you could feel the pilots working the pedals to make sure the turn was coordinated. It was classic stick and rudder flying and I think I was smiling the entire time.

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The ceiling kept dropping and dropping. My understanding is that they can fly the aircraft purely on instruments but like to stay out of the clouds for the passenger experience (the entire flight we never really climbed higher than 1,500 feet). Eventually we flew by Mainz and Wiesbaden and made a wide sweeping turn to Egelsbach before making a pretty cool landing.

Junkers Ju-52 Landing at Egelsbach from Stephan Segraves on Vimeo.

The weather was terrible when we landed and I got some raindrops on the lens while trying to grab some photos of the Ju-52. None of the shots really came out the way I wanted and I am still kicking myself for not grabbing more photos while in Köln. If you have a love of aviation and aviation history I highly recommend you find a way to take a ride on this plane. From the cabin to the sound of the engines to the enthusiasm of the crew, the whole experience was fantastic. You can learn more about the rides and the aircraft itself by visiting the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung website.

I have shared some pictures below and will be uploading more as I have time. If you’d like, you can see the entire set by visiting it here, on Flickr. I should note, if you take this trip, don’t bring a backpack. There is very little room onboard, especially near your feet. You are much better served just bringing a camera.

Egelsbach Airport
Egelsbach Airport

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Ju-52 Interior

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Ju-52 Cockpit

Junkers Ju-52
Ju-52 Parked At Egelsbach

Air Travel Caste System – Or Not

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The New York Times published a piece on the state of air travel. More specifically, the state of air travel on United Airlines. While the piece tries to paint with a broad brush, equating the mix and match products the airlines now offer to a socioeconomic riff in American society, it leaves out some basic facts, including airline ticket prices are at all time lows. In fact, this article by The Atlantic pretty much debunks the New York Times article and explains why fees, to a certain extent, are a good thing.

Air France Departure at IAH

There are a few notable quotes in the New York Times piece, including this one.

The American credo has always been a strange, contradictory one: adamant about the right to differential outcomes of wealth and privilege, and adamant about the right to fairness and equal treatment. In aviation, that used to mean different food in first class and economy, perhaps, but food of some sort for all. Different baggage allowances, perhaps, but some bags allowed for everyone. Different degrees of intimacy in the customer service, perhaps, but a universal right to speak to a real person when aggrieved.

What is changing today is the erosion of the idea of a common minimum experience — in air travel, to be sure, but not only there.

While benign at first, it seems this quote’s purpose is to accuse United of getting rid of food in coach and starting bag fees for customers. Sure, the base product of just about every airline has been reduced to a very simple offering, a seat between point A and point B. At the same time, the prices for those tickets have come down but the author is complaining he has to buy a $12 sandwich in the airport.

I think The Atlantic hit the nail on the head when it comes to fees.

Why do we hate fees if they keep basic prices low? Because we’re Americans, Heimlich said: “It’s the American way to want a product approaching first-class for a price approaching zero.” But cultural selfishness doesn’t explain all of it. Bargain-hunters experience a dopamine rush (literally) when they find great prices. The drip-drip of additional fees mutes the joy of finding a great price. They kill our buzz.

Do I think air travel has been degraded in the past 20 years? Only in terms of comfort for the sake of price. Sure, I would love to be comfortable, but I don’t want to pay what that would cost.

Purge

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I am thinking of having a summer cleaning fest. Not necessarily one of physical items, though I’m sure I could find plenty of knickknacks to throw out. No, I am talking about a purge and clean up of my digital stuff. There is tons of it. Photos, music, movies, documents, code, and a whole bunch of other stuff sits on my desktop and on my different hard drives. The behavior of letting my digital household go uncleaned has slipped into my browsing habits and my smartphone usage. I keep way too many tabs open in Chrome and the number of apps on my iPhone has become ridiculous.

Starting today, I’m purging all of the extraneous stuff that I don’t need. I will be looking at my different applications on my computers and the different apps on my phone and flat out deleting those things which I do not use on a regular basis. I know there are a few apps that I have not used in months and they need to go. The same applies to bookmarks in my browser and files/folders on my hard drive.

I do not think it is just me that struggles with this. I have written things before about how we are being inundated with information and it is hard to filter out what is important. I have yet to succeed at becoming really good at filtering things like Twitter and Facebook but my move to clean up my devices is an attempt to filter where I go for information. It is the start of really focusing on what’s important and ignoring what isn’t. We’ll see how well I can do, I am known for holding on to things (trinkets, papers, etc.) and deleting things in the digital realm is just as hard for me.

Instagram and Video

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Yesterday I uploaded my first Instagram video. Besides the quirky and funny videos that are out there, I have to wonder what, if any purpose the video functionality actually offers. Instagram has been a place to quickly share art. Some people share the photography off of their high-end cameras but a lot focus on what they capture with their iPhone or Android device. This “share what you see now” mentality is what I enjoy about Instagram. Sure, there are a lot of food and self-portraits, but there is also a huge amount of very well composed and thought out shots as well.

But how does video fit into this realm? When Instagram was announcing video the initial reaction was that the feature would be a Vine killer. However, that type of video does not really seem to fit into the same realm of what I love about Instagram. In fact, I would say my first video does not fit into that style. I did find some examples of Instagram videos that do seem to fit the idea of well composed and thought out art and are moments of “what I see now”. User squarerootof9 has some great videos. They are more moving art than they are videos. I am going to try composing Instagram video this way and see if changes my mind on the feature.

Change is always received negatively at first but I think a little time might make the Instagram video grow on me.

United Airlines and Revenue

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This is the future of Premier qualification on United Airlines. Starting in 2014, revenue, along with miles flown, will go into the calculus for qualification for the various elite levels. There are some stipulations regarding credit cards and spending on those cards; The MileagePlus updates site has a lot more detail.

The key takeaways are:

  1. Without credit card spend, Premier status will cost $.10/mile
  2. 1K cannot be reached with credit card spend
  3. You can earn Premier Qualifying Dollars on partner airlines as long as the ticket is issued on United (016) ticket stock
  4. Fuel surcharges and Economy Plus purchases count for Premier Qualifying Dollars

With work travel it is fairly easy to reach the spend thresholds but if doing purely leisure travel, the Premier 1K level becomes much more difficult to reach. I see where United is coming from on this and though it means I may not make 1K ever again, I think it is the inevitable direction for the U.S. airline industry to move toward.

New United Seats – Not An Improvement

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Last night as I boarded my flight home from a week of work in New York City, I noticed that the seats on my United Airbus A320 looked a little different. Turns out I was experiencing the newly converted A320 with the Recaro slimline seats with the “comfort” upgrade. These seats are very similar to the Lufthansa NEK seats that have caused a bit of stir in their frequent flyer ranks, the difference being that United’s install has more padding and are supposed to be a more comfortable experience. From my three hour and fifteen minute flight last night, my conclusion are that the seats are a downgrade for passengers.

Recaro Slimline Seat 1

My immediate reaction to the flight last night was a little bit of the knee-jerk, “I hate change!” type but after gathering my thoughts and reading through my notes, my summary is this – the seats are not a one for one swap with regards to passenger comfort when compared to the previous United A320 seats and the new seats are certainly not an improvement. United’s reasoning for these seats was clear from the get-go, they wanted to fit an extra row of seats on the plane and these seats allowed them to do that by moving the rows closer together.

I was seated in row 21, seat A, an exit row window seat, for my flight last night. The first thing I noticed was that the legroom in this particular row had been severly reduced. The previous seat configuration here gave so much legroom that a passenger could barely touch their bag if there was one under the seat in front of them. The exit rows were clearly the losers when it came to where rows were squeezed closer together. The second thing I noticed was the somewhat cheap feeling of the seat. It is flimsy, just like the Lufthansa seat. When you or others in your row move, the lightweight metal frame of the seat is not very forgiving, allowing that movement to be felt by everyone else in the row.

Recaro Slimline Seat 2

The magazine storage has changed so that the magazine and safety briefing card are now in a small plastic divider behind the tray table. I was not surprised by this, I have seen the setup before on Lufthansa and it is actually a smart way to store the magazines. Where the negatives are for the passengers is the standard storage sleeve. What used to be a pocket in the seatback in front of you is now a shortened mesh pocket that is not good for storing much. I typically carry a small bag with my headphones and electrical accessories and between it and an iPad mini, the storage area could barely hold them. The seatback pocket is great for holding things and allowing a passenger to stay in their seat and avoid moving things around in the overhead bin.

Recaro Slimline Seat 3

The tray table on these new seats is noticeably smaller. In the exit rows the tray table used to be held in the armrest, that is no longer the case. I did not see what the setup was for the bulkhead rows but in the exit row, the tray table is now on the seat in front of you. The width has been reduced but I would say the depth is about the same as what the tray tables were when stored in the armrests. Again, the metal connections feel a little flimsy here. I rested my hands holding a book on the table and without really pushing I could feel a significant give in the table.

Lastly, the seat itself and a number of aspects that I find contribute to the overall uncomfortable feel of these seats. A lot of people think it’s the padding alone but with the things I list below, I think it is a group of things that really make these seats a downgrade for passengers.

  1. The comfort package does not add a significant amount of padding. There is definitely more than what Lufthansa offers but it is certainly not a huge improvement. It slightly removes the wood feel of the Lufthansa seats.
  2. The bottom cushion of the seat is a standard width but does not extend as far forward under the passenger’s legs as the previous seats. I would say the bottom seat cushion reminded me more of an exit row seat on a regional jet where they had to reduce its length to comply with safety standards. Thinking about this now I wonder if it is the same case on the A320s, the exit row required the seat cushion to be shorter. If you’ve flown in a regular row (rather than an exit row) on this converted plane I’d love to know if you felt the same way about the bottom cushion.
  3. There is very little lumbar support. In United’s announcement about these seats it was stated that there would be more lumbar support than the seats installed on Lufthansa but if it was there, it definitely was not noticeable. I thought reclining would help a little but it did not.
  4. The armrest width and length has been significantly reduced. The armrest is no longer as long as the seat is deep, ending up around four to five inches shorter. The width suffers greatly as well. I used to be able to share the armrest with a neighbor, each of us taking a little bit of it, but that is no longer possible. My seatmate and I were being polite and trying to do just that on the flight but we both commented that it wasn’t really possible.
  5. Tapering of the back of the seat. Halfway down the seatback, the seat tapers inward, leaving larger gaps between the seats. I have not noticed this before on Lufthansa flights but doing a quick Google Images search shows that it is there as well. My only comment on this is that it leaves you feeling a little more exposed. The armrest used to fill this void now there is nothing there. It is not a huge deal, just really different.
  6. The multidirectional headrest is small but slightly padded. I do not see any real benefit.

All of the above, especially items 1-4, combine to make the seat uncomfortable. Let me explain. Since there is less support under the forward portion of your legs your butt slides forward some so that your back takes on more of a support role, but there is no longer significant lumbar support so you continue to slide forward. To counteract this you have to use your feet to push yourself back into place. This process repeats until finally you leave your feet firmly planted on the floor to keep from sliding forward. In the exit row window seat there is no armrest attached to the seat on the window side leaving you with the middle seat’s outer armrest to try and keep your balance. This leaves you kind of squirming in the seat trying to find a comfortable position. I tried leaning back against the headrest but to keep from sliding into a slouched position I had to plant my feet and push myself into the seat to use the headrest.

Recaro Slimline Seat 4

If you can’t tell from the short novella I have written, I do not find the seat very comfortable. I think it is a downgrade for customers and a poor choice for United to make, no matter the extra revenue United squeezes out of those six extra seats. And I was not the only one making negative remarks, I heard plenty of people comment that they could not find a comfortable position in the seat. My co-worker leaned over and asked me “why have they not removed these old harder seats for those nicer padded ones”. I am serious, that is what I was asked. When I replied that these were new seats and were coming to the Airbus fleet he simply shook his head.

One last item. In the United announcement a comment was made about the entertainment options on these planes. There are none. While it was stated that Wi-Fi would be available, it definitely was not on during my flight last night and I also noticed there are no power ports to charge devices when they do get Wi-Fi on these planes. If they are going to be streaming entertainment via the Wi-Fi then they are going to need a power source of some kind. Also, the pilot announced Channel 9 was available but there is no audio on the plane and thus, no way to listen to air traffic control.

Recaro Slimline Seat 5

All in all the seat is a disappointment and I hope decision makers at United are flying on these planes and noting the issues that customers are having. I cannot imagine sitting in one of these seats for a transcon or even a red-eye, which are bad enough without uncomfortable seats thrown into the mix. The revenue of those six extra seats may look good on an accountant’s business case but it is being earned on passenger’s lower backs and rear ends.

I know this was a lot of words to describe a seat but when you are in one of these things twice a week, every week, it kind of matters.

Istanbul For a Day

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No, I am not crazy. Ok, maybe just a little crazy. For this past weekend’s trip to Istanbul, my work schedule forced me to play the “crazy” hand. Originally I planned to take the new Turkish Airlines Houston-Istanbul non-stop flight on Friday but due to some work conflicts I could not book it. Instead I booked the non-stop leaving on Saturday evening and returning on Monday evening, giving myself around 18 hours in Istanbul.

Why fly to Istanbul for such a short time? From the time the non-stop flight on Turkish Airlines was announced, I have wanted to try their in-flight service and visit Istanbul. Launching the service, Turkish had a number of promotions including a $499 round-trip fare in coach. United Airlines then announced that the booking class that the super cheap tickets booked into would no longer earn United miles. Not wanting to give up on the trip, I started digging into Turkish’s premium economy product, Comfort Class as they call it, and found fare that not only earned full United miles but was also cheaper than the cheapest coach fare that earned United miles. It was a double win.

On the Saturday of my flight I showed up at check-in a full two hours before the flight and line was ridiculously long. There are two check-in lines at IAH, business and coach, with no special check-in for Comfort Class. I inquired at the business class line if it could be used for Star Golds and was told yes. I also asked about a possible paid upgrade into business class and was told to visit the ticketing desk; Visiting the ticketing desk seems to be a common Turkish Airlines theme. I walked to the ticketing desk and asked again about buying up to business only to be told that it would be a difference in fare, also known as $3,000. Needless to say I passed on that offer.

At first, boarding was a fiasco. Then, the Turkish agents made a few announcements and people seemed to adhere to the requests that were made. I boarded and as the door closed it looked like the flight was almost completely full in all classes.

Turkish 777-300ER at IAH

Shortly after take-off service commenced and a number of courses were served to Comfort Class passengers. The food on long haul flights is catered by DO&CO but I am still trying to figure out what the airline does in Houston since DO&CO does not have a facility at IAH. My guess is that they send their food standards to someone like Chelsea or a local catering company and cater the flights that way. In any case, the food was some of the better airline fare I have had. It was well prepared and nicely presented and tasted delicious.

The crew dynamic is very interesting. They served the different courses, handed out bottled water and then pretty much disappeared until the arrival meal began. It did not really matter on the way to Istanbul since most people slept, but on the return flight the same thing happened, leaving a lot of people hitting their call buttons to get more to drink. I did see one or two flight attendants walking around the cabin during the flight but they were not offering drinks to passengers who were awake.

The Comfort Class seats allowed me to get around six hours of sleep. They are basically old school business class seats with a leg and foot rest. What they really need is just a tad bit more recline. That little lack of recline is my only (tiny) complaint. Other than that, the storage space is slightly limited but the overhead bins are never full, so you have plenty of space to put stuff.

On arrival into Istanbul I walked quickly to immigration, I filed for an eVisa online and didn’t have to stand in that line, got stamped into the country and made my way into town. I explored the Old Town for about four hours before finding a place to grab dinner. Since the flight arrives into Istanbul around 3:55pm, you only have a short window on the same day to see any of the major attractions (most close at 5:30pm). I was still able to walk around some of the alleyways and crowded streets and get a feel for the city.

Istanbul

There is a ton of life in Istanbul. From tourists exploring the Hagia Sofia to locals having a çay while reading the newspaper, there is just a lot going on. With my limited time I made it to the major sights, though I did not get to visit the Basilica Cistern, which was high on my list. The next morning I woke up early and walked to the area near the Galata bridge to enjoy a Turkish coffee and watch the ferries come and go. The weather was absolutely fantastic and just watching people come and go off of the ferries was a great way to spend my morning. I then grabbed my backpack and made my way back to the airport where the check-in experience was about the same as what I encountered in Houston.

I forgot to ask about business class paid upgrades until I got to the gate and when I did inquire the response was that it had to be done at the ticketing desk (sound familiar?) and that it was too late. In complete contrast to my outbound flight, the return flight was nearly empty in Comfort Class but the service was just as mediocre as the flight to Istanbul. To top it all off there was a number of times that the cabin filled with the smell of cigarette smoke. It would linger for a little while, then go away; Then, a couple of hours later, it would come back. Some have suggested that it was more than likely crew members smoking in the rest area, which, if true, is very disappointing.

Before I forget, the entertainment system on Turkish Airlines is very nice. Lots of movie and television choices from new releases to “classics”. They had the full Harry Potter series, the entire Lord of the Rings series, Police Academy 1, 2, and 3, and a whole host of other options.

I am very glad that I took the flight, especially at the price point that was available for Comfort Class. It definitely makes me want to return to Istanbul and even explore the rest of Turkey. As soon as I get a few moments to edit photos this weekend, I will upload the rest of my pictures from around Istanbul.