greekdude1RE: Britannia
Uh, no, let’s not.
greekdude1RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?
Dan, I gotta’ give you props for being the only one to agree with me. I respect the rest of your guys’ opinions, as well. I just wanted to stir something up in here since I’m new. As far as overlapping, as somebody mentioned, that is meaningless. United overlaps with several Star members on several key routes. LAX-AKL and LAX-SYD both with ANZ. LAX-NRT with ANA, Singapore, Thai and Varig. Those are just a couple. As far as the VS codeshare with Continental goes, it’s from LHR to LAX not Gatwick. Furthermore, members of alliances continue to have agreements with other airlines on certain routes, therefore, I don’t see why VS couldn’t continue to allow CO to put their codes on their flights even if they did join Star, provided CO themselves didn’t join some major alliance.
P.S. I just read today that Singapore may indeed take a further 10% stake in ANZ, bringing their total to 35%. Also, ANZ is in further talks to take a stake in Virgin Blue, and not just have them sign an agreement with Ansett, as I had previously pointed out.
greekdude1RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?
LAST EDITED ON 28-08-01 AT 07:32 PM (GMT)[p]Correct me if I’m wrong Kabir, but did you not just mention that Air France and Alitalia were part of Qualiflyer? If you did, I assure you, they are not. At least, Air France surely is not. They’re in Skyteam, if I’m not mistaken. As far as Branson not wanting to join an alliance, but may wind up having to because of all the consolidation and growth of other alliances, I mentioned that at the very beginning, when I first made the post. As far as what you said about no Star member being able to substitute a flight to Delhi for you, I totally agree with you there. In those scenarios, Alliances need to step up, and I don’t see them doing that. Frequent flyer mileage is nice, as is going into partner lounges(LH’s lounge in Heathrow terminal 2, wow!), but they need to be more streamlined and backing each other up, making sure all their customers are happy in that respect. If there’s a flight they can put you on with an empty seat to get you there, they should do it pronto. Even if there’s a stop or 2, it should happen.
greekdude1RE: which is the best airport
What’s going to happen to that Tu-154 that’s parked there? I read about it in Airliner World, after I saw it parked there this summer. It belonged to Malev, or Tarom or something like that? Had a couple of go-arounds, damaged the landing gear, now it’s just sitting there. There’s also a Caravelle parked on the tarmac. Who did that belong to?
greekdude1RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?
What routes would it benefit from? Jesus, where should I start? They’d be able to codeshare with 15 other airlines. They’d gain instant access to a U.S. domestic system with 5 hubs, not to mention access to the biggest(practically only) airline in Canada and it’s domestic system. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. I was just looking at it from the stanpoint of Singapore owning 49% of Virgin, and then with the talk of the Ansett/Virgin Blue partnership where Singapore also owns 25% of ANZ/Ansett(looking to acquire 15% more as well), it just made a lot of sense from those aspects. If you owned that much stake in a particular company, wouldn’t you want to draw them in with you?
greekdude1RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?
Wings or Skyteam makes a hell of a lot more sense than Qualiflyer! I’ll give you that much. How would Singapore feel about them joining one of those alliances, knowing that they control 49% of them?
greekdude1RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?
Qualiflyer is as good as dead. The Austrian Group was smart to get out when they could to join Star. Then AOM/Air Liberte were abolished because SwissAir could no longer support them financially. Now, SwissAir themselves, by far the biggest airline in Qualiflyer, is probably going to join Oneworld. Virgin isn’t going to join an alliance that is going nowhere.
greekdude1RE: Dissapearing DC 10
Northwest’s order for the A330 has been lingering since the early to mid 90’s. It will be interesting to see when they will FINALLY take delivery of these aircraft. I’m sure they’ve already had delivery positions for these. Do they have to pay a penalty to the manufacturer if they continuously postpone delivery?
greekdude1RE: Axon Airlines screw up at Newcastle
I know this post originated about 2 months ago, but I’m new to this forum, and decided to respond anyway. As far as the go arounds go, I was on Rhodes 2 years ago, and noticed a number of Greek airlines do a number of go-around prior to landing, one of which happened to be Axon. Our hotel was right under the glide path, and around 9 p.m. one evening, whatp appeared to be an Olympic A300B4 in an all-white scheme rings on the tail only, took 4 approaches before it FINALLY touched down. I thought this was rather strange, but noticed it happening quite a bit, and noticed that there were constant wind currents in the area, albeit nothing major, in my opinion. As far as what I think of these smaller Greek carriers? I think they’re great for Greek aviation. My father has flown on Aegean Airlines on several occassions and just loves them. Black leather seating throughout, great service, better fares than Olympic. They’ve only been around for a little over 2 years and have already swallowed up AirGreece and merged with Cronus. They now carry joint titles in Aegean colors. A friend of mine recently flew from Thessaloniki to Athens on an Axon ERJ-145 and he loved it. Leather seats, great service, and a meal. I’ve never flown any of these smaller carriers but I have flown on Olympic and I think Olympic should learn from these little guys.
greekdude1RE: Dissapearing DC 10
The DC10 is a wonderful aircraft, and a workhorse; yet another classic trijet example. Freighter examples will be around a lot longer than the 5 years that somebody here wished for. FedEx is buying them like mad(all of United’s and American’s last examples), and converting them all to MD10 standard, which means they’ll have a 2-crew MD11 style cockpit. The passenger examples are slowly starting to disappear. Northwest still has quite a few on example, series 30’s and 40’s, and doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon. I flew on N’West DC10’s LAX-HNL, and luckily got to fly on a United Series 10 example, 2 years previous. Unfortunately, United got rid of their WorldWide Cargo series 30’s the same time they retired the last of their passenger DC10’s, as well. The Worldwise Cargo division itself was shutdown as a result. Maybe they felt it wasn’t viable to keep around 5 freighter examples, when the last of the passenger examples has left their fleet?
greekdude1RE: whats the best airline and aircraft you have flown
I have a few reactions to some of these posts, and then I’ll get to the questions at hand. As far as the A340 being too narrow, how do you figure? Last time I checked, it is a wide-body. As far as the person who said the 777 is the worst aircraft he’s flown in, I certainly hope it wasn’t because of the lack of a ‘smooth ride.’ As technologically advanced as that plane is, I don’t think that should have been a problem. Perhaps it’s because he had to sit in “the seat from hell,” which for those of you who don’t know, is the middle seat in a 2-5-2 seating arrangement. If I had to sit in that, especially on a long flight, I’d probably hate that aircraft as well. As for Air New Zealand, I flew them LAX-SYD last year, and the service was supurb. Their economy class seat was by far the best economy seat I’ve ever flown on. Considering they have narrow seat backs and foot rests, it makes a 14 hour non-stop flight much more comfortable. I’m flying them business class next week. If I ever fly on one of their 767’s, I’ll have to see if the seats are dirty.
As far as my favorite aircraft, I’d have to say the L1011. Sadly, Delta recently retired their last example. I flew on TWA’s L1011’s in the 70’s and 80’s when I was a kid. The plane was clearly ahead of its time in terms of technology. I also like the 727. It’s a classic aircraft. Right now, I’d have to say the 777 is my favorite for a variety of reasons. If I ever fly on the A340/A330, I’m sure I’ll be able to add them to the list, as well. The best airline I’ve ever flown on is by far Austrian Airlines. I recently flew them between LHR and Greece via Vienna, Athens on the way there, and Thessaloniki on return. On 4 short segment (slightly over an hour in length) I was served a full meal, with fresh baked rolls constantly distributed throughout. Flight attendants were very friendly, and wore striking all red uniforms(the females at least).
greekdude1RE: New/restyled a/c c/s in the planning?
Delta’s most recent livery, with the 3 colored ribbon on the tail and all white fuselage, is by far their best. Lot’s of people didn’t like it at first, especially in Atlanta. I get to see their 767-400’s up close(drive up Sepulveda Blvd. before you turn into the terminals, they’re always there next to Delta’s hangar) all the time at LAX in that color scheme, and they are absolutely immaculate.
greekdude1RE: bmi british midland
Isn’t British Airways ‘allegedly’ the “World’s Favourite Airline?” How were they given this distinction? Was there a worldwide Gallop pole, or something?
greekdude1RE: which is the best airport
On this list, I’ve been to Schipol, Heathrow, Frankfurt, Vienna, the old Athens(Hellinikon), and the new Athens(Venizelos). Of all these I’d have to rate Schipol and the new Athens as the best. Probably because, compared to the old Athens, the new one is about a 1000% improvement. I’ve not been to Munich, but from the pictures, I could see where one would say they resemble one another. I suppose it helps that the Germans built and are currently running the new Athens airport. As far as small airports go, who’s flown out of Thessaloniki airport? Very modern, very nice, and not much walking. As far the U.S. goes, LAX has some good viewing spots.
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