I like coarser beers.. like crown larger .. Fosters is too **** week to me… just like US Buddweiser (not the Checz one) like drinking water… Aussies hate fosters so much that they tried to sneak it back in under different name… can you guess which 🙂

Bondi is just like fosters.. over rated crap we Aussies managed to fool the world with, Brits in particular… while we keep our best stuff (beer or beach) for our self. Then laugh at silly Englishmen drinking can of fosters on Bondi.

With in cycling distance of Bondi there some great beaches , and with in 60-90km there are wonders.. just drive from Waterfall to Austinmeer to Thurull and down south 🙂

I use them as a source of amusement .. same as the people on the street that stop you. Depending on the mood I adopt one of the personas I invented just for the situation, like Igor the slow Bulgarian with very very poor English, or Klaus the horny German that hits on them if its a lady… Klaus has a gay brother Gunter who hits on the guys.

However this guys takes the cake.. pure gold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI

Nuclear tipped BVR AAM??? 😛

man, there is so much discussion. I think we need new thread for every month or even less. half of the posts will be ante_climax or scooters.

some news

New Command proposed to deal with 9/11 type situations in Mumbai

Good, the attacks Mumbai proved how inept Indian response service are, most of the first units on the scene were police with bamboo sticks and bolt action rifles. Brave as they are not a match for AK47 armed lunatic in body armour. It took almost 18hrs for special units to be sent in. Its just not good enough for country trying to even up to super powers

DJ;

Being the aviation and sector expert that you are, you of course know Qantas is not spelt with a ‘U’ Don’t you?

my bad.. though U could be the new Rating from Aussie public 😉

Qantas have employed overseas, so what? That’s what the market deems necessary to remain as competitive as possible. It streamlines operations immensely; for instance, having Qantas’ very own engineers is London is much more effective then subcontracting to BA like they previously did; having call centres in the USA to handle calls from the USA makes much more sense then having to have call centres open in Australia all night to cater for foreign callers. Having a base of UK cabin crew greatly increases reliability and reduces costs; much the same as Air NZ, BA, JAL, United, ANA, Cathay and many more airlines do.

Americans calling American centers is logical.. Aussies calling India is not, neither is whole IT section of QF which now operates from Delhi.. and even you did not comment on China.. good.

Our international Economy is no more cramped then most airlines, 31″ standard industry seat pitch – 32″ on the A380. This coupled with the market leading Premium Economy seat pitch of over 40″ in some seats and business class service in the W cabin.

What about your top competitors.. Singapore and Emirates?

The vast majority of passengers on our A380s love our new cabins, I’ve heard no complaints anyway and Airbus agrees that it is perhaps the most intelligent, practical and well thought out cabin they have put on the A380.

Intelligent practical and well thought out is what i think of Willys Jeep.. i would not want to drive in one for 10,000 Km.. id prefer something more comfy. 😉

Second most people are still swayed with whole A380 novelty hence they are impressed more by the aircraft then actual service and condition. What till most have chance to fly few time, and in particular when they see competition.

Believe it or not First Passengers don’t want to be closed off from the rest of the cabin when they have paid so much. Our new First Suites offer vast amounts of space and privacy without being shut off and the 1-1-1 layout certainly helps with the comfort compared to our competitors 1-2-1 equivalents.

Partly true, Paris Hilton sure wants to be seen sipping bubbly in first class and looking “important”, so do younger wealthy corporate types … dignitaries, Older wealthy corporate types , diplomats etc probably prefer “closed off ” setting.. so each to their own i say, not right or wrong here i guess.

The only reason Qantas’ safety record was damaged last year by mostly none events is because the media preyed on it. Sure the decompression was newsworthy but then again how comes Virgin Blue’s didn’t really make the news recently? The reporting of events such as 5 minute delays and blocked toilets by SMH is just beyond a joke.

Agreed, 5 min delay is now news.. neither is 50min.. 5 hrs probably is.. so is overshooting runway, redirection mid flight, altitude drops which cause injuries etc… oh and you got to love dog getting loose and eating wiring.

Australian’s aren’t looking to dump Qantas for the first alternate, they see QF as a trustworthy, strong, reliable and safe brand.

On news.com.au website story about Qantas CEO asking for patriotism from Aussies to fly national carrier was met by 436 comments.. 431 negative, of those two third very very negative. I mean even you must admit there is problem with flying Roos reputation.

Meanwhile V Australia has no national identity and already has a poor reputation because of its delays to service (albeit Boeings fault). I mean VA could have at least come up with an iconic logo?

just like first class dont care about “thongs” as you put it.. those in cattle carts do not care about “iconic logos” .. not anymore. They want decent meal, some entertainment , enough space not to cramp up, and a smile from cabin crew. It helps if planes take near or on time too. If VA offers that for better price, iconic roo is not helping you.

As for share prices hitting lows, well that’s what one would anticipate in a recession. Qantas’s share price though is a lot more then what can be said for Virgin Blue’s $0.235 current trading price. At just 40% sold VA isn’t thus far doing to well and neither is it’s big brother, come to think of it, none of the Virgin Group airlines seem to be performing? Hmmm…

Hmmmm… Credit rating lowered to Baa 2. Richard Bransons entire group including airlines is still on Aaa rating. 😉 It comes from difference that VA is owned by a billionare where as QTS owns billions .. 2.45 to be exact.

http://business.smh.com.au/business/moodys-cuts-qantas-rating-as-outlook-dims-20090220-8d9l.html

As for Thongs and women only toilets? Why would the vast majority of Business Passengers want thongs? In my experience, J passengers want good food, quality wines, caring but not intrusive service and on the whole want to be left alone to work or relax. They certainly don’t want thongs and I personally think the women’s only toilets will be seen as somewhat of an insult to their males clientele, especially before landing when all the men are queuing for the men’s room, I think this is a practice that simply won’t and can’t be upheld in reality. I am pretty certain Qantas already offers Vegemite, in fact I served it just this morning.

Agree with that one.. my hopes is only that they introduce Man’s only toilets as well… guys will be in and out in a jiffie .. ladies can line up for hours for all i care :diablo:

I think Qantas proved it’s commitment to Australian’s this week by donating $100,000 to the bushfire appeal along with commencing onboard fundraising.

Commendable. As is their offer to fly victims of Bali bombing home for free, and their support of Socceroos during qualifying round in U-R-Gay :p … former however is as much marketing ploy as patriotism but hey, i give credit where credit is due.

I understand your anger as an employee , for some reason i do not like it when media bags my company .. even though in private i bag them all the time. However some things ive said are part of a serious problem with QTS which has resulted in anger with in the public. In particular I am talking about shameless abuse of monopoly on QTS exclusive routes. LA one being the most obvious.

I fly fair bit, and my company usually pays for Buissines class, or these days premium economy where possible. On LA route it was only economy due to criminal rates Qantas/United charged… i flew once that route in economy to LA and it was the most miserable time i’ve had without gun pointed at me or shells exploding near. I sat next to lovely lady from San Antonia.. i even remember her name.. Aisha .. she was about size of a small hatchback, and during entire trip her lovehandles were rested safely in my lap.
We also had rather rude cabin crew who took about 15-30 min to get me my glass of water each time.. and snapped at me when i politely asked if i could pay any amount extra to purchase one of the buissines class meals, some airlines offer this. A polite ” I’m sorry we cant help you” would have been well received than sharp “NO!!” i got.

On the way back i decided to see if i could upgrade my ticket to buissines.. i was told it would cost additional eight grand.. so i called my company told them to cancel my flight, and book me Buissiness JAL from LA to Japan then to Aus which they did at half price what direct Qantas/United from LA was at the time.

Now VA is promising 5990 buissines to Syd to LA… ques where all my company is booking now. Qantas has lost sympathy with a heck of a lot of corporations whose employees fly LA route.. i honestly think VA will hurt them in that battle.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090212/120100348.html
Erm… what do Kazakhstan need a Favorit for exactly? It’s not like they had a major regional air power threatening them last I looked (well, aside from China, which is a tad out of their league), and I can hardly see them affording enough to make a proper defence network of Favorit batteries. Wouldn’t something like a Buk-M2E be a bit more practical?

When you have significant oil and gas reserves, plus when you are a hub for major regional pipelines… its not just regional powers that will be interested in you 😉

On serious side, its a part of new CSTO (Noradski) air defense setup.