BHX-AUH in economy on a Gulf 767 is fine. 6-7 hours is my threshold personally: I could put up with it.

A lot of such traffic is for connections through AUH, which is trying to get rid of a reputation as DXB’s poor relation (connections wise!)

Many a time I have boarded a 747 using steps. It isn’t that bad actually – there’s more to see, you can smell the fuel (hmmmmmm!) and you get to have a good look all round you.

But the busses are awful. they are always packed full and it’s like sardine city.

Once, I was bussed from the terminal at MAN to a waiting aircraft. The plane was very close to the terminal: half a bus length :confused:

What we need, is accountants who care for their employees, can deliver a sound business plan that calls for a excellent service to their customers, and accountants which can turn ina profit at the end of the year…

Put it this way: when you train as an accountant, all your exams are tilted towards the “stakeholder” view: try and keep everyone happy. Then in your finals, you’re told to forget all that P.C. codswallop and protect your shareholders! A view which, incidentally, is a legal requirement if you’re familiar with the Companies Act.

Be that as it may, nobody will get anywhere buy ignoring staff and customers, as in the long term such a focus on costs/profits will lead to lower shareholder returns. What is needed is balance and good judgement.

Don’t BA operate their A321s to some hairy desitnations, like Syria and Sudan?

They must be pretty demanding in terms of range and hot/high.

Immigration is just a beaurocratic formality. The gits just exist to annoy travelers.

In reality, you have entered a country when you set foot on its soil. The only purpose of immigration is formalise your entry or to detect errors (eg. denying someone entry). There may also be conditions attaching to your entry, which would not be noted or observed if you didn’t stand in line for a rubber stamp and an interrogation.

As an aside, passports themselves are nothing special. They’re just bits of paper which confirm your identity. If you could confirm your identity some other way, that would be OK. If you forget your passport, you can sometimes travel anyway: the airline will call immigration in your destination and ask them for the green light.

On this basis, British visitors into much of Europe in the 1800’s didn’t need a passport: everyone knew they were British, and in those days, no one thought to ask too many questions – the only function of a passport was to confirm nationality, which happened anyway when the visitor opened their mouth!

I blame the beancounters 😡

The sooner real people are back in control of airlines in stead of accountants, the better

If accountants ran more airlines the world would be a better place!

Hmmm….not strictly aviation related.

But for my 2p worth, I agree with Bmused55. Brtish products wouldn’t be my choice, with a few notable exceptions. The Europeans build ATR’s and BMW’s. We build ATP’s and Rovers! No argument there over “quality”.

Both companies are excessively subsidised. The payments B receives for government work are hardly “commercial” rates – the defence industry is famously corrupt. Can you name a project that hasn’t been 20 years late and £9,000,000,000,000,000 over budget? B also receives sales help from the government to a greater extent than A (simply because their government is more powerful).

However I feel that A is subsidised to a greater extent than B. The Europeans in general, especially the institutions, model themselves on Nigeria.