Hope you enjoy Thai. I flew on them ages ago, it was an A300 from Bangkok to Phuket in the late 80’s. I vividly remember it because Phkuet was full of military types with tanks everywhere – I was a little disconcerted to say the least.

Are you heading down to Phuket? Great place, although other places like Pattaya and Chiang Mai are also worth a visit. Bangkok itself is very interesting, but you’ll need a break after spending time there!

I’m going to Zambia. Tickets were booked last week:

IOM-London City, Flybe. Aircraft – Dash 8-300
Heathrow-Lusaka, British Airways – B777-200
Lusaka-Kitwe, Zambian Airways – Beech 1900D
Ndola-Lusaka, Zambian Airways – Beech 1900D
Lusaka-Heathrow, BA – B777-200
Lnodon City-IOM, Flybe. Aircraft – Dash 8-100/200

I pay £40 a month for ADSL, which works reasonably but isn’t wonderfully fast. A bit pricey, even if the installation and equipment are paid for by the government over here in the Isle of Man.

Tescos….yes, empty shelves. But when they are realy busy, they restock their shelves causing bottlenecks in the aisles. It annoys me a lot, but not nearly as much as when there are queues at the checkout but only half of them are open. I usually leave it 3-4 minutes, then just walk off. I’m sure my ice cream or frozen food defrosts everywhere, but it just serves the stupid shop right!

Oh, OK. But surely airlines would publicise these cases, for their deterrent value?

Also, T5:

You have to bear in mind that in a bar/pub, the licensee will get into big trouble with the police for serving somebody who is already intoxicated. I’ve witnessed countless cases where cabin crew simply serve, irrespective of the fact that a passenger has had too much. So airlines themselves need to take a long hard look at what their staff do. It’s amazing really, if you are even slightly drunk on the ground they sometimes won’t let you fly. But once airborne, they wil just serve and serve and serve…

I just think that airlines ought to be more proactive. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming them – it is the passenger who is being disruptive and the fault is entirely theirs. But by the same token, a few easy and cheap measures could make life easier for everyone:

1. DO NOT serve passengers who are already intoxicated!

2. Serve more water. Some airlines these days just give you a bottle of Evian or something in your seatpocket when you board. A great idea.

3. Serve nicorette patches onboard (or sell them).

4. Have a snack trolley inbetween meals to give people something to do with their mouths.

4. Basically, try to defuse the situation as much as you can reasonably do so.

Never flown with Delta, but in my experience the LHR-MAN shuttle is truly awful for parting me with my checked luggage.

I’ve lost bags on several occassions with both BA and BMI. Last time, I flew LIN-LHR-MAN on BMI, and had a 3 hour wait in transit at LHR. Still, with all that time, they manage to loose my luggage.

It does annoy me massively, because I don’t live in Manchester. I was staying overnight there, and catching another flight the next day to home. It took BMI 20 hours to repatriate my bags from LHR (and as usual, one of the bags was damaged).

Nowadays, I do not use LHR for long haul flights unless I have no alternative. The airlines (BA, BMI) have conspired to deny passengers the ability to connect, by this systematic loosing of luggage 😡 I also tend to take stuff on board with me, probably to the annoyance of the cabin crew!

100% agree. Unfortunately the airlines tend not to deal with those bad passengers! Exactly how many court cases have there been….?

On the other hand, they do tend to overreact to a lot of innocuous things – like the famous Scottish diversion to Cardiff.

I’m at that stage in my career where I want to try something else, so an Air transport masters looks appealing. What are the entry requirements – I have a BA in Business Studies and will shortly be a chartered certified accountant. Do you need experience in the airline/travel industry to be accepted?

Also – Cranfield has a management school too, teaching MBA’s doesn’t it?

My other option is to go for an MSc in financial regulation, or the Institute of Directors’ chartered director qualification. Neither has quite the same appeal, if you know what I mean!

Saab – it would be a brave investor who was happy with 49% control. I know SIA did it with Virgin, but in general if I was an airline CFO or CEO, I wouldn’t like it.