V5 ought to be along within the next month or so I reckon.

I can’t think of any UK airports which are not included, although Sheffield City has never been in any release to date. There’s a good chance it will be rectified in v5.

STN and LTN are bad airports in the software, the demand statistics are unrealistically low so you’ll never get good loads. LHR gives great loads, as does MAN and a few others. Never tried LGW.

Well even if the US government would allow a foreign entity to purchase a stake in AA, it would be a risky move! Some might say that all you’re buying is a lot of debt and liabilities.

Far better to actually start a new carrier in the US, or maybe purchase a stake in a smaller carrier and inject cash and management teams into it to grow it into a major ally. I think America West looks good for such a plan.

Anyway – back to Alliances. Persuading SQ to join Oneworld would be a helluva coup, but I don’t think it is likely. What would SQ gain by this?

When I landed at KEF on Tuesday, the spoilers were deployed for ages during the descent – about 5 minutes. First time I’ve noticed that.

RE: Would Qantas Consider Leaving OneWorld?

I fail to see the rationale behind QF leaving Oneworld for Star.

1. A lot of the Star members are either heading for bankruptcy or there exists severe doubts as to their financial stability:

United,
Varig,
Air Canada

2. Some of the members are frankly lightweight, by comparison to Oneworld. They both have some little members, but Star seems to be worse off in that regard.

3. What can Star do for QF that Oneworld cannot do?

4. Each alliance has high exit costs, in terms of reservation and linkage systems and so on. As one of the fabled “bean counters” I would say that these costs should not be underestimated. Extra management time is also going to be consumed by any mucking around with Star.

RE: SAS

All airlines do that.

With British Airways it has always been the routes to “dark” Africa (as opposed to South Africa or Northern destinations like Egypt) that got lumped with the piggiest aircraft and rudest staff.

RE: What aircraft will I be on?

I picked up the tickets and yup, the carrier is Astraeus. Shame really, another bloody 737!

Still, this trip is more for the destination than the journey, so it’s not especially relevant.

RE: Short-haul turboprops

Well the S360 is probably the most disliked aircraft of recent years, from a passengers’ perspective. People did/(still do) try to avoid flying on those things. I remember flying to Ronaldsway several times in the 80’s on S360’s. My hearing was screwed up for hours afterwards – noisy and especially, unpressurised.

The ATP is fine as a passenger – I know pilots seem to dislike it, but from the cabin I have no real complaints (apart from seat pitch).

Skypilot – no, I haven’t been to the museum yet. I take it you mean the one on the airport perimeter, near King William’s ?

RE: What ‘planes are stored at your neares big airport ?

A pair of ERJ-145’s have been stored in the open for about 9 months: G-EMBA and G-EMBB, both in half BA colour schemes.

There was a 748 with no engines and no flaps for ages, but it seems to have been restored to flying condition (or totally broken up).

The best I’ve seen (apart from BA Tridents all over the place in the UK) is the Comet parked up at LGW, minus engines and wings!