I was struck by the similarity between the celebrations in Washington & NY and the average footage of ullulating locals stomping on bits of American whatever from Somalia to the Balkans.

So was I.

Three spool, I have the greatest respect for the views that you hold, and, as thankfully, we don’t live under an Al Qaeda sponsored dictatorship, you have the right to hold and express them. A pity that the ‘gentleman’ that you seem to think should benefit from the values that we hold dear, should have expended so much time and effort to destroy them. As a rule, I have no time for the US government, although I have nothing but admiration for the American people. But this time Washington got it right, and I salute them for it. This man was a monster, and had total contempt for the lives of innocent people, and worse, for his own fellow Muslims. If getting rid of him in this way entails a suspension of standards and beliefs that we hold dear, sometimes, for the common good, thats how it has to be, and I have no problem with that.

There is no need to “celebrate” the death of OBL. Would you feel the same if one of al-Qaeda killed on our soldiers and were seen celebrating about the fact?

They did exactly that, after their ‘heroes’ killed a couple of thousand innocent people in New York.

Oh, what a beauty that craft is! Many thanks for posting.

Is it just me, but is the term “celebrate” every so slightly distasteful? I don’t find any celebration in the killing – or assassination depending on your viewpoint – of another person, regardless of how evil they are.

Also, sure he is worth more alive than dead, no?

What do I know, I must lead a sheltered life.

I dare say that very many of the relatives of the 9/11 ‘assassinations’ found the celebrations exhibited by extremists and their sympathisers in certain parts of the world, a little distasteful too. I know I did. As one of the world’s great religions, damned if I can remember which one, puts it ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ or something similar. As an atheist, I don’t think I would be qualified to argue with that. Whats done is done, and picking over the bones will not change anything, and nor thankfully, will it bring him back..

I don’t think there’s much I can add to whats already been said by most here. I’m also glad that he is no more, and if it gives solace and a sense of closure to the relatives of the 9/11 victims, then so much the better. I guess we’ll never know, but it would be interesting to know wether on not our own intelligence services were involved in this event. For now we can celebrate, and rightly so, but I’m sure we all realise, that we should not be too self satisfied and complacent, the menace is still out there.

Oh look at all those Gulfstreams! Its just too too much for me;) Seriously though, some very nice images there.:)

Is this not a logo from the British Olympic Association? British Airways would presumably not be allowed to use it without the BOA’s permission. I am not sure if the BOA would authorise its use beyond special promotional use around the olympics.

I always liked the Chelsea Rose design quite a lot. Maybe they can go for that one.

You may very well be right about the ownership of that logo. As I have no interest in any sport at all, I really hadn’t thought about that. Shame though, IMO, that or something very similar to it would seem ideal.

C’mon Sandly…..lets have it;)

Caught an interesting item on Watchdog last night. Apologies if this has been covered before, but it was news to me, having been out of aviation for some time. Thomson, and I hear they’re not alone, now charge a £5 fee for the ‘luxury’ of being able to sit together with friends or family! I don’t remember wether this is per pax, or per booking. What next?..an additional fee for using the terminal? Oh sorry, thats already been done by a certain British airport charging pax to go airside:eek: amazing! As far as the seating fee is concerned, when I was involved with check in, we used to receive passenger service messages a day or two before a flight with seating requests, group travellers, special passenger needs, wheelchair/ambulifts etc and pax with special dietary requirements. Seats were assigned/blocked off in the system as needed. For everyone else it was first come first served, so to have the best chance of all seating together, it was a case of ‘the early bird catches the worm’ Eventually of course, arithmetic cuts in and you had a situation where towards the end of the check in period, people were inevitably split up. Usually, the cases of parents and their children being split up were usually resolved on board, although it was sometimes only possible to get kids in proximity to their parents. Well maybe this is common knowledge, but as I say, it was news to me.