Mormons greet returning missionaries at Salt Lake City International Airport – Photo: Cory Doctorow | FlickrCC
I like flying, but it is also tiring. If I have had a few connections (perhaps some missed connections), a bumpy flight, long layovers, or an extra early wake up call, I’m worn out. When I land, I just want to get off a plane, grab my bags, and get home. I really don’t want anything to get in my way. As I’m walking down the concourse, the last thing I want is for people to hinder me. Get out of my way! You’re not here to greet me.
But, let’s consider both sides of an issue – how should groups behave as a welcoming party at an airport. Sure there are some single folks waiting for their loved one and you also get the families waiting for a child flying by themselves. Going a bit larger (and louder) you can find military service members, who have been gone for a long time, receiving a wonderful “welcome back.” All these people are deserving of welcomings, but can it go too far? How can an airport make it a win-win for everyone? And is there a limit where people should be respecting other passengers? Let’s take a look at an airport close to me, the big homecomings at Salt Lake City International Airport.
The departure lounge for Gate 41 at LAX, for American’s inaugural flight to SYD. #AvGeeks cringe at this banner…
Updated 12/22/2015 @ 4:38pm PT
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With critters, music, food, gifts, and didgeridoos on hand, American Airlines celebrated its inaugural flight from Los Angeles to Sydney last Thursday, marking the first time the airline has directly flown to Australia from the contiguous 48 states with its own aircraft, this route featuring its flagship Boeing 777-300ER.
But even hard-core AvGeeks would be hard pressed to focus on the 777 on the other side of the windows when there was a baby kangaroo (WHAT?!)…
Photo: Department of Homeland Security
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Image: Department of Homeland Security
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The entry foyer on the new Swiss 777-300ER – Image: Youtube | Swiss
Swiss International Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, will take delivery of their first of nine new Boeing 777-300ERs (77W) on January 29, 2016. Miriam Oliviera, the airline’s Head of Marketing & Public Relations for the Americas, confirmed the date in a phone conversation on Thursday.
The 777 series is a new addition to Swiss’s previously all-Airbus fleet. Currently, the Zurich-based carrier relies on the Airbus A330/A340 series wide-bodies for long-haul service, as well as the Airbus A320 series for its narrow-body fleet.
34R, in Doha – ready for takeoff and hopefully a peaceful flight
In my professional capacity, I recently gave a presentation to a group of stakeholders in the travel industry about the law on unruly and disruptive airline passengers. I took a gamble on introducing the subject under the strap line ’œnuts and basic bitches’ to several bemused faces in the audience, who naturally wondered where this was going, and what the link to disruptive passengers would be. The gamble seemed to pay off, as I talked them through two high-profile incidences of allegedly unruly passengers which were widely reported in the media. I wanted to take a deeper look at recent incidents and also explore some of the rules and regulations surrounding mid-air incidents.
The first one involved the former Korean Air executive, Ms. Cho Hyun-ah, who forced a Korean Air flight bound for Seoul in December 2014 to cease taxiing and return to the gate at New York’s JFK airport to have a member of the first class cabin crew ejected. It is alleged that the crew member served Ms. Cho macadamia nuts in the bag and not on a plate. Dubbed ’œnut rage’, the furious Ms. Cho took umbrage with the hapless flight attendant and allegedly forced him to kneel in apology, before throwing him off the parked aircraft. It then pushed back again and continued its journey on to Seoul.
It caused considerable scandal in South Korea, and led to Ms. Cho being fired, arrested, and briefly imprisoned. I would say she paid a stiff consequence, but not everyone does.
