LOOKING BACK – GOING FORWARD
Many of us are contemplating international travel changing dramatically. For some the potential demise of cheap fares and budget airlines are a disaster. Before looking forward I would just like to rewind and share my best experiences and ones that were memorable for other reasons.
Longest Flight
Singapore to Newark on Singapore Airlines
When I flew, this was the world’s longest flight taking 18 hours 25 minutes on the outbound and extra 20 minutes on the return. 9,500 miles passed remarkably easily with the fantastic cabin crew, food and movies. The aircraft was an A340-500 with a two-class configuration: Long Haul Business Class and Premium Economy.The lack of sleep, so I am told, led to my very erratic behaviour when I checked into my New York Hotel!
The Fastest
Concorde to/from JFK. Flying on this iconic aircraft cannot be beaten.
Round the Houses
LHR to Antananarivo (Madagascar) via Moscow on Aeroflot with stops at Cyprus and Aden in economy. Highlights: being woken to receive a certificate when crossing the Equator, the and good Georgian wine. Less good: observing the bullet holes in the Aden transit lounge and discovering I had no life jacket midway through the flight.
Best Cabin Crew Response
Flying from Entebbe (Uganda) back to Brussels on Sabena. I suggested to the stewardess that the food was not great; she smiled and said, “it was worse last week!”
Best Transit
Flying from London City to JFK via Shannon on a BA A318. At my date of travel there were two of these aircraft in the fleet, there is now only one. The configuration is 32 business class seats. The outbound flight has to stop at Shannon to refuel for the hop across to JFK with US entry clearance done there. The great thing was because there were no other transit passengers from other flights at this time, the Irish security staff along with the US Immigration Officers actually had time to chat with the passengers.
HAVING GOT THAT OUT OF THE WAY WHAT NEXT?
The media is currently full of speculation about the future of airlines and accusation over late payment of cancellation refunds.- The airlines and IATA along with other trade bodies are expressing concern at new isolation measures and social distance on the viability of their operations.
- Airports are asking for global consistency in the application of rules on health checks and safety measures on the ground.
- Airline and airport suppliers are no doubt doing their own lobbying.
- Travel companies such as TUI are moving toward downsizing and “reinventing the holiday”.
- Hotel chains are reviewing their policies and practices along with the viability of their operations.
- Insurers are making noises about travel insurance pricing in the future.
- The rest of us move from hesitation through pessimism via unfounded hope and back again…
Watch this space!
Stuart McAdam
TheMcAdamee ~ Long Haul Journeys ~