^ That "wing panel damage" - straight away thought of the Air France Concorde crash. <shudder>
^ That "wing panel damage" - straight away thought of the Air France Concorde crash. <shudder>
Flight attendants have become an increasingly recruited position by Vietnamese carriers
since the beginning of this year in order for future demand to be met.Representatives of Vietnamese airlines gathered for a vocational fair organized by the Vietnam Aviation Academy in
Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday last week.
Speaking at the event, Vu Thi Kim Cuc, deputy head of the flight training center of national carrier Vietnam Airlines, stated
that the airline had been aggressively seeking for new flight attendants since earlier this year.
About 430 fresh flight attendants have been recruited so far, Cuc said, adding that another 100 similar positions are expected to
be hired in October.
Despite the rising demand for cabin staff, the number of qualified applicants has been underwhelming, Bay said.
The trainees mainly lack soft skills, he said, adding that Jetstar will cooperate with the Vietnam Aviation Academy in improving
the qualifications of their students.
I have to disagee with a few point the article outlines.
For example, I see a lot of qualified applicants and soft skills on display below ...
Read the article at length here
I honestly prefer to be served by less distracting staff. Even gay male cabin crew, provided they are not too effeminate.
Just get me my coffee and stop blocking the toilet access with your trolly please.
The perils of cattle class on short haul eh.
^ Agreed unless they are so disenchanted that they pour scalding coffee on your zipper, deliberately.
Maybe that is time to go?
What is old is new again ...
Qantas extends Emirates deal, switches from Dubai to Singapore as Sydney-London stopover
Qantas plans to extend its partnership with Middle Eastern carrier Emirates for an additional five years.
Key points:
- Qantas expects benefits from its extended tie-up with Emirates of $80m a year
- Singapore to return as Qantas Europe stopover from March 2018
- "Qantas is now renegotiating from a position of greater strength" — aviation analyst Neil Hansford
However, it will need to once again seek authorisation from regulators, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
(ACCC), to continue coordinating pricing, schedules, sales and tourism, and code-sharing with Emirates.
The Australian airline expects the further five-year agreement will result in "net benefits of more than $80 million a year from 2019".
The Centre for Aviation's chairman Peter Harbison agrees that the continued alliance will be beneficial to Qantas."It will save a lot of money, because it won't have to compete with Emirates," he said."The best way is to join them."One notable change is that Qantas will drop Dubai as the stopover point for its Europe-bound flights.
Instead, it will revert to using Singapore as the transit point for its Sydney-London A380 services from March 25 next year.
More here
^ Also replacing an A330 from Melbourne with an A380, to connect at Singapore with QF1 from Sydney. Hopefully they will do that with smaller aircraft from some of the other capital cities too, some of which no longer have Qantas international services.
Great to see them recovering and fighting back - former CEO Geoff Dixon tried to sell Qantas to venture capitalists around 15 years ago IIRC, and the airline seemingly near went broke in more recent years - grounded their entire fleet without notice to force the unions hands.
You still won't get me in a 17.2 inch wide cattle class seat for 18 hours or so London - Perth though.
Passenger traffic at Don Mueang expected to hit 38m by year-end
The number of passengers travelling through Don Mueang airport is expected to hit 38 million by the end of this year, exceeding the target of 32 million, Don Mueang airport director Suthirawat Suwanwat said on Saturday (Sept 2).
Mr Suthirawat told INN news agency that a plan is underway for an old domestic passenger building at Don Mueang, one of the two airports serving Greater Bangkok, to undergo repairs so that it can be used to meet the number of passengers travelling through the airport which has continued to increase.
He said a survey is being conducted to assess a budget needed for the repairs.
The exact amount of the budget is expected to be known in January next year. After that a proposal for an additional allocation from the 2018 budget will be made. The allocation is expected to be available for disbursement by July, Mr Suthirawat said.
Passenger traffic at Don Mueang expected to hit 38m by year-end - Thai PBS English News
A nod to Dillinger who put me on to this guy ...
Oh ... do not view if adult language may offend
^ yet you'll drive for 12 hours in a clapped out Toyota Yaris to Bumfuck nowhere
^
Get it right Dill,
It's my 92 Toyota Camry innit. Just put a new motor innit, Goes like fook.
Besides that lot I stop every 15 minutes and fire down a Bong.
Fook flying EH, I'm high enough as it is.
onya Terrence
^
That will be Terence, one R.
Geez, to put that in perspective, Australia's busiest airport - Sydney - only did 41m last year. Next busiest after that I don't think even hit 30m. And Don Mueang is just Bangkok's secondary airport, mostly (only?) for budget airlines.
First time I ever went to Thailand - 1992 - I arrived at DMK, it WAS BKK airport back then of course. That organic, decomposing swamp odour that hits you there - it will always be "Thailand" to me that smell. That and the smell of blocked drains / stagnant water.
Just like stale piss smell will always be 'Paris'.
^ And spilled bong water will always be "Terry's Camry".
16 Thai airlines suspend their operations after failing safety assessments
By THE NATION SIXTEEN airlines registered in Thailand have failed safety and related regulatory assessments conducted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), requiring them to suspend operations until they get new Air Operator’s Certificates (AOCs), as authorities enforce stricter rules in accordance with requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The ICAO is due to send delegates to inspect Thailand’s new aviation safety regulatory system later this month or in early October, after which the agency is expected to consider lifting its “red flag”, which was imposed in 2015 due to safety concerns.
According to a government committee chaired by Deputy Premier Prawit Wongsuwan, Thai authorities had already issued AOCs to nine airlines under the new regulatory system, while another 11 airlines were in the process of applying for AOCs.
New challenges
Due to the Thai aviation sector’s rapid growth rate over the past decades, there have been concerns about safety and other issues facing a large number of airlines registered in Thailand.
In addition, the regulatory system needs to be overhauled to cope with new challenges resulting in the restructuring of multiple agencies, including the CAAT. As a result of failing to pass the CAAT’s assessments, all 16 airlines were ordered to suspend their service as of last Friday, in line with the ICAO’s regulations.
According to Colonel Sirichan Nga-thong, a spokesperson for Prawit, the ICAO had already inspected the safety and other related aspects at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang international airports as well as those of the CAAT in July.
The results are understood to be satisfactory with no significant safety or related concerns.
After ICAO delegates review the country’s overall aviation safety and regulatory system, the agency is expected to report its assessment within the next 60 days, especially regarding the status of the red flag affecting Thailand.
Thailand has faced a shortage of qualified personnel and training officials regarding aviation and safety issues following years of a boom in the aviation and tourism sectors.
The number of foreign tourists has increased rapidly over past decades to about 30 million this year.
16 Thai airlines suspend their operations after failing safety assessments
Twelve airlines to terminate international flights this month
Twelve airlines will have their international flights terminated pending an International Civil Aviation Organization inspection to free-up their Red Flag status.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), starting on Sept 1, 12 airlines that have not been granted Air Operator Certificates (AOC) will have to terminate international flight operations until the completion of the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) inspection.
Accordingly, the CAAT will be implementing three measures to provide assistance for the duration of the inspection.
These include allowing increased domestic flights not exceeding 7 flights a week, allowing direct sale of tickets to customers and finally negotiating with the Department of Airports Thailand and U-tapao airport for reductions of parking fees.
All these steps are aimed at providing reparation for loss of income while waiting for the ICAO to complete their inspection as well as reducing the impact on their employees.
CAAT however stipulated that these airlines must ensure that their customers are compensated for any inconvenience.
The ICAOs inspection is slated to begin at the end of this month and be completed by January of next year at which time, Red Flags will be lifted on airlines that pass.
Until today, 9 airlines in Thailand have passed the ICAOs strict Recertification Inspection regime and can now resume normal operations.
These include Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, NokScoot, NokAir, Thai Smile Airways, Lion Air and Sabaidee or New Gen Airways.
Twelve airlines to terminate international flights this month - Thai PBS English News
^^ Sadly, however dangerous these airlines are, if shutting them down forces people onto domestic buses or vans they'll be in even greater danger.
This probably isn't really news but it seems to be the only place to put a bit of a report on the National Carrier that so proudly presents itself as "British Airways".
I hadn't flown with them for 20+ years and have read numerous reports that they had degenerated a tad but WTF lets give it a go and see for ourselves.
So, 2 months ago we flew "Premium economy" BKK to LHR. Primarily cos the the timings worked well.
The flight was crap. Unmitigated crap. "Premium Economy" is simple cattle class with knives and forks and a bit more grog.
In-flight entertainment ? There wasn't any as the machine I got stuck with didn't work. It was restarted 3 times and then the Rubenesque and somewhat aromatic hostie recommended I change seats. By this time my wife was sound asleep and, being a gentleman, I just said forget it. The hostie did suggest that I write a letter of complaint.
Big fucking deal.
Food was mediocre, service was bland boring and brusque. You really got the impression that these people were not in the slightest bit interested. All they wanted was to get the grub out with the minimum of effort. We, the passengers were more of a hindrance to their gossipy chatting in the galley than anything else.
There's more but it's boring.
We arrived at LHR and no there wasn't a wheel chair as had been booked and that was that.
The return flight, 3 days ago, was in "Business Class" which I hoped and prayed would be better.
You guessed it. It wasn't.
Arrived at check in and it took 45 minutes to get our luggage checked. OK we had a lot but a bit of help would have been appreciated, especially as I'd requested it when I booked the flights. There was nothing, no help with the bags, no wheel chair and no real interest.
Luggage finally checked and a bill of 400 quid paid (fair enough really, we had a lot of kit) we set off for a well deserved relax in the lounge with 3 hours until the flight.
Having been assured that it was only a 5 minute stroll to the lounge we set off.
30 minutes later, after 3 escalators and backtracking twice we arrived - buggered. No, we didn't get lost we simply misinformed.
The lounge was packed. Food was basically crappy curry, baked potatoes (which they ran out of) and beans. Plenty of grog but my grog days are gone. Still they did have electricity so we could charge kindles and the like.
They'd assured me that they would come and get me with a chair at the appropriate time so I took my drugs and dozed.
2 hours later I'm shaken awake by an unpleasant little man who tells me they've been calling my name over the tannoy for an hour and why haven't I responded?
My wife hadn't dozed and swore blind that no messages had been heard. The little bloke got agitated and said it was impossible - loudly. This was a mistake as various other passengers confirmed that seated where we were there was no tannoy.
Abashed, he said we must rush. So, into a chair and off we fled. The plane awaits.
Once we'd got on the bus, traveled God knows where for 35 minutes to be then confronted with steps to the plane. "National Carrier" my ass.
Got up the stairs, found our business class cubicle things and took more drugs.
OK, we're good. She's got the window seat and I've got the aisle. We're facing each other with a window affair that can be raised or lowered as required. Except of course it didn't work. Luckily we aren't adverse to looking at each other cos there was no way the damn window would stay up. Other passengers were having the same problem.
A warm, mediocre champagne was served by a dour looking lump of a crew member who was at least consistent. She didn't smile for the entire duration of the flight.
Food came. Over cooked steak, boiled vege, and I can't remember what else.
The in-flight entertainment was like watching TV through a bowl of slurry. I asked if this was normal. "No", she said. 'I'll ask Kenny, his father is an engineer".
I kid you not.
Kenny arrived and smacked the monitor with his fist. Nothing changed. Kenny smiled at the other three crew that had gathered around and informed them that "sometimes it works".
It got reset 4 times and remained nothing more than a headache inducing blur. Thank God for Kindle, yet again.
Sleep was attempted but, once again the incessant gossipy chat from the crew in the galley prevented that.
2 hours before our arrival at BKK all the lights were suddenly switched on causing a number of complaints.
The "breakfast" was then served. We'd opted for the "full English" to see what it was like and it was absolutely fucking awful. So hot it was painful, a lump of yellow muck that was, allegedly egg, some greasy half boiled bacon........ etc etc.
Positively the worst airline food I've ever experienced and I've tried a few.
Coffee? Only when we managed to get the "lump" to get us some. Refill? sorry no time.
Landing in BKK we did at least get a bridge to disembark through plus a smiling Thai guy with a chair who couldn't have been more helpful.
He took us all the way through, helped with the masses of luggage and finally deposited us at the the Bangkok Airways check in desk and refused a tip.
The Bangkok Airways staff were great. They did us a deal on the excess luggage, got blokes to help lug it to the oversize baggage place, a chair to their lounge with smiles and care. A delight.
So, there you go.
British Airways never again. A disgrace. A waste of money. An embarrassment.
End of story.
pip pip
Last edited by crackerjack101; 09-09-2017 at 07:51 PM.
Nice to know BA standards have remained the same 15 plus year's since I used them last.People knock TG but not had a problem with any of their flights since they put the A380 on the LHR/BKK route apart from one delayed flight,2 hour's not to delayed. Going on the redeye flight soon from LHR newish A350 on the route then hopefully will have another trouble free flight.
Fascists dress in black and go around telling people what to do, whereas priests... more drink!
Indeed. It was very disappointing.
Reports as you have penned here should be heeded.Originally Posted by crackerjack101
I just returned from US. As always I flew EVA elite class. Next time try EVA. I highly recommend them.
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