I must have my own flight simulator!
This week I was lucky enough to visit WestJet headquarters in Calgary. As part of my trip they treated me (and @AbFabSkyLife and @SarahDeveau) to some play time in a 737-700 simulator. This was my first time in a simulator and it was fantastic. It took a while to get to grips with the beast...
Air Canada Top Tier: getting things done with Twitter
While packing for a recent trip I noticed that my Air Canada Elite luggage tags had mysteriously disappeared from both my laptop bag and my wheel-aboard suitcase. After spending a few minutes trying to figure out what had happened I decided that it didn’t matter and that I would just jump onto aeroplan.com and request...
Massive overhaul at Qantas
Qantas has announced an overhaul of its international operations to try to right the ship from the tough position it currently sits in. These changes were announced in a document entitled “Building a Stronger Qantas” released to investors on August 16th. Having read the document (twice) my outsider’s assessment is that there appears to be...
Canada and Brazil sign open-skies-like agreement
As expected, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office announced on August 8th that a new treaty bringing greater liberalization of air ties between Canada had been signed. Initially I assumed that this was an open skies agreement and that we might see an interesting flurry of aviation activity between the two countries. I did some...
The most expensive drink Air Canada has ever served
It wasn’t cognac. It wasn’t scotch. It wasn’t champagne. It was lemonade. Yes lemonade. On Wednesday Federal Court Justice Marie-Josée Bédard saw fit to award an Ottawa man $12,000 dollars in damages and a formal apology for the “pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of their vacation” caused by having to order a drink...
The birth of Air Canada Express
Last week Air Canada announced that in an effort to harmonize flying farmed out to regionals they would be unifying under the aegis of a new name – wait for it – Air Canada Express. I’m not suggesting for a second that creativity and uniqueness are always important but simply tacking on Express to an existing brand is just tired and...
The Southwest grounding: A media debacle
Three days ago Southwest grounded 81 of the almost 550 737’s in its fleet and the North American media simply lost its mind. I’m sure that those on board flight WN 812 were very, very scared - and with good reason - but the way the media has played this story and driven home messages...
The passenger-flight attendant charter
Passengers love to complain about flight attendants and flight attendants seem to love to reciprocate. Spend just two minutes searching aviation keywords on the net and I guarantee you will find endless complaints by both parties. While this attrition is never going to go away entirely, there are things both sides can do to minimize...
Turmoil in the Maghreb and Arabia: The aviation slant
Like any major news story or world event, the turmoil thundering across the Maghreb and Arabia has seen some interesting stories with an aviation slant come to light. The kinds of stories people wouldn’t ordinarily know or care about. Tunisia During the recent uprising, a remarkable story unfolded. A pilot by the name of Mohamed...
