Airlines

Connexion by Boeing is long dead. Now SITA and Airbus are trying a similar venture - Called OnAir - to allow passengers Internet access and - unfortunately - mobile phone access while en route to their destination.

Personally, I love to have Internet access on a long haul flight. But mobile phones? Please. I can’t imagine that a hundred stupid passengers calling their relatives would make for a relaxing flight. They’d have meaningful conversations like:

“We are on our way to Thailand!” (Yes, well, so you are one of a million, who gives a damn?)

“Yeah we are now over the ocean!” (And have been for an hour you baffoon…)

“Oh the food is terrible!” (Now there’s news…)

“This plane is really full, and we don’t have much room for our feet!” (Tell me about it…)

“Susy sends her regards!” (Can’t she just write a postcard instead of annoying me?)

Lufthansa have got it right. They’ve recognized that most (intelligent?) passengers would rather have their peace and quiet, and won’t allow mobile phones to be used on their flights.

The Air China flight to Beijing was very uneventful, if relatively comfortable. It arrived in Beijing on time. Even before the arrival, the airline prepares their passengers for the immigration formalities by handing out the appropriate forms and showing instructional films for them. It’s clear that China is not only a communist dictatorship, but can also look back on a tradition of thousands of years of bureaucracy.

I already had a visa for China. But I still had to fill out an Arrival Card, a Customs Declaration Form, and a Health Declaration Form. None are really complicated, and my neighbor on the plane told me not to be overly honest on the customs form. In the end, the few gifts I had brought would not remain, as the form put it, “in the territory”, as they would be carried on to Japan: so I told my conscience to go to sleep.

I wasn’t so surprised to learn that it was illegal to bring “deadly poisons” into China. I guess I should also have expected that it’s illegal to bring any printed materials, pictures, videos, or digital media into China that would be ‘dangerous’ to the country’s economic, political, cultural or moral well-being. Can someone please explain what that encompasses? All my belongings, including books, were apolitical, but could someone get arrested who carried a magazine that included an article critical of, say, Mao?

I hate dictatorships.

Another item I was surprised to learn was illegal to import into China: Used clothes. All of mine were fresh and clean, but is a returning Chinese really supposed to hand in his dirty socks at the Quarantine desk? I rarely come back to Germany with a suitcase full of clean clothes.

Anyway. The plane landed, and thus equipped with my filled out forms I entered China. The queue at the immigration check was insane. But, as predicted, nobody cared about my health form (empty) or my customs declaration form. They didn’t even pay me a second look.

I did have to pick up my luggage. And then check it in again. Beijing is not a transfer airport. It’s actually pretty easy to find all the required places, but it’s still a lot of hassle. I guess it saves them the customs / immigrations checks at other airports, but, well, it’s still very annoying, and I could imagine a big problem if you are in a hurry to catch a connecting flight. I seriously doubt the entire process can be done in less than 30 minutes (if there are no queues anywhere). Took me closer to an hour I think.

So I only had to catch the connecting flight to Qingdao. Waiting for it was interesting, because I was one of the very few European guys there. There were two or three people that looked like business travelers, and one small group of people consisting of a very fat guy with a really skinny Chinese girlfriend, and what appeared to be his two friends. Couldn’t help but wonder what she saw in him.

Boarding the flight to Qingdao meant going out on the airfield (a bus brought us to the plane). As I had expected, there was a haze all over the airport. No, not fog; Good old pollution. Yes, the stories are true, and yes, it’s worse than Jakarta. I would be back in Beijing later

So the big day came. I went to the airport - almost too late, because I had remembered the departure time incorrectly by 30 minutes. My taxi driver then drove me to the wrong terminal (I had told him quite clearly to drop me off at “Terminal 1B”. Terminal 2 doesn’t have a “B” area; something which I would expect every Taxi driver in Frankfurt to know) but I managed to arrive well in time.

When I boarded the plane, I was surprised to learn thatthe flight was an Air China / Lufthansa Code-Share. Surprised, because the Lufthansa agent had told me the ticket would cost 1600 Euros (yes, in Economy class) and I eventually bought the ticket from Air China for 800. Goes to show you that you can never trust an airline, and that shopping around for tickets is very well worth it.

I was lucky in that I got a pretty good seat: First row in Economy class. Not only did I had a little more foot space, but there were also no morons in front of me who could lean back all the way. I’ve never understood that, by the way: Sleeping in an airplane is still uncomfortable as hell, and you torture the guy behind you by leaning back. Maybe that’s the purpose of it.

So compared to my KLM flights to Asia, Air China already had managed to secure a huge lead. Unfortunately, that ended right there. The food was just as bad as on the KLM flights, and the service, well, what service?

There is only one thing I want to mention quickly: The in-flight entertainment. The movie they showed was a movie about ancient China; I didn’t follow it from the beginning and I am not sure what the title is. I think the basic plot is that the Emperor is trying to poison his wife, and various people (their sons and two women) attempt to save her. One of the sons even stages a revolt to accomplish this. Anyway, the notable thing about the movie is the violence level. We’re talking about a flight that has “all ages” in the audience. But in the movie, people got impaled, beheaded, cut down by swords, slaughtered by barrages of arrows, and beaten to death. The entire thing was very well filmed but I can not help but wonder how this got past the airline censors.

Japanese Airlines (JAL) has banned bulldogs on its flights after several of the animals died. Apparently, bulldogs are particularly vulnerable to high temperatures.

The European Union has banned all Indonesian Airlines from European skies.

The United States and the European Union have agreed upon a new deal about storage of flight passenger data. No details are available, but it looks like the data will be stored for 15 years.

Well, yesterday’s booking problem was only temporary and I just bought my ticket. China, here I come! - Well, in two months.

My next trip will take me to China and Thailand. It’s scheduled for late August and early September - three weeks in total. I’ve made a rough plan, with enough details that I wanted to buy my plane tickets today. And it turns out that Air China can’t sell any tickets. My travel agency said they don’t really know what the problem is, but no reservations for Air China are “going through” at all at the moment.

Tried calling Air China, but of course all their lines are busy. The Air China website isn’t exactly a masterpiece either, and it doesn’t have any kind of reservation system.

I’ll try again later, or tomorrow, but this is quite aggravating.

The BBC reports that a 737-400 belonging to Garuda Indonesia has exploded after landing in Yogyakarta. Reportedly, only 2 people were killed. One eye witness said that people tried to get their hand luggage before leaving. Tragic, really. But I am not so surprised. I have been on Indonesian planes (AdamAir) when I visited the country last year. Indonesians simply do not seem to have any appreciation for what being on an airplane means for emergencies. I think for them it’s just like being on the subway.

With all the recent problems it seems clear that Indonesia has a serious public transportation safety problem - especially as it relates to aircraft. Hopefully they will begin to crack down on this soon.

The BBC reports that British Airways cabin crew intend to strike if the company doesn’t compromise on their demands. The strike dates have been set for January 29th - 31st, and could likely cause great disruption for BA flights on those days.

Two British Airways jets have tested positive for traces of radiation, the BBC reports. Passengers who traveled on the planes served the London Moscow will be contacted by BA, a spokesperson said BA had been advised that the risk to public health is “low”. Update: British Airways has set up a hot line for customers at +44 191 211 3690.

After announcement of the planned shut-down of Connexion there is some bright news for us geeks who would not want to be cut off from the rest of the world while vacationing.

Lufthansa Systems will install internet- and entertainment systems on AIDA cruise ships, the company announced in a press release.

The system will provide passengers with Internet access from their cabins, which will also offer travel information and the opportunity to book excursions. The entertainment system will offer radio, tv, and on-demand movies and audio. The entire system will use satellite based connections.

The technology was originally developed for the FlyNet platform, which provided wireless Internet service on board of Lufthansa planes. LH Systems is partnering with Tomorrow Focus AG for the content, and with Meyer Werft for the hardware.

The BBC reports that Emirates will allow in-flight use of mobile phones as early as January 2007. I personally think this is a move in the wrong direction. It’s quite telling that the only other airline which has definite plans for something similar is the cheap carrier Ryanair.

The European Union has set new regulations for what can or can not be brought into the cabin of airplanes. Basically, the new rules put severe limits on the amount of liquids that can be carried. One good explanation of the new rules is over at the Lufthansa site.

The new regulations are effective as of today, November 6th 2006.

Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayerhuber told the German magazine ‘Capital’ that the airline does not intend to allow the use of mobile phone during flights. The Lufthansa boss likened mobile phone use to smoking, which is also prohibited as it would disturb other passengers.

As someone who enjoys peace and quiet above the clouds, I can only welcome this…

The Cambridge-MIT Institute has been looking at designs to build silent airplanes, the BBC reports.

Virgin Galactic has demo’ed a mockup of their planned spaceship which is based on SpaceShipOne.

I just found this rather interesting news story on BBC, and unfortunately I must say it is not quite unexpected. The BBC reports that the University College of London is developing a technology to tag and track passengers at an airport.

Dr Paul Brennan, an electrical engineer, is leading the tagging project, known as Optag.

He said: “The basic idea is that airports could be fitted with a network of combined panoramic cameras and RFID (radio frequency ID) tag readers, which would monitor the movements of people around the various terminal buildings.”

The plan, he said, would be for each passenger to be issued with a tag at check-in.

He said: “In our system, the location can be detected to an accuracy of 1m, and video and tag data could be merged to give a powerful surveillance capability.”

The article adds that the system is currently being tested in a prototype installation in an unspecified airport in Hungary.

This seems to be what the future holds. If you, as a fellow traveller, are as appalled by this as I am, you should raise your voice now - before this system is introduced and once and for all destroys any semblance of civil liberties we travellers retain.

As talks between the EU and US about data transmissions about plane passengers have run into problems, the BBC has an interesting article which includes all the data fields that the United States want to know about passengers - and which, until know, seem to have been transferred to them by airlines:

• Information about the passenger: name; address; date of birth; passport number; citizenship; sex; country of residence; US visa number (plus date and place issued); address while in the US; telephone numbers; e-mail address; frequent flyer miles flown; address on frequent flyer account; the passenger’s history of not showing up for flights
• Information about the booking of the ticket: date of reservation; date of intended travel; date ticket was issued; travel agency; travel agent; billing address; how the ticket was paid for (including credit card number); the ticket number; which organisation issued the ticket; whether the passenger bought the ticket at the airport just before the flight; whether the passenger has a definite booking or is on a waiting list; pricing information; a locator number on the computer reservation system; history of changes to the booking
• Information about the flight itself: seat number; seat information (eg aisle or window); bag tag numbers; one-way or return flight; special requests, such as requests for special meals, for a wheelchair, or help for an unaccompanied minor
• Information about the passenger’s itinerary: other flights ticketed separately, or data on accommodation, car rental, rail reservations or tours.
• Information about other people: the group the passenger is travelling with; the person who booked the ticket

Welcome to the brave new world of surveillance…

Virgin Atlantic has banned notebooks made by Dell and Apple from their flights:

As a result of the current problems being experienced by the Apple and Dell Corporations with some of the batteries fitted to some of their laptops, as a safety precaution and with immediate effect, customers wanting to use an Apple or Dell laptop on board can only do so if the battery is removed.

Virgin allows passengers to carry up to two especially wrapped/protected batteries in carry on luggage, but usage during the flight is not allowed. Notebooks can be used with the in-seat power sockets, but those are only standard in Business class.

Virgin states that these restrictions will be lifted once the security issue has been resolved.

My flight back home was not as bad as the one earlier in the year, from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam. There was a really fat guy next to me on the leg from Jakarta to KL, and to the right of him (at the window) a small but still somewhat chubby asian girl. The guy not only took up more than the width of his seat, he was also unable to hold still for even five minutes. I was ready to scold them when I saw that they were filling out a Malaysian immigration form for the guy. They would leave me in Kuala Lumpur, and I decided that I could stand the annoying man for an hour. So I did, and I was right about their departure in KL.

The second part of the flight, to Amsterdam, was more relaxed. Finally I had some luck with my seat neighbor. This time the guy was tall and slim and absolutely quiet - he either read a book or slept, and I must say I didn’t have any problems whatsoever. I declined KLM’s Pasta and I never got my tea with milk, but that was the worst that happened. Arrival in Amsterdam was again at an unholy hour. I had a Burger King breakfast and then spent a lot of time waiting.

I got home after an uneventful flight, but which had a nice view of Amsterdam after Takeoff. Landing in Frankfurt was on time and unspectacular. I decided to spend the money on a cab to get home - after so many hours, it seemed like a stupid idea to add another hour by going with the bus. One thing I noted was how empty the highways were. The last days of the worldcup, no doubt.

An uneventful trip back, all in all. I really enjoyed my time in Indonesia though. And I am sure I will return to East Asia sometime soon.

Connexion, Boeing’s in-flight internet service, is closing down due to lack of customers. The service will be phased out over time, and Boeing will work with customers to find alternate solutions. I had tested Connexion on a flight to Detroit. It was useable, but frustratingly slow. Still, the technology is cool, and having Internet on board of airplanes is something I wouldn’t want to miss. It’s hard to imagine that this technology might go the way of in-flight phones (which nobody ever really uses). Surely, someone will pick up the torch. We’ll see.

Have you used Connexion? What were your impressions? Should Boeing kill off the service or would you use a similar service in the future? Tell us your opinion!

After the British police announced that they have foiled a plot to blow up flights from the UK to the US, chaos has broken out as security measures at UK airports and at the channel tunnel have been tightened. Lufthansa and Iberia have cancelled flights to the UK. Inbound flights to Heathrow are delayed or cancelled. Carry-on luggage is no longer allowed and must be carried in clear plastic bags, which are distributed at the airports. Long delays, cancelled flights, and huge queues are to be expected.

The British Department of Transportation has issued a travel advisory on the issue; and the BBC has published a detailed list of the status of various British airports.

BBC’s Sean Coughlan has an intersting column about commuters who use high-speed trains or planes to commute internationally. He says that with new high-speed train routes and the cheapest airline tickets ever, some people take advantage of cheap housing and other benefits in one country while working in another. An interesting read.

The BBC reports that the European Union is to act on cheap airline tickets, where consumers are lured with low fares and then get confronted with additional fees after they decided to buy. I can only salute these efforts; I have been asking myself for a while now how such practices could possibly be legal.

I was just checking my site statistics, and I found that someone using Connexion by Boeing had accessed this website in June. That wasn’t me, of course. So I was very curious how someone might have found me from up in the air.

It turns out the person was googling for LH422. Presumably he or she was on the way to Detroit and googled for the plane he was in.

I’ll salute you, Sir, whoever you are! That was a truely Geeky thing to do - Hats off.

I am pleased to announce that my departure went without a hitch. I am currently about half-way to Detroit, blogging at 11500 meters above the Atlantic Ocean. I am connected via Lufthansa’s on-board Internet plan. It’s 27 US$ for the entire flight, but of course I just had to give it a try. It does work fairly well, but as expected it’s pretty slow. There are also disconnections now and then. It’s easy to set up (you really don’t have to configure much except disable your proxy settings, and set your notebook to use the Connexion WLAN) and well documented via the Lufthansa on-board magazine.

I don’t think anything gets filtered out. I am ssh’ing to my private servers without problems, so you could always tunnel whatever you want to access. Since anybody on the plane can listen in on what you’re doing, and since the connectivity is run by Boeing and thus routed via Seattle, using some form of encryption (vpn, ssh, whatever) is a very good idea. I’m still blogging directly though - but I’ll have to look into setting up an SSL host for this sort of thing.

Unless you’re on a budget, it’s pretty neat to have Internet on board an airplane. I think I am getting used to it pretty quickly… hopefully, other airlines will offer comparable solutions.

Finally, as an aside: If you book Business Class, you even get a power socket for your notebook. This isn’t available in Economy, however.

This past weekend, I had a unique opportunity to travel to [Toulouse]( http://wikitravel.org/en/Toulouse). Unique because the voyage included an organized tour of the Airbus company yards, with a special something thrown in for us at the end. Everybody can get a tour of Airbus, but as a bonus feature we got a sneak preview of the new Airbus 380. We weren’t allowed inside the hall where the beast was assembled; instead we were looking down from a visitor platform. And of course photography was not allowed.

Seeing the A380 for the first time in such a huge hangar fools you completely. You look down and you see, well, an aircraft. It takes a little while until you notice that those small crawly things on the wing are two technicians brooding over some schematics. Really impressive - and I cannot wait until the plane is finished and I will have my first flight on one.

Other than the A380, an Airbus tour is also highly recommended for any serious geek. It’s way too short, but interesting. I just wish they’d allow you to walk among the aircraft more.

Tolouse itself is pretty nice, clean, with several interesting buildings and the Canal du Midi is good for an extended walk. I doubt you could spend more than at most an extended weekend without being bored out of your mind however.

One final word of warning: Do not go to the Cité de l’Espace, unless you want to interest your young children in space flight. There is little to see and even less to do - it’s a waste of both time and money. And this comes from a guy who really loves spaceflight, too.

According to a BBC report the newly-founded “Virgin Galactic” will commercialize SpaceShipOne. The company hopes to send up to 3000 passengers into sub-orbital space over a five year period.

The BBC is carrying a story about how Ryanair plans to cut costs. It boils down to:

Seats will become non-adjustable, to cut down on replacements needed for reclining models, and there will no longer be a seat pocket, to reduce cleaning costs and turn around time.

Removing Velcro headrests could save the firm around £100,000 unless the items are used as a space for advertising.

…and they’re talking about making all luggage carry-on luggage. In other words, they are turning into the Rainbow tours of the sky. Uhm, not to badmouth Rainbow tours or anything, it’s just absolutely basic service and low, low prices.

Ah, I’ll stay with full fare for now :-)

Lufthansa is going to change the sales model in Germany; that is, they won’t bve paying the travel agencies any commision on flight tickets. Naturally, this change is causing quite a stir (link in German) with German travel agencies.

Now I don’t claim to know the details of the contract. As a customer, however, I like the idea. If I want to buy just a ticket, this is a commodity. If I want a ticket I’ll go to a few airlines’ websites, check prices, and buy whatever I feel is best. Simple deal.

However, when I want or need service, I’ll just call up a travel agent, give him the data, and expect him to make arrangements for me. I realize fully that this is a service that has to be paid for. What’s the difference between paying 190 euros for a ticket, or paying 170 euros for a ticket plus 20 euros service charge? None, that’s what.

Now, some smart travel agency person will probably point out that the ticket will cost 170 euros when bought directly from Lufthansa. Hey, guess what, that is already the case. My friend Michael recently inquired at a travel agency to get the prices for tickets to London for a specific date. I double checked on the Lufthansa website and the prices listed were roughly 25 euros less than what the travel agency had offered.

Basically, I view the travel agents’ complaints as an attempt to hide their own profits from the paying customer. I don’t really see any of it as justified.

(Disclaimer: I work for Lufthansa, but my views are my own. I am not involved in any way with the new policy.)