Airbus 380

Quote: Pacomartin

So 3:44 saving outbound and 2:39 saving inbound for 95% increase in price. Or you are paying $1214 for each hour you save.

I don't think that supersonic fares will ever be acceptable to most CFO's.

Last June an analyst said that United should close it's hub at IAD and put all traffic at EWR. I wonder if he is taking into consideration that EWR is a badly overcrowded airport.


Round the World Fares
http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares/round-world-fare/round-the-world-fare-tc/

I was quite surprised at how high that Delta fare was. The corporate discount was tiny.
If the guy was flexible on days, probably find something on Skyteam with a better price.
As usual, person not very flexible.
The United was deeply discounted due to contracts between the client company and United.
I actually saved the above link for RTW round the world fares. I get questions about those fares sometimes.
Clients hear about these fares and think they must be a good deal, they really are not.
I hardly ever sell those fares, very hard to change and some changes not allowed. and a lot of passengers don't qualify.
The UA and DL fares I was looking at were Round trip fares to Asia. Fly into one part of Asia, SIN and fly back from another part of Asia, BOM, still qualify for round trip fares instead of the sometimes expensive one way fares.
I book quite a few clients round the world but sell them in a way that are still competitive price wise with RTW fares but much easier to change.
1 ticket multiple stops can sometimes be a challenge to change in the middle of travel
Several separate tickets travelling around the world is always easier to change in the middle of travel.
My previous post example I sold 2 tickets, UA Roundtrip Asia business class ticket and a Jet Airways 9W one way ticket.

Quote: terapined

I actually saved the above link for RTW round the world fares. I get questions about those fares sometimes. Clients hear about these fares and think they must be a good deal, they really are not. I hardly ever sell those fares, very hard to change and some changes not allowed. and a lot of passengers don't qualify.

I think the Round the World fares were invented more for leisure travelers. They sell them in business and first class, but I think that is for the leisure traveler with money. They used to require a minimum stay of 14 days (which seem to be 7 days now) so that it was hard to use for an actual business trip.

You didn't comment on the analyst who recommended that United close it's international hub at IAD and put all traffic at EWR.

Wow close IAD
I had no idea this is being considered.
I like it because it gives me choices. I book it for Europe, GRU and JNB. I like having it just in case low fares sold out to China through ORD.
If it closes, oh well. I am so used to lots of change in this industry. Just roll with all the changes.
This really affects pilots and locals in that area. I hear pilots not thrilled with DCA and its a pretty busy airport already.
Locals always like nonstop.
There is nearby BWI, an international airport that I don't think I have ever in my life booked an International flight to or from.

Quote: terapined

Wow close IAD I had no idea this is being considered.

In Jun 2014, Imperial Capital analyst Bob McAdoo reduced his rating for United to "in-line" from "outperform," and cut his one-year price target to $47 from $55. At the close Thursday, United shares were at $41.51, down 30 cents for the day, but still up 9.7% year to date.

It should be noted that Wall Street analysts love it when flying becomes as uncomfortable as possible because the more desperate people become the more they will pay top fares to be as jammed into tin cans. They may not be recommending the best thing for the industry as many foreign airlines will be happy to swoop in and take care of people in comfort for more money. EWR is a seriously overcrowded airport and adding a runway (as recommended) means practically tearing the entire airport down and rebuilding from scratch.
See To Expand, Airports May Need Radical Alterations, Report Says from the NY Times.

No one at United thought it was a good idea, but they talked to their friends in Europe who all said they loved landing at Dulles.

It should be noted that United initially expanded operations at Dulles to compete with Continental at Newark. If you are a bean counter, it never makes sense to have two hubs 200 miles apart.

Quote: terapined

Locals always like nonstop.

And the people and corporations who are in Charlotte are the luckiest people, proportional to their population, in the country.

Quote: terapined

There is nearby BWI, an international airport that I don't think I have ever in my life booked an International flight to or from.

Well you wouldn't because it's international flights are primarily cater to the leisure traveler with the exception of obligatory BA flight to London which goes from most major airports.

British Airways London–Heathrow
Condor Seasonal: Frankfurt
Air Reykjavík–Keflavík (begins May 8, 2015)
Southwest Airlines Aruba, Montego Bay, Nassau, Punta Cana, San Jose del Cabo (begins June 13, 2015), San Juan
Air Canada Express Toronto-Pearson
Delta Air Lines Seasonal: Cancún (begins June 6, 2015)

Seasonal Air Charters
Apple Vacations operated by Xtra Airways - Cancun, Cozumel, Punta Cana
Apple Vacations operated by Aeromexico - Cancun
Vacation Express operated by Bahamasair - Freeport

I never understood the supersonic restriction.

I've had the pleasure of fishing Emerald Isle, NC, which is juxtaposed to Camp Legeune. And we could see what I assumed were F-18's doing their drills, and certainly heard several sonic booms. They were from planes but a few thousand feet off the ground and maybe 5-10 miles away, and I have totally heard thunder that was louder. Even a distant thunderstorm or fireworks in the distance were about as loud as what I heard.

I can understand not buzzing the tower, but at 30k'+, what's the harm?

Not all sonic booms are created equal. One from a bullet, or the tip of a whip, isn't so bad.

I don't know how a fighter compares to the Concorde, I've never heard the Concorde's boom.

About three years ago the A380 was taken on a tour around South America

South American airlines have placed conservative orders for 40 Dreamliners from Boeing
LAN Airlines (Chile) 25 Dreamliners with 10 delivered
Avianca (Colombia) 15 Dreamliners with 4 delivered

It is very unlikely that they would take a risk on an A380.

Just watched the above video on youtube and noticed this video off to the side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xnTTjEkdD0
Its about the blown engine on a Quantas A380 flight.
I did not know about this incident.
Fascinating video with some great work by the pilots to land it safely.
Kind of scary because if anything happens in the future, not many airports have the long runways to help in landing a crippled A380.

Quote: terapined

Kind of scary because if anything happens in the future, not many airports have the long runways to help in landing a crippled A380.

See with the exception of the 37 B747's which average over 20 years old, all the USA airlines are flying only 19 jets configured with over 300 seats.

That Qantas flight 32 had 440 passengers (44 empty seats) and 29 crew. The failure was determined to have been caused by a misaligned counter bore within a stub oil pipe leading to a fatigue fracture.. The airframe had only been delivered less the year before, and was only the 8th one to be delivered to any airline (and the first to Qantas).

I still think the lawyers are saying it is too many people on one plane. There is always going to be something like a "misaligned counter bore" with imperfections.

Quote: Pacomartin

I still think the lawyers are saying it is too many people on one plane. There is always going to be something like a "misaligned counter bore" with imperfections.

There has long been a saying that the most dangerous flight is the one when the plane has just come out of the maintenance hangar.
Tools, slip shod work, shortcuts, mis judged parts (ever try to eyeball a thousandth of an inch). Shift changes in the maintenance hangar are the most dangerous times.

One plane needed the horizontal stabilizer worked on. So an inspector grabbed a screwdriver and removed the bolts on the left side, but failed to tell anyone or write it down. When the crew came in they started on the right stabilizer and it took so long that the maintenance chief asked "anyone touch the left side?" and upon hearing a flurry of "No"s he signed the plane out as Right side done; left side not touched". Turned out it was a fatal mistake.

One mechanic had to replace a windshield pane, he removed the old bolts which happened to be the wrong ones and were a teensy bit too narrow but had sufficed. He replaced them with new bolts that were only a teensy bit even more narrow and did not suffice. When the windshield pane gave way every loose object in the cockpit blew out and so did the pilot. At 28,000 feet.


So what happens when these Super Duper Jumbo Behemoths get a screw loose?