UK flights grounded for second day

All flights out of the UK have been grounded at least until 01.00am tomorrow. Most people accept that such an act of nature is something that happens and it is far better to be safe than sorry. However, whilst accepting the weather patterns and natural phenomena they find it hard to accept the attitude of those running travel businesses today. And it's not just travel companies. Customer service is appalling in Britain.

This morning I saw two women being interviewed at Birmingham airport. "It's just that nobody tells us anything," one said, with an air of passive acceptance. But why is that? Is it beyond the commercial understanding of businesses to realise that this lemming-like approach to customer avoidance just heaps up the resentment of passengers?

It should be a prerequisite that staff are on hand to explain what is going on. What is the point of having a board of directors if they just run away as soon as something difficult happens? I'll vote for the person who suggests mandatory customer liaison lessons for British businesses. Goodness knows we need it.

Come on you travel industry types. Get down to those airports and tell your customers exactly what's going on! Oh, and they know there's a volcanic cloud in the air.

Miraculous escape from Hudson River plane crash

I've just been watching the escape of passengers from a downed US Airways jet en route from La Guardia to Charlotte, North Carolina. All passengers got off. The pilot did a fantastic job by landing the jet in a perfect way.

The first thing you need in air travel is an unflappable pilot of the Lloyd Bridges type. Assuming that an incident is not terrorist related, which this thankfully was not, you put all your trust in the pilot and the crew. They did well!

When two planes collide

It's something that is not unlikely to happen, although the likelihood of such a thing happening is not usual. However, today it happened. Two planes had a minor collision at Manchester Airport due to being too close to each other on the taxiway. An airport spokesman said that "this kind of thing shouldn't happen" and I thought they never really do.

However, David Learmount, of news service Air Transport Intelligence, said incidents of aircraft being damaged at airports were relatively common. "It's a serious problem in terms of expenses, but it's very rare that it involves people getting hurt." I then thought that maybe we don't hear of the bangs and bumps unless they are so blatant as to be publicly witnessed, as today. If Mr.Learmount says it's "relatively common", and he should know, does this imply that pilots are not that good at driving a plane, more the expert at flying the things?

Don't panic! We're Australians!

On the radio and TV this morning, various reporters and commentators did their best to talk up the human tragedy of the Qantas airliner problem. A large hole appeared in the fuselage of a Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400, with 346 passengers and 19 crew on board. The plane was diverted to Manila shortly after leaving Hong Kong and landed safely. Everyone got off and that was that. However, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the media was hoping for something more spectacular to happen.

Suggestions of panic amongst the passengers was quickly dispelled by those passengers interviewed. On BBC News, Simon McCoy just assumed there was panic. No panic, came the reply from an Australian passenger who had been located to give his views.

Phill Restall, from the UK, was woken "with a jolt" by the loud bang before the plane descended rapidly. "No-one panicked, there was no screaming. It wasn't your typical television movie," he told the BBC News website. "Everyone listened to the cabin staff."

So no heroics from a Jean-Claude Van Damme type then. However, the BBC quote Mr.Restall as saying, "Seeing the hole caused a lot of emotion. People were physically shaking". So he had two versions? Or was his first not dramatic enough?

I feel that we are so used to the crises and dramas of life, that an ordinary response is not what is expected. The media should have been around in Biblical times to witness the wailing and gnashing of teeth. What a world!

The passengers were safely landed by a crew who knew what they were doing. I say bravo to that!

Alan Sugar's plane crash lands safely!

Sir Alan Sugar has been involved in a minor plane crash. More accurately, his four-seater light aircraft hit the end of the grass strip with its propeller. Sir Alan was unhurt. This is not mega news, I know, but the response by the media seems to be mega by proportion.

The BBC flag this up as - Alan Sugar 'survives plane crash'. You'd think this was some terrible accident with a jetliner going down in the middle of Manchester. Instead, it was a minor incident.

City Airport Manchester has a grass runway. Light planes tend to bounce around a bit when landing on grass. Nothing normally to worry about. The BBC hyped up the headline, but Sir Alan put the reporter right. "As far as 'life-threatening' is concerned, to put things in perspective my friend and I had as much chance of dying from the incident as we did in dying from food poisoning from the tuna sandwich that a very nice lady made us in the clubhouse whilst we waited for a mate to pick us up and take us home." Which is his way of saying there's nothing in the story.

So the headline doesn't fit the narrative. How many times have we seen that? If the media was subject to the same labelling laws as the retail sector, we might get nearer the truth in our everyday lives.

Fire terror for plane passengers!

A fire broke out in an engine on an easyjet flight from Athens to Luton. Some passengers in the rear of the plane saw the engine catch fire. Adele Berry, from Leeds, said, "There was a big clanging noise, and obviously we were all terrified. There wasn't a lot of information being given. Then people towards the rear of the cabin - we were at the front - said that there was a fire, and were shouting fire, fire."

Whilst it must have been a scary moment, shouting "fire!, fire!" on a plane is not the best message to send out. If there had been a lack of information, then that's down to easyjet. These modern planes are able to fly home on one engine. Sounds to me like the pilot had it all under control, but that the cabin staff were not so sure of what to say.

With cheap air travel available, the seasoned passenger has to take his/her chances alongside the less well informed. I'm glad I wasn't on the flight. Not because of the engine fire, but because I'd be hearing people shouting without giving the matter much thought! Planes are required to be able to take off with one engine inoperative. Flight tests with an inoperative engine are part of everyday airline procedures. Perhaps easyjet could had out cards with pictorial information on them?