Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
#61
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,040
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
I've always found the landings to be mega-pleasant, very smooth throughout (as you mentioned that plane has super systems to make sure it glides in perfectly).
What I have never liked though are... take-offs. I cannot stand them. Once the beast gets rolling... and continues to roll and roll... and roll and roll some more with the metres zipping by, I start thinking that we're having trouble getting up and that we will run out of tarmac and start bulldozing trees or buildings soon...
What I have never liked though are... take-offs. I cannot stand them. Once the beast gets rolling... and continues to roll and roll... and roll and roll some more with the metres zipping by, I start thinking that we're having trouble getting up and that we will run out of tarmac and start bulldozing trees or buildings soon...
#62
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
I love the A380 but it's the only plane I've flown on recently that's had technical problems. Delayed on the tarmac at Heathrow for a couple of hours one trip and another time had to slow down and descend because of a fuel problem, right over northern Iraq when ISIS were running amok!
But really, only minor stuff. I like 777's as a plane but the seats in economy on Emirates are so hard they cause me a great deal of discomfort, pain even - I can't get to sleep even with alcohol and downers!
But really, only minor stuff. I like 777's as a plane but the seats in economy on Emirates are so hard they cause me a great deal of discomfort, pain even - I can't get to sleep even with alcohol and downers!
#63
Last resort... format c:/
Joined: Mar 2012
Location: Singapore to Surfers Paradise to... Tenerife... to Gran Canaria!
Posts: 1,627
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
It can still land on one, but overall the number of engines is where I prefer to see 2 rather than 4 (only exception is the A340 over the A330). Engines are the main source of trouble, so why double the chances of something going wrong?
#64
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 253
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
Nope, not for me! Engines are extremely reliable in service, but if one goes pop, I would prefer to have the redundancy of 3 remaining rather than one. Having said that, I imagine the real difference is marginal.
#65
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
More than the engines it is the servicing of them - some airlines shoddily service Boeing and Airbus products. I have a friend who is an aeronautical engineer based at Tulla and he told me some of the airlines to be wary of - no names mentioned!
#66
Last resort... format c:/
Joined: Mar 2012
Location: Singapore to Surfers Paradise to... Tenerife... to Gran Canaria!
Posts: 1,627
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
Is the shoddy servicing due to outsourcing to dubious companies located in not-so-well-regulated areas?
#68
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,816
#69
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
No names but steer clear of certain Asian airlines in particular but the likes of Singapore and Cathay Pacific ok. I think all airlines (and nearly all businesses) outsource now in an attempt to cut costs, without regard to customer service.
#70
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
The high-bypass turbofan is an example of western technology, innovation and capitalism
An incredible piece of engineering
An incredible piece of engineering
#71
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 706
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
To be fair, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have way too much to lose if they are caught out short on maintenance and safety. It's simply not worth the risk for these national carriers of small countries that depend so much on the corruption-free and rule of law and open skies reputation!
#73
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
To be fair, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have way too much to lose if they are caught out short on maintenance and safety. It's simply not worth the risk for these national carriers of small countries that depend so much on the corruption-free and rule of law and open skies reputation!
#74
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
The only way I feel comfortable is when there's a loud bang, the engineer leans forward and says "We've lost number five, Skip" and I can reply "What side?"
#75
Re: Qantas Frequent Flyer | How much is it worth?
It's a given that very few accidents have a single cause. There are so many checks and crosschecks in aviation (as you know), and so much system redundancy in modern aircraft, that single, double and more failures rarely "cause" an accident. The Swiss Cheese analogy says that if you slice a chunk of it into a dozen slices and shuffle them around there's a very small chance of all the holes lining up so you can push a pen through. However, every so often all the slices will line up with holes in register except one - and in the analogy that one is the pilot (more accurately, the crew.) If that slice can't cope the pen slips through and the phone goes at the CAA/NTSB or whatever.
Accident reports never, in the developed world, say that xyz caused the accident, but the "probable cause" was abc. The series of failures of systems, procedures and the like are often the precursor to the "failure" of the crew to be able to recover the situation.
Single engine failures even during a limiting takeoff are not a real problem but as the case of the QF32 out of Singapore showed, having over fifty subsequent system failures resulting from a big fan letting loose certainly is. The crew did a fantastic job of handling the emergency (despite the best efforts of the computers to hinder them) but if they had been overwhelmed no doubt after several years of legal poring over the manuals the crew would have been, in the media at least, "to blame".