Matt Weber

On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 13:54:57 -0800, Malcolm Weir <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:19:50 -0700, matt weber <[email protected]>
    >wrote:
    >>O
    >>>>
    >>>> LONG waits for hotel rooms with fridges in Los Angeles; and
    >>Because hotel rooms with fridges are very rare in the USA (even in 5
    >>star accomodation)...
    >Not so! Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Residence
    >Inns, Fairfield Suites are brands that have fridges.
None of those are hotels . They are 'long stay' accomodation designed
for self catering. BIG DIFFERENCE.

It is like the difference between a Medina property and a Sheraton in
Australia.

Ajc

On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:41:31 GMT, "LDL" <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >"Malcolm Weir" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...
    >> On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 02:55:34 GMT, "LDL" <[email protected]>
    >> wrote:
    >> >Here are some of the URLs that shows true airline quality.
    >> No, those are web sites that show some people bitching about things.
    >> There's no serious attempt at objectivity.
    >Take a good look at other airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Cathay
    >Pacifyc and Emarites. They clearly show the good service they get all the
    >time. The forum is not just a bitching session but a forum. Qantas
    >certainly needs to upgrade their standards in both domestic and
    >international flights.


In the case of domestic flights that is certainly not my recent
experience. For an incredibly low price Qantas recently provided me
with service far higher than my expectations on 3 flights. The ground
handling was efficient, aircraft were all spotless, the flights were
all on time, the seating in economy was perfectly adequate, the
catering was better than that on most equivalent European flights, and
far far better than anything the US 'full-service' carriers provide,
and the staff ranged from polite and efficient to charming and
attentive. In my experience Qantas have their domestic product just
right to be able to compete on the basis of quality and value for
money.
--==++AJC++==--

Jboy

Mybe we need a new program "Im a pampered Qantas trolly dolly, get me out of
here" 8-)

Olivers

matt weber muttered....

    > On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 13:54:57 -0800, Malcolm Weir <[email protected]>
    > wrote:
    >
    >>On Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:19:50 -0700, matt weber <[email protected]>
    >>wrote:
    >>>O
    >>>>>
    >>>>> LONG waits for hotel rooms with fridges in Los Angeles; and
    >>>Because hotel rooms with fridges are very rare in the USA (even in 5
    >>>star accomodation)...
    >>Not so! Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Residence
    >>Inns, Fairfield Suites are brands that have fridges.
    > None of those are hotels . They are 'long stay' accomodation designed
    > for self catering. BIG DIFFERENCE.

With the exception of Residence Inns, none of the above hotel brands are
even directed at long term guests (and even Residence Inn is sort of a
compromise). I suspect your knowledge of US hotel brands remains
relatively limited. Many of the newer "down scale" properties affiliated
with big brands (almost all of them franchises) provide refrigerators. An
adequate small fridge costs less than a hundred bucks. Opened and closed
rarely, it will serve for most of the life of the hotel, and costs a few
cents a day to operate, an original investment fess than an armoire or a
decent mattress and springs. Microwaves fall into the same amenity
category, but the real "stimulator" is the tendency among business and
pleasure travelers using hotels away from downtown centers to have rental
car or their own vehicles. The hotel chains you name above do have a
common bonding greater than refrigerators....ample free parking, often
considerably more costly in the development/construction package than
refrigerators.


    >
    > It is like the difference between a Medina property and a Sheraton in
    > Australia.

I don't know about that. We usually stay at the NoTell Motel or the DoDrop
Inn.

TMO

Roland Perry

In message <[email protected]>, Olivers
<[email protected]> writes
    >>> Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Residence
    >>>Inns, Fairfield Suites are brands that have fridges.
    >> None of those are hotels . They are 'long stay' accomodation designed
    >> for self catering. BIG DIFFERENCE.
    >With the exception of Residence Inns, none of the above hotel brands are
    >even directed at long term guests

I think you'll find they are mainly marketed at people who are
weekly-commuters, or who are staying somewhere (other than on holiday
[1]) for more than a night or two.

[1] There aren't that many "holiday resorts" in the USA, compared to its
size. There are several of these suites-hotels near me, and I live in a
business-park area in the USA, nowhere near anywhere you'd stay on
holiday. Unless you are the sort of person who would holiday in suburban
Milton Keynes.
--
Roland Perry

Wolf

4000 psi wrote:
    > but on the other end the crew gets into a free hotel room and get drunk and
    > have wild sex parties ... then they accumulate all kinds of contraband and
    > carry it thru airport security and customs w/o anyone troubling them ...
    >
They often invite passengers to party with them. Just ask on your next
flight. You might have to present your qualifications, bring some
pictures along.

Malcolm Weir

On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 00:34:01 +0000, Roland Perry <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >In message <[email protected]>, Malcolm Weir
    ><[email protected]> writes
    >>Personally, though, I think 5 star accommodations are *less* likely to
    >>have a fridge (why would you need one when you have a phone and 24
    >>hour room service?)
    >Because the bottle of wine you brought with you is a tenth the price?

Probably!

Not to mention likely as good if not better...

(In my experience, the room service wine list even in good hotels is
pretty mediocre; the wine list in some of the restaurants in good
hotels can be exceptional, but for whatever reason they tend to keep
them separate).

Malc.

4000 Psi

i definitely will ... this would be a good way to get a free over-nightter,
provided that they like me enough or are drunk enough to like me enough to
invite me under the sheets ... and being that it is a free hotel room I'LL
TAKE IT even if it is a fleabag motel ... now, what kind of contraband are
we talking here?


"wolf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:2tUUb.20456$1O.13994@fed1read05...
    > 4000 psi wrote:
    > > but on the other end the crew gets into a free hotel room and get drunk
and
    > > have wild sex parties ... then they accumulate all kinds of contraband
and
    > > carry it thru airport security and customs w/o anyone troubling them ...
    > >
    > They often invite passengers to party with them. Just ask on your next
    > flight. You might have to present your qualifications, bring some
    > pictures along.

Me

4000 psi wrote:

    > i definitely will ... this would be a good way to get a free over-nightter,
    > provided that they like me enough or are drunk enough to like me enough to
    > invite me under the sheets ... and being that it is a free hotel room I'LL
    > TAKE IT even if it is a fleabag motel ... now, what kind of contraband are
    > we talking here?
    >
    >

You will most likely have to turn.


    > "wolf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:2tUUb.20456$1O.13994@fed1read05...
    >
    >>4000 psi wrote:
    >>>but on the other end the crew gets into a free hotel room and get drunk
    >
    > and
    >
    >>>have wild sex parties ... then they accumulate all kinds of contraband
    >
    > and
    >
    >>>carry it thru airport security and customs w/o anyone troubling them ...
    >>They often invite passengers to party with them. Just ask on your next
    >>flight. You might have to present your qualifications, bring some
    >>pictures along.
    >
    >
    >

Wayne Lawrence

I spent 20 years a QF F/A. After 5 to 10 yrs the Fun wares off and it
becomes just another job.

I left in 1987. Back then we had a thing called 75% home based leave.
That means if you went away on a 3 week trip you got 2 weeks of at
home with your wife and kids before you flew off again. (These would
now be called the good old days (GODS)).

Just after I left the Union opted for a Bidding system the same as the
pilots use, based on working so-many hours over a 56 day period. (This
system has been revised a number of time since I left)

What was a 14 day trip to LHR is now done in 6 or 7. Home base leave
has gone you can be turned around in 2 days to do it all again. (So
your family life is shot to bits, you are never home for any of your
kids birthdays or school events)

The crew room party has gone as all you want to do is hit the sack and
get some shut eye before call time.

Hotels put crews in the worst rooms in the hotel - over a busy road
next to elevators ect. Getting to sleep can sometimes be tough as well
as tryuing to sleep in the wrong time zone.

Crew are allowed 1 dutyfree carton of smokes and 1 bottle of booze a
trip. and only 1 duty free trip a year. (Pax can have one each time
they return to OZ).

So there is no chance for special contraband there. Crew go thru a
sepperate customs channel and are subject to a more stringent search
than Pax are.

I could go on and on but I wont - to day International Crew do it very
tough compared to my day.

Thanks to all the QF supporters on this news group.

Wayne
Webmaster (Ex Qantas Aircrew Community)
http://www.eqccc.ht.st/

Hunter1

I used to set nav stations in the Timor sea, Arafura sea,
Monte Bellos, Nullarbor etc.etc.etc. and spend up to 6
months at a time out there, we got 2 days "offtime" for
every 7 straight we worked. We lived in tents with little
fridges and generally lived on tinned food between the 2
monthly supply runs where we'd actually get a week or two of
fresh food. And our industry (nav for oil) generated a ****
of a lot more money for Australia than you guys do at a
guess. Let me put it this way, my heart bleeds for you.

I considered my job a paid holiday because of the places I
got to see (very few have ever been to some of the places
I've been to), but then I don't mind working, I haven't got
this attitude that the world owes me a living, the attitude
that is now destroying us in a more global economy.

You know what the secret formula is, very few would have
done my job for long, many would trade for your jobs (if you
don't ****ing like it, ****ing leave and give someone else a
chance, stop whinging about conditions when there's sweet
**** all wrong with them).


Wayne Lawrence wrote:

    > I spent 20 years a QF F/A. After 5 to 10 yrs the Fun wares off and it
    > becomes just another job.
    >
    > I left in 1987. Back then we had a thing called 75% home based leave.
    > That means if you went away on a 3 week trip you got 2 weeks of at
    > home with your wife and kids before you flew off again. (These would
    > now be called the good old days (GODS)).
    >
    > Just after I left the Union opted for a Bidding system the same as the
    > pilots use, based on working so-many hours over a 56 day period. (This
    > system has been revised a number of time since I left)
    >
    > What was a 14 day trip to LHR is now done in 6 or 7. Home base leave
    > has gone you can be turned around in 2 days to do it all again. (So
    > your family life is shot to bits, you are never home for any of your
    > kids birthdays or school events)
    >
    > The crew room party has gone as all you want to do is hit the sack and
    > get some shut eye before call time.
    >
    > Hotels put crews in the worst rooms in the hotel - over a busy road
    > next to elevators ect. Getting to sleep can sometimes be tough as well
    > as tryuing to sleep in the wrong time zone.
    >
    > Crew are allowed 1 dutyfree carton of smokes and 1 bottle of booze a
    > trip. and only 1 duty free trip a year. (Pax can have one each time
    > they return to OZ).
    >
    > So there is no chance for special contraband there. Crew go thru a
    > sepperate customs channel and are subject to a more stringent search
    > than Pax are.
    >
    > I could go on and on but I wont - to day International Crew do it very
    > tough compared to my day.
    >
    > Thanks to all the QF supporters on this news group.
    >
    > Wayne
    > Webmaster (Ex Qantas Aircrew Community)
    > http://www.eqccc.ht.st/

Malcolm Weir

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 21:07:25 +0800, Hunter1 <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >I used to set nav stations in the Timor sea, Arafura sea,
    >Monte Bellos, Nullarbor etc.etc.etc. and spend up to 6
    >months at a time out there, we got 2 days "offtime" for
    >every 7 straight we worked. We lived in tents with little
    >fridges and generally lived on tinned food between the 2
    >monthly supply runs where we'd actually get a week or two of
    >fresh food. And our industry (nav for oil) generated a ****
    >of a lot more money for Australia than you guys do at a
    >guess. Let me put it this way, my heart bleeds for you.

And how much were you paid?

    >I considered my job a paid holiday because of the places I
    >got to see (very few have ever been to some of the places
    >I've been to), but then I don't mind working, I haven't got
    >this attitude that the world owes me a living, the attitude
    >that is now destroying us in a more global economy.

Did you have a family at the time?

    >You know what the secret formula is, very few would have
    >done my job for long, many would trade for your jobs (if you
    >don't ****ing like it, ****ing leave and give someone else a
    >chance, stop whinging about conditions when there's sweet
    >**** all wrong with them).

How... eloquent.

Still, what would you have said if, instead of 2 days off for each 7,
you got just 1 day?

And how long did you stay in that job?

Malc.

Wayne Lawrence

Malcolm Weir <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>. ..
    > On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 21:07:25 +0800, Hunter1 <[email protected]>
    > wrote:
    >
    > >I used to set nav stations in the Timor sea, Arafura sea,
    > >Monte Bellos, Nullarbor etc.etc.etc. and spend up to 6
    > >months at a time out there, we got 2 days "offtime" for
    > >every 7 straight we worked. We lived in tents with little
    > >fridges and generally lived on tinned food between the 2
    > >monthly supply runs where we'd actually get a week or two of
    > >fresh food. And our industry (nav for oil) generated a ****
    > >of a lot more money for Australia than you guys do at a
    > >guess. Let me put it this way, my heart bleeds for you.

Well done and I think you did a splendid job.

I to started my working life doing somthing very similar working on a
sheep station out of Mrble Bar, WA. Spent many motnhs sleeping on the
ground in droving camps all for 6 pounds a week.

However you are compareing eggs with apples. And totaly off the point.

Cabin Crew are there for the saftey of the PAX in an emergency and Im
sure that if you were on a flight with them you would want the crew
tobe well rested in case an emergency evacuation had to be implemnted.

You did not read my post properly if you did you would see that I left
QF well over 17 years ago, so having a shot at me is a bit pointless.

Wayne

Sheep Skin

Wayne Lawrence wrote:
    > I to started my working life doing somthing very similar working on a
    > sheep station out of Mrble Bar, WA. Spent many motnhs sleeping on the
    > ground in droving camps all for 6 pounds a week.

Yes, but you had an ample supply of sheep and nobody for hundreds of km around
you to see what you did with the sheep. Flight attendants don't have that
luxury. (Although FAs on Air NZ do have sheepskin covered seats to prevent
them from feeling too homesick.)

In fairness, the sheep in central australia are rather scrummy looking. Not as
enticing as the white fluffy sheep found in the south or in New Zealand,
unless you like to rough it up.

Pits

Oh dear !!! Another Usenet loon for the thesis Sigh
"Sheep skin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Wayne Lawrence wrote:
    > > I to started my working life doing somthing very similar working on a
    > > sheep station out of Mrble Bar, WA. Spent many motnhs sleeping on the
    > > ground in droving camps all for 6 pounds a week.
    > Yes, but you had an ample supply of sheep and nobody for hundreds of km
around
    > you to see what you did with the sheep. Flight attendants don't have that
    > luxury. (Although FAs on Air NZ do have sheepskin covered seats to prevent
    > them from feeling too homesick.)
    > In fairness, the sheep in central australia are rather scrummy looking.
Not as
    > enticing as the white fluffy sheep found in the south or in New Zealand,
    > unless you like to rough it up.