Hello travellers,

Bushfires are really bad for air quality

I have spent Christmas & New Year in Sydney, confined to our air-conditioned home. The air is constantly filled with smoke and particulate matter.  It gives me fairly major sinusitis. Hence being confined to quarters. I am now the proud owner of a Cambridge Mask, which filters out PM2.5 particles and helps with the sinusitis. It is not pleasant to wear but the upside is I look like a pro-democracy protester from the streets of Hong Kong!

Enough about me.

What happened last week?

The crash of the PS752, in Iran, with the loss of 176 lives. Looks like accidental collateral damage related to the Trump ordered assassination of General Qassem Soleimani. Whatever the cause, it is distressing to hear of the death of airline crew and passengers so early in the new year. 

Qantas changed its credit card charges and service fees, and as a result of the crash of the Ukraine Airlines 737, will likely change its direct Perth to London flight into a one-stop flight via Singapore.

Australia doesn't want to allow Pommies free reign in Australia post-Brexit; Royal Air Maroc is joining OneWorld; the USA is trialling Global Entry for 500 lucky Australians, and Boeing has admitted pilots do need re-training on flight simulators before they fly the new 737-MAX - a decision if made a few years ago, could have saved over 300 lives!

Oh, and I give you an easy way to work out if you are booked on a re-furbished Qantas A380.

What's coming up?

I 'm off for a few days on my regular Adelaide trip, which reminds me I need to book some restaurants!

I'm still catching up on reviews, but hopefully, you can consume the results starting next week.

You can catch up on posts from last week below. Until next week . . .

Happy Travels,

Stephen

2PAXfly

2PAXfly – Travel News, Airline Flight and Hotel Reviews

PS752: Flights diverted cancelled and re-directed

A four-year-old Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed on January 8, 2020, shortly after takeoff from Tehran, resulting in the deaths of 176 passengers and crew. Leaders of the five eyes intelligence alliance (Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) are reporting that the plane was shot down by a Russian missile, by the […]

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PS752: Iran shot down plane – intelligence sources

By 2paxfly on Jan 10, 2020 09:57 am

There are new developments in the cause of the crash we reported 2 days ago. Announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Intelligence services are reporting to ‘five eyes’ countries that the Ukranian International Airlines 737-800, flight PS752 from Tehran to Kyiv was shot down with a Russian made missile by the Iranian military. It […]

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USA Airlines banned from the Persian Gulf, Iran & Iraq – Australians will fly there

By 2paxfly on Jan 09, 2020 05:19 pm

The USA Federal Aviation Administration has issued international Security NOTAMs* covering Iran, Iraq and the Persian Gulf. These effectively ban American airlines from flying over their airspace. These notices are as a result of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani by a US drone, the resulting Iranian missile attacks on Iraqi bases where American […]

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Boeing: 737 MAX pilots need to do simulator training – now you tell us!

By 2paxfly on Jan 09, 2020 11:11 am

If Boeing had made this decision several years ago, and not cut corners with assurances to purchasers and regulators that re-training on simulators was unnecessary for pilots already qualified to fly earlier versions of the 737, then, maybe, 346 people might not have died in two crashes of their 737 MAX planes. It is possibly […]

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Qantas: Iran/Iraq troubles add a stop to 787 Perth to London direct flights

By 2paxfly on Jan 09, 2020 10:45 am

As a result of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani by a US drone, the resulting Iranian missile attacks on Iraqi bases where American troops are stationed and the crash of a Ukranian Airlines 737-800 outside of Tehran, the US Federal Aviation Administration has banned US carriers from flying over much of the Middle […]

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USA: Australians to get US Global Entry?

By 2paxfly on Jan 09, 2020 09:51 am

Introduction The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) runs a program for expedited clearance of low-risk travellers using electronic kiosks at select USA and overseas airports. You need to be pre-approved for this process, and only citizens of certain countries are eligible. Quoting from the CBP website: ‘At airports, program members proceed to Global Entry […]

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Am I on a refurbished or old Qantas A380?

By 2paxfly on Jan 09, 2020 08:00 am

During the recent Qantas ‘USA Fly Away’ sale, we bought business class tickets from Sydney to New York, travelling on A380’s between Australia and the USA, and on 787s transcontinental in the USA. These flights are part of a longer trip planned for late in 2020. We booked them so early, because of the Qantas […]

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Crash: Ukraine Airlines 737 downed near Tehran [update]

By 2paxfly on Jan 08, 2020 05:47 pm

167 passengers and 9 crew were believed to be on board. All on board have died in the crash. All but 32 of the passengers were Iranian citizens. The four-year-old Ukranian International Airlines plane was taking off around 6 am Tehran time from Imam Khomeini international airport in Tehran, heading for Kyiv. It went down […]

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OneWorld: Royal Air Maroc to join alliance in 2020

By 2paxfly on Jan 08, 2020 07:17 am

OneWorld is a small alliance of 13 airlines that is soon to increase to 14 with the addition of Royal Air Maroc (RAM). The alliance is important in Australia, as our major domestic and international airline, Qantas is a foundation member, and hence OneWorld is the predominant alliance in the country. Virgin Australia, the other […]

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Brexit: Australia doesn’t want post-Brexit UK freeloaders

By 2paxfly on Jan 07, 2020 08:00 am



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