Back in the old Soviet Union in the 1980s we were taking an Aeroflot flight from Kiev to Odessa, in a twin turboprop Antonov. Fine sunny day but we were told the flight was delayed "because of bad weather". Took off, flew around, landed back at Kiev - same excuse. Took off again, then diverted to an obscure airfield in the middle of nowhere called Kherson. Kept waiting some more, watched ancient Ilyushin biplanes lumbering in and out, noticed the tyres on our plane were bald nearly to the canvas. Still fine and sunny, still given the line about 'bad weather'. At last we took off, flew to Odessa, landed, and taxied in very quickly. As soon as we reached the apron a team of guys ran out with a huge cable, plugged one end into the plane and the other end into a metal socket in the ground. A few minutes later it began to thunder and lightning. I've never seen lightning like it, striking again and again. Then we understood: the pilot was trying to avoid a lightning strike while landing, thus was waiting for a break in the electrical storm. Aeroflot was by far the biggest airline in the world in those days, and Aeroflot flights were extremely cheap even for Russians paying in roubles. Even cheaper then EasyJet is now ...
There was a book out a few years ago called "Chavs ! the demonization of the working class" . Written by Owen Jones ! :wink: Perhaps someone should read this !
In the early 80's I had to get to Switzerland in a hurry......got on a Swissair ex-Air France Caravelle............ Sitting by the porthole* was the worst thing I could have done (*there was a giant squid out there)...... I could see fuel dripping from under the wing; several loose rivets jiggling around in the wing panels; and bl**dy hell, when we took off and were flying, the creases in the wing were enough to put me off flying for good even before we hit massive turbulence over the Alps. The pilot then had difficulty landing because of thick freezing fog......went around three times. I was thankful the flight lasted about an hour and a bit........was mighty relieved to disembark, only to come face to face with the business end of a tank barrel as the plane door opened......and then to top it all it was snowing like hell as I made my way from the airport to the station. I do not like flying under any circumstances...... AL
I fly Birmingham to alicante quite regularly, and no one can touch ryanair. Actually, with the recent demise of bmi baby I believe its the only carrier that runs that route... I actually flew to alicante on the last day of operations for bmi...kinda sad in a way, knowing everyone on the plane would be out of work the next day.
Yeah, but the flight was soooooo cheap. I don't get what people expect from budget flights, as long as it doesn't land upside down on fire in the sea its done its job. Don't want to pay €5 for a sandwich? Don't buy one, eat before you fly..the hand luggage allowance is enough for me for a week, so no need to book a hold bag, I just want it as cheap as possible. Ryanair works for this..
