Air travel!

[Teaboy]

Its clearly a mistake. Its also clearly not the US.

Do you really think that if the US had downed a passenger airliner shortly after departing Tehran airport the Iranians would still be rushing to convince everyone it was mechanical failure?

 

[kebabking]

Not on purpose. The previously quoted report mentions an accident.
Also, there will be much propoganda and blame made out of it.

Actually the US - and everyone else - has known it was a shoot down since yesterday lunchtime, and yet the US has made no accusations against Iran, and even when Trump was finally badgered into commenting, he made it clear that US took the view that it was a tragic accident to be regretted, and not some deliberate act by the eeeeevviiillll Iranian state.

Had the Americans wished to they could have gone to town on this, but they didn't wish to - what does that tell you?

 

[DownwardDog]

If you were a betting man DownwardDog what would your money on as the reason for this recent incident?

Accidental SAM launch or UAV collision.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Actually the US - and everyone else - has known it was a shoot down since yesterday lunchtime, and yet the US has made no accusations against Iran, and even when Trump was finally badgered into commenting, he made it clear that US took the view that it was a tragic accident to be regretted, and not some deliberate act by the eeeeevviiillll Iranian state.

Had the Americans wished to they could have gone to town on this, but they didn't wish to - what does that tell you?

Tells you that the US knows full well why the Iranians were so jumpy...

 

[T & P]

Even Trump's government have resisted the temptation to suggest it was a deliberate act. Preposterous proposition to all but the nuttiest of conspiraloons. Iran would have nothing to gain and wouldn't be so callous as to do such thing just to pin the blame on the Americans to generate sympathy.

A fuck up imo, even the US isn't a stranger to it (Iranian passenger jet in the 70s, Chinese embassy in the Balkan conflict)...

 

[Teaboy]

Tbh it doesn't look great for Trump either so no wonder the US is currently not making a big song and dance about it. If it was a missile then clearly the blame lies with whoever fired it (Iran) but this isn't a spontaneous thing. If you throw petrol onto a fire crazy things happen and usually its normal people who end up getting caught in the crossfire.

 

[teuchter]

Germans starting to realise that for domestic travel, flying is anachronistic and ready to be consigned to history. Urban's flight-happy dinosaurs will dispute this, but they are dying out now anyway.

German Air Travel Slump Points to Spread of Flight Shame

Mounting concern about carbon emissions may be altering travel habits in Europe’s largest economy as figures from German airports show a steady decline in passengers taking domestic flights.

www.bloomberg.com

And the government realises that rail is the future

Germany Goes Greener With $95 Billion Push for Train Over Plane

Germany launched an 86 billion euro ($95 billion) plan to modernize and expand its creaky railway system, a move billed as an effort to make transportation greener.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Germans starting to realise that for domestic travel, flying is anachronistic and ready to be consigned to history. Urban's flight-happy dinosaurs will dispute this, but they are dying out now anyway.

German Air Travel Slump Points to Spread of Flight Shame

Mounting concern about carbon emissions may be altering travel habits in Europe’s largest economy as figures from German airports show a steady decline in passengers taking domestic flights.

www.bloomberg.com

And the government realises that rail is the future

Germany Goes Greener With $95 Billion Push for Train Over Plane

Germany launched an 86 billion euro ($95 billion) plan to modernize and expand its creaky railway system, a move billed as an effort to make transportation greener.

www.bloomberg.com

Germany differs to the UK in that its capital is not its major business centre, but also has other cities of equal import, therefore a balanced public transport system. In the UK all the gentrifying scummers choose to inflict their selfish lifestyles upon London, leading to a massive imbalance in the way our cities are catered for with facilities such as transport.

 

[kebabking]

i find it most amusing that i fly a great deal less than one of this sites most tediously vocal eco-warriors, and that absolutely none of my flying is for pleasure...

 

[Spymaster]

Germans starting to realise that for domestic travel, flying is anachronistic and ready to be consigned to history. Urban's flight-happy dinosaurs will dispute this, but they are dying out now anyway.

German Air Travel Slump Points to Spread of Flight Shame

Mounting concern about carbon emissions may be altering travel habits in Europe’s largest economy as figures from German airports show a steady decline in passengers taking domestic flights.

www.bloomberg.com

And the government realises that rail is the future

Germany Goes Greener With $95 Billion Push for Train Over Plane

Germany launched an 86 billion euro ($95 billion) plan to modernize and expand its creaky railway system, a move billed as an effort to make transportation greener.

www.bloomberg.com

This is to be applauded. My emissions sharing scheme is just as applicable to nations as it is individuals. The Germans and Swedes flying less means we Brits can fly more without increasing the overall European emissions profile.

Both Easyjet and Ryanair have flight sales on at the moment, so grab seats to Spain from £25.00 return and get some sunshine on Greta!

 

[teuchter]

Germany differs to the UK in that its capital is not its major business centre, but also has other cities of equal import, therefore a balanced public transport system. In the UK all the gentrifying scummers choose to inflict their selfish lifestyles upon London, leading to a massive imbalance in the way our cities are catered for with facilities such as transport.

Yeah, I know all that, but I dunno what its relevance to the article I posted is. The vast majority of UK domestic flights are to/from London on routes that are also well served by rail. They are used by wealthy people who prop up their egos by flying around when it doesn't even save them any time, something they are consistently in denial of. Most of them are ancient and still think flying is glamorous. Younger people see through this nonsense and get the train. Like I said the dinosaurs are becoming extinct and you can see it in the drop-off in UK domestic flights over the past ten years or so just like you can in Germany.

Unfortunately, the same trend is not seen in international flights on journeys which would be possible by train. Here the issue is that booking flights is a lot less difficult than booking rail travel, so flying remains the choice of people without much travel experience or confidence in looking after themselves in situations when everything isn't already organised for them. A lot of drunk people book flights to European destinations - that's how little brainpower it requires.

 

[kebabking]

Yeah, I know all that, but I dunno what its relevance to the article I posted is. The vast majority of UK domestic flights are to/from London on routes that are also well served by rail. They are used by wealthy people who prop up their egos by flying around when it doesn't even save them any time, something they are consistently in denial of. Most of them are ancient and still think flying is glamorous. Younger people see through this nonsense and get the train. Like I said the dinosaurs are becoming extinct and you can see it in the drop-off in UK domestic flights over the past ten years or so just like you can in Germany.

Unfortunately, the same trend is not seen in international flights on journeys which would be possible by train. Here the issue is that booking flights is a lot less difficult than booking rail travel, so flying remains the choice of people without much travel experience or confidence in looking after themselves in situations when everything isn't already organised for them. A lot of drunk people book flights to European destinations - that's how little brainpower it requires.

i think you might be ill.

domestic flights in the UK are overwhelmingly cheaper than rail, so its the wealthy that go by rail, not the povs. there's also a reasonable chance you might get there on a flight....

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah, I know all that, but I dunno what its relevance to the article I posted is. The vast majority of UK domestic flights are to/from London on routes that are also well served by rail. They are used by wealthy people who prop up their egos by flying around when it doesn't even save them any time, something they are consistently in denial of. Most of them are ancient and still think flying is glamorous. Younger people see through this nonsense and get the train. Like I said the dinosaurs are becoming extinct and you can see it in the drop-off in UK domestic flights over the past ten years or so just like you can in Germany.

Germany has reduced rail fares and has a decent network. Portsmouth to Newcastle is 6.5 hours by train, or slightly quicker if slogging through London, which is a nightmare with baggage/small kids. UK domestic flights are dropping off too, as evidenced by FlyBe's current woes, but that is attributed more to people driving rather taking the train as the train is so fucking expensive.

Unfortunately, the same trend is not seen in international flights on journeys which would be possible by train. Here the issue is that booking flights is a lot less difficult than booking rail travel, so flying remains the choice of people without much travel experience or confidence in looking after themselves in situations when everything isn't already organised for them. A lot of drunk people book flights to European destinations - that's how little brainpower it requires.

No, booking European trains is as easy for my punters as booking flights, they email me and I take care of it. What people don't have is time. It's all well and good to prattle on about trains from London to Berlin, but try doing a day return and see how you get on.

 

[Spymaster]

You get a better quality of traveller on planes too. The type of person who prefers trains to aircraft will typically smell bad and be extremely boring. If they have a cycle on the train it's highly likely that they are also a paedophile.

 

[Teaboy]

You get a better quality of traveller on planes too. The type of person who prefers trains to aircraft will typically smell bad and be extremely boring. If they have a cycle on the train it's highly likely that they are also a paedophile.

I feel like you may never have flown Jet2.

 

[hash tag]

there are many stories about plane passengers abound. This quality one just caught my eye

Father and son chase plane down runway after drinking in airport bar too long: 'They ran the risk of being shot'

‘If it wasn’t so stupid it would be funny’

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I feel like you may never have flown Jet2.

 

[teuchter]

Germany has reduced rail fares and has a decent network. Portsmouth to Newcastle is 6.5 hours by train, or slightly quicker if slogging through London, which is a nightmare with baggage/small kids. UK domestic flights are dropping off too, as evidenced by FlyBe's current woes, but that is attributed more to people driving rather taking the train as the train is so fucking expensive.



No, booking European trains is as easy for my punters as booking flights, they email me and I take care of it. What people don't have is time. It's all well and good to prattle on about trains from London to Berlin, but try doing a day return and see how you get on.

I can see how someone might come to some of these conclusions, if they didn't know about the best ways to get affordable rail fares, either domestically or internationally. It does take a little bit of specialist knowledge and experience in some cases.

Like I say, younger people are much more au fait with the way things work now. They know you don't need a middle-man these days, unless of course they are time poor and cash rich, in which case they might consider employing one. My experience is that doing so just ends up with bad advice though.

 

[teuchter]

i find it most amusing that i fly a great deal less than one of this sites most tediously vocal eco-warriors,

My emissions sharing scheme is just as applicable to nations as it is individuals [snip]

Maybe a bit tedious, but it's important to give everyone's ideas a hearing-out, including these sharing schemes, even if only to confirm they don't make sense.

 

[Spymaster]

I feel like you may never have flown Jet2.

Even with J2 you have a pretty good guarantee that you won't be sat next to teuchter

 

[Riklet]

Is it going to be like this all year?

Endless trolling of the flying threads followed by repeated trolling of the rail travel threads. It's pretty dull. Not that there arent some good point made, but...

 

[kebabking]

Maybe a bit tedious, but it's important to give everyone's ideas a hearing-out...

Wild, laughable, rampant deranged hypocrisy isn't really an idea though is it?

 

[Spymaster]

Is it going to be like this all year?

Endless trolling of the flying threads followed by repeated trolling of the rail travel threads ...

It's been that way forever. Why should this year be any different?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

They know you don't need a middle-man these days, unless of course they are time poor and cash rich, in which case they might consider employing one. My experience is that doing so just ends up with bad advice though.

When the best of the best can pick and choose which customers they wish to service, no one is going to be particularly stunned to learn that you never get to deal with the best of the best.

 

[Spymaster]

This is excellent news.

Air passenger duty being reviewed for domestic flights. With any luck we'll soon be back to London/Edinburgh returns for under £50

 

[Teaboy]

This is excellent news.

Air passenger duty being reviewed for domestic flights. With any luck we'll soon be back to London/Edinburgh returns for under £50

They won't do it. They're just trying to work through a way of not losing the £100m that Flybe owes the taxman which would go up in smoke if / when they finally keel over. Routes like London to Edinburgh can operate well enough with the current tax situation. Its the smaller and much less popular routes which are clearly not viable and changing the tax situation won't make a jot of difference.

 

[Spymaster]

Routes like London to Edinburgh can operate well enough with the current tax situation. Its the smaller and much less popular routes which are clearly not viable and changing the tax situation won't make a jot of difference.

Well you'd think that, and the obvious route to single out is London-Manchester. Who, you would think, would fly that? Yet BA alone seem to have 12 flights a day between the 2 cities. A lot of people on those will be connecting to longer journeys but that's still a lot of flights so there's clearly a demand for the £40-£50 tickets. Combined with the ridiculous train fares and unreliable service I guess that for anyone living nearer to the airport than Euston/Kings X stations it still makes sense.

 

[Teaboy]

Well you'd think that, and the obvious route to single out is London-Manchester. Who, you would think, would fly that? Yet BA alone seem to have 12 flights a day between the 2 cities. A lot of people on those will be connecting to longer journeys but that's still a lot of flights so there's clearly a demand for the £40-£50 tickets. Combined with the ridiculous train fares and unreliable service I guess that for anyone living nearer to the airport than Euston/Kings X stations it still makes sense.

That just underlines my point. There are internal routes which are viable and you can tell that by the way BA, Easyjet and Ryanair operate them. They are viable now with the tax situation as it is. Changing the tax situation will just mean less tax take and more money for those airlines. If you were selling something and the order has already been placed you wouldn't then offer a further discount, that's just giving money away for no reason.

Its the Flybe routes which are not financially viable, if they were the bigger airlines would be sniffing around them. I just think that people who enjoy the lifestyle a more remote location offers can't expect to have the same connectivity as cities.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Was interested to note today that APD brings £3.7bn in to the exchequer every year. They should introduce similar for trains.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Its the Flybe routes which are not financially viable, if they were the bigger airlines would be sniffing around them. I just think that people who enjoy the lifestyle a more remote location offers can't expect to have the same connectivity as cities.

AFAIK FlyBe is pretty much owned by Delta these days...