This is a picture of the screen of an airline seat monitor taken with a Leica XV. Ho, hum, so what’s all that special? What’s special is that it was taken just a few minutes ago by our Australia correspondent, John Shingleton, who is 31,000ft high on his way back from Portugal to Sydney. It’s an example of how far modern communications have progressed. John downloaded the XV picture to his iPad and then sent it to me over the free in-flight wifi on the Emirates A380. As he says, it’s a long way to Australia—only another 12 hours and 22 minutes to go.
After reading this piece, also at 31,000ft, John replies:
I should have told Mike that I have already spent 7 hours flying Lisbon to Dubai and 9 hours in Dubal Airport so it’s a very long day. As I can still remember flying to Europe when the inflight entertainment was a pull down screen and one old movie projected with one of those 3 lens projectors from a VHS cassette this is nothing short of miraculous. And yes I am reading Macfilos at 31000ft and typing in this comment just 25 mins after I took the shot. Amazing indeed but I guess that the very idea of this enormous plane flying non stop Dubai to Sydney is equally amazing.
William, the reason I used the XV and not the iPad was that I was actually trying to shoot the Arabian desert through the windows of the plane. Unfortunately the windows of the A380 are not camera friendly and I was getting weird moire effects on the shots so I shot the monitor instead. Anything to pass the time.
I arrived back in Sydney on time at 6.05 this morning. Now the trick is to try and stay awake for the whole day.
Dear Stephen
The ‘no liquids to be carried on board’ rule was instituted because of an incident which occurred in the UK in 2006. I first encountered it at Heathrow that year and have since encountered it all over the World where it is applied everywhere. I concur, generally, though, with your feelings about security checks, but this is a price we must pay for the way the world is now. I do recall one incident where, at a security check, some people were offered the choice of finishing off a bottle of beer before bordering. Naturally, they obliged. I cannot recall if it was for an Aer Lingus flight.
Dear John
Your photo of the Gulf of Oman brings back many memories of trips to and from that part of the world. I remember being highly excited some years ago at sending a simple email from over the Saudi desert. Technology has, of course, advanced greatly. Just a thought; would it not have been easier to have just taken the photo with the iPad?
I hope you get back to Sydney safe and sound.
William
You misunderstand William, but that is probably more due to my mastery of incoherence than anything…. 🙂
I am well aware of the farcical issue that you mention, the one that reduces us to 100ml quantities… Anyway, I still reckon you could blow a hole in an aircraft with 100ml (or less) of liquid high explosive. I was sort of referring to that in regard to the wrapped hand cream episode, £15 and a gift for my sister in law, in our possession for approximately five minutes and no warning from staff before purchase, no chance to put it in the hold either!
What I am referring to here is airside… e.g. one has passed through the first set of unreasonable hazards and one is passing the luxury chocolate and fairly decently pulled espresso stand (Chocolate Lounge) just before heading for the gate.
I was one of half a dozen ‘guests of Aer Lingus" treated in this way, and the flight was only an hour late after all… It is also something I have done before with CityJet and even the ‘scraping the barrel’ Ryan people.
There isn’t much sense in any of this, since before you even arrive at the airport, the authorities pretty much know who you are anyway. In the Aer Lingus case, there aren’t even any government edicts EU, British or Irish that ban taking a beverage onto the plane.
As an aside, in our last flight, City Jet, Dublin to the City of London, so busy were they checking for errant beverages and hand lotions that they forgot to check that the plane that we were about to board was actually working. These planes (RJ85) have four engines, but only two were working by the time we were flying over Wales…
…No matter though, we were all very happy to fly to Southend and cross the airport in a thunderstorm carrying our bags, in order to get a train home. Apparently, as another passenger pointed out… He had flown the day before on the same plane when the same thing happened, the reason for Southend was that only one of the three flight staff was fully qualified to fly to the City.
There wasn’t any WiFi either, even after we landed in Southend and waited until the near riot, before we were allowed off of the plane.
Note that none of this is any intended criticism of Ireland, the authorities in London are just as capable of causing unnecessary pain.
As I say, I am on the verge of giving up, where I used to go on the "Vomit Comet" out of necessity with three kids and my own car, I do not need to do this anymore, but it is looking more attractive with each crossing, especially as there is a distinct possibility that we might be moving to Ireland soon, and the regular crossings will become even more regular.
You will be welcome in Ireland on a full time or part time basis. The old saying goes that ‘there are no strangers in Ireland, just friends you have not met’.
I recognise all of the factors you mention. It is just part and parcel of what we call mobility and also a feature of low price travel which has brought standards through the floor. Two years ago I flew on a (Aer Lingus branded) Stobart (yes the ‘Eddie guy’) Air flight from Dublin to Bristol which used a hired-in Danish cheap airline plane; I hope you are following all that. We were told at departure that while the plane had toilets, they were not working and that if we had to go, we should go now. Luckily, the flight to Bristol is only 45 minutes. On the other extreme, I travelled to Doha last year first class on a Qatar Airways flight where the toilets on the plane were bigger than my bathroom at home! You see all sorts of things when you are flying.
Last year I had to travel back economy from Bermuda to London because the British Airways flight on which I was booked for business class did not have enough seats in business class. This had been caused by a fire in a BA plane in Las Vegas which caused some re-juggling of aircraft. I did not claim the ‘compensation’ at the end of the flight as I had another flight to catch at Gatwick and somebody else was paying for the flights. The hostess did, however, give me double helpings of everything, including bottles of wine.
Maybe it is just better to stay on ground or go nowhere. On the other hand there is a whole planet out there waiting on us to visit.
William
So unless one is a senior politician, or a king or queen…
The only part of the whole flying experience that hasn’t improved, is the treatment of the customers as they pass through from land side to air side.
I have almost given up flying because of the arbitrary manner that people are treated.
Travelling to a funeral in Ireland via Aer Lingus, I was asked to dispose of a cup of coffee that I was intending to drink in my seat. The coffee was bought following all of the security checks, and only seems to apply if one is boarding one this company’s flights. Hot instant MaxPax style (yuk) (not)coffee is of course available on board. No explanation regarding why this had to be thrown away was forthcoming.
Last year a gift of expensive handcream, sealed in several layers of plastic film, bought at the airport had to be either decanted to an alternative plastic container available on the other side of the security area and therefore not available at the point of confiscation, or thrown in a bin and sacrificed… Unless of course one would rather not fly!
So the leicax1 master practioner is headed home and now will entertain and amaze with his prize the x2! Glad you had a great time and thanks for all the pics of Portugal.
I should have told Mike that I have already spent 7 hours flying Lisbon to Dubai and 9 hours in Dubal Airport so it’s a very long day.
As I can still remember flying to Europe when the inflight entertainment was a pull down screen and one old movie projected with one of those 3 lens projectors from a VHS cassette this is nothing short of miraculous.And yes I am reading Macfilos at 31000ft and typing in this comment just 25 mins after I took the shot.Amazing indeed but I guess that the very idea of this enormous plane flying non stop Dubai to Sydney is equally amazing.