a comfy British Airways flight
10 May 2007. It's been a while since I've flown. The attraction of going away from home decreases considerably when one gets married, and even more so when you have a beautiful little baby; so this decrease in the volume of travelling is appreciated. However, over the next week I am flying no less than 4 times. Today was with British Airways, on a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg.
Massive facelift at Cape Town International
Cape Town International Airport is undergoing a massive facelift before the Soccer World Cup 2010, I counted 3 large cranes (and I'm talking about the cranes used for construction, not South Africa's national bird); the route to the valet parking still confuses some people and one needs to watch out for cars turning at the last moment, as they spot their turnoffs.
Security is easily bypassed
After checking in at the British Airways desk (they were very efficient and courteous), I went through security and decided to check how well ACSA's security system works. They asked me to take my laptop out of my bag and place it in the tray. I did so, but the other laptop (yes, little did they know I was carrying two) I kept in my bag. They let it through without a problem. ACSA's security system is easily bypassed.
British Airways seating nirvana
What I absolutely love about British Airways seating is that there's plenty of room in the economy class. Whenever I fly South African Airways I panic about being seated in the row in front of the emergency exit, as those seats don't fold back on SAA, and sometimes you end up flying for 2 hours with the seat in front of you folded back - no such problem on British Airways flights, as all their seats fold back.
Helping gets you compliments!
I helped the lady in the row behind me stow her hand luggage (felt like she was packing bricks), and overheard her friend saying, "Now that's what I like, nice helpful young man with big muscles"...I hadn't realised that these British Airways passengers have such good taste for the finer things in life (it of course being completely fortuitous that the subject of said appreciation was myself).
Kenya Airways
While up in the skies I spent a moment thinking of those people who died in the Kenya Airlines crash. A sad fact is that air travel is not 100% safe, an even sadder fact is that most airline crashes occur in Africa.
Airline travel makes me feel guilty
I've mentioned before that I feel a bit guilty about promoting travel, because of the enourmous amounts of carbon which is spewed out of aircraft exhausts. If you haven't already, please take a moment to read my article on carbon-neutral flight. It's still better for the environment not to fly at all, but if you are going to fly carbon-neutral flight is the greenest way to do it.
British Airways - vegeterian cuisine option
As I write this I'm well aware of the fact that one man's meat is another man's poison. I was pleasantly surprised that the option for food choices was "beef or vegeterian". As a vegeterian I'm pretty biased in saying that I think British Airways also have the best food choices!
Car rental - Avis
Got a nice upgrade at the Avis car rental agency to an automatic VW Jetta. As far as car rental in South Africa goes, Avis aren't the cheapest but they have the most comprehensive coverage and have pretty awesome service at Oliver Tambo International Airport for their regulars.
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