Tuesday, July 24, 2007
After boarding the plane to Paris yesterday, I thought that it perhaps was unfair of me to bash Air France despite having limited experience flying with them. However, on arrival in Tokyo, I was quickly vindicated.
Despite being delayed by almost 10 hours, Air France still managed to screw up the delivery of my luggage. Now, my suitcase is lost somewhere in Europe. No one seems to know where. Idiots. In Amsterdam, I was told that I could not board an earlier flight (for example KLM through Seoul or JAL directly to Tokyo) as they would not have time to redirect my luggage. However, in the end, they did manage to redirect my luggage despite my waiting 10 hours.
The Air France plane to Tokyo was old but otherwise ok. While the tv monitor of the French guy sitting next to me failed to work for the entire flight, I can not really complain about that.
Despite being delayed by almost 10 hours, Air France still managed to screw up the delivery of my luggage. Now, my suitcase is lost somewhere in Europe. No one seems to know where. Idiots. In Amsterdam, I was told that I could not board an earlier flight (for example KLM through Seoul or JAL directly to Tokyo) as they would not have time to redirect my luggage. However, in the end, they did manage to redirect my luggage despite my waiting 10 hours.
The Air France plane to Tokyo was old but otherwise ok. While the tv monitor of the French guy sitting next to me failed to work for the entire flight, I can not really complain about that.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM), feel my wrath. My girlfriend was stuck on one of their planes last week for over 5 hours as they were looking into some technical difficulty prior to take-off. This was prior to an intercontinental flight, bringing the total time spent in the plane close to 20 hours. Today, my original KLM flight was delayed for almost 3 hours, causing me to miss my connecting Tokyo flight. In the end, I will be more than 10 hours delayed upon arrival to Tokyo, and to support me during this period, KLM offered me a voucher of 10 Euros, a phone card of 5 minutes, and 50 Euro off my next KLM ticket if I purchase a published fare (which you almost have to be an idiot to buy). No upgrades or apologies, just crap from their staff. Instead of having to fly Air France, with all the dirty French that have no idea what the soap in the bathroom is for, not to mention their stinky cheese - I begged on my knees to have them put me on Korean Air through Seoul. Unfortunately, the Seoul flight is full, and I will need to fly Air France with its dirty toilets, obnoxious air hosts, and depressing French movies.
I can still recall the first time I flew Air France, and James Bond was shown on the main screen. It was subtitled in English, and the sound was in Japanese and French. Ridiculous. However, since France traditionally has been one of Eurabia's strongest supporters of terrorist and corrupt states around the world, at least my flight should be safe from that perspective.
I have recently been reading Anthony Beevor's book "Stalingrad", and it is shocking to read about the 2 million lives lost in the battle between the two madmen Hitler and Stalin. Since it is a rather depressing tale, from a relative point of view, I guess I should feel satisfied about my own situation. However, Air France symbolises the epithomy of bad service among European Airlines, though they likely can not compete with their torturous and fat colleagues working for most American airlines. I am fairly certain it would have a very beneficial environmental impact if the airlines would fire all their overweight air hosts and hostesses. By only allowing thin and normal size individuals to work on airplanes, the fuel consumption would go down, and we would all be better off. Hey, perhaps this could even allow KLM to offer their passengers more than 10 lousy Euros when their flights are delayed by 10+ hours AND they have to suffer the misery that the French will inflict on any unfortunate passenger boarding an Air France flight.
I can still recall the first time I flew Air France, and James Bond was shown on the main screen. It was subtitled in English, and the sound was in Japanese and French. Ridiculous. However, since France traditionally has been one of Eurabia's strongest supporters of terrorist and corrupt states around the world, at least my flight should be safe from that perspective.
I have recently been reading Anthony Beevor's book "Stalingrad", and it is shocking to read about the 2 million lives lost in the battle between the two madmen Hitler and Stalin. Since it is a rather depressing tale, from a relative point of view, I guess I should feel satisfied about my own situation. However, Air France symbolises the epithomy of bad service among European Airlines, though they likely can not compete with their torturous and fat colleagues working for most American airlines. I am fairly certain it would have a very beneficial environmental impact if the airlines would fire all their overweight air hosts and hostesses. By only allowing thin and normal size individuals to work on airplanes, the fuel consumption would go down, and we would all be better off. Hey, perhaps this could even allow KLM to offer their passengers more than 10 lousy Euros when their flights are delayed by 10+ hours AND they have to suffer the misery that the French will inflict on any unfortunate passenger boarding an Air France flight.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Oh Rome, the very old and eternal city. It is like being in a gigantic history museum, no buidlings allowed to be higher than the dome of the St. Peter's church.
We arrived yesterday to the Rome Leonardo da Vinci airport, and as expected in Italy, it took ages for the luggage to come. When the luggage finally came out, the airport delivered the luggage in a different location than provided on the monitors. Lots of confused passengers left the airport much later than what would be expected in a normal country, but I guess it is a good way to get people accustomed to Italy.
Yesterday, we stormed through major attactions as the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, San Pietro in Vincoli (best known for housing Michelangelo's statue Moses), and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. For the first two attractions, we were lucky to join a guided tour, which meant we could bypass all the lines. Rome has a ridiculous amount of tourists. Except from the few Italians that I have seen working in shops and restaurants, I have no idea where the Italians hang out.
Today, we started the morning with a big tour of the Vatican. Hmm, the internet cafe is closing, so more on this later.
We arrived yesterday to the Rome Leonardo da Vinci airport, and as expected in Italy, it took ages for the luggage to come. When the luggage finally came out, the airport delivered the luggage in a different location than provided on the monitors. Lots of confused passengers left the airport much later than what would be expected in a normal country, but I guess it is a good way to get people accustomed to Italy.
Yesterday, we stormed through major attactions as the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, San Pietro in Vincoli (best known for housing Michelangelo's statue Moses), and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. For the first two attractions, we were lucky to join a guided tour, which meant we could bypass all the lines. Rome has a ridiculous amount of tourists. Except from the few Italians that I have seen working in shops and restaurants, I have no idea where the Italians hang out.
Today, we started the morning with a big tour of the Vatican. Hmm, the internet cafe is closing, so more on this later.
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