by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 3, 2016 | Featured, Hotel, Industry News, Passenger Experience |
Another headline caught my attention today while things were quiet from the LH Front.
According to a DailyMail UK piece including video evidence, a Canadian business traveller stumbled across a safe in his hotel room that has a default passcode that can be entered to override any combination and open the safe. The traveller suggested that the hotel staff told him the default code is 000000 when he called the front desk to ask them to reset his safe after he had forgotten his code. The article goes on to explain other ways to bypass hotel safes as well. None are difficult to master.
I’m not sure if this is a big problem and one that extends to a variety of safes in hotel rooms around the world. But if it is possible in a hotel room somewhere in Ontario, then it may be likely to be possible anywhere.
So the next time your in a hotel, try it out. See if the passcode default is nothing but 0’s, thus rendering the protection of your valuables fairly worthless.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 2, 2016 | Airports, Featured, Passenger Experience |
After well over a million miles of flying, a recent ‘Airports International’ article brought something to my attention that I had never realized before. For those of you who travel in the USA and Canada, stop and think, have you seen many Glass Jetways at the airport? Thats because only a handful of airports have them, and the last ones were installed over 20 years ago and those needed special variances in order to be built because otherwise, they were forbidden. They’re prevalent everywhere else in the world, but for weird and outdated reasons, they were never allowed to be built here.
Now, thanks to a new directive from the National Fire Protection Association, building safety codes for airports have been updated to allow for the installation of Glass Jetways at any airport that chooses to have them. The previous building code forbid glass Jetways due to the fear that ‘passengers would not egress from a glass Jetway in the event of a fire’. Not sure if that makes sense, but the code was the code. Another reason that comes into mind is that there has not been any new, major or semi-major airport opened in the USA for the last few decades, which may have added to why we didn’t see Glass Jetways sooner.
The article goes on to compare the pros and cons of Glass vs. Steel or otherwise window-less Jetways and the comparison far and away favored the glass Jetways primarily due to the aesthetics and cost. We passengers apparently enjoy having a nice view as we board or deplane, and airports actually want you to see the area immediately surrounding the airport, especially if mountains, lakes, or oceans are near the airport. Cost wise, the glass Jetways are approximately 2-5% more expensive than their steel equivalent, making it a moot comparison when looking at cost.
So the next time you’re at a North American airport, stop and look around. You may be looking at the beginning of the end of the old, dark tubes they use to funnel us onto our flights.
H/T: Airports International / July 2015
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 22, 2016 | Featured, Italy, Passenger Experience, Strike |
Capping a stretch of on-again, off-again strikes over the past few weeks, Italian Air Traffic Controllers and some Airline staff are set to walk off their jobs Saturday, July 23 from 1:00p to 5:00p local time.
Those that are striking include airport staff in Rome, Milan Linate, and Milan Malpensa. In addition to the airport employees, it also appears that Alitalia staff in Rome will also join the 4 hour walk-out.
According to EuroControl, this strike will not impact flights overflying Italy or Intercontinental flights (arrivals and departures).
If your travels involve regional or European flights to or from Italy, you may want to check with your airline or travel agent to determine the strikes impact on your itinerary.
