Obesity and Airline Travel...

Obesity is a problem that extends beyond just the health implications. It can be a factor in many matters from employment to travel. In this case, travel.

A Canadian woman has been given a full refund for having to endure a 1 hour and 45 minute flight from Halifax to Ottawa in Canada. The woman, Janet Ogilvie, was forced to squeeze into about 25cm of seat space after the obese woman sitting in the seat next to her also took up half of her seat as well. The plane was fully-booked and Ogilvie decided that she did not have any choice but to endure the very cramped and uncomfortable conditions. In fact, to her credit Ogilvie did this without complaining to the woman sitting almost on top of her in order not to embarrass the obese woman.

Nevertheless, Ogilvie did complain on getting off the Porter Airlines flight. But, in essence she was told to suck it up, get over it, and there was no chance of a refund. Great customer service skills there Porter Airlines. You know what they say, "A happy customer tells five others of their experience, an unhappy customer tells more than twenty people about their experience".

Airlines in Canada have to supply a second seat at no extra cost to passengers with disabilities. Obesity is a disability. However, this does not mean that passengers with disabilities can front up at the airport and just get on the plane. The way the regulations are written require that passengers with disabilities notify the airline of that disability so that appropriate measures can be taken to facilitate the comfort of all passengers on the flight. Technically, it is my understanding, where an obese passenger fronts and check in without having notified the airline of their requirements for an additional seat, the airline can refuse to board that passenger.

Ogilvie received her refund and a more extensive apology of sorts from the CEO of Porter Airlines.

Cebu Pacific Airlines Dancing Flight Attendants...

My daily travels on the internet quite often reveal some real interesting stuff. This is one of those real fun things, at least to my simple mind. Cebu Pacific Airlines has decided to 'freshen' up its in-flight safety routine by getting their flight attendants to dance and do their safety thing to the music of Lady Gaga.

This is a bonus so to speak because it happens once the flight reaches cruising altitude. The airline does the standard Civil Aviation mandated safety procedures before the flight gets off the ground. Cebu Pacific airlines seems to think that this will work as a marketing strategy to get more people on their planes. I am not sure that it will now that the video can be watched on YouTube, but one never knows on these things, right?

I guess they now freshen this up by getting the flight attendants to do this in swimsuits and bikinis. Although, I did not notice a whole lot of male flight attendants on the job.



Enjoy!

Garuda Goes On A Spending Spree...

The Farnborough International Airshow has been a bit of a success in dollar spend terms with some USD 28 billion being spent on planes. Of this, Garuda has placed an order for six Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Garuda also managed to scrounge up enough left-over cash to place a USD 420 million order with Rolls Royce for the supply, service, and maintenance of engines for part of its fleet.

Does this mean that business is booming for Garuda? Or does it require new aircraft to ensure that it remains authorised to fly into the European zone? What interested me in this little news piece was that I recall when I was living in Indonesia that there were always financial management questions being raised about Garuda and its viability, which was interesting seeing it is the national carrier and all. So, ordering and taking delivery of six new aircraft from the end of 2012 is seemingly a pretty bold move.

I have only flown Garuda a couple of times. The service on the ground was a little 'iffy' at times, but was always excellent on the plane. I would fly Garuda again. But, I have tended to fly with the cheaper budget airlines when I have had cause to fly.

Bandung to Kuala Lumpur...

This is a Claytons blog post, the blog post you have when you are not having a blog post! If you want to know what the Claytons reference is all about, look it up here.

Anyways, the point of this blog post is to pose a question to anyone who knows or who cares to answer this question, what is there in Bandung or KL that warrants a daily Malaysia Airlines flight between the two cities?

I was doing the daily rounds of Indonesian news and came across a piece on the maiden Malaysia Airlines flight between Kuala Lumpur and Bandung. I thought that AirAsia was already servicing that route and was wondering why there was such a demand for travel between the two destinations that there was a need for Malaysia Airlines to put on a daily flight.

I appreciate that as the economy picks up that more and more people can afford to travel by air. Yet, I had always figured, perhaps incorrectly so, that the majority of passengers from Indonesia to Malaysia were domestic workers and that these individuals predominantly departed through Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta.

Not that it matters one way or the other, but I am interested to know what the demand is for that there is such a need for daily flights.

Oh well...

Obesity Discrimination?

Sooner or later airlines were undoubtedly going to require obese people to purchase two seats if they wanted to fly to their destination. Air France and KLM will charge obese passengers 75% of the cost of a second seat. Essentially, this is the cost of the seat without the taxes thrown in.

Air France and KLM are claiming that the obese passenger two-seat policy is for safety reasons. The key safety reason being that the obese person cannot be safely buckled into one seat. The policy is one that applies to fully booked flights only at this stage (for tickets booked after 1 February 2010 and for flights after 1 April 2010 - April Fool's Day joke?). According to Air France and KLM, where a flight is not fully booked, the obese passenger will be given a refund on the purchase price of their second seat.

The dimensions of aircraft seats range between 43cms and 44cms wide, and this seems to be the key safety measurement if the two-seat policy is going to work.

Nevertheless, the question is how is the policy going to be enforced? Do travel agents have to make a determination at the time a ticket is booked and paid for as to whether the prospective passenger is obese? Or will it be a requirement for all Air France and KLM flights that when booking a ticket a passenger must supply a doctors certificate stating their weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), and perhaps critical measurements when sitting (will they fit comfortably in a 43cm or 44 cm seat)? Or are the airlines going to not only weigh one's checked in baggage but require the passenger to jump on the scales as well?

The mind boggles.

My guess is that not all airline passengers are going to be concerned about this development. In fact, I am guessing that there will be plenty who fully endorse the move and wonder why it has not happened sooner.

Privacy -- The Virtual Strip Search

The privacy theme is one that resonates in all manner of places and in a large number of countries. Australia is currently trialling body scanning technology at a small number of airports with a view to providing enhanced security for flights.

I have written on this previously here. The privacy issues here are that the technology does not have the ability to blur the genitals of the people that it screens. More accurately, it does have the ability to blur the genitals but the powers that be have decided not to. So, in essence the person sitting behind the monitor will be viewing you in all your glory. I wonder if they are taking volunteers for these screening positions.

The picture leaves very little to the imagination. It is worth noting that in this picture I can make out what appears to be bones in the lower legs and the knees of the person being screened. The idea is that the x-rays used are at the lower end of the spectrum and would require up to 10,000 screens before you would be in danger of excessive radiation exposure.

So, if you are a domestic traveller leaving Melbourne Airport over the next six weeks you may well be asked to test new x-ray scanners and not only be exposed to the x-rays but be exposed in other ways too.

The new X-ray backscatter body scanner has been described by some critics as a "virtual strip search". Looking at the image above you can see why. The trialling authorities have made it clear that they are not going to blur the images of the genitals. However, the technology has been set up so that faces are automatically blurred.

The blurring of the faces is an attempt to try and avoid claims that the technology violates privacy. Probably more important is that there are very explicit regulations in place with respect to the storage and access to any images that are saved. Even with faces blurred, the mere thought of these images appearing online in some porn site would bother many people.

The current procedures are that once a person walks through the scanner and they are clear of any nasty stuff like explosives, the screener presses a button and the image is automatically deleted. Sounds fair enough assuming that the screener is deleting the images.

Happy traveling!

Virtual Strip Search

It was only a matter of time before Australian airports started to trial virtual strip search technology. The virtual strip search is a low strength x-ray machine that can see under one's clothes.

The picture (courtesy of AP) shows what the image is supposed to look like. I do not know enough about the technology but I wonder if the strength of the x-ray is upped a little bit do you get to see more of the traveller than either the scanner or the traveller bargained for?

The two extremes on this technology are:

* those that say the technology is necessary to screen for explosives and other weapons; and
* those that say this technology is nothing more than an invasion of privacy.

Nevertheless, the question is one that should be asking how much are travellers prepared to give up in order that they travel without fear of people bringing explosives and other weapons on to a flight?

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties main complaint is that the images could be highly embarrassing for travellers as it shows in reasonable detail their body shape. The Council is also worried that this will become the norm. Currently, strip searches are not required to board an aircraft so why should a virtual strip search be mandatory?

This is a trial so the emphasis is on travellers opting in to try the new technology. Travellers not into being stripped searched virtually can opt to go through regular scanning procedures. My guess is that the trial lines will always be shorter.

So, if you are in a hurry it is certainly going to be decision time. I do not carry explosives or other weapons when I am walking around the place and definitely do not carry them onto planes. I know I am an ugly bastard so I am more likely to ruin the virtual strip searchers day rather than provide them with any form of amusement or heaven forbid, arousal.

There will be strict rules in place about the storing of images and it is unlikely that the images are to be stored. There would be no valid reason to store images that did not show someone trying to smuggle something illegal on board.

Besides if these images were to find their way onto the Internet or into the public domain, then there would be claims galore for the invasion of privacy. It should be noted that the faces of the scanned individuals are to be blurred. However, it should also be noted that there is software available to "unblur" these faces (or at least this is what I am told).

The word is that the low dose of radiation associated with the scan is harmless. It is said that to get anywhere near the maximum permissible level of radiation exposure would require upwards of 10,000 scans. This would make you a very frequent traveller.

The technology is to be trialled in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. I won't be home anytime soon, so I guess I will have to wait until they start trialling it here in Indonesia.