Ben was doing what all good airport commercial managers should do, spending time on the shop floor, watching, evaluating. What’s working. What’s not.
Travel
Destination Doha once more as one jewel remains wrapped while another is set to sparkle
I’ve been travelling so much that when I visited my dentist on Friday, I actually (and I swear this is true) went to fasten my seat belt as I sat in my chair. Given my aversion to dentists and what followed, I probably should have.
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Travel
From Dubai to Switzerland and Saudi Arabia with a fond farewell to Julián Díaz along the way
He has captained the ship through the most tumultuous, sustained and severe storm in our industry’s history. He has done it with a trademark determination and a remarkable calm. Al Mal Tiempo, Buena Cara – when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
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Travel
Around the world in 80 (or so) days
Over dinner Lal told me how he would watch the wealthy residents and citizens of Dubai turn up to his workplace in their swanky cars. “I would look at the cars and decide which one I would buy one day,” he said. Not dream about. Decide. And that is precisely what he did.
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Travel
A flying Kiwi once more
This is the closest I’ve got to Hainan since before the pandemic. Where’s my parachute when I need it?
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Airlines
Why the call for maskless travel is mistimed
I cannot imagine many Chinese or other Asian travellers feeling remotely comfortable wandering through an airport or boarding a plane in Europe where most people are unmasked.
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Airlines
From inconclusively negative in London to conclusively upbeat in Qatar
Checking in is not as simple a process at it was in those halcyon pre-COVID days. PCR test results need to be checked along with all other details. Do NOT – as we had been forced to – turn up at the last minute.
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Travel
Bravo Heathrow, bravo Qatar Airways, but work required Travelex
This is where we go so wrong so often in the west. A mask is there for a reason. You don’t wear half an oven mitt to protect yourself from burns.
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Travel
Flying the flag of 2020
Boris Johnson said that the government had “underestimated” the extent of asymptomatic transmission and didn’t fully understand the coronavirus in the “first few weeks and months”. But now, 45,762 deaths later, they do understand. So that’s alright then.
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Airports
Checking out destination Nowhere and checking in to destination Hong Kong
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.
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Airlines
Epitomising the QR code
Maria, the member of the cabin crew who looked after me and other passengers nearby, was charming, warm and professional, nothing forced about her manner, simply an outstanding, natural human host and wonderful brand ambassador.
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Events
All (very) black in Tokyo, all smiles in Doha
The pressure now really kicks in and I must admit to even greater nerves than on the eve of the All Blacks match – and I was a shivering wreck then.
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Travel
Homeless in Hong Kong but home again in the land of the long white cloud
Which airline could keep me connected for longest and with the best line speed? Cathay won hands down. I suspect I am not the only travel retail executive deciding that connectivity is key to choice of carrier.