[transtraxman]

After reading this article..
“Airlines need to ‘do the right thing’ – or pay the price”(Routes Online – 21 Nov.2018).

http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/281613/airlines-need-to-do-the-right-thing-or-pay-the-price/

…based on the comments of Philippe LaCamp, senior vice president, Americas at Cathay Pacific Airways, I came to ask if the airline executives and customers are on the same wavelength.He said “airlines will face higher running costs and a customer backlash if they do not improve their working practices.”

These can be resumed as..
1) to increase biofuel usage. Only 0.01% of customers took advantage of the carbon offsetting scheme putting this down to lack of knowledge of the scheme.The cost of fuel, and company contacts demand this option more and more.
2)The demands for the increased use of younger and younger more fuel efficient aircraft.
3)This goes hand in hand with a better, more up-to-date offering in customer services. “It’s important for us to bring down the age of our fleet,” he said. “We’re a premium carrier and our customers expect a good product.”
4)”aside from customer retention, adopting more sustainable practices was increasingly important to generate profits.”
5)Refusing to carry non acceptable cargo ” such as elephant ivory.”

Though the list is not complete, is he ignoring anything or what would you add?

[LuganoPirate]

[quote quote=906049]1) to increase biofuel usage. Only 0.01% of customers took advantage of the carbon offsetting scheme putting this down to lack of knowledge of the scheme.The cost of fuel, and company contacts demand this option more and more.[/quote]

Interesting post Transtraxman. Swiss offered this carbon offset (not sure if they still do) and I went to contribute until I noticed they had the cheek to charge a handling fee!! I suppose on the usual Swiss (generally speaking, not just the airline) basis of “well it costs us money to do this so someone has to pay it!). I then declined and have never even looked to contribute again especially more so when I saw the type of multi national organisations this money goes to.

What appalls me though is the amount of waste airlines generate, especially with regards to plastic packaging, and water being handed out in plastic bottles. I see people taking them as they’re handed out and then leaving them unopened. They are then collected and thrown away.

So I’d add to the list by sating “Cut down on waste”!

[openfly]

My demand from an airline is a comfortable Business/Club Class seat, with acceptable legroom. The prospect of BAs first new Neo A321, being delivered this week, with the 28” Club Europe seat pitch, at a very high cost, fills me and many others with HORROR……!!

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NTarrant, Flightlevel

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=906090]What appalls me though is the amount of waste airlines generate, especially with regards to plastic packaging, and water being handed out in plastic bottles.[/quote]

There was a piece in the Irish Times yestreday about what Aer Lingus will be doing to reduce wastage.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/the-first-irish-times-sustainability-survey-airlines-1.3705547#.W_pyaANeM7w.twitter

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LuganoPirate

[Flightlevel]

Items 4 and 5 for sure and comfortable seats in economy, so that you can actually sleep!
32″ pitch minimum and a better recline when crew allow (on long flights and 1 hour after the main meal) with tables than stay horizontal and IFE screens that move to vertical too.
Every on board item should be recycled and collected for that purpose.
Purchase of trees and woods optional!
CX is probably half the way there?

[cwoodward]

Interestingly Cathay publishes every year an extensive report re their environmental efforts.
It is a long report but makes interesting and revealing reading to those interested in the subject

https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/about-us/environment/waste.htm

I was unaware that they recycle all plastic cutlery and other in cabin plastics for re-use.
(Do other airlines do this ?)

In 2017 from 15 A350 aircraft alone they recycled 3010 tons of waste.

Across the fleet recycled some 1882 tons of paper/cardboard 475 tons of glass and gave 260 tons of surplus food to charities.

To me this seems like real efforts are being made here.

[millies_002]

CLEAN AIR

What I will bring to your attention is the air quality that we as a customer have on each of fly.

Every time that I fly I have a cold two days later and studies shown that the air on flights are contaminated with everybody’s germs that caused multiples sickness.

Airlines must do everything to purify the air for the customers. Find a better way to CLEAN the air please.

That must be a high priority.

Also cleaning overall should be improved. Really.

Thanks. ❤

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Catalina, transtraxman

[MartynSinclair]

Shame there wasn’t an initiative, unless of course there is, for food trays, with seals unbroken, to be collected from airports and used to feed the less fortunate.

For airlines to actively encourage Green / SRI, by making direct fares more attractive instead of creating cheap fares by taking multiple flights.

The airline industry spend billions on research and innovation making aircraft faster, quieter and more fuel efficient.. Divert funds for finding a solution for getting rid of single use plastics, especially in the airport shopping malls.

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LuganoPirate

[IanFromHKG]

[quote quote=906146]CLEAN AIR
Every time that I fly I have a cold two days later and studies shown that the air on flights are contaminated with everybody’s germs that caused multiples sickness[/quote]

Millie, most airline cabins provide cleaner air than most hospitals, but you are right that airborne and droplet infection is a risk. To minimise this:
Sit at the back of the cabin. People cough and sneeze forwards as a general rule, so if there’s no-one behind you it is much less likely you will get a vector-borne disease. I learnt that trick during SARS and have never caught a cold on a plane when travelling with a bulkhead behind me
Take, and use, frequently, antiseptic wipes /sprays/gels etc. Apparently, the bin trays used at airport security are more germ-ridden than most toilets…
Don’t touch food, crockery, cutlery or your face unless you use aforesaid antiseptic products before and after

I bet that if you follow this regime you will have far fewer illnesses when travelling

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millies_002

[LuganoPirate]

Maybe I’ve been lucky but I’ve never caught a cold or anything from being on a plane, though i did get food poisoning once in the 80’s on Singapore.
Fully agree about the trays at security. I wash my hands at the first opportunity if I’ve handled them and then wipe down the handles of my carry-on in case of cross contamination. Perhaps i’m a bit OCD’ish!!!

[CathayLoyalist2]

Well some of us may recall one of the major London universities that took a Tube Train seat apart and tested it for content. Anything and everything imaginable was found. Next when sitting at a bar with a drink do we grab a few peanuts from those offered at the bar in a bowl without thinking as to who else has popped their dirty fingers in there. The number of times , and I can only vouch for the Gents toilets here, I have seen guys exit the cubicle and walk straight out, using the door handle without washing their hands. Enjoy your breakfast!!

[Inquisitive]

Most airlines I fly nowadays (SQ, Cathay, Qatar) has so good business class product that I have no further expectation.
However my expectations from all airlines if they can follow SQ service, entertainment and seat in economy class.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

The reason for getting off a flight and feeling ill is (often) because of dehydration. Airlines should be made to offer drinking water at no cost on all flights – and have plenty of it as well.

Humidity levels are most planes are around 10%. I know of an organisation where they often work at low levels of 25% in control rooms and for H&S reasons they can only work for an hour. The reason is at low levels of humidity your lungs dry out and makes you more susceptible to infection.

Now on basis of plane at 10% humidity this will be somewhat amplified, especially if on a plane for 5 hours +

I’m no Doctor – but hopefully that explanation given to me is true – to me it makes perfect sense at least. You can’t avoid the issue around other people coughing / sneezing. but you can mitigate this by offering water onboard – and airports not being allowed to profiteer by charging crazy amount for water in the airport shops for people who want to be prepared and take there own (and maybe airport security can let people take larger bottles through providing it is scanned – surely this is possible in this day and age!)

[Johnnyg]

[quote quote=906345] The number of times , and I can only vouch for the Gents toilets here, I have seen guys exit the cubicle and walk straight out, using the door handle without washing their hands. Enjoy your breakfast!![/quote]

I couldn’t agree more, this August I was talking to a hygienist / food safety trainer who leads courses all over Europe for a major hotel chain and a National Airline. During our discussion he said that after mobile phone screens guests in hotels ignore the obvious, in the fact that no matter how fastidious they are in washing their hands more than likely the light switch to the bathroom and both door handles of the bathroom are some of the dirtiest places in a hotel. Likewise when people do a deep clean on a bathroom at home how many actually cleanse the light pull switch, which is again one of the dirtiest places in a home. He advised a colleague and I that whenever we stay anywhere to use a wet wipe to wipe the said items.

For this reason I always carry wet wipes.

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transtraxman

[IanFromHKG]

Not just wet wipes, antiseptic wet wipes, I hope! I also carry a small bottle of alcohol gel and use it fairly frequently after going through the dirty parts of airports / hotels. I recently found in Boots a small travel-size antiviral spray which will be my new companion – bacteria aren’t the only problem, and viruses are harder to kill and treat!

[Author]

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