Why do planes always take the longest route to their destination?
The routing an aircraft takes to its destination depends on quite a few variables: 1. The type of aircraft, a twin jet has to take into account the maximum distance it is certified to fly if one engine failes, this sets the maximum distance it can be from any airport and thus the maximum distance it can be from land during any time during its flight. 2. The route - aircraft try to follow "great circle" as being the shortest distance between any 2 points on a sphere (earth) but unfortunately politics determines which airspaces they can actually fly through and hence the shortest routes. 3. Other aircraft. Aircraft are routed along wide air corridors but jet aircraft need quite a narrow range of altitudes through which to fly for maximum fuel efficency and hence lower cost and hence maximum profit. Given other traffic on the route the aircraft might end up flying a little further, but if it is the right altitude they can actually end up burning less fuel! Given the above, the answer is that aircraft flying from UK to Florida when flying down the east coast of the USA are actually flying quite close to a "great circle" arc - try looking at a globe and stretching a piece of string from London to Miami.
What's the longest time you had to spend in an airport because of flight issues?
I stopped thinking in terms of time lost. If I have to fly, the day (or days) is lost. On a longer flight, I may lose about 2 days, all included, from the moment I leave a hotel, or home, until I reach destination. If flying business, at the end of the journey I would be rested and ready for work. If flying economy, I have to rest, I can only do minor activities.But to get to the point, as far as I remember I spent about 12 hours in Bangkok airport, waiting for my next flight, but it was a scheduled layover, there was no problem with the flight. Fortunately I could stay in a business lounge, but I had to go for a long walk, too much time sitting is not good for health.I had 8 hours between flights in Istanbul and Doha several times, my choice sometimes. For instance, flying via Istanbul, there was a choice of flying to Bucharest in about 2 hours, or flying to Constanta after 8 hours. Flying to Bucharest meant time lost waiting for baggage (and sometimes lost baggage due to the short connection), plus a 3 hours drive from Bucharest to Constanta, not to mention there was some waiting time for the pick-up driver (scheduled transport, with fixed times). At the end of everything, reaching Constanta from Buchares was probably an hour earlier than flying from Istanbul to Constanta. Of course, for me it was more relaxing to stay in the business lounge in Istanbul, enjoy the good food and a wide selection of drinks.
What was the longest duration of your stay in airport?
2 nights and three days in Heathrow Airport in London.It was the winter of 1978 and I was bumming around Europe going to the train stations at night and using my rail pass instead of paying for a hotel room. This made for some strange side trips. Anyway, I had planned on arriving at Heathrow with no money and flying back to San Francisco.But the fates decided differently. There was a bad snow storm and some sort of a strike that shut things down for days. Did I mention that I was flying standby? As a side note the Iranian Revolution had just driven out the Shah and the airport was packed with Iranians trying to get home.Stuck in Heathrow with no money and no plane seat in sight.I decided to go into the city and see if I couldn't rustle up some luck.So I'm walking down the street and come across a bakery. Ah! Says, I, day old bread might be cheap or even free.I go in the shop and tell the girl behind the counter my story. She looks at me for a long second and says, "I know you, I'm Susan XX, we were in elementary school together." Small world. Got something to eat and a great memory. Those days and nights in Heathrow still make me laugh at all the weird, happy, lucky things that happened there.
What is the longest time that you have waited on a gate to open at an airport?
It was about 10-12 years ago and I don't remember which airport it was. The weather was bad and the landing was bumpy but not alarmingly so. As we were taxiing to the gate, the rain picked up ferociously and then the lightning started; that was alarming. There were no open gates for the plane to go to and all the ground personnel were ordered inside until the lightning stopped.Our plane sat on the taxiway for over an hour waiting for the storm to pass and a gate to open up. At least I was at my destination. Three years ago I was flying into Chicago ORD; it was closed because of weather and we had to divert to Peoria. There were a number of planes diverted there; all waited for 3 hours on the ground with passengers unable to leave the planes. At that time, some were able to take off but others, including the plane I was on, had to wait for a fuel truck. I didn't get to Chicago until late that night.
For a long flight (over 10 hours), what does someone do that entire time? Anyone done that in coach?
It depends if you are in coach or business/first. I just flew to Hong Kong from the US in an overnight flight. I left Saturday and got in Monday early morning. The flight was just shy of 16 hours. I flew Cathay Pacific in business. The plane had economy, premium Eco and business. There was no First in this plane. Here is what I usually do:1. Always pick an overnight flight. Much easier to sleep this way. 2. Arrive exhausted. The more tired I am, the longer I can sleep. So the night before I sleep at least 3hours less than normal. 3. Eat before the flight. I find it better not to eat major meals on the plane even if the food is great. If you have a full stomach it is likely that you will not have good sleep. 4. If you drink, limit alcohol to one glass of wine or champagne. Don't ever drink beer in a plane unless you want to spend half the trip going to the toilet. 5. Drink normal quantities of water. Don't "hydrate" yourself, it has the same result as beer. 6. Have a good book so you catch up on reading. It is better than to rely on the plane's entertainment system. Sometimes it doesn't work. Also if you travel often most likely you have seen all movies. 7. Plan your time. If you are doing north-south like NY-Buenos Aires or London-J'burg try to sleep just after take off. If you are going East-West it is trickier, but for a 12+ hours I would wait at least 2h before sleeping. I sleep very well in the plane regardless of where I'm sitting. I have friends who can't sleep even if they are in First. In any event the one thing that I recommend you NEVER do is take sleeping aids. I have seen some very bad results.
What do you think of teens who ride first class on planes? Do you think they're spoiled?
BQs 1. Have you ever flown first class? (I just got to because they had overbooked economy! i've never paid for it) 2. How old were you when you flew for the first time? 3. Have you ever flown by yourself? 4. Where have you flown alone if you have? 5. What's the longest flight you've ever had? 6. What's the best flight? 7. What's the worst flight? 8. What do you normally do when you're flying to not be bored? 9. What do you wear?
Layover at LAX? What time should I get?
Since you have not traveled by plane before, give yourself a longer layover - more than an hour. The steps involved: *Check in for your flight. You can do this online starting 24 hours before departure and print your own boarding pass. Or you can wait until you get to the airport and check in at the airline counter, and print your boarding pass there. *If you have bags to check, you need to go to the airline counter to check them. *Once you have your bags taken care of and are checked in, then you follow the signs to security. *Once through security, you find your gate. This should be on your boarding pass, but you can also check the electronic departures boards. *Be at your gate at least 30 minutes before departure. *At your layover, you will get off your first plane and head to the gate for your next flight. That gate may or may not be on your boarding pass; again, you can use the electronic departures boards. *Same deal - be at your gate at least 30 minutes before departure. *When you arrive at your destination, follow the signs to baggage claim/ground transportation.