Air Travel Trivia
Malaysian airports still have the persistent habit of placing a rather very sticky narrow piece of security tape over the zipper of your check in luggage, after the bags are first scanned by security officers, before the passenger even goes to the airline counter to collect the boarding pass. This sticky tape is often irritating to remove from the teeth of bag zippers. This practice is , thankfully, not a feature of Australian airports, which scan check in luggage behind the scenes after the passenger submits the baggage to the airline. Both Singapore and Australia strictly require the filling up of hand written arrival and disembarkation cards, whilst Malaysia has done away with such requirements. Mobile phones cannot be switched on in Australian airports, until after the passenger has cleared both immigration and quarantine checks (tell that to the typical passenger in Asia, who instinctively switch on their mobiles once the plane comes to a halt on arrival and the passengers have not even disembarked out of the craft). Such is the variety of air travel practice that faces a passenger travelling across various time zones and countries.
Chicken, fruits and fish seem to be the safe options in food menu choices for the diversity of air travel passengers, being neither in the zone of culturally or religiously forbidden. They also can keep well and are amiable to soaking in the flavours of spices and stock flavours. Travelling with different airlines also mean the opportunity to partake in the best food represented for each region, whether they are baked pastries, savoury dishes or uplifting and unique side dishes. Increasingly , better run airlines pamper to the needs of the gluten free, the lactose indigestible and the organic focused. The choice of meals do offer differentiation to airlines that care, but Air New Zealand does offer a refreshing variety of the safety video.
Most important is the creating of the experience, not just for business or first class passengers, as often articulated in the quality of passenger interaction by cabin crew. It is also echoed in how various categories of air passengers are organised to check in at the disembarkation gate or treated at the boarding pass collection counter, and whether outsourced or internal staff are utilised for such critical first impression points. It is also reflected in what languages an airline offers to passengers and how they are handled when connecting flight passengers arrive late through no fault of their own. And then there are so many budget airlines.
The effectiveness of scanning equipment at airports comes to more significance play these days, as security and other controls meet head on with the increasing volume of passengers and baggage handled. I have experienced certain scanners used that are not effective in providing plausible views of luggage contents for security purposes - and those that possibly intrude the privacy of the physical features of air passengers.
There are nations that are more conscious of welcoming visitors and those which are more obsessed with not doing so. There are airports that have no proper queuing arrangements, where different managers, of the various phases passengers are subject to, do not communicate sufficiently with each other and where revenues are unduly prioritised over a country's image or friendly prospects. There are nations that have a cultural heritage of engaging with customers (or are well trained to do so) and those with a more of less stiff upper lip tradition and with airline crews who obviously have a disdain for all or certain passengers.
Chicken, fruits and fish seem to be the safe options in food menu choices for the diversity of air travel passengers, being neither in the zone of culturally or religiously forbidden. They also can keep well and are amiable to soaking in the flavours of spices and stock flavours. Travelling with different airlines also mean the opportunity to partake in the best food represented for each region, whether they are baked pastries, savoury dishes or uplifting and unique side dishes. Increasingly , better run airlines pamper to the needs of the gluten free, the lactose indigestible and the organic focused. The choice of meals do offer differentiation to airlines that care, but Air New Zealand does offer a refreshing variety of the safety video.
Most important is the creating of the experience, not just for business or first class passengers, as often articulated in the quality of passenger interaction by cabin crew. It is also echoed in how various categories of air passengers are organised to check in at the disembarkation gate or treated at the boarding pass collection counter, and whether outsourced or internal staff are utilised for such critical first impression points. It is also reflected in what languages an airline offers to passengers and how they are handled when connecting flight passengers arrive late through no fault of their own. And then there are so many budget airlines.
The effectiveness of scanning equipment at airports comes to more significance play these days, as security and other controls meet head on with the increasing volume of passengers and baggage handled. I have experienced certain scanners used that are not effective in providing plausible views of luggage contents for security purposes - and those that possibly intrude the privacy of the physical features of air passengers.
There are nations that are more conscious of welcoming visitors and those which are more obsessed with not doing so. There are airports that have no proper queuing arrangements, where different managers, of the various phases passengers are subject to, do not communicate sufficiently with each other and where revenues are unduly prioritised over a country's image or friendly prospects. There are nations that have a cultural heritage of engaging with customers (or are well trained to do so) and those with a more of less stiff upper lip tradition and with airline crews who obviously have a disdain for all or certain passengers.
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