Tag: Gulliver

1
May

The great foreign exchange rip-off is coming to an end

SOME years ago, when Gulliver was a wide-eyed reporter on his first business trip, he sidled up to a bureau de change in London’s Heathrow Airport to buy some foreign currency. His nervous excitement quickly turned to dismay when the teller gouged 12% from the transaction, justifying the theft by tapping on a display-screen of ruinous exchange rates. Today, Gulliver knows better than to buy foreign currency at an airport. But many do not: in 2016 Heathrow raked in £50m ($68m) by renting retail space to bureaux de change. New technology and startups could soon change that.

Savvier travellers have, until now, bought their foreign currency in advance from bureaux de change outside the airport. Higher competition and lower costs mean that these firms trade closer to the interbank exchange rate–the price at which two currencies are actually swapped by financial institutions. Yet all middlemen need a mark up, so they still add a margin of 2-5% to their “commission-free” quotes.

A new breed of “challenger banks” wants to…Continue reading

23
Abr

Korean Air’s “nut rage” sisters step down

FOUR years ago, Cho Hyun-ah, an executive at Korean Air made headlines around the world when she threw a fit because she was served macadamia nuts in their packaging rather than on a serving dish in first class on the airline. She reportedly insulted the cabin crew, threw documents at them, and forced them to kneel and beg forgiveness. At the time, she was a company vice president, and she made the plane return to its gate in order to remove the offending flight attendant. After spending several months in prison for breaking aviation-safety laws, Cho Hyun-Ah was able to return to her father’s conglomerate, this time managing hotels rather than Korean Air. But a new scandal may have finally accomplished what “nut rage” could not.

This month, police opened an investigation into Hyun-ah’s younger sister, Hyun-min, a marketing executive at Korean Air….Continue reading

19
Abr

Americans will no longer have to sign for credit-card purchases

AMERICANS, and people who travel to America, have good reason to celebrate this month. By the end of April, the four major credit-card networks in the country will all stop requiring retailers to collect signatures from customers when completing transactions. Visa, the world’s biggest credit-card issuer announced in January that signatures would no longer be required from month for retailers in North America with chip card readers. For Mastercard, the world’s second largest, the same change became effective on April 13th, covering purchases in the United States and Canada. American Express, in third place globally, is dropping the signature requirement this month for retailers around the world. Discover, the fourth, is Continue reading

17
Abr

One person dies after an engine explodes on a Southwest flight in America

A SOUTHWEST AIRLINES flight became the stuff of nightmares on April 17th when a jet engine apparently exploded in mid-air and a passenger was partially sucked out of a window before being rescued by fellow flyers. The flight from New York’s LaGuardia airport was bound for Dallas, but at 11:30 am, when it was near Philadelphia, the left engine blew up, according to multiple reports. Details are still unconfirmed, but according to reports by passengers and media, a piece of shrapnel from the engine shattered a window in the cabin, and a woman was partially sucked out of the hole. Other passengers scrambled to assist and pulled her back in. Oxygen masks were released in the cabin, and the plane dropped from 32,500 feet at a rate of more than 3,000 feet per minute before levelling out at about 10,000 feet, according to NBC, a broadcaster. The pilots were able to…Continue reading

17
Abr

One person dies after an engine explodes on a Southwest flight

[image|fid=236086|title=|alt=|caption=|use_original_size=|image_link=|slim_image=

A SOUTHWEST AIRLINES flight became the stuff of nightmares on April 17th when a jet engine apparently exploded in mid-air and a passenger was partially sucked out of a window before being rescued by fellow flyers. The flight from New York’s LaGuardia airport was bound for Dallas, but at 11:30am, when it was near Philadelphia, the left engine blew up, according to multiple reports. Details are still unconfirmed, but according to reports by passengers and media, a piece of shrapnel from the engine shattered a window in the cabin, and a woman was partially sucked out of the hole. Other passengers scrambled to assist and pulled her back in. Oxygen masks were released in the cabin, and the plane dropped from 32,500 feet at a rate of more than 3,000 feet per minute before levelling out at about 10,000 feet, according to Continue reading

16
Abr

A plan to put beds on planes

Airbus recently announced that it has entered into a partnership with Zodiac Aeropsace, a French aviation-equipment company, to develop “lower-deck modules with passenger sleeping berths.” In other words, passengers in need of 40 winks might eventually be able to go below decks to the cargo hold and sleep in bunk beds. The video released by the companies shows a clean, white, modern, and comfortable-looking space, although one conspicuously devoid of windows.

Starting in 2020, Airbus says, the beds will be available on its widebody A330 planes, and could possibly appear on A350s as well. The sleeper modules will be easily swapped in and out, the company…Continue reading

12
Abr

A year after United's public-relations disaster

A YEAR ago this week, David Dao went from being an unknown pulmonologist to a household name. Dr Dao had boarded a flight from Chicago to Louisville when the United Airlines crew announced that four passengers would have to leave to make room for additional staff. Three passengers accepted enticements to switch to a different flight, but Dr Dao, who said he had patients to see, refused to give up his seat. Eventually, he was dragged down the aisle by airport security, gaining a bloody face in the process and a national reputation as a consumer champion after videos and photos of the incident went viral. (One of the security officers, who was fired after the event, is suing the city’s airport authority, claiming he hadn’t been adequately trained.)  

The news was a public-relations disaster for United. A Continue reading

10
Abr

Gulf Air tries to reclaim its crown

WITH their geographical advantage for connecting flights between far-flung places, there is plenty to keep the airlines of the Gulf countries busy. Yet Bahrain’s skies are nearly empty compared with its neighbours. About 9m passengers used its airport last year, far fewer than the 88m for Dubai, 37m for Qatar and 26m for Abu Dhabi. The difference is striking given that Gulf Air, Bahrain’s flag carrier, was for decades the most prestigious airline in the Middle East. In its heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s, none of its three neighbours even had national airlines.

Geopolitics was the driving force behind Gulf Air’s rise and fall. During the 19th century, Bahrain was a protectorate of the British empire and the busiest trading centre in the Gulf. In the 1950s, its strategic importance motivated British Overseas Airways Corporation, at the time Britain’s flag carrier, to become a major shareholder in Gulf Aviation, the island’s fledgling local airline. By…Continue reading

6
Abr

Why do so many animals die on United flights?

THE numbers seem damning. As Gulliver recently reported, 18 animals died last year on United Airlines flights. No other airline had more than two animal deaths, according to data from America’s Department of Transportation.

So is America’s fourth largest carrier really nine times as deadly as the next most perilous airline for a travelling pet? The Washington Post, a newspaper, has conducted a strikingly thorough investigation of this question, and the answer is no.

United, the paper found, has allowed certain high-risk dog breeds that other airlines have barred to travel on its flights. The canines in question are brachycephalic (in layman’s terms…Continue reading

5
Abr

Air India is trying to crack down on corruption

EVERYONE grumbles about the injustices of air travel, but most people assume that the inequities are at least grounded in a fair system. Pay for business class (or have your company pay), and you get comfort and free drinks. Go frugal with basic economy and get stuck in a lousy seat without a carry-on bag. But it is not always a proper free market at 35,000 feet. Sometimes, corruption skews the equation.

For instance, on Air India, the country’s state-owned flag carrier, who you know can apparently determine where you sit. The airline’s chief executive, Pradeep Singh Kharola, recently felt compelled to admonish his staff to stop upgrading friends and family members for free from economy class to business or first.

“It has come to my knowledge that operating crew carry out upgrades to business and first class unofficially during the flight for their friends and relatives,” Mr Kharola wrote on March 13th to his employees, in a letter that was…Continue reading