[MarkJerling]

I took an airline that is not my favourite, and they trade on the ASX.

Qantas? Flew Sydney - JBH quite a few times with them. 14h20min. flight. Once, the food was inedible, and I generally like airplane food. Another time, the entire plane's entertainment system packed up 1 hour into the flight.

[Parallax]

After my last 2 flying experiences I can say with reasonable certainty that if I can't get to where I want to go by train, boat, driving, cycling, walking, or hitchhiking I'm not going.
The airlines have made flying a miserable experience.

[Racer X 69]

That's the airline that, statistically, is now the safest airline in the world.

Wait.


One plane shot down by the Russians or Ukrainians, but neither side will cop to it.


Another has vanished, and nary a sign of it but a wing part that there seemed to be some doubt.


And that's a safe airline?


Hey, another very large airline wrote one off just a week or two back, due to wind shear. That's half the amount of Malaysian.


So their safety record has to be better than safest, right?

[robtcorl]

After my last 2 flying experiences I can say with reasonable certainty that if I can't get to where I want to go by train, boat, driving, cycling, walking, or hitchhiking I'm not going.
The airlines have made flying a miserable experience.

I haven't traveled by air as much as many of you here, but I totally agree with the yellow fellow.

[MarkJerling]

Wait.
One plane shot down by the Russians or Ukrainians, but neither side will cop to it.
Another has vanished, and nary a sign of it but a wing part that there seemed to be some doubt.
And that's a safe airline?

Statistically, yes, very safe. What's the chances of Malaysia losing another airplane after that?

[Parallax]

The proverbial straw was when, on my last flight ("last" in both the past and future tense), they lost my "carry-on" luggage.

[MarkJerling]

The proverbial straw was when, on my last flight ("last" in both the past and future tense), they lost my "carry-on" luggage.

How on earth do they lose "carry-on" luggage????

[Racer X 69]

The proverbial straw was when, on my last flight ("last" in both the past and future tense), they lost my "carry-on" luggage.

Did you ever get it back?

[Rupert]

Statistically, yes, very safe. What's the chances of Malaysia losing another airplane after that?

About the same as a tornado wiping out the same Oklahoma neighborhood three years in a row?

The year I discovered airline travel had tanked was in 1974? when I took an Eastern Airline from Atlanta to Orlando. I barely got on the plane at the last second...grabbed the only seat not filled near the back of the plane. Then a guy came out of the toilet and wanted his seat.....then the second guy came out...both were left standing during the entire flight. Several people were carrying what looked like fighting chickens in small cages....and when we hit severe turbulence over the Everglades the pilot dipped his wings back and forth and made some scary jokes about the storm.....strange chants erupted, some of the chickens were set free and there was screaming and hollering that was deafening. It was pure pandemonium in there....

I filed a complaint with the FAA on landing and never heard a word from them. I knew air travel had gone straight to hell.

[Racer X 69]

About the same as a tornado wiping out the same Oklahoma neighborhood three years in a row?

The year I discovered airline travel had tanked was in 1974? when I took an Eastern Airline from Atlanta to Orlando. I barely got on the plane at the last second...grabbed the only seat not filled near the back of the plane. Then a guy came out of the toilet and wanted his seat.....then the second guy came out...both were left standing during the entire flight. Several people were carrying what looked like fighting chickens in small cages....and when we hit severe turbulence over the Everglades the pilot dipped his wings back and forth and made some scary jokes about the storm.....strange chants erupted, some of the chickens were set free and there was screaming and hollering that was deafening. It was pure pandemonium in there....

I filed a complaint with the FAA on landing and never heard a word from them. I knew air travel had gone straight to hell.

There were two men in the bathroom? What were they doing in there?

[MarkJerling]

About the same as a tornado wiping out the same Oklahoma neighborhood three years in a row?

That happened?

Several people were carrying what looked like fighting chickens in small cages....and when we hit severe turbulence over the Everglades the pilot dipped his wings back and forth and made some scary jokes about the storm.....strange chants erupted, some of the chickens were set free and there was screaming and hollering that was deafening.

What were you smoking in the '70's?

[robtcorl]

Several people were carrying what looked like fighting chickens in small cages

There were two men in the bathroom? What were they doing in there?

Having an in flight cock fight?

[Rupert]

There were two men in the bathroom? What were they doing in there?

They didn't speak English and I didn't ask them.....

That happened?

Yep...it happened.

What were you smoking in the '70's?

Filtered Taretons....they had coupons and you could get free stuff......like an Iron Lung with 100K coupons.

Which reminds me...that plane had more cigarette holes in the seats than I've ever seen anywhere. It was so damn smoky in there you could barely breathe. I saw the stewardess when I boarded and never once saw her or any other of the crew again until we landed. The occupants were headed to Haiti....must have been a big cock fight or Voodoo Convention?

Seriously...with lightning flashing and the planes wings dipping back and forth, chickens flying, and weird chanting galore it was surreal in there. The only thing that saved me was I had been late boarding because I had a few drinks in the airport lounge and was partially numb to much of anything.

I'm pretty sure the pilots were laughing their butts off. When we landed I never saw them leave the cockpit...I think they shot out of there like rockets as soon as the wheels stopped turning.

---------- Post added 08-28-16 at 07:45 PM ----------

Having an in flight cock fight?

...in a very small confined area at that? Must have been "no big deal"?

[clackers]

And the most memorable in the USA is Picket's charge, although whether that folly really determined the outcome of Gettysburg and the Civil War is debatable.

Certainly ended the South's attempts to take Washington, et al.

A classic move by an officer from Maine, a former teacher as I recall, having his soldiers wheel left around the attacking Confederate's flank, may have been the critical nail that won the battle.

Yes, the Ted Turner movie 'Gettysburg' celebrates this action by Joshua Chamberlain on Day Two. Holding Little Round Top meant the Union line held and its mass would be too difficult to shift for the rest of the battle.

[clackers]

Wait.


One plane shot down by the Russians or Ukrainians, but neither side will cop to it.


Another has vanished, and nary a sign of it but a wing part that there seemed to be some doubt.


And that's a safe airline?

They could probably be well advised to change their name.


Like Lufthansa, IIRC, they continued to fly over the East Ukraine despite the danger.