045 FCO - Airbus flying taxis, augmented reality Emirates, Cebu Pacific million miles baby

Flight 045. Want a million frequent flyer miles? You have to be born on a Cebu Pacific flight or win the Olympic Gold for Singapore. British Airways charters a 747 to fly the athletes home, but no word if they also cut the second hot meal like on all their other routes. In the US, being a multi-medal winner won’t get you upgraded on United, but, unlike Delta, they won’t mistake New Mexico for Mexico. Airbus is going widebody for regional flights, but also planning flying taxis. Will those accept smart carry-ons and augmented reality amenity kits?

Show Notes

Paul is on Aviation Xtended

• Ep.63 – Layovers, Skyfaring and Flightchic | Xtended

The US National Aviation Day

• Teen 'whirlwind' leads invasion of 10 US, UK airports - CNN.com

Cranky Flyer celebrates in style

• Blogger flies to 8 airports in one day - Burbank Leader

How to be dumb in an airport

• Airline passenger runs across tarmac at Madrid airport to catch flight | World news | The Guardian

The Emirates crash landing

• Was Emirates' 777 Crash Landing "An Accident Waiting To Happen?" - One Mile at a Time
• Learning About Quicker Evacuation From Emirates Flight 521 | Commercial Aviation content from Aviation Week
• Royal Aeronautical Society | Insight Blog | Lives before luggage
• Crashing, Burning Planes Don’t Stop Passengers From Grabbing Their Luggage - Bloomberg
• Should overhead lockers be centrally locked? - BBC News
• Dubai airport lottery: Emirates plane crash-landing survivor wins $1 million jackpot - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The AR amenity kit

• Emirates New Economy Class Amenity Kits Offer Augmented Reality Experience | TheDesignAir

Quantas soars

• Qantas profit rises to record $1bn on back of overhaul and dip in fuel prices | Business | The Guardian

Cebu Pacific's loyalty

• She'll go far: baby girl born on plane is given 1m air miles | World news | The Guardian

The state of US air travel

• Five steps to success: How to improve America’s dismal airlines | The Economist
• Why the Big Three Airlines Are So Much the Same - WSJ
• American Airlines Retiring 20 MD-80s to Roswell – Flightradar24 Blog
• Rory Cellan-Jones on Twitter: "New statement from Delta - power outage caused IT failure https://t.co/trkQbpym05"
• This is Why Airline IT Systems Break Down So Often – Skift
• Diving in to the Delta One Suite - Wandering Aramean
• On Delta, All-Suite Business Class Flights - The New York Times
• Delta Air Lines employees mistake New Mexico for Mexico | New Mexico News - KOAT Home
• Turbulence on a JetBlue Flight Was So Bad a Toilet Blew Off the Wall
• United on Twitter: "@HirokoTabuchi We're exceptionally proud of all of our Olympians and we're glad Miss Biles enjoyed her flight back. #TeamUSA ^CB"
• United Appoints New Senior Leaders - Aug 18, 2016
• United Flight Attendants (Finally) Have First Post-Merger Contract – Skift
• Exclusive - Aboard AA990: A curtain comes down on U.S. swimmers' gold medal glory | Reuters

The JFK panic

• The Terrifying JFK Airport Shooting That Wasn’t
• JFK given all-clear after unfounded reports of shooting cause chaos | US news | The Guardian

Singapore Airlines celebrates Gold

• Singapore Airlines Facebook

The BA Olympics plane, and the food uproar

• Flash - Triumphant Brits return home from Olympics in gold-nosed plane - France 24
• Rio Olympics 2016: Team GB's record breakers to fly home for Tuesday - BBC Sport
• British Airways replace in-flight meals on long-haul journeys with fun-size chocolate bars
• I love plane food. Please British Airways, don’t take away my foil-wrapped fun | Daisy Buchanan | Opinion | The Guardian
• To fly, to scrooge: Little by little, British Airways is chipping away at its good name | The Economist
• British Airways cabin crew vote for industrial action but no strike | Business | The Guardian
• British Airways Releases London City Approach Cockpit Video - Airplane News
• Time Lapse Shows Incredible Aerial View of London | Digital Trends
• Revealed British Airways Airbus A350 Club World business class seat - Australian Business Traveller
• The World's 3 Best Business Class Seats For Solo Travelers - One Mile at a Time

Ranking food

• The best meals according to an in-flight food addict | Daily Mail Online

Virgin Atlantic adds live TV

• Virgin Atlantic to offer live TV on its Boeing 787s | IFE content from ATWOnline

Boeing widebodies don't sell

• Charly Taylor on Twitter: "RT @AviationWeek: Revealed: Boeing 2016 widebody orders below 20% of target https://t.co/wMYbWnq9uV https://t.co/bfATq6p5G1"
• Scale Of Boeing’s Widebody Sales Challenge Revealed | Commercial Aviation content from Aviation Week
• After 50 Years, Boeing Plans to Terminate Its Masterpiece, the 747 - The Daily Beast
• B747-400 Global SuperTanker - Matterport 3D Showcase

Airbus widebodies go regional, and more

• How The Airbus A330 Could Change Short-Haul Service as We Know It | TravelPulse
• Airbus wants to make autonomous flying taxis by this time next year
• Airbus probe set to change nature of rivalry with Boeing - FT.com

More smart carry-ons for Alex

• Amazing Suitcase with One-Click Compression and Replaceable Wheels (plus USB charging!) - Le Chic Geek
• Barracuda | Smart Collapsible Luggage

FCO

• Fiumicino - Aeroporti di Roma

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Creators and Guests

Host

Alex Hunter

Co-host of Layovers, Creator of Attache Travel

Host

Paul Papadimitriou

Creator and host of Layovers

What is Layovers - Air Travel podcast?

The Air Travel podcast — created by Paul Papadimitriou, hosted with Alex Hunter & Vinod Viswalingam — #1 in 50+ countries — listen everywhere, watch on Spotify and YouTube.