Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Smuggler Turned Boeing 777 Lavatory Into a ‘Pot’ of Gold

gold bangladesh
Mar 15 2019

12kg of gold was found behind the mirror in the lavatory of a Biman Bangladesh flight from Dubai on arrival in Dhaka on Monday. You might even say that lavatory was a pot of gold.

Smuggling gold into Bangladesh is incredibly common. Spot prices are high and it’s a common destination for illicit funds being taken out of the Gulf region and also parts of Asia as we learned when a North Korean diplomat was discovered trying to bring $1.4 million in gold into Dhaka.

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Too Sexy to Fly: Woman in Crop Top Told to Cover Up or Get Off

emily rose
Mar 14 2019

Imagine my shock that Thomas Cook Airlines claims to have an (unpublished) policy against ‘inappropriate’ dress and that it was enforced against Emily O’Connor as she boarded her flight to Tenerife, a holiday destination in the Canary Islands.

Southwest Airlines of course famously kicked 23 year old Kyla Ebbert off a flight over her short skirt, which struck me as ironic considering the original Southwest Airlines uniform.

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American Airlines Strands 16 Woman Bachelorette Party When Bride’s Mother Appears Drunk

cops in airport
Mar 14 2019

Sixteen women headed out Thursday on American Airlines from Sacramento to a bachelorette party in Cabo San Lucas while first connecting in Phoenix.

As they were about to board their connecting flight they were stopped — the bride‘s mother appeared to be intoxicated. Her daughter excuses it because she was nervous flying for the first time “in over 20 years” which is why she “had a few alcoholic drinks before their first flight.”

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President Trump Grounds Boeing 737 MAXs in the US

airline cabin
Mar 13 2019

I’ve just written that I believe the FAA was reasonable not to ground the Boeing 737 MAX, and that doing so brings along its own safety risks. I wrote that I hoped that new data would be what guides any shift in position.

Minutes after writing that, though, President Trump announced a grounding of the aircraft type. It’s not obvious that there’s been any actual new information which has become available since the FAA resisting doing so. The only meaningful news item has been Canada’s decision to ground the plane, also based on no new material information.

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Woman Asks Plane to Turn Around When She Realizes She Forgot Her Baby at the Airport

Mar 12 2019

Saturday’s Saudia flight SV832 from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur turned back to the gate because a woman on board forgot her baby at the gate and insisted the plane return.

Since communications between a commercial airliner and the ground are available, it’s worth a listen to this exchange. The pilot asks, “May God be with us. Can we come back or what?”

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