Monday, 21 July 2008

Open Skies: officially excess baggage

The Emirates in-flight magazine Open Skies has been considered surplus to requirements on the A380 super jumbo. Hope that means passengers will also be saved from the shocking luxury buying guide, where a couple of million Skywards miles and a couple of million dollars can buy you a jet-propelled personal rocket pack, or something equally useful.

Was this really an eco-friendly measure from Emirates (and - yikes - will they cut gold card baggage allowance on the A380 as well?) or was there another reason?

Note from editors: to make it clear, it's only the A380 route so far that will be without the Open Skies magazine (so no danger of us being deprived for many years to come). This isn't what we originally posted. That will teach us to cut & paste from someone else's article, which has since been amended. But at least we credited the article we ripped off, right?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

what will all the labourers read on the flight over from south asia?

and does this mean the inteview with ian on the in-flight media selection will bite the dust too?

in the scores of emirates flights i have taken, i have never so much as flicked a single page of "Open Skies"...

Anonymous said...

Let's hope that you're slightly more accurate when you do your day job.
Even a quick glance at that story shows that Emirates is only dropping in-flight mags from the A380. Most planes in the Emirates fleet are not A380s, and won't be for many decades.

Unknown said...

Only dropped from A380s. Sloppy work, guys.

meeja tramp said...

yes, as you will see, we amended the post about an hour ago. Before you commented, actually.

Wilson said...

they dropped the magaInes from A380s? Someone could have been killed!

Anonymous said...

Surely not! That means downsizing, which means less gaudy Rivoli ads, and crap, double page spreads from tinpot building companies in Ajman and Sharjah. Poorservice must be sweating like a wrong un.

Wilson said...

I hear they're launching a mag for the Dubai Metro, Open Carriages. First cover: "Who Cut the Cheese?"

Anonymous said...

It's probably to save weight/fuel as the cost of oil goes through the stratosphere. Many airlines are trying to cut down on weight, and 500 bloated crap magazines weigh an awful lot. Wonder if you'll be able to read an electronic version instead on their new super-duper in-flight entertainment system.

Anonymous said...

but wouldn't the excess weight / saving fuel argument be the same on all Emirates planes then?

Wilson said...

RE the excess weight question: I've done a few calculations and have concluded that this is a boring conversation to the power of 12.

Anonymous said...

I've also heard they have removed the economy class footrests from all flights to reduce weight. Beware EK if you have short legs!

Anonymous said...

arabian business state mags to be taken off all EK planes, not just a380s - http://www.arabianbusiness.com/526135-57-say-footrest-removal-not-an-issue?ln=en

so which is it? will be have in-flight mags on regular planes in economy or not?

Anonymous said...

I don't care what they drop from A380s or other flights as long as i can watch the latest movies on the screen in front of me to keep me occupied while my poor long legs are clamped in economy class spacing for hours and hours, i'm just fine!

Anonymous said...

Another rumour busted!

Saw article on ame info...

"Further increases are expected in the coming months with the recent launch of the airline’s first Airbus A380, which , along with the rest of the fleet, carries Open Skies in all of its seat pockets."

http://www.ameinfo.com/166770.html