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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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 Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="coffeeman"][quote="coffeeman"]
| desultude wrote: |
Between the seat space shrinking over the last ten years, and westerners inflating, it can get real uncomfortable on those flights. I love it when a 50 kilo Korean sits next to me- he or she will take little space, be easy to get around, and fall sound asleep before we take off.
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50 kg Koreans don't always take less space than big western people. I had this 20 year old guy sitting next to me on the left side section that has only two seats. He was probably 60kg or something. "Great!" I thought. But come every meal time, he was a real pain in the ass. His elbows came out and hit me every time he cut his food or unwrapped his dishes. To combat this, I raised the arm rest that was between us to a level that would stop his elbow from hitting me. At that time I was wishing there was a sheet of glass between us. What a pest! And have you ever noticed that Korean guys will never share the armrest between you? Western guys will usually try to leave a little space for your arms. When I sit next to Korean guys, I find myself sitting crossarmed most of the time. Korean women are much less selfish to sit next to. If I have to sit next to a guy, I'd rather sit next to a 120 kg western guy than a 60 kg Korean. More often than not, the western guy will not pretend I am invisible..[/ |
Asa! You are correct. I guess the times I have enjoyed being next to a small Korean, she was a female. I had a small Japanese seatmate one time, and she was great too, except she did get air sick (  ).
I have noticed that Asian men do not think it necessary to share the arm rest, and feel entitled to a lot of space. At least western men share the arm rest, but they, too, feel overly entitled to space. The only exception I have experienced to this was flying to the U.S. next to a Philippino one time. He was extremely gracious and pleasant, and fine to share space with.
Those of us who usually travel in steerage are expected to put up with a lot- or I guess, really a little- a little space, too little air circulation, poor service, even too few blankets and pillows at times. Last time I flew back from the States, the economy class had "problems" with the movies (i.e., most of the flight with none) while business class had no troubles at all. How is that even possible? They fed the business class, while they told us there was too much turbulance to feed us!!! We could see beyond the curtains to see them getting full service. We went about 7 hours without food service. (Of course, being accustomed to the penny pinching airlines in the U.S., I had packed food, which I shared with my happy row.)
On the other hand, I am sure those paying thousands of dollars for business and first class are subsidizing my airfare, thus making it possible for me to travel the world, so, let them have champagne and caviar- for a thousand dollars, the price saved on my steerage ticket, I can eat quite well when I get to my destination! |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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JongnoGuru to Airline Industry:
Fine-thank-you-and-you?
When I board the plane, please give me a big fat sleeping pill, a glass of water, hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on me, and wake me up 30 minutes prior to landing. And please charge me 25% less for being so low-maintenance. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, please consider me your child -- your big, unconscious child -- and place the oxygen mask dropped from the overhead compartment over my mouth and let me continue sleeping.
Also, given that I now buy most foreign products I want over the internet or otherwise have it shipped here, rather than manhandling it all the way back to the Republic that Time & the Free Market Forgot via checked luggage, the days of playing my own sherpa are blessedly behind me. I breeze through your airports with only one or maybe two carry-on items and a look of smug satisfaction as I set out on another exciting chapter in my stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. And if other passengers -- those dull, haggard-looking, jet-lagged, constipated, dehydrated, undergarments-wedged-up-the-ass other passengers -- if they prefer to go on playing "human tortoise" and gather 'round the ol' baggage carousel all bloodshot and zombified, going "boo-hoo!! where the hell are our bags?? haven't come through yet and it's been an hour since we landed!! what's happened??? can someone ask an airline rep what the hell's going on??? this shit is fucking ridiculous!!!," etc., then I say let them. In fact, I say let them also subsidise another 25% discount on my fare, since my svelte, no-checked-baggage ass hasn't contributed to the airplane's bloated cargo payload. Now reward my classy, well-under-the-maximum-allowable-weight self.
Thanks.
J-G |
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numazawa
Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Location: The Concrete Barnyard
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:26 pm Post subject: Re: yes |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
| I don't see anything wrong with this. |
Gut-check time...
Didn't read the linked article...
Visceral reaction: Air Canada ---> not good.
I trust my gut on this one.  |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| coffeeman wrote: |
| And have you ever noticed that Korean guys will never share the armrest between you? Western guys will usually try to leave a little space for your arms. |
Haha.. this reminds me of one of my 3 flights getting back to Korea (the longest one, too). I sat right next to a humongous military guy who looked like he could be an NFL linebacker. His left arm was literally in the area of my seat space the entire flight. He was super friendly and fun to talk to, and I know he couldn't help it that he has double-wide shoulders, so I just squeezed in my arm and dealt with it.
Guy on my left, also western, was kinda small, so at least I didn't feel totally trapped in there. |
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Hanson
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 3:38 am Post subject: |
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From the article:
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| "Tetra Paks [possibly made in Canada by Tetra Pak in Richmond Hill, Ont.,] would not only help reduce aircraft weight by approximately 50 kg per international flight, but they would also provide additional benefits, including 33 per cent more wine for the same price and in the same amount of stowage space," the Air Canada e-mail said. |
Silver lining? Let's remember that it's the quantity of alcohol on a flight that is most important!
Now, if they would only get rid of the obnoxious flight attendants! |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:24 am Post subject: |
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I have a suggestions- reduce the number of seats, increase the spacing, and you will reduce the weight. I wonder how that would balance against the lost revenue. Less passengers, less seats, food, attendants, baggage, etc., might actually improve the bottom line.
This equation leads to....drum roll...: higher ticket prices!
Yes we win a free price increase since airline would have to charge more to make money on planes with fewer seats. This would of course accomodate that growing class of overweight wealthy people who travel... 
Not much irks me more than overweight people complaining they cannot fit in the seat...good god...unless you have a glandular problem (which is the case for a very small minority of overweight people) how about you follow the wise words of Dennis Leary: "Put the fork down and stop over eating"....
As for AC...never use em...they are:
Overpriced.
Offer horrid inflight service.
Cheap out of mostly everything they can.
When we travel from and to Korea we go through the US. Thats both cheaper and better service. Or use an asian carrier which has service that is eons ahead. |
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coffeeman
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:37 am Post subject: |
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| Homer wrote: |
[i]
As for AC...never use em...they are:
Offer horrid inflight service.
. |
Yeah, that's for sure. The flight attendants always look gloomy. Why? they chose that profession. It's still a profession, isn't it? Not like they work at McD's or Starbucks. They have a huge responsibility to control and guide people if things go wrong. For this reason the job does give them some dignity. Anyway...
The ironic thing is that the smartasses at AC don't call it economy class. They call it Hospitality Class! No, I'm not kidding! Check it out for yourself. "Sorry, no chicken left, only fish. "No, no more English newspapers." "What? You want a sandwich? $4 please!". That's AC's hospitality. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Air Canada's Bright(?) Idea To Save Big Bucks |
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They're trying to make their planes lighter to save fuel. Maybe I missed something in the article where they're reducing service. Assuming they're just packaging their wine in lighter containers, what's so bad about this? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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Nothing and even the French are okay with wine in 'juicebox' foil vaccuum pack sacs.
The cork shortage has made most people realize how destructive (towards the wine, not to mention cork trees) using real cork has been and there is a shift towards artificial cork, plastic or even the tawdry 'screw-top'.
Wine bottles are inefficient in terms of weight, volume, disposal, etc.
Moving away from them is a sensible goal.
However, my loathing for AC runs too deep for such a small grain of common sense to make any real impact on my opinion of them. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
However, my loathing for AC runs too deep for such a small grain of common sense to make any real impact on my opinion of them. |
All I know is I would sometimes have to fly on biz between Seattle and Toronto. We either went American Airlines or Air Canada. It was like night and day. Air Canada was heaven compared. I don't have a lot of experience with airlines outside of North America, like BA or Singapore. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:23 am Post subject: |
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| How much of American taxpayer's money does American Airlines get? |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
| How much of American taxpayer's money does American Airlines get? |
Pre- or post-9/11? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Good question. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| You're wearing Eamo's old avatar, aren't you? It's a hand-me-down avatar. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:03 am Post subject: |
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I am.
Swiped it from him when he wasn't looking (actually, I think he was passed out).
He should be thanking me: I took his avatar instead of his wallet. |
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