Qatar Airways and the Dreamliner

Qatar Airways and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

rated 6/10: it's a plane

Our son asked, Are you flying a Dreamliner ? They are so quiet ! And the air is kept moist, rather than horribly drying...

Well, our eleven hours in a "lesser" Boeing is followed by six hours in a 787. So it's a good time to notice differences.

Quieter ? You have to be joking.

I don't often listen to movies -- and certainly not music -- on a plane. The background noise is just too annoying. And let me assure you -- the background noise is just as bad on a 787 as on the earlier flight.

Vibration, though... That's a different story.

When you rest your head on a plane seat it's like... well, like resting your head on something that vibrates a lot. An enormous vibration. But even, so it's bearable. The Dreamliner seems to have overcome the problem of vibration.

Not that it's smooth. But not enough vibration to notice. So that's good for resting and sleeping. No improvement for listening.

And now for a series of observations. Some may be built into the Dreamliner. Others may be due to choices made by Qatar Airways... I can't always tell.

The seats are hard. They were just as hard in the earlier plane. Not hard and uncomfortable. Not as soft as I would expect from a long-haul seat.

The Dreamliner headrest has no side adjustment. (It slides up and down -- nice. But no adjustment to catch your head as it lolls to the side.) That makes it just slightly less comfortable than the earlier flight. Neither is comfortable. The Dreamliner is just slightly less comfortable.

The Dreamliner windows tint electronically. Very clever ! Press a button to go from clear to shady and back again. Or... the pilot can override: one press of the pilot's button and all windows are clear. Nice :-)

The tray tables are the type which fold in half. Unfortunately the hinges are weak... The half nearer the passenger sags, just a little bit. Combine that with a slippery tray -- and there is a high risk of the passenger catching dinner in their lap...

Yes, there is a definite sag on the nearer edge; I tested it with a straight edge. And yes, is not just my tray table.

Push your dinner tray to the further edge of the tray table. Or catch dinner on your lap.

This problem is made worse by the way that the plane flies...

Is it the pilot, or the plane ? There is a distinct tilt to the floor. Yes -- the front of the plane is definitely higher than the back. The plane ? At least, the passenger area is definitely tilted.

Go into the nearest toilet. Lift the toilet seat. Watch it fall back down again !

Yes, there is enough tilt to force you to hold the toilet seat open as you use the toilet... Very, very awkward. On my second toilet trip I chose a toilet where the lid opened sideways... At least the plane does not lean over to one side !

The entertainment system is fun. Pity it was never tested in flight.

Almost 300 movies ! A great collection, great choice. I decided to watch The Monkey King: spoken in Chinese with English subtitles -- so I don't need to listen.

Remember Monkey, the TV series ? Just as much fun but with better production values. And the subtitles capture the same not-quite-English that was part of the fun of the original's dubbing :-)

And then the entertainment system reset itself. Oh well. A good movie while it lasted.

The 787 entertainment system has the same touch screen control. Slightly better, actually; the Sudoku game is far easier to control.

The 787 also has touch screen control on the remote... So if -- like me -- you have trouble with touch screens -- tough.

And as an added "bonus": for much of the flight we were in night time darkness. Not sure why -- it's morning -- but all the lights were dimmed. And guess what ?! When the lights are dimmed -- you can't see the part of the control which operates the reading light !

The passenger reading light is turned on and off by pressing the touch screen remote control. Where to touch ? Impossible to tell -- without an external light -- because the icon is not illuminated !

The designers really need to test their gadgets in real conditions...

And then there's the hand towels in the toilets... This is definitely Qatar. They have chosen extremely thin paper hand towels.

Why ?!?

My hands are wet. Natural enough, that's why I want to dry them. I touch the paper towels... And they just fall apart.

Worse than a paper tissue. These towels are super absorbent. One touch of a damp hand -- and the paper towel turns to mush. No chance of pulling a towel out of the dispenser. One touch of my damp hands and the next few towels are mush... and still stuck in the dispenser.

And the moister atmosphere ? Well, my eyes and hands are dry.

Finally... The seats are close together.

For the first eleven hour flight I had a reasonable amount of leg room. Not enough to be truly comfortable, but adequate. For six hours on the Dreamliner, I have had just a few centimetres less.

Just a little less legroom. Just a little less room to be comfortable.

Oh well. Nobody expects to be comfortable flying cattle class. It's just a matter of learning to sleep no matter what. And I did.

In summary -- from the passenger seat -- in economy: it's a big plane. Less vibration than some. Less comfort than some.

A means to get from point a to point b in a hurry. It's not a miracle of passenger comfort.

It's a plane.

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Problems ? Solved

Booking Accommodation Online

Booking Accommodation Online:
Wotif, booking.com, Expedia and other "bulk booking" websites
... plus a mention of airBNB

rated 5/10: use only as required

What is the purpose of a website for booking accommodation ? To make money. That said, the rest is obvious...

Start with airBNB. It offers an apparently unique style of accommodation, staying in someone's home. Apparently unique: I've stayed in a few places which were the owner's holiday home. airBNB is -- according to the marketing -- offering *only* accommodation in someone else's home.

Other booking sites offer accommodation in more traditional hotels, motels, rental apartments and so on. This review is about the more traditional accommodation websites.

So...

I needed to stay in Lindau, Germany, on a specific date. I would be there for a major event. I was worried that the more convenient hotels would be full of other people who were there for the same event...

Sure enough, booking.com offered very few rooms in any of its suitable hotels...

I tested other websites. The same story -- a very poor choice of barely suitable rooms.

Time to panic !

In a panic, I sent emails directly to three hotels with not really suitable -- but more expensive -- rooms. Perhaps, I thought, a foreign tourist can get sympathetic placement high up on the waiting list ?! I was prepared to beg...

Quick as a flash the replies came back: offering a choice of rooms, the most suitable rooms, exactly when and where I wanted them, at the same price as the "unavailable" rooms on the bulk booking websites...

What happened to the shortage of rooms ?!

The only shortage was on the bulk booking sites. Here's how I believe it works... And I'll name booking.com, only because most of my work was through that site...

A hotel has, let's say, fifty rooms. It sets aside five rooms for sale through booking.com. If booking.com sells a night in a room, the hotel pays a fee to booking.com. But booking.com can sell a maximum of five rooms...

So booking.com will sell rooms with the pressure tactic of, "only two rooms left!" In reality, there are the two remaining booking.com rooms -- plus 45 more which are available directly from the hotel...

No shortage at all.

Yes, the hotel may have passed another five rooms to Expedia. And five rooms to Wotif. That leaves 35 rooms still available -- even when the bulk booking sites have no rooms at all on offer.

Oh, and what about the prices ? Can you get a cheaper price thanks to the bulk buying power of the bulk booking sites ? Have you ever seen a price on a bulk booking website which is lower than direct from the hotel ? Maybe you have. I have not.

If you are just looking for "a holiday" then the bulk websites provide ideas. They will toss up "deals" from around the world. Of course they will be pushing the "deals" which give them the most profit...

When I need to book accommodation, I start with Google Maps. Zoom in on areas of interest, look for "accommodation in Lindau Germany" (for example). Click on a few hotels, check whatever websites that leads to... It may be a bulk booking site or it may be a website for that hotel.

I also search for local tourist bureaus, to see if they have links to local accommodation.

With a handful of hotels of interest -- I look for a website specific to each hotel... If I have enquiries, these go direct to the hotel. In which case, booking will be done direct to the hotel (or their website). Otherwise, I will book by the most convenient means... Closer to home, this may even be by phone.

So the bulk booking sites offer no apparent price advantage. They give a false impression of the scarcity of rooms. What advantages do they offer ?

A standard booking system. This can be very useful when the hotel site is all in German ! When I struck this particular problem I sent an email to the hotel -- and the response was in English.

A convenient, all in one place itinerary. This can be useful. Though I prefer to make my own itinerary, and I include a lot more than just flights and hotels. And you may want to read my earlier review of Expedia and its empty itinerary...

A selection of hotels sorted by various attributes. The list will not be every hotel which would fit your needs. Only the hotels which have agreed to pay a fee to the bulk booking site. (One hotel, on its own website, said that it refused to pay a fee to a bulk booking site. I think it may have quoted a 20% fee...)

If you need a quick and easy means of booking accommodation, feel free to use a bulk booking site.

I like to carefully plan and tailor my trips, to look for interesting and possibly unique places to stay.

I will use a bulk booking site as one way to identify potential places to stay. I prefer to book directly with the hotel.

I have time. I believe it is worth the effort.

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Problems ? Solved

The Technician / Neal Asher

The Technician
by Neal Asher
science fiction

copyright 2010
read in September 2014

rated 8/10: really quite good

There are some books where the quest is just over the top. You know: girl finds magic sword, realises she is last of a long line of warrior priestesses, has just 500 more pages to learn the one spell which will save the kingdom from absolute destruction... It often leaves me wondering, how can the next book possibly top that ?!

Then I read a book by Neal Asher. If there is not a threat to the very existence of all of civilisation as we know it -- then I begin to wonder why the characters bother to make the effort... Waaaayy over the top... is the Asher normal :-)

The Technician is pretty much par for the Asher course. The Polity is under threat. Just how much of a threat, is only slowly revealed.

There's action and adventure -- and seriously sophisticated technology. Plus characters who are sympathetic enough that I do care what happens to them. And then... gradually... the full scope of the danger is revealed. A sort of deadly icing on the plot cake... Hmmm... not sure if that analogy really worked :-)

I do have a minor worry with my "quite good" rating for this book.

As a work of science fiction literature, I'm not sure if this book deserves eight out of ten. Is there depth of character ? I think there is. Is there a deep, timeless and universal meaning ? Is this Shakespeare in space?

Who cares !

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My reading enjoyment is the basis for my rating.

Eight out of ten ? Yes !

Good ? I think so. Very, very, enjoyable ? Absolutely.

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Problems ? Solved

Expedia flight booking service

Expedia flight booking service

rated 5 out of 10: use with extreme caution

A few days ago, Expedia sent me a travel itinerary. Interesting, I thought, it was sent two weeks I before travel. So early. Curious, I thought, since I have no Expedia bookings.

I followed the link to my "itinerary". It was empty. Everything on this itinerary has been cancelled, was the message. What a stuff-up, I thought. Then thought no more about it.

Until... a few days later... Expedia sent another email. Shout about your experiences ! they shouted. Welcome back ! they enthused.

Time to review Expedia, I thought.

So:

I was planning an overseas trip. Certain cities I had to be in, on certain dates. Otherwise flexible. One destination city led me to Qatar Air, the only airline to fly there with only one stop on the way. I would be coming home from a different city.

Expedia offered plenty of flight options, a wide choice of airlines. They guarantee lowest priced flights. So I used Expedia to book a flight to Budapest, flying Qatar.

First mistake.

A subsequent check on the Qatar website showed a price -- for exactly the same flight -- but cheaper. Sure, just $50 cheaper. But it shatters the guarantee of lowest price from Expedia.

A quick email and Expedia refunded the difference. Very nice. But how many people don't double-check ? How many people overpay, just because Expedia pretend that they can guarantee the lowest price ?!

Meanwhile, I had already made my second Expedia mistake.

Expedia claim to offer the lowest priced fares. They also claim to be a "travel agent".

Why would a traveller use a travel agent ? Because a travel agent offers advice based on experience and knowledge. Because a travel agent acts as an *agent* for the traveller. First, the advice... or lack of it:

My travel dates were flexible. I played around a bit, looking at other days, other itinerary options. And found something unexpected...

Air fares vary depending on the day of the week on which you fly... Fares vary by several hundred dollars ! This is the sort of knowledge that you would expect a "travel agent" to offer as advice. You know:

"I plan to fly out on a Monday." "Can you fly out on a Tuesday ? Flights are much cheaper on a Tuesday." That's how it works with a real -- a good -- travel agent.

Not with Expedia.

That was my second mistake with Expedia. Not a fault with Expedia. Just a reminder that Expedia is a travel booking service. Not a travel agent. No matter what they claim.

So the trip is taking shape. One (expensive) flight booked. Time to add more detail...

Until my son told me, Qatar charge less if you buy several flights in the one transaction...

Oh. Is that common ? Last few flights I booked, each flight was independently priced. Buy one, buy many, individual flight prices don't change. (Or perhaps the situation has never occurred before ?! )

Warning: this is not mentioned by Expedia. It's the sort of advice you get from a real *travel agent*. Or, if you're lucky, from your son.

Third mistake: I expected Expedia to be sympathetic. Possibly even supportive. I did not want to cancel my flight. Just buy the second flight at a lower price, as though I were buying the two together.

It's not our policy to help, said Expedia.

Qatar were slightly more sympathetic. But no more helpful. The ticket was bought through a travel agent, they said. We can only help you if the travel agent contacts us. To me, that's perfectly acceptable.

What a pity that Expedia refused to do anything whatsoever to help. Not our policy, I was told. No, I lie...

Our policy states that we will not help you. That's the Expedia policy.

And they claim to be a travel "agent" !

I cancelled the flight that I had booked.

Sure, it cost me several hundred dollars. But when I later bought *all* air tickets in one transaction -- and bought tickets for flights on the cheap days -- I came out ahead.

An expensive lesson. It would have been even more expensive if I had bought the rest of the tickets through Expedia.

Well yes, of course, I bought all subsequent air tickets direct from the Qatar website.

My advice: use Expedia -- or a similar site -- to get ideas of flights and fares from a selection of airlines. , Also look for airlines which are not included in Expedia's offerings. (That was an earlier mistake -- to assume that Expedia covered all of the well known airlines.)

If in doubt, go to a *real* travel agent. If you are reasonably confident -- make the actual purchases direct from the website of your favoured airline.

And if you believe that an Expedia-like service is a good way to book your holiday *accommodation* -- wait till I write a separate review of online accommodation bookings...

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Problems ? Solved

Telstra Australia

Telstra Australia

rated 7 out of 10 for service,
... 3 out of 10 for its non-working product

Telstra... Not my usual topic for review. Most of these reviews are books: science fiction and fantasy.

The books that I review are far easier to believe than my current efforts to get a mobile phone...

It began in March. My wife wanted a mobile phone, one that would also allow her to listen to recorded books. Internet data ? Maybe. But so little as to be insignificant.

We wanted a phone, for emergencies. With the ability to play "music", that is, to play recorded / spoken-word books.

In the Karrinyup Telstra shop the salesman was very helpful, very understanding. Or -- as I now understand it -- he was a lying bastard who would say anything in order to make a sale.

His twelve month plan -- "Yes, definitely, it will have a little bit of data and enough phone calls for the full twelve months" -- lasted three months. A twelve month plan ? A year of phone calls, no worries ?

No.

This "twelve month plan" ran out of data -- and phone calls -- after 30 minutes of testing the phone with some geocaching.

Do you understand that ? Is that what you would expect from a "twelve month plan" ? Well, I did not. And I hate it when a salesman takes advantage of my ignorance of his not-fit-for-purpose product.

Oh, and the device is "3G". I believe that "4G" is the current standard. Sure, it makes no difference to our intended use. But did the salesman mention that he was selling an outdated product ? No way.

So the phone lost its ability to make phone calls. We cut our losses and changed to a traditional post-paid account. One that never -- really never -- runs out of phone call credit. The ideal system when phone communication is absolutely essential. With the added bonus that if you don't call, you don't pay for calls.

Sure the Telstra phone salesperson tried to sell us a plan which allowed for 500 phone calls. I patiently explained that the phone would make, on average, perhaps one phone call per month. (You're right, we're not communications junkies.)

So we identified a suitable plan. We needed a new phone number. Oh well, no trouble to tell the five people who know the previous number.

A new micro sim will be sent.

The new sim arrived on time. After a major effort to access the phone's sim card slot I realised... The new sim is not a "micro" sim.

Yes, I did discuss this with the Telstra phone person. I read "micro sim" straight off the instruction sheet that came with the phone. So they sent a non-micro sim.

After some phone discussion with Telstra...

Off to the Karrinyup Telstra shop. The cheerful saleswoman inserted a new micro sim. Told us that it would be activated -- ready to use -- in fifteen minutes.

Four hours later I'm again on the phone to Telstra. (Luckily we still have the home phone. Otherwise there would be a lot of angry visits to Karrinyup.)

The phone has not activated, I tell them. Try turning it off then on again...?

And here I learnt something new. To power off the mobile -- or to reset it -- you first need to "unlock" it. Before that the screen may be lit but it will not power off...

So I power off. Reset. Check that the sim is correctly in its slot. Reset again. Power off again. Still... no phone connection.

The Telstra person contacts their technical support. Take it into the Telstra shop, they say.

And so... after many hours of effort... phone calls from ten minutes to just short of an hour... three visits to the Telstra shop... we have a mobile phone which is not able to make a phone call.

On the bright side, it still plays the recorded books. And it works nicely over our home WiFi. And the Telstra contact staff are extremely polite and *wanting* to be helpful.

It's just a mobile phone which will not make a phone call.

Tomorrow I'm off -- again -- to the Telstra shop at Karrinyup. This time I will say, Send me a message -- from the once-new phone -- when it is really able to access the phone network.

And I'll go away and do something more useful with my time.

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Problems ? Solved

Witches of East End / Melissa de la Cruz

Witches of East End
(start of a series)
by Melissa de la Cruz

fantasy, chick lit

copyright 2011
read in September 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Read to pass the time -- and enjoy. Light and fluffy. If you enjoy chick lit -- this is not too bad :-)

A charming family of witches. With a surprisingly powerful heritage, once they are allowed to practice their arts. Allowed ? Well, they decide for themselves that they have had enough of a quiet existence...

Romance ? Yes, of course. Hot sex ? Yes, hot and vivid but not graphically pornographic. Magic ? Of course !

I was surprised by the revelation of their background. Still, you can never be too magical...

Okay, it's soap opera with magic and very short skirts. Good fun rather than great literature.

Read it. Enjoy it. Read the next books in the series -- or not. A fun book... but no great loss of you miss it.

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Problems ? Solved

Young Men in Spats / PG Wodehouse

Young Men in Spats
by PG Wodehouse

humour, short stories

copyright 1936
read in September 2014

rated 8/10: really quite good

Typical Wodehouse -- lighthearted, brilliant, pleasantly enjoyable. And very clever with words.

"If he had a mind, there was something on it."

What more can I say ? What more do I even need to say ?!

Except, perhaps, a special mention for, Uncle Fred Flits by... That one story is worth the price of the book :-)  Even if I had paid for it, rather than getting a dozen Wodehouse books as a present...

Excellent :-)

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Problems ? Solved

Shrine of Stars / Paul McAuley

Shrine of Stars
Confluence (3/3)
by Paul McAuley

science fiction

copyright 1999
read in September 2014

rated 4/10: bad but could be read

Take an interesting world. Long and flat. Sort of like a segment of Ringworld. Ask the difficult questions: Who created this world ? Why ? How does it work ? What was expected to happen ?

Don't bother to answer any of these questions. Just say that it was done by scientific magic. For reasons which will forever be mysterious.

Disappointing.

And what's with the rocking planet idea ?!

The sun rises, reaches noon -- then reverses direction. So sunrise and sunset are over the same horizon. Why ?! I can almost hear the squealing of brakes, as the entire planet screeches to a halt... twice a day... so that the planet can change direction.

As in book two, the hero drifts through a series of adventures. This time, however, there is a point: each adventure provides a blunt comment on the evils of some aspect of society. Oh how bad is this society, where one tribe is always born into slavery, for example.

Then there are the rip-offs.

Many chapters of master and servant struggling towards the source of evil. Don't worry, master, cries the loyal servant. I'll carry you if I have to ! May as well call them Frodo and Sam.

Then the final "explanation" of the hero's birth. "-- All You Zombies --" anyone ?

Finally, we meet (again) with the old couple who are now revealed as the authors of the story. Where shall I begin ? asks the old man. It doesn't matter, replies his wife, Because it's a circular story. Which is perhaps intended as justification for the final two chapters... Two chapters which are completely out of sequence. And which add nothing whatsoever to the story.

Book one was interesting. Book two was tedious and had no conclusion. This book three, I read for completeness... Not worth the effort. I should have stopped after book one... or even sooner.

A disappointing treatment of a potentially interesting world.

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Problems ? Solved