Aussie Flyer

      Now You're Flying The world of Australian domestic aviation has changed recently. The once proudly low cost Virgin Blue has new management and a new direction, relaunching as premium airline: Virgin Australia. It's a gradual change but already we are seeing the new logo gradually being applied to the existing fleet, the introduction of two new aircraft types (the A330 and ATR72), and possibly most importantly, the introduction of domestic business class. The domestic business class service arrived with the first A330 (ex-Emirates) and is featured initially only on the 'coast to coast' domestic runs between Sydney and Perth. The newly arrived 737s feature a similar business class seat although with lower seat pitch than the A330 and the existing fleet has been slowly refitted with business class seats too. There is sufficient refurbished and new build aircraft now (November 2011) for the airline to feature business class on ALL flights from the east coas...

As an avid frequent flyer and aviation fan I try to ride on as many different types of aircraft as possible. With this in mind I recently needed to get from Las Vegas to Vancouver and one of the options was Delta Airlines via Salt Lake City with a ride in the McDonnell Douglas MD-90. The MD-90 is an upgraded version of the older MD-80 with more modern IAE V2500 engines (like those found on the Airbus A320) and a longer fuselage. The aircraft was not a huge success and according to Wikipedia there is just 74 aircraft in airline service as of 2011. The majority of which fly with Delta, with Japan Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines as other operators with several in the fleet. So for this reason I was excited to be able to book a flight on the MD90, it's not likely to happen again any time soon. As a Flying Blue platinum member I had some status with Skyteam carrier Delta but there is no lounge for Skyteam at Las Vegas, so I stopped by Burger King for a croissan'wich breakf...