KLM Meet & Seat
In The Nation I recently read a “travel tip”, that airBaltic, the airline of Latvia is launching a new service travelers offers. It's called "Seatbuddy".
It is a system in which the traveler can choose in one way or another who he/she will sit next to on the plane. Now airBaltic does not fly to Thailand, so I didn't really understand why The Nation brought this news.
KLM
However, I found the idea interesting and asked whether other airlines also know this system. It was not so surprising that I discovered that KLM has been using such a system for some time under the name “KLM Meet & Seat”. I am not going to explain the system in detail, because KLM has already described it nicely: KLM Meet & Seat
In short, it means that by creating a profile of yourself, your wishes, your interests, etc. you can be linked to a fellow passenger who has more or less provided a similar profile. That way you can make your often long intercontinental journey more pleasant.
Looking back
When I read that description and the purpose of the system, I thought: "Gee, that should have existed in my day". In the early XNUMXs I started making longer trips, including to Asia, and you always had to wait and see who sat next to you on the plane. I usually introduced myself, but was a bit reluctant, afraid that it would be someone who spent the whole trip talking to you about things that did not interest you at all. The other way around is of course also possible, sometimes you sit next to someone who has something to say and who can also be quiet at times, so that you can do your own things, such as watching a movie, sleeping or something like that.
Stopover
In those early years, the planes could not cover real long distances without a stopover. When I traveled to Thailand with KLM, there were usually two, sometimes even three, stopovers, at least one of which was in the Middle East, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi or Dubai. There you could get off the plane for a while to stretch your legs and enjoy a smoke (that was still allowed at most airports at the time). At the bar you sometimes met fellow passengers, had a chat and sometimes you thought, I would like to talk a bit more with that person and sit next to him.
Pantry party
It also happened to me that I met nice people in the pantry of the plane. I remember a trip from Bangkok to Amsterdam, I was thirsty while the lights in the cabin were already extinguished and went to the pantry for a beer. There were two more Dutch people (with thirst) and together we drank a beer, and another, and another. One man was an inspector of an international organization dealing with fire safety and prevention at airports and regularly flew to various destinations in Asia, the other was (I'm not kidding) Director of Municipal Sanitation in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa. I was then employed by a pump factory, working on some major projects in Hong Kong and locating and appointing agents in other Asian countries, including Thailand. We hung in the pantry the entire journey and told each other all kinds of anecdotes, both private and business. Very satisfying!
Puzzle
The “man from Pago Pago” told me a nice story about flying. He could travel from Pago Pago to Amsterdam via the West, so say via Bangkok to Amsterdam, or via the East, via the United States. In time it made almost no difference. He said that an experienced traveler knows that if you fly to the West, you gain time, because it is earlier at the destination. Conversely, you lose time to the East. Now imagine that two planes would fly from Pago Pago to Amsterdam, one via Bangkok and the other via the States. The journey takes the same amount of time, but the plane via Bangkok gains time and the plane via the States loses time. Yet they arrive in Amsterdam at the same time. How is that possible? Your solution can be left in a comment!
Precautionary landing
Much later, I took a direct flight from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires to attend an important convention and exhibition. Flying over Brazil, the captain decided to make a precautionary landing in Rio de Janeiro because he heard a strange noise somewhere or that a red light came on somewhere. Anyway, we landed there and unloaded early in the morning and had to wait to see what happened next.
It became quite a situation, two hours of waiting, then another two hours and so on. You walk through the departure hall and gradually you share your misery with fellow passengers. In this way I came into contact with some Dutch people who were on their way to the same conference and exhibition. Needless to say, the wait became a lot less unpleasant after that, as we were able to have fun and interesting conversations in our field. We flew to Buenos Aires late at night and arrived well in time for the convention.
Meet & Seat
Now there is the nice system, that you have the option to sit next to a like-minded neighbor on the plane. That does not necessarily have to be someone you want to talk to, you may want to make it clear that you only want to read, work or sleep. The system is accessible to all passengers, in both Business and Economy Class. I have no experience with it, but maybe there are fellow bloggers who can tell something about it. I am very curious!
If I read your story like this, they can best turn it into a flying bar for you. Pool table in, some lascivious Thai girls as stewardess and holladiee!
I say iPad! If I want to smoke, drink, and talk to strangers, I'll find a bar.
moderator: Comment not posted because it is not related to the topic of the story.
In the fly I want to enjoy a movie and have a good night's sleep no bullshit in my head. I fly to or from work every 6 weeks and I love the peace and quiet.
But that is different for everyone.
About your arrival at Schiphol is simple, you fly over the date border so you do that day twice and it is still possible to arrive at the same time
Dateline of course, indeed. I don't think it's such a big task. An experienced traveler knows that a flight to the West always takes longer than the same flight in the opposite direction, has to do with jet streams.
Yep you cross the date line and that saves a day.
So you can also have a week of 8 days or 6 days if you travel around the world. Ships that sail around the world adjust to the local time, so depending on the direction you always put the clock forward or back 1 hour, so your day lasts 25 or 23 hours. So if you cross the date line, you straighten out that difference. So if you have had 24 days of 25 hours, you lose 1 day on the date line.
That American will therefore arrive at the same time if he flies to the east, but a day later.
Those pantry parties also happened quite often yes 🙂 When the pub Papa Joe's still existed in Singapore on Orchard Road, you often went out there before you went home. That was also the local place where many of the KLM flight attendants hung out, always guaranteeing a nice chat. You often ran into them again on the flight the next day and you were chatting with them in the pantry in the back. Those flights were always full of Dutch people anyway, also from the dredging industry, offshore, etc. So there was quite a bit of drinking on those flights and that often gathered around the rear pantry. Until everyone slowly started to get tired of it and they slowly drifted off to their seats to sleep for a few more hours.
Incidentally, the story of that American is only partly true. He gains time on the outward journey, but loses it on the return journey. So on balance the same, since time travel is impossible 😉
But I went alone. And now?
The jet stream due to the rotation of the earth does have an influence though.
Time is, of course, a vague concept and a pitfall for man. But you do use more or less fuel when you are at an altitude of 10 km.
For example, you fly at 900 + 1667 kmph on the equator to the east.
(The air rotates almost as fast as the earths, the difference is in that almost)
I put this off-topic topic in my profile, then I can talk about it for 10 hours with someone next to me 🙂
If you go alone you win relatively some time but you can never go back 😉
Food for thought, for those 10 hours:
If you fly out every year during summer time, and fly back again during winter time, will a year be shorter or longer for him? 🙂
If you are 10 meters from the geographic North Pole, how much later is it when you walk 20 meters east? (answer +/- 8 hours if no summer and winter time)
And an astronaut walking on the moon, what should he set his watch to if he wants to know when his space shuttle will return? 🙂 (Only use UTC time, local time that we know is relatively not absolute)
moderator: Nice riddles, but they have nothing to do with the story
Maybe I'm exaggerating 'in the past', but I'm reasonably convinced that in the days when there were no flights to Asia without intermediate stops, smoking was allowed on board the aircraft.
Frans I'm really glad you can't smoke on an airplane.
Just like in our oil ports, you don't suffer a little for the benefit of your fellow man.
I know quitting is hard but I could smoke it after 50 years.
And the environment is relieved
I hope to give it a try and hope to have someone with a similar profile next to me (on both sides).
Profile:
Slim, don't snore, don't fart, don't smack, don't stink of sweat or anything, calm breathing, have to pee when someone else has to pee, stretch and stretch if the other has not yet returned to the place. Does not read a newspaper but a book or watches a movie.
Oh sorry, I'm just now reading the part with the east and west story. So not off-topic as I said in a comment which was also for “fun” 🙂
The speed of an aircraft is relative to the Earth. The speed of the earth is relative to the center of the earth.
If the 2 flights would take the same time, there would be a difference in distance.
Provided you fly at 10 km altitude where you are dealing with the jet stream.
Provided east and west, the equator has the leading role.
Time difference per country does not matter, here we are talking about light and non-light (earth's shadow).
I wouldn't use it - I'm always surprised! Sometimes you have the best conversations in situations where you don't expect it at all; I once flew from S'pore to A'dam next to a missionary in his eighties, who had been working among the Papuans for almost 80 years and could tell about it beautifully, with a lot of humor and perspective. I didn't get to my book and I certainly didn't get to sleep. Beautiful!
Other extreme: A'dam – S'pore, a young man comes and sits next to me wearing a kind of ski jacket with a hood on it. He sat perfectly still the entire flight with that thick jacket on and that hood over his head, didn't eat or drink, didn't respond to the flight attendants and certainly not to his neighbor. To be honest, I thought it was a little scary, what was this guy up to. Nothing apparently, in the end……….