GateHold
Mar 13, 08, 9:47 pm
This week in Patrick Smith's ASK THE PILOT
The colorful history of flying in Latin America...
>>> Avianca, the national airline of Colombia, was founded in 1919, and today ranks second-oldest in the world. Two years later came Bolivia's LAB. Two years later came Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB). Until its unfortunate suspension of services in 2007, the airline of Bolivia -- Bolivia! -- had been around longer than any U.S. major. TACA, based in San Salvador, has been in business since 1931. (TACA has not recorded a fatal accident in over 45 years. LAB, for all its troubles, hadn’t had a crash since the 1970s.) But on the whole, the airlines of Latin America have been nothing if not erratic, possibly even more unstable and ill-fated than their counterparts in the United States. Former South American mainstays like AeroPeru, Ecuatoriana, and Viasa also are gone. Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela no longer have a national carrier to speak of. Lesser-known but equally storied airlines, such as Peru's Fawcett, Brazil’s VASP, and Avensa of Venezuela have succumbed as well. <<<
Plus, the world's most irritating towns and cities...
>>> The Colombian village of Raquira is known for its ceramics. Raquira makes for an acceptable half-day trip, but it's one of a peculiar and slightly discomfiting kind of place that travelers will occasionally encounter -- the type of town that appears to exist wholly for the benefit of tourists, and that seemingly could not exist without them. Towns like Raquira have circular popularity; they are visited not so much for anything that is there, inherently, but because they are known and understood to be tourist towns in the first place. People go there because people go there. Ubud, Bali, is another good example. Bali is a wonderful island. Ubud is intolerable.
At the other end of the scale is what I call the fly-in/get-out city. Fly-in/get-outs are places like Lima, Peru. They offer very little for the tourist, but are mandatory landing spots if you want to visit the country. You can’t get to Cuzco or Machu Picchu without landing in Lima first. I’m sure Lima has a few interesting spots, but they are not the reason a tourist comes to Peru. Spend the night if you must, and move on. Amman, Accra, Santiago, Casablanca, and Guatemala City are some other fly-in/get-outs. That’s Jordan, Ghana, Chile, Morocco, and Guatemala respectively. All are outstanding countries to visit, but their busiest cities aren’t exactly seductive. <<<
To read the full article, click here:
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2008/03/14/askthepilots268/
You can read for free. Look for the “enter Salon” or “skip this ad” prompts on the gateway page.
Last week in ASK THE PILOT: Boarding hell
Flying isn't so bad, it's getting on and off the plane that sucks. Some ways to make it better.
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2008/03/07/askthepilot267/
The colorful history of flying in Latin America...
>>> Avianca, the national airline of Colombia, was founded in 1919, and today ranks second-oldest in the world. Two years later came Bolivia's LAB. Two years later came Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB). Until its unfortunate suspension of services in 2007, the airline of Bolivia -- Bolivia! -- had been around longer than any U.S. major. TACA, based in San Salvador, has been in business since 1931. (TACA has not recorded a fatal accident in over 45 years. LAB, for all its troubles, hadn’t had a crash since the 1970s.) But on the whole, the airlines of Latin America have been nothing if not erratic, possibly even more unstable and ill-fated than their counterparts in the United States. Former South American mainstays like AeroPeru, Ecuatoriana, and Viasa also are gone. Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela no longer have a national carrier to speak of. Lesser-known but equally storied airlines, such as Peru's Fawcett, Brazil’s VASP, and Avensa of Venezuela have succumbed as well. <<<
Plus, the world's most irritating towns and cities...
>>> The Colombian village of Raquira is known for its ceramics. Raquira makes for an acceptable half-day trip, but it's one of a peculiar and slightly discomfiting kind of place that travelers will occasionally encounter -- the type of town that appears to exist wholly for the benefit of tourists, and that seemingly could not exist without them. Towns like Raquira have circular popularity; they are visited not so much for anything that is there, inherently, but because they are known and understood to be tourist towns in the first place. People go there because people go there. Ubud, Bali, is another good example. Bali is a wonderful island. Ubud is intolerable.
At the other end of the scale is what I call the fly-in/get-out city. Fly-in/get-outs are places like Lima, Peru. They offer very little for the tourist, but are mandatory landing spots if you want to visit the country. You can’t get to Cuzco or Machu Picchu without landing in Lima first. I’m sure Lima has a few interesting spots, but they are not the reason a tourist comes to Peru. Spend the night if you must, and move on. Amman, Accra, Santiago, Casablanca, and Guatemala City are some other fly-in/get-outs. That’s Jordan, Ghana, Chile, Morocco, and Guatemala respectively. All are outstanding countries to visit, but their busiest cities aren’t exactly seductive. <<<
To read the full article, click here:
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2008/03/14/askthepilots268/
You can read for free. Look for the “enter Salon” or “skip this ad” prompts on the gateway page.
Last week in ASK THE PILOT: Boarding hell
Flying isn't so bad, it's getting on and off the plane that sucks. Some ways to make it better.
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2008/03/07/askthepilot267/