Break out your Jerry Garcia ties — they won’t be out of place when Australian carrier Qantas hands out colourful new international business class amenity kits from the start of May.

The Australian carrier has selected 16 works from some of Australia’s leading artists, photographers and digital influencers to give passengers collectible pieces to take home.  Amenity kits have a myriad of post-flight uses so it’s not unusual for passengers to take the bags with them.

The sixteen amenity kits – eight each for men and women — feature names such as Fairy Bread, 7000 Ironbarks and Maaate.

They include pop culture, photography, fine art, abstract landscape, Indigenous art and textile design.

Two designs will launch every few months.

“As the national carrier, we’re pleased to support talented Aussies telling uniquely Australian stories through their artwork and share them with a global audience,” Qantas group executive brand, marketing & corporate Affairs Olivia Wirth said.

“Along with inflight pyjamas, we know amenity kits are an important part of the international Business class experience. Customers love the functionality of our kits and many use them after their flight as make-up bags, an evening clutch or to carry their mobile phones. So, the exposure is broad.”

The airline’s support for the arts includes a joint acquisition program for contemporary Australian art with Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Tate in the UK as well as support for organisations such as the National Gallery of Australia, Opera Australia, Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre.

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A Qantas Boeing 747-400, operating Flt QF29 from Melbourne to Hong Kong has been involved in what the Australian Transport Safety Bureau calls a serious incident which caused minor injuries to 15 passengers on April 7.

According to the ATSB,  the 747 was about to enter a holding pattern at Flight Level 220 (22,000ft) about 110km (60nm) southeast of Hong Kong at a waypoint called BETTY when the aircraft’s stick shaker activated.

The stick shaker is a mechanical device that noisily vibrates the pilot’s control column or yoke (the stick) to warn of an imminent aerodynamic stall.
(An aerodynamic stall occurs when the angle of attack of the wing causes the air moving over the upper surface can no longer remain attached to the surface and the flow breaks down causing a loss of lift and control.)

However, Boeing warns that “a stall must not be confused with the stall warning that alerts the pilot to an approaching stall. Recovery from an approach to stall is not the same as a recovery from an actual stall. An approach to stall is a controlled flight maneuver; a stall is an out-of-control, but recoverable, condition.”

The Qantas crew immediately disconnected the aircraft’s autopilot and recovered the aircraft manually,  the ATSB said.

“While holding at flight level 220, the flight crew received a stick shaker activation and detected airframe buffeting,” it said. ” The flight crew disconnected the autopilot and manoeuvred the aircraft in response. Fifteen passengers received minor injuries.”

The 747 in question has continued to operate flights normally since the incident.

Qantas confirmed that passengers on QF29 experienced “unexpected turbulence’’ about an hour before landing.

The airline said the incident lasted about two minutes and the captain called for an ambulance to meet the aircraft on arrival.

The injuries were minor but one passenger was transferred to hospital for a precautionary medical assessment and later released.

“We notified the ATSB of the occurrence, and our own teams are also reviewing the event,’’ the airline said in a statement. “These investigations need to be completed before Qantas can comment further.”

United Airlines is facing an online campaign to boycott its flights amid social media outrage over an appalling video showing a man claiming to be a doctor being dragged forcibly from a plane because the airline needed his seat to reposition staff.

A video showing the man being dragged down the aisle of United Express Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday has gone viral around the world, become a hot media topic and provoked a social media backlash.

READ: Not all passengers are equal

The incident is PR nightmare for the airline that billed itself as the “friendly skies’’.

The airline confirmed the flight was overbooked and it had asked for volunteers to give up their seats on the flight.

When this failed, media reports said, it selected four passengers who were asked to leave the plane,  three of whom did so.

“After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,’’ the airline said.

A passenger who posted footage of the event, Jayse  Anspach, tweeted: “#United overbooked and wanted four of us to volunteer to give up our seats for personnel that needed to be at work the next day.”

“No one volunteered, so United decided to choose for us. They chose an Asian doctor and his wife.”

“The doctor needed to work at the hospital the next day, so he refused to volunteer.

“A couple (of) airport security men forcefully pulled the doctor out of his chair and to the floor of the aisle.’’

Anspach said the passenger’s face was slammed against an armrest, causing serious bleeding,  as he was being dragged out and he seemed to go limp.

“Ten minutes later, the doctor runs back into the plane with a bloody face, clings to a post in the back, chanting, “I need to go home.”,’’ he said.

Passenger Tyler Bridges told The New York Times the airline initially offered $US400 vouchers to people prepared to voluntarily give up their seats and increased this to $US800 and $US1000 when no-one took up the offer.

Passengers were told the aircraft would not leave until four people got off,  he said.

United Airlines chief executive Oscar Munoz said the airline was investigating the incident but attracted social media fire for describing the incident as a move to “re-accommodate’’ the passenger.

“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United,’’ Munoz said. “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers.

“Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation.”

One of the three security officers involved incident has since been placed on leave by the Chicago Department of Aviation, which said it was carrying out a of review of the incident because it was outside its standard operating procedure.

Airlines are allowed to involuntarily remove people from flights in US and overbooked flights are enough of a problem that the government has rules about how they should be offloaded.

These require airlines to first seek volunteers and to pay compensation for those who are bumped involuntarily if the airline is unable to get you to your scheduled destination within an hour of your originally scheduled arrival time.

Compensation rises to 200 per cent of your one-way ticket price (up to $US675) if you are bumped and between one and two hours late on a domestic flight or between one and four hours late on an international flight.

It hits 400  per cent, or a maximum of $US1375, if you are bumped and more than two hours late on a replacement domestic flight or four hours internationally.

US Department of Transportation figures show 40,629 airline customers were subject to involuntary denied boarding in 2016, or about 0.62 per 10,000 passengers. United had 3,765 passengers in this category but was below the industry average with 0.43 involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers.

The hapless passenger who ignited a global online firestorm after he was forcibly ejected from a United Express flight on Sunday would not have been chosen at random.

United Airlines, like many carriers, has a pecking order which sees it look after its best customers first and those in the cheapest seats last.

How this works is usually contained in the fine print known as the conditions of carriage.

There are some exceptions which in United’s case sees those with disabilities and passengers under the age of 18 considered last when it comes to denied boarding.

Read: Drone targets Singapore Airlines’ flight

That’s assuming you’re a Qualified Individual with a Disability, an individual with a physical or mental impairment that on a permanent or temporary basis limits one or more “major life activities’’.

For those not in these groups, however,  whether you end up as one of the unfortunate few depends on your fare class, itinerary, frequent flyer status and even when you checked in.

Checking in late counts as a black mark and the airline will also be looking for someone on a cheap ticket, who doesn’t fly very often and therefore has a low or no frequent flyer status and is not connecting to another flight.

The other members of the “big three” US carriers use similar criteria but it pays to check each airline’s conditions of carriage.

“In such events, American will usually deny boarding based upon check-in time, but we may also consider factors such as severe hardships, fare paid, and status within the AAdvantage® program,’’ American Airlines says in its conditions of carriage.

Delta goes into a little more detail, actually defining the elite and corporate travellers least likely to get bumped.

They include travellers in premium cabins, passengers whose tickets are purchased under a corporate travel agreement as well as diamond, platinum or gold medallion SkyMiles members.

Passengers holding boarding passes who check in and present themselves at the departure gate in compliance with the rules are also accommodated before passengers traveling in the same cabin who have not been issued boarding passes or who fail to comply with applicable check-in requirements.

At the top of the pecking order for those who have failed to check in are passengers who have been rebooked on this flight because of an irregular operation such as a delay or cancellation.

Silver medallion SkyMiles members come next followed by passengers with SkyTeam Elite or Elite Plus status and then passengers without any elite status.

Special needs passengers, minors, US military personnel and the aged or infirm can be exempt from the status equation.

Over at Southwest — where boarding priority is determined on a first-come, first -served basis —  the process is more egalitarian.

“In determining which passengers holding confirmed reserved space shall be denied boarding involuntarily, (the) carrier shall deny boarding in reverse order from the order in which the passengers’ boarding positions were secured (i.e., the last passenger who receives a boarding position will be the first passenger denied boarding involuntarily in an over-sale situation), with no preference given to any particular person or category of fares,’’

Southwest’s conditions of carriage say.

The good news is that involuntary denied boarding is relatively rare at just 0.62 passengers per 10,000 boarded in 2016. Put another way, the problem snared 40,629 passengers of the 659.7 million people who boarded planes in the US that year.

There are also government rules that require airlines to ask for volunteers before denying boarding and to offer compensation to those they turf off the plane if the delay in getting them to their destinations is more than an hour.

That come in at  200 per cent of your one-way ticket price (up to $US675) if you are bumped and between one and two hours late on a domestic flight or between one and four hours late on an international flight.

It hits 400  per cent, or a maximum of $US1375, if you are bumped and more than two hours late on a replacement domestic flight or four hours internationally.

Delta Air Lines says its operations are stabilising after storms swept through its main hub in Atlanta, prompting a massive disruption that saw more than 3200 flights cancelled.

The carrier’s customers were still facing delays on Sunday and at least 150 flights were cancelled as the airline struggled to find flight crews who could operate within federally-mandated duty guidelines.

The severe weather hit Delta’s hub, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, on Wednesday.

The weather was so bad that the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a five-hour “ground stop” for flights at the airport, through which about 60 per cent of the airline’s aircraft pass.

Storms at other Delta hubs on Thursday exacerbated the situation as did the timing in the busy US spring break.

The airline struggled to recover as it suffered its worst bout of cancellations since computer problems with reservations and operations computers crippled it in August, 2016.

“We know this is extremely frustrating for our customers and we apologize for that,’’ the airline said Sunday. “Delta teams continue to work around the clock to fully reset our operation and keep customers informed.

The airline offered fare waivers over the weekend offering a refund for the unused portion of a ticket if a flight is cancelled or delayed for more than 90 minutes. Customers whose flights were not cancelled could make a one-off change to their ticket without incurring the usual fees.

However, that was little solace for the thousands of Delta passengers stuck in long queues, attempting to locate their baggage, or spending long periods on the phone.

Delta has acknowledged that its recovery effort —  hampered by the positioning of aircraft, crew roster limitations and insufficient customer service staff —  could have been better.

Delta chief operating officer Gil West said last week: “We are grateful for your patience and want you to know that we, as always, learn from these experiences.

“While we can’t control the weather, we understand the resulting recovery has not been ideal and we apologize for that.”

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 has suffered a landing accident at Sibu Malaysia.

Flight 2718 was operating from Kuala Lumpur to Sibu with 61 passengers and 6 crew and landed on Sibu’s runway 13 in very heavy rain at about 22.10 local time.

Runway 13 is 2745 long but does not have an ILS.

On touchdown the 737 went off the side of the runway and came to a stop on soft ground with the nose gear collapsed according to Aviation Herald.

No injuries were reported but the 737 has sustained significant damage.

According to Aviation-Safety.net the 737, is registered 9M-MXX and had its first flight in August 2014.

Qantas customers will be able to take part in a domestic beta-test of the airline’s high-speed inflight wi-fi from today if they fly on a specially-equipped Boeing 737-800.

The delayed launch comes after months of testing the system with global broadband services provider ViaSat and the Sky Muster satellite service belonging the Australia’s government-sponsored national broadband network (nbn).

The airline, which is also in talks with suppliers to develop an internet product for its international fleet, estimates up to 15,000 customers per month will experience the Wi-Fi service during the initial test. This is expected to rise to 15 million annually once the system rolls out.

The system uses the newer Ka-band technology to deliver speeds that allow customers to use streaming services such as Stan, Netflix, Foxtel and Spotify.

Qantas had touted download speeds of between 7 megabits per second and 12 Mbps during its testing. Results posted by journalists on a demonstration flight on Friday ere in some cases slower, but still enough to watch streaming video, and in other cases much faster. One tester recorded download speeds of more 30Mbps.

Qantas will use the 737 flights to fine-tune the system until mid-year when the technology will be installed on the airline’s domestic fleet of Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 aircraft. The roll-out to some 80 aircraft is due to be completed at the end of 2018.

The service will be complimentary and is expected to see heavy use by business travellers on the Melbourne-Sydney- Brisbane  “golden triangle’’.

“Inflight Wi-Fi has been on our wish list for quite a while, but the sheer size of Australia meant it was hard to offer a service that was fast and reliable,’’ Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said. “The nbn has made it possible and we’re really pleased to be able to tap into this service.”

“The technology we’re using on board this 737 is a generation ahead of what most airlines around the world have and there’s a fair amount of complexity involved. That’s why we’ve installed it on one aircraft for the first few months until we’ve finished fine tuning and are ready to roll out to the rest of the domestic fleet.’’

Virgin Australia has also announced plans to roll-out in-flight wi-fi with customer testing due to begin this month. Virgin is using connectivity company  Gogo through Optus satellites on domestic and New Zealand services.

The Qantas rival said the three-month testing period will be used to test the customer response to the GoGo’s 2Ku technology on which passengers will also be able to use streaming services such as Netflix, Pandora and Stan. The service would then be rolled out across its Boeing 737-800, Airbus A330 and Boeing 77 aircraft.

Virgin has yet to reveal its business model for in-flight wi-fi and whether it will charge for the service. However, it has reportedly been surveying passengers to see how much they would be willing to pay.

But Joyce said Qantas was in a strong position with no other no other domestic airline offering passengers next-generation Wi-Fi with a commitment it would continue to be included in the price of the fare.

He also noted the technology also opened the door to efficiency benefits through better flight planning and real-time itinerary management.

Pilots would be able to access detailed live weather, which would help them steer clear of turbulence as well as making better use of tailwinds to reduce flying time, while cabin crew would have new options better manage customers’ onward journeys while still in the air.

Customer research commissioned by Qantas recently showed the most popular uses for Wi-Fi on domestic flights would be a mix of emails (52 per cent of all respondents), general internet browsing (46 per cent, streaming music/TV/movies (31 per cent), social media (30 per cent and news (30 per cent).

Hawaiian Airlines has unveiled a new cabin for the trans-oceanic Airbus A321neo aircraft that promises to transform its operations.

Hawaiian is set to take delivery of 18 of the 4,000-nautical mile range jets by 2020, with the first neo slated for delivery later this year.

The three-cabin neos— featuring 16 Premium, 45 Extra Comfort and 128 economy class seats from B/E Aerospace —and will be powered by new fuel-efficient twin Pratt & Whitney PurePower 1133G-JM engines.

The longer-range narrowbodies will ply the skies between the islands and the US West Coast.

That frees up more of the airline’s widebody A330-200s for high-capacity, deep continental U.S. duties and international flying.

Narrowbody Boeing 717-200s will continue to link Honolulu with Hawaiian’s ‘neighbor-island’ markets.

Hawaiian’s been on a product improvement roll of late, adding new amenities and aircraft at a relatively rapid rate.
UK-based JPA Design is crafting the neo’s interior with an “Earth, Sea and Sky” motif.

JPA executive Tim Manson says the cabin “draws inspiration from Hawaii’s rich past and contemporary present. Symbolism from Hawaii’s story is woven throughout the cabin interiors.”

Less poetically, all three of the A321neos’ cabins are fitted with high-power USB outlets.  Premium and Extra Comfort passengers have access to an additional AC power outlet.

The premium cabin will be fitted with leather recliners while the 45 Extra Comfort seats will offer an extra five inches of leg room, priority boarding and other perks.

New for Hawaiian passengers will be wireless streaming inflight entertainment available on personal devices after an application has been downloaded before boarding the aircraft.

Passengers will be able to enjoy a wide selection of complimentary movies, TV shows, and Hawaii content available exclusively through the airline’s Hawaiian Skies channel.

Holders for personal hand-held devices and tablets will be integrated into the tray tables of the premium cabin, as well as the first row of Extra Comfort, and built into the backrest of all other seats in the aircraft.

Lots of Hawaii-bound flyers would rather forget about business for a while.

That’s why new pivoting overhead bins come in handy, the better to stow vacation gear.