Traveling Premium Economy? Choose Lufthansa over Air France. By Geniusofdespair

I have traveled premium economy on two airlines: Lufthansa and Air France. It was like night and day. Lufthansa was so superior in every way, i.e. food, service, comfort....I will be sure to avoid Air France in the future. I never saw a Steward or Stewardess on Air France unless they were offering awful food (Lufthansa had REAL food served normally).  The business class didn't look much better than premium economy.  My foot rest didn't work on Air France and no one seemed to care. I don't like dangling legs when the seat is reclined, not that the Air France seat reclined more than a few inches.

I had to call them on Air France when I needed a water and getting ice was a hassle. Luftansa was a joy. There was always a wait person right there to help. My foot rest was broken on Air France, they didn't care one bit. What is your experience with premium economy?  Air France wasn't worth the extra money or was my experience an anomaly?

Trashing the Airport Director - Is it truly deserved? By Geniusofdespair

Two County Commissioners joined at the hip, were trashing the Airport Director -- is this Angela Gittens all over again, Natacha Seijas certainly trashed her for hinting everything wasn't kosher with airport contracts. And then Gittens was gone. Same with Frank Nero - a character assassination by Lynda Bell and then he is out.

I am concerned that this trashing might be the result of  nepotism -- a relative that did not get a promotion. Bad Commissioner Blood run amok!!

Stop it! Be professional. It is bad enough almost all the Commissioners have relatives in all Departments. We don't need retribution, suck it up like the rest of us.

Flight Paths over Miami's Downtown: About 650 Departures per day. By Geniusofdespair

There is No Airplane traffic over my house people are telling me.  

Flight Paths Don't Lie!!

These are maps of departure flights from Miami International Airport's various runways. You know all those new residential units on the River and in Brickell (8,000 being built right now on Brickell) well good luck with the acceleration they have to use to get over your colossal building.

Below is a PDF of 24 hours of flights that took off from MIA on November 4th between NE 50th Street to Vizcaya (East of I95) and I asked for only the noisy ones: the departures. (yes I know there is a typo saying 5th Street). That is why I am saying the windows on the new condos had better be thick, even thicker than hurricane impact.

The noisy cargo planes appear to take off during the night or early morning.  Most of the flight paths follow the River and hit Fisher Island big time. Here is what MIA Noise Abatement had to say:

I am attaching a PDF document which contains 24hrs of east flow departure activity from Miami International Airport (MIA). These departures (approximately 650 of them) are represented by green lines originating the runway at MIA, and as you can see graphically when the airport operates towards the east which is approximately 70 percent of the time all areas east of Biscayne Boulevard between NE 50 Street and Rickenbacker Causeway will experience aircraft overflights.

There may be a few areas 10 to 15 blocks south of the Julia Tuttle Causeway (I-195) and north of downtown Miami that may not experience constant overflights such as the areas depicted by heavy green lines but as you can see between these two areas overflights do occur but not as frequent.

Since the green lines obscure the map...here is one to refer to.

See PDF:

International Aviation Show in Everglades? Mayor Carlos Gimenez bets on trading America's wilderness values for a few good meals in Paris … by gimleteye

The news finally percolated to the surface at the County Commission on Tuesday: Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez rolled out his plan to use the Dade-Collier airstrip in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve for an international aviation show.

This June in Paris at the world's largest aviation exposition, Mayor Gimenez and God-knows-how-many county staff, sycophants, and "business leaders" will pitch their idea to for an international air show in the middle of the Everglades. Batting this environmental hornet's nest troubles them, not.

The Dade Collier Training Facility is a mostly mute testament to an earlier environmental battle royal that engrossed the US Congress and a president. We remember what happened in the 1960's.

The organization I represent as volunteer board president, Friends of the Everglades, was founded by civic activists opposing that airport scheme, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas -- author of the River of Grass and daughter of a Miami newspaper publisher.

To paraphrase the late author Edward Abbey, the wilderness value of the Everglades -- including the site of the Dade Collier Training Facility -- doesn't need defense, it only needs defenders. There are plenty. (It took six years of my life to persuade the US Department of Defense to reject the scheme by Miami-Dade cronies to privatize Homestead Air Force Base on environmental grounds.)

Only a few years ago, the Dade Collier facility in the middle of Big Cypress was the subject of another scheme by a Miami-Dade County Commissioner. Sweetwater's Pepe Diaz promoted a recreational playground for all terrain vehicles in the middle of Big Cypress. Fortunately, Everglades defenders rose to the occasion, underscoring the history of the battle to protect the area, and the ATV plan sank under its own weight.

What's up with Mayor Gimenez, anyhow?

Last week it was his support for the largest mall in the United States in a region of the county already saturated by traffic and malls. The week before it was the Nail Clipper building by Biscayne Bay; an observation tower from which tourists will have front row seats to the pile-on of poor planning, enabled by US visa-seeking, EB-5 investors.

Who of the aviation industry's multi-millionaires and gad-jillionaires really wants to trek out to the middle of the Everglades for an air show? Picture salesmen and executives in bespoke suits and hand-made Italian shoes, stopping on Krome Ave. for a Quik Mart empanada.

What the boosters for an international aviation exhibition in the middle over the Big Cypress really have in mind is more highways and more development into agricultural lands in Miami Dade to build constituencies for leapfrogging growth into the Everglades.

This June while Mayor Gimenez eats at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, taxpayers will get heartburn and voters, another good reason to vote for new leadership in Miami-Dade. If Florida's aviation industry enthusiasts are honest, they will argue for an international air show where they are not wading into thickets of litigation.

Is The Mayor Off to Gay Paree Again This Spring? By Geniusofdespair

Everglades Airstrip

Paris Air Show

June is coming when it is time for the Paris biannual air show/trade show.

Bad Ideas never die in Miami. Does Mayor Gimenez truly want to put this international air show, every other year, at the landing strip in the Everglades? Why not? All those corporate giants would love to stay in tents and get eaten by mosquitoes (summer in the Everglades remember). I am told he has feelers out.

The Secretary of defense nixed the Homestead base for an air show and Homestead also doesn't offer the amenities rich corporate types want. Actually Fort Lauderdale Airport would be perfect for an Air Show.

Truth be told (on this blog?) Jack Ostetholt first came to Florida to develop the Everglades airstrip as a commercial airport. How long has he been in Florida?

These are the reasons this idea is a colossal mistake and a stupid idea:

1) Environment - No brainer.

2) Too far from hotels in Miami Beach and Miami and this strip is partly in Collier county. The industry felt Homestead would be a hard sell as they felt it was too far from Miami And the beach where aviation executives would want to stay and entertain their clients. So this strip would be an even harder sell.

3) Infrastructure - The glades site has poor access roads and no aprons for aircraft, nor restrooms and other facilities to service at least 50,000 people (Paris has  over 100,000  who attend). Porta Potties?

Also the landing strip does not have the electric power required (they would need generators water, sewers, etc.  All would need to be trucked in or built. )

4)  Only touch and goes are done at site now.

5) Did I mention mosquitoes? Millions of them the end of June. Can you see everyone baking in the sun with mosquitoes swarming?

Mayor Carlos Gimenez also wanted to use Opa Locka airport but the runway is not adequate  and it is adjacent to heavily populated areas (there are accidents at times at these shows).

Does he really want an airshow or is this an excuse for yet another trip to Paris? Pack those berets, here comes the Miami Delegation.