A couple of days ago, Global Airlines sort of operated its first Airbus A380 flight. While I covered this at the time, I want to provide an update, as reviews are starting to be published, and everything about this airline keeps getting more unusual.
Continue reading: Global Airlines Operates First A380 Flight: This Keeps Getting Stranger
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Asquith, 36, promises a new era of flying, saying: “People are sick and tired of the service they get on current airlines. We will be better.”
That is also untrue . He is a narcissist . Did he arrive wearing a onesie ?
First and foremost the branding of Global is truly awful.
Simon Calder and Noel Philips were on it which is enough to put anyone off.
Hoping for their first tech delay > 4hrs and have to pay everyone GBP520 and lack any ability to reprotect passengers
I remain interested in the endpoint of this obvious grift.
One more big money raise and then ::poof:: disappear?
One can imagine that this arrangement might well be popular with certain American customers, those who are tired of their own domestic airlines and are looking for a better alternative at a cheap price.
The flight schedule shows MAN-JFK departing Weds, May 21st and JFK- MAN departing Sunday, May 25th. However, when making a reservation, the dates show MAN-JFK departing, Tues, May 29th and JFK on Saturday, May 24th.
It was the same issue for this flight. Flight schedule shows it departing Thursday, May 15th but search results show it departing yesterday, Weds, May 14th.
Found the error in the coding.
The airline that apparently hasn't product tested it's website.
"There’s not really room across the Atlantic for independent operators." I'm skeptical about this airline too, but this is a pretty pessimistic take. I flew La Compagnie pre pandemic, and they seem to survive in this niche.
Ben you missed the fact that Asquith got SSSSingled out. Even the US government doesn't trust him, nobody else should either.
There are only 95 pax on board. Anyone who wanted an upgrade got it pretty much. Some YouTube people declined to actually sit in coach which the operator apparently wasn't counting on....
@ NedsKid -- Wait, 95, really?! OMG, I know a lot of people are doing throwaway ticketing, so I can only imagine how empty the return flight will be...
Regarding "declined to sit in economy," you mean they booked economy but demanded upgrades, or...?
@ grichard -- La Compagnie has carved out a niche and I'm happy the airline is doing okay. but let's be clear, the carrier's key to success is that it has a low seat count, and it hasn't grown much in the past decade. Operating an A380 (or any plane with hundreds of seats) is a totally different story, especially when we're talking about year-round service.
Sorry, should rephrase. Declined the upgrade to sit in economy as they are doing a video of the product each way and wanted to sit in economy. I mean, I would too with loads like that.
I'm really curious though the funding on this.... using info I have from various sources at JFK on ground handling and common use charges, plus calculating landing/gate/fees (for parking it 3 days)/towing/etc, they're sitting at about $30k just for the JFK side of the thing in landing/parking/servicing aircraft.
There's an after flight party and such at the TWA Hotel.
@ NedsKid -- Fascinating. Yeah, I really wonder who is funding this. Obviously these two trips are losing a ton of money, and I don't actually understand what they accomplish.
To be honest, I’m just happy to see one more A380 flying in 2025, even if this is all they end up doing before taking the money and running.
I think I can see enough demand for cheap, high-ish density A380 transatlantic flights, but I’ve honestly no idea how they’ll actually expand into any kind of regular, sustainable service.
I’d love it if they did, though. I didn’t know if Beond or Norse would still be in business this time last year and they’re both still going, so we’ll see.
I just can’t stop thinking how the Global branding and livery really does look like a fake airline for a movie
If they had offered one-ways, I bet it would have sold at least a few more.
But under the charter authority they have, they were only authorized to sell round trips originating in the UK.
I too am mystified by the endpoint.
Surely even if there are no SNAFUs on these 4 flights, the exposure will cause the weaknesses in the business plan to be so obvious that no more money will be raiseable?
I can't see how these flights will gain GA credibility with FAA, CAA, pilots, Sovereign Wealth Funds, owners of La Compagnie, or anyone else relevant.
Rather than disappear, it would seem likely to be "Oh, we ran out of money so we will have to liquidate. No, it wouldn't have made any difference if I had not charged the business various fees ..."
Initial reports are that the inflight service was terrible. They had to cancel the second service en route because they were going so slowly with it all.
Those Instagram images are hilarious. I guess only one of the two will be dining? And the lady in the second one prefers rawdogging spoonfuls of caviar straight to the domepiece?
My new favorite airline.
Agreed on the livery ! ... But that's how they're supplementing their income, by leasing out the name & aircraft for cheap Hollywood B airline flix !
I was just on the ga flights website, looking at the pricing for the upcoming MAN-JFK flights they have. On the first search page, I was only able to select a round-trip flight. However, once the options for that came up on the next page, I clicked "Change Search" on the top of the website page, and I was given the option to search for one-way itineraries. I could search for seats in both directions, and it even allowed me to get to the payment page. I didn't buy a ticket though, so I'm not sure if it will ticket if you try to purchase it. But the JFK-MAN flight is priced at £281.83, or about $373 USD, much cheaper than the MAN-JFK leg. Thats mighty tempting for me, but i'll probably sit it out to save money. But if anyone has any luck purchasing a one-way ticket, please let us know!
@Ben, you should have a look at his wife's latest instagram story (Robyn) published two hours ago.
Slamming all the naysayers with a song that has the lyrics "that was rude, that was pretty f**king rude".
Such a classy and upscale venture. Now that this flight has operated they believe that they have actually made it as a full-blown airline.
Global Airlines website 404 this page could not be found.
Promising the best service ever
They don’t have WiFi lol
I saw earlier that their website is going through updates right now. If you want to book a flight with them, they have a separate website for that (its called ga.flights)
OMG, their JFK-MAN flight has no seats selected in Economy! And only 3 seats selected in Business Class (and none in First)! Gosh, this is sooooo tempting!!!!!
@Ben - Want to join me? I'll go if you go 🙂
That, Never In Doubt, is for me to know and for you to be Ever In Doubt …. don’t you know …. 🙂
Global should get some more cash flow to launder, because they are doing the least possible things to get the plane in sky
This continues to be incredibly fun to watch from the sidelines. You only have to see how Virgin has struggled over the years to know how tough this market is. Virgin has a great product in every cabin (except the old upper class seats) but still struggles to make a decent profit in even the best years.
Just watched a review on it, cool that everyone got amenity kits regardless of class and meals looked decent (for economy), especially the beef, can't say for the taste though. If you want to watch it: https://youtu.be/Q8Hg48oHZx0?si=xh5lUP9qZEbf4tFY
Clicked "Post" too quick. Wanted to add that the rest of the experience looked pretty lackluster, no IFE (even on the online portal), no WiFI, seats in a deplorable state and falling apart and the service, except for first class, apparently took too long to start.
I honestly don't get the goal of launching flights so quickly and with such an "incomplete" product. Is there some kind of deadline that needed to be met?
Their branding is absolutely awful and cheap looking
Doors in Premium cabin seats only functional from the outside?
That horrible writing ' Global Sky Pub" on the bar
The seats are already in bad repair with cracks. scuffs and loose adhesive.
No wifi no IFE
lol
Wait, I just realized this James Asquith guy has more than 1 million followers on Instagram. Also there are a lot of people idolizing him in the comments. Is he some kind of influencer?
So Mr Cahill has finally been granted entry to the US after all his lobbying efforts seems to have paid off.
If an airline is flying an A380 with 100 passengers or so the loss is massive. I'd have doubts about the second set of flights operating next week.
Of course they would hype it during the flight with mostly enthusiasts who publish reviews. Then during the 'real' flights, become thr Ryanair or Norse Atlantic versions flying an A380.
I recently discovered Patrick's youtube channel and I've enjoyed his reviews quite a lot. He calls things as they are without unnecessary drama and, importantly, without the 'look-at-me' obsession of 99% of the youtubers/vloggers/bloggers out there.
He's also spot-on when he says that, if Global is able to keep operating (emphasis on 'if'), it should be approached as a budget airline.
I also like him, especially because it does some reserach on the airlines and airlines/airports he reviews. Also like the flip flop traveller for the production quality
Aside from crashing Simon's interview, there was also his ill-advised and quite unkind IG rant about SC; "paying for a ticket to probably find another angle of negativity" and "gatecrashing the self proclaimed aviation expert on his little live at check in". Seemed unnecessary.
( https://postimg.cc/Z9wBjZM7 )
When the service is so slow even with such a big crew, it's probably because of ovens out of order in the galley.. It won't be surprising considering how well maintained the seats are. The same would apply to galley equipments.
So what it comes down to in the end is all this hype and probably great expense just so a vain person with a sketchy past of internet hijinks can say, to quote a Scot, "Suck it, Trebek."
CSN A380s are shitshows, the oven likely haven't been maintained since early 2020 as they were used as a back to china hauler with packeged snacks onboard due to china's flight policy during covid
Packing list for Global flight:
1) Passenger cut outs
2) Movie projector
3) Projector screen
4) Repair manual for seat
5) Power bank(s)
"How do you define an airline? A fleet of planes, crew, an operating licence? Or just sheer magnetism and social media presence? At 11.34am on Thursday, May 15, flight HFM380, the maiden service of the UK’s newest carrier, Global Airlines, hammered down the single runway at Glasgow airport and banked left. Destination: New York JFK. I was one of the 95 passengers on board, as well as 27 crew, to see what all the fuss was about."
Never changes, how some life forms board aircraft, in shorts or even what appears to be a bathing suit, tshirt and sneakers. There should be a dress code like was nothing more than normal way back when, when people respected themselves, others and the process of boarding an international aircraft.
If your Mommy and Daddy never taught you how to dress when going out in public or flying on an airplane and or you simply don't care, well than, STAY IN YER APARTMENT.
I for one would be very surprised to still see this airline in a couple years or five. Looking forward to seeing it one day at my local int'l airport, LAX.
Doing some rough calculations, its going to take around 40,000 gallons of Jet-A to get the A380 from GLA to JFK. At around $4/gallon, that's a minimum of $160,000 - just in Jet-A.
Add food, gate service, etc. and we're probably talking about $200k for this one way trip. Probably more to be honest.
@ Mr. Euwing -- I think the dress code began to change when people started wearing sweatpants with words printed on the "back" of them. My fear is that once a flexible display screen becomes available, connected by Wi-Fi, instead of words we will see "personalized displays" ..... Let's just hope they are suitable for public viewing or the concourse will end up being filled with people playing bumper cars while holding their morning cup of coffee.
It would seem the reviews that are at least passively positive are for those who are returning on the flight to GLA. The UK journalist Simon Calder (whose live shot James Asquith interrupted) got thrown out of the after party at the TWA Hotel by Asquith and according to people there was told he may have to find his own way home (oh well?). After which Calder posted a review that's more positive but really meant in a sarcastic manner.
So there's that. The YouTubers posted are all throwing away their tickets (Cahill returned on a Norse flight to Germany last night and Noel and a couple others skipped the party to take a Blade helo to EWR). So they have nothing to lose.
I want to see the threat of Calder having to find his own way home realized... so he can claim UK/EU261 compensation against Global (realistically, against HiFly). That would be hilarious.
To @Ben and everyone, does HiFly get paid in advance? What's at stake for them (financially)?
@ NedsKid -- Wait, do you have more of the backstory of Calder being kicked out?!? Somewhere I can read about that? That's WILD.
I was actually wondering about this as I was thinking about booking the Manchester flight for fun - is it technically a scheduled or chartered flight? Because EC 261 doesn’t apply to charters, right?
@ hbilbao -- I don't think they're shareholders, or anything, but rather I imagine they are paid some sort of a fixed amount, regardless of how full the flight is. So they don't share in the upside (or downside, realistically). Now, I'm not sure what the contract terms are, when they're paid (hopefully in advance), or how long term it is. I'd certainly be curious to know!
Applies to charters. Not sure if its been resolved but there was a long running saga with a very small charter outfit Maleth Aero being used for P&O Cruises inclusive flights and having all sorts of issues and being on the hook for a lot of compensation that they weren't paying out
The Global A380 has an "operated by HiFly" logo on it next to door L1 on the bottom deck of the plane. Not sure if it's a paint job or sticker, but I am curious if HiFly/Global would add that to the aircraft if it was only for a couple of one-off flights.
Am I the only one that finds it annoying with the recent trend of OMAAT articles getting “updated”? It makes it difficult to discern what was updated and what hasn’t. Instead it would be great if a new article could be published with just the new bits and if need be link back to older versions as needed.
If my memory serves me well, a while ago Ben used to write separate posts with updates about a story. But then people complained so he switched to updating the original post instead. He kept refining his approach and that's why nowadays he adds that little box at the very top of any updated post where he briefly describes what new info was added.
There are rumors that Global spent 40K (either in GBP or USD) just on catering for the outbound flight (just the GLA-JFK leg). I heard from another reliable source that they are looking at about $20K USD just in parking fees at JFK for 4 days. Meanwhile, HiFly is operating that flight, so Global has to pay (or already paid) HiFly a fixed amount for that charter for crew and other costs. Meanwhile, they had less than 100 people booked on this round-trip journey.
Global’s IG account was created in 2016 which is definitely shady. What I don’t get is the new batch of followers this year who cheerlead everything posted with “can’t wait to try it”, “this is incredible!”, “I love it” etc. Dunno if they’re bots, Asquith’s party friends, or regular people falling for the hype.
@Ben: Just accounts from witnesses as it happened. I'm sure once he's home and all is done he will probably speak about it.
It was, according to Patrick Shea the reviewer in the video below, a plane spotting account and Airbus fan page before.
Yes, it's legally required at least by the US FAA to disclose the actual operator of the aircraft including on the exterior.
Kicking off key influencers from your airline seems like a panic move. The ratty Global A380 will an expensive paperweight soon.
Same I had a phone call with him once for a business meeting. My old work firm was considering partnering with Global. The guy is a massive asshole who think he knows everything better this isn't Richard Branson this is the Macfarland of aviation. The fact that he has a dude who isn't a real airline professional as his cso says a lot. He wasted our time during the pitch and If I ever since that day I hope this airline goes bankrupt .