 Pan-Am was a leading American airline that used to fly to over 250 destinations with a fleet of 226 aircraft. During the airline’s heyday of 1980s and 1990s, the Pan-Am logo consisting of a globe with the words ‘Pan-Am’ written across the middle was a household hit and instantly recognised brand. After the airline went into bankruptcy in 1992, the vast majority of the in-flight amenity kits, uniforms, labels, aircraft seating cushions, and anything else connected with the Pan-Am brand became an instant collector’s item. Pan-Am had three classes of travel on their aircraft: First Class, Clipper Class (i.e. Business Class), Economy Class. Recently I had the pleasure of meeting a former Pan-Am pilot in Shanghai. Captain S. Rajan was one of the last batch of pilots to fly with Pan-Am, operating their flagship aircraft, the mighty Boeing 747-200. Over a period of over 25 years, Captain Rajan has logged over 28,000 flying hours under his belt. Captain Rajan is a distinguished commercial airline pilot and a Boeing chief test pilot on the Boeing 747-400, has flown various aircraft for Pan-Am including the Boeing 707, Boeing 727, Boeing 747SP, Boeing 747-100 and the Boeing 747-200. Today Captain Rajan test flies aircraft for Boeing, and is the CEO of one of the world’s largest single provider of charter Boeing aircraft and Boeing spare parts. The Pan-Am ‘Clipper Class’ amenity kit was given to me as a gift by Captain Rajan. Remarkably all the Revillon products (French luxury brand) are still in pristine condition: this includes the Shaving Cream, Eau De Toilette, Moisturizer, and the After-Shave lotion. Then there is the Shaving Blade, Nail File, Shoe Tucker, a Comb and a Sewing Kit that has a built in Coat brush. The socks are also packed in a plastic case with the logo ‘Pan-Am’ proudly written across it. The n there are the high-tech headphones, again with the striking ‘Pan-Am’ logo in Cambridge blue colours painted on the ears. All the products have the Pan-Am globe logo on them. This is a rare collector’s item because sadly, with the change of the times, no airline today offers such products on any of their flights, and no airline goes to the extent of having their unique brand logo on the in-flight amenity kits like Pan-Am used to do. All of today’s airline’s are aiming for cost effectiveness and cost reduction, so most of the in-flight kits, such as toothbrushes, eyeshades and other things are non-airline branded and instead are shared. Pan-Am used to give the headphones, cushions and blankets away to the passengers to take away after the flight, but in major flag carriers today they try to collect everything back so save costs. Even those airlines that claim to be ‘5-Star’ airlines in today’s day in age offer nothing to the extent what airlines like Pan-Am used to offer, and certainly not in that luxury. As mentioned that it’s a change of the times, and flying is not as glamorous as it used to be.  A Boeing 747 belonging to Pan-Am Airways- similar to the aircraft flown by Captain Rajan: Photo Copyright Stuart Price  Captain S. Rajan (left) of Pan Am Airways, with the South Korean Ambassador to China, Chung Hae-Moon: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh 
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  Shanghai Airlines 767 parked at Shenzhen- Copyright Navjot Singh  Shanghai Airlines 767: Copyright Navjot Singh Route: Shenzhen Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Departure date and time of flight: 09:30am on the 13th of September 2010 Flight Number: FM9370 Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes Class: Economy Class Aircraft type: Boeing 767-200 Punctuality of the flight: The flight was on time and landed on time as well. Any baggage issues: No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. Comments on the check-in staff and any issues: The check in staff were polite, and professional. There was no problem what so ever. Comments regarding the pre-meal service: Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or Coca Cola). There was no alcohol served on this flight. The orange juice looked like an “orange sludge” that had been out of date. Take a look at the photo and you’ll see what I mean. It was not drinkable- so I returned it back immediately. The cabin crew seemed not to care much and just smiled. Instead I opted to drink just water and even that was with caution! Comments regarding the first meal: Breakfast- which didn’t look like breakfast at all - was served around half an hour after take off. A cardboard rectangular box was offered for “breakfast”. I carefully opened the box to find a whole host of junk food inside (like most airline meals on most Chinese airlines). There was a carefully packed “fruit slices” box. This contained four cubes, 2 slices of watermelon and 2 slices of normal melon (these two fruits are favourite with Chinese people). There was a spongy tasting chocolate muffin (it tasted like soft bread with a horrible yeast taste and smell to it). As normal per Chinese airlines, there were two packets that contained the following: One was “dried beef cube sweets” while the other contained “sweet roasted peanuts”. The “dried beef sweets” were interesting. It tasted a bit like beef but imagine that some sugar has been put into your beef- that’s what it tasted like. The peanuts were good. But is this food good enough for breakfast? No, not really. Comments regarding the drinks service: A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Again, no alcohol was served. Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): None Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None Comments on the in-flight system (if any): In this 767 there was no IFE. To make matters worse my seat light was not working (and neither was the seat light of other nearby seats that I tried), the “Channel” and “Volume” button was not working either, and to make matters worse the “flight attendant Call button” was not working either! Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew: Some of the staff were professional but their English level was below par international standards- perhaps Survival 2 or A1 in accordance with the European CEFR standard! (For Flight attendants’ the required English level should be around B2 globally!). Improvements that could be made: I believe that on Shanghai Airlines, so many improvements can be made. The toilets need to be cleaner. The cabins are filthy and need to be cleaner. The seat IFE needs to be maintained properly. The in-flight food is a disgrace; however I fear that this would not improve as it’s the same for most Chinese airline companies. The staff speak poor English and this needs to be addressed seriously (i.e. what if there is an emergency?). Again like before, I fail to understand why this airline is part of the Star Alliance- has the Star Alliance group lost their sense of aviation quality? For the in-flight meal, they should consider serving a hot breakfast (Chinese or western); or a selection of nice sandwiches. Not the bits and pieces of junk food that they serve on these domestic flights’. It just ruins the image of the airline and the country- especially if you are flying with a company that puts itself in the same bracket as that of other “Star Alliance” airlines. Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): The aircraft was not clean. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, the cabin had a strong stench of urine and an air of discomfort. I fail to understand why this is so. The toilets are filthy and had no tissue paper. The seats were comfortable enough for a domestic flight lasting for less then 3 hours I would say. However, I would think twice before flying with this airline company if I have to again. For long haul flights I would refrain from flying with them at all for many of the reasons outlined above (food, smell, health issues, language problems etc.). Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 5          Shanghai Airlines 767: Copyright Navjot Singh  Shanghai Airlines 767 parked at Shenzhen: Copyright Navjot Singh Route: Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to Shenzhen Airport Departure date and time of flight: 20:55am on the 15th of September 2010 Flight Number: FM9379 Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes Class: Economy Class Aircraft type: Boeing 767-200 Punctuality of the flight: The flight was delayed by over an hour and without any reason given. Any baggage issues: No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. Comments on the check-in staff and any issues: The check in staff were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever. Comments regarding the pre-meal service: Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or Coca Cola). There was no alcohol served on this flight. The orange juice looked like an “orange sludge” that had been out of date. Take a look at the photo and you’ll see what I mean. It was not drinkable- so I returned it back immediately. The cabin crew seemed not to care much and just smiled. Instead I opted to drink just water and even that was with caution! Comments regarding the first meal: Dinner (if you call it dinner that is), was served around half an hour after take off. It did not look pleasing and I dare not to eat this kind of food before going to sleep. A cardboard rectangular box was offered for “dinner”. I carefully opened the box to find a whole host of junk food inside. The first thing I took out of the box was that horrible looking “hamburger”. It was a small attempt by the Shanghai Airlines catering staff to copy MacDonald’s; and what they thought they had succeeded in doing so badly. There was a small wheat bap with a single slice of Chinese style mam that was bigger in diameter than the burger itself. It tasted like chewy plastic. The only kind of fresh food were the 2 slices of melon fruit- and that was it. I then moved onto the 3 small packets contained inside the box. One of them, would you believe, contained mint flavoured cough drops. Cough drops in an in-flight meal? Are you serious? I thought. What insane person decided that they should start serving Cough drops to passengers on a domestic flight, and that even in a Chinese Autumn (which felt like summer!). The taste was horrible. Even if I had a cough I would take these tablets’ because the taste and the flavour were not good at all. The other two packets contained “dried and preserved plum” and “sweet and salted walnuts”. Both edible but not required on an in-flight meal. My verdict? If this kind of food started being served on a European flight, there would be widespread complaints and it will make headline news. Perhaps even a lawsuit against the airline. I was not full after eating parts of the provided food and would not recommend it to anyone. Comments regarding the drinks service: A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Again no alcohol was served. Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): None Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None Comments on the in-flight system (if any): In this 767 there was no IFE. To make matters worse my seat light was not working (and neither was the seat light of other nearby seats that I tried), the “Channel” and “Volume” button was not working either, and to make matters worse the “flight attendant Call button” was not working either! Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew: Some of the staff were professional but their English level was below par international standards- perhaps Survival 2 or A1 in accordance with the European CEFR standard! (For Flight attendants’ the required English level should be around B2 globally!). Two of the flight attendants ignored my calls simply because their English was not good so they could not communicate with me. Improvements that could be made: I believe that on Shanghai Airlines, so many improvements can be made. The toilets need to be cleaner. The cabins are filthy and need to be cleaner. The seat IFE needs to be maintained properly. The in-flight food is a disgrace; however I fear that this would not improve as it’s the same for most Chinese airline companies. The staff speak poor English and this needs to be addressed seriously (i.e. what if there is an emergency?). I fail to understand why this airline is part of the Star Alliance- has the Star Alliance group lost their sense of aviation quality? Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): The aircraft was not clean. As with most aircraft that are operated by Chinese airlines, the cabin had a strong stench of urine and an air of discomfort. I fail to understand why this is so. The toilets are filthy and had no tissue paper. There was no air freshener and when I asked for one, no one understood what I meant. The seats were comfortable, however I would think twice before flying with this airline company if I have to again. For long haul flights I would refrain from flying with them at all for many of the reasons outlined above (food, smell, health issues, language problems etc.). Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 4             Ethiopian Airlines B767-300ER parked at Guangzhou: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh  Route: Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport Departure date and time of flight: 14:00pm on the 8th October 2010 Flight Number: ET606 Flight duration: 2 hours 30 minutes Class: Economy Class Aircraft type: Boeing 767-300ER Punctuality of the flight: The flight departed on time and landed around 10 minutes early. Any baggage issues: No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. I noticed that after we landed at Guangzhou airport, the Chinese Police and customs only stopped and searched passengers who appeared to be of African origin. They did not stop any non-black passengers. Though I was not surprised by the sheer open discrimination of the Chinese- as this is common in China. Comments on the check-in staff and any issues: At Bangkok I was one of the only 5 passengers checking in for this flight. The check-in staff were Thai, and there was no Ethiopian logos to be seen anywhere. This flight was coming in from Addis Ababa and was going to continue onto Guangzhou. The stopover time at Bangkok was for an hour. Comments regarding the pre-meal service: Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca cola), and a bottle of Merlot (red wine), was offered. Comments regarding the first meal: Lunch was served around an hour after take off somewhere over Laos. A choice of fish or chicken was offered. The food was fresh. Ethiopian airlines actually feed you like there is no tomorrow- and for an airline of a country where the economy is not doing as well as it should, this is a great compliment. The fish was served with fresh vegetables blended neatly with a sweet and sour sauce red and green pepper curry. A lovely salad dish accompanied the meal that also contained a soft bun. It was a sheer delight to see cream crackers and soft cheese on this flight and to eat lunch somewhere over Laos was also nice. The highlight of the meal has to be the delicious tiramisu dish- perfect and no complaints for this whatsoever. The cabin crew in Business Class were nice to offer me a another helping of the tiramisu dish. Ethiopian branded salt and pepper were offered, as well as Ethiopian branded napkins. This is what you want when you fly with a national flag carrier- you want some authentic service from that country, and you want to be able to feel the culture, the hospitality and food of that country. Ethiopian certainly displays this. I was pleased with the food. It is better, if not the same, as some of the fully scheduled European airlines in service. Comments regarding the drinks service: A second round of drinks was offered after the meal- this included the complimentary bottle of Merlot. The juice was a brand from Thailand- I suppose freshly loaded in at Bangkok. Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): None Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None Comments on the in-flight system (if any): In this 767-300ER there was no in-flight entertainment system at the back of each seat. Instead there was a large TV screen at the front of each cabin. Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew: The cabin crew were very friendly, however they could be given more training on some aspects of aviation. All the cabin crew were native Ethiopian and spoke excellent English. If anything the friendly service of the cabin crew is an excellent indication of how welcoming is the culture of the country. Ethiopian really strives to achieve its best and the positive and friendly attitude of the cabin crew really demonstrates this. I was pleased. However, I noticed that as we landed at Guangzhou, passengers started getting up and taking their luggage from the overhead compartments as the plane was still taxiing to the gate. None of the cabin crew stopped the passengers to stop, there was no announcement from the Captain either, and nobody was told to sit down until the aircraft had come to a complete stop. Most of the passengers who got up before the aircraft came to a standstill were mainland Chinese people, and some were African too. I have taken a photo of this moment on my camera and is shown in this article. The mainland Chinese passengers also started using their mobile phones and loudly could be heard saying “Wei, Wei Ni Hao!” (Hello, Hello, how are you?!” Improvements that could be made: Perhaps Ethiopian should have native Ethiopian staff members manning the check-in desks at Bangkok Airport, and even better perhaps they should consider providing baggage tags and boarding passes with the Ethiopian logo. Perhaps Ethiopian Airlines should serve stainless steel cutlery in both cabins (Economy and Business Class) and not just in Business Class. For the next generation of new aircraft that Ethiopian is ordering, they should consider having IFE at the back of every seat. Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): Despite having an 767-300ER, the aircraft interior was not that clean, and was full except in Business Class. When I entered the aircraft, I was welcomed with a sight of tired passengers, and some unpleasant smell in the cabin. One would expect this from a plane that had come in fresh from a different climate, different culture and with different style of passengers. Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 6 (the interior let it down- otherwise for the food I would give 10/10)                      Egyptair B777: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh  Egyptair B777-200ER taking off from Beijing: Photo Copyright Navjot Singh Route: Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to Bangkok International Airport Departure date and time of flight: 20:55am on the 3rd of October 2010 Flight Number: MS959 Flight duration: 2 hours and 50 minutes Class: Economy Class Aircraft type: Boeing 777-200ER Punctuality of the flight: The flight departed on time from Guangzhou, and landed around 10 minutes early at Bangkok Airport. Any baggage issues: No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. Comments on the check-in staff and any issues: This was my 5th time I have travelled through Guangzhou Airport since it opened in 2004. Even though the architecture and the presentation of the airport’s layout is impressive, however, the attitudes and the unprofessionalism of some of the check-in staff is no different from what it used to be like say, 5 or even 10 years ago. Some of the Chinese check-in staff that are responsible for some international airlines (like Egyptair for example), hardly speak any English what so ever. I arrived at Guangzhou airport from Shenzhen around 3 hours prior to take off. Normally I take the train from Shenzhen to Guangzhou and then a taxi or a coach to the airport. However, this time around I decided to take the coach from Shenzhen. I found it to be exceedingly punctual, clean and comfortable. The coach from Ba Gua Yi Lu station in Shenzhen’s Futian district costs only 88RMB for the 2 and a half hour journey and took my directly to the airport departure lounge. Once I got to the check in area of Egyptair, I was confronted by a scene of confusion, angry passengers, most of them Egyptian or of Middle Eastern origin, exchanging heated comments with the Chinese check-in staff members. It wasn’t difficult to observe that the Chinese check-in staff were not treating their passengers with any respect what so ever. The senior lady in charge of the check in staff was exceedingly rude to the passengers and was clearly seen shouting words like “No, you cannot stand here!”, “Get back in the line at once!”. There was a certain air of discrimination too. Even though Guangzhou has a high population of African and Middle Eastern people, they are on the whole subject to open discrimination by the Chinese people. The interesting point to note here is that when I spoke to any check-in staff member, they were very polite and kind to me, however when the same check in staff member was speaking to a passenger of Middle Eastern or African origin, they were rude. Therefore, on the whole I would have to say that the customer service of the check in staff at the Egyptair counter of Guangzhou Baiyun Airport was extremely disappointing to say the least. Perhaps Egyptair should consider employing locally based Egyptian (or Middle Eastern origin) check in staff to make life easier for everybody. Comments regarding the pre-meal service: Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or Coca Cola). No alcohol was served on this flight because this airline belongs to an Islamic country. Even in Business Class, Egyptair does not serve alcoholic drinks. Comments regarding the first meal: Dinner was served around an hour after take off from Guangzhou. The timing was good enough as I had not had a proper meal prior to take off. There was an option of either fish or chicken (Egyptair does not serve pork products on their flights because it’s an airline of a Muslim country). I went for the fish option. All the meat was Halal (again in accordance with strict Muslim customs). However, to my surprise the food presentation looked like as if someone had stamped on it, and also the taste was not as fresh as one would expect. I suspect that this was the food that was taken in from the previous flight from Bangkok because the fruit juices that were served were all Thai made (the orange “pulp” tasted sour for some reason). The fish curry was served with boiled Thai rice and some lettuce. The rice was sticky, and tasted almost like softened starch. While the fish tasted as if it had been taken right out from a preserved can in the supermarket. In regards to the lettuce, it looked rather like seaweed that had been dragged onto the beach the previous night. It was tasteless. Really, I could not have asked for a more tasteless meal. However, for the experience I was thankful that it only lasted for around 30 minutes before the crew members came and took the plates away. For dessert there was an apple crumble, however you could easily feel the sour taste of the apples’ and not much softness to the rather dead pudding. It tasted like as if it had been stored in the fridge for some time. The plastic cutlery on which our food was served also looked as if it had seen its better days of flying. On a rather good note, I can say that I was very happy to get stainless steel cutlery in economy class,. Comments regarding the drinks service: A second round of drinks was offered after the meal- again no alcohol was served in accordance with Islamic laws. The air stewards continued to serve the drinks (tea and coffee) while the plane was under great turbulence. During this short flight there was a great deal of turbulence. I refused to accept the hot tea being served while the plane was going through turbulence. Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): None Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None Comments on the in-flight system (if any): On the 777-200ER (Which is an older version of this plane), Egyptair does not have a personal seat in-flight entertainment but a large TV set in the front of each cabin. Small earphones are handed out at the beginning of each flight. The in-flight system was provided in the form of a Map of the route. However, my seat light was not working (and neither was the seat light of other nearby seats that I tried), the “Channel” and “Volume” button was not working either, and to make matters worse the “Flight attendant Call button” was not working either! On a regular basis (every now and then) a small map with an arrow pointing towards Mecca was shown. This is so that Muslim passengers can face in the correct direction towards Mecca while they pray during the flight. This was interesting and I have never seen this before on a flight. Another interesting aspect was that just prior to take off, while the plane was taxiing to the Runway, a prayer verse from the Koran was played on the PA system. Again I have never experienced this before on a flight. Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew: Professional staff and very friendly. They served in a true Egyptian style. In Economy Class the cabin crew were mostly Egyptian men, while there were a couple of Thai ladies as well (could not speak Arabic). In Business Class there were a couple of Egyptian air hostesses that were nearing their retirement age. Improvements that could be made: Egyptair should consider installing high quality in-flight entertainment system for every seat. As an airline that is part of the Star Alliance partnership, the in-flight meals need to be improved. The food that we got in both economy and Business Class could easily have been improved, and made to be fresher. The lettuce easily looked as if it had been stored in the fridge for days. The salt, pepper, tissue paper, vinegar and the salad dressing were all non-branded and with Thai words. In other words, all of these things should be branded with the Egyptair logo and the colour scheme. Only the sugar and the creamer were branded with Egyptair colours and Logo. The air stewards continued to serve the drinks while the plane was under great turbulence. I refused to accept the hot tea being served while the plane was going through turbulence. The interesting thing was that I had to politely tell the air hostess that drinks should not be served during turbulence. Should she know this anyways?! Her response was rather shocking- “Sir, sorry but since the Captain and the Senior Purser did not inform us, so we can continue to serve the drinks even if there is turbulence”. Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): The aircraft was clean in both the economy and Business Class cabins. In the Economy Class, the design of the Egyptian blue and yellow Horus was evident, while the Business Class was all yellow (with the Horus design). Each seat is provided with a Egyptair branded blue pillow and a blanket. The toilets were clean- though the hand cream and the soap had run out. Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 5                |
 Navjot Singh inside an Airbus A320 cockpit of British Airways at Heathrow Airport About Airline PRThis is a special section on Airline Branding, and Airline Public Relations written by me on all the flights I have been fortunate enough to have been on. These are not records taken from somewhere else, but are actual flights I have been on. Most of the flight trips are officially sponsored by the airline companies in order to promote their certain routes, and aircraft. Airline promotion and PR related work in the aviation industry is one of my expertise. 
Navjot Singh at a Chinese Military Airfield
Watch exclusive videos below taken in the cockpit of a Boeing 777-300ER in-flight over Chinese Airspace.
Special thanks goes to Turkish Airlines B777-300ER Cockpit Video 1B777-300ER Cockpit Video 2
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