Air Travel: Auckward Landing

Auckward Landing

"They talk different," was his simple though slightly daft explanation. Before Michael Lewis' Air New Zealand flight from London landed in Los Angeles, the flight attendant told passengers traveling on to Auckland to wait in the lounge until an announcement of the flight. Lewis, hearing "Oakland," complied. When a New Zealand official announced what Lewis thought was the airline's connecting flight to Oakland, he boarded and then settled into his seat for the one-hour flight. Less than ten minutes after takeoff, an elderly woman sitting near him commented that they had 13 more hours of flying time. It began to dawn...

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