Nok, Nok, Who’s There?
Perhaps I am revealing my travel ignorance here, but there are a lot of wacky airlines that I never knew existed. However, thanks to my friend, Amanda, I have been enlightened. As a resident of Bangalore, India, Amanda has been helping us to explore the many budget, regional carriers that serve Asia. There is Yatra, Jet Star, Tiger Air. Yesterday I discovered Air India, whose website is described as, “the entity into which Air India and erstwhile Indian [Airlines] have been amalgamated.” Erstwhile: not a word you use every day.
But my hands-down favorite low-cost carrier is Thailand’s Nok Air. The reasons are numerous. First, their mascot is a beak. Not a chicken. A beak. While this provides the perfect canvas for the nose of their aircrafts, I can’t think of many airlines who choose a body part as their totem. Secondly, you can visit the Smile Shop for your buying pleasure. Here you can purchase Nok Air promotional items, including inflatable Nok airplanes, bizarre watches, and clothing emblazoned with the tell-tale beak. Third, their flight attendants are dressed like a cute, NASCAR pit crew, with their jaunty crimson ball caps and matching zip-up jackets. What’s not to love?
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The scariest flight I ever took was on Egypt Air. We flew from Cairo to Abu Simbel. When we took off, there was hardly any taxi-ing whatsoever – it seemed like we only went about 5 feet down the airstrip before the wheels left the ground. It was turbulent as all get-out, but the strangest thing happened when we landed: a giant round of applause filled the cabin, apparently elated that we didn’t die over the course of our half-hour flight. Thankfully, we then embarked on a cruise down the Nile, so we didn’t need a plane to get back to Cairo. Long story short, don’t be surprised if the passengers on Nok Air do something similar. :)