Edmund Schweppe

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I count Alaska because we made a very brief port call there back on the old Ustafish, even though I never set foot on shore. I don't count Russia because the old Ustafish was always in international waters :-)

That's the theme of Air New Zealand's current advertising campaign - in reaction to the hidden fees that other airlines charge for things like baggage, food, etc.

To demonstrate how they've got nothing to hide, they did a TV spot where the baggage handlers, flight deck personnel and cabin crew are all going about their business - wearing nothing but body paint:



(Correction: the officers' hats and baggage handlers' hearing protection are real.)

Apparently the grey-haired baggage handler is actually Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe.

Here's the "Making Of" clip:



Alas, I doubt this will ever air on US commercial television. Nor do I expect to ever see those sort of "uniforms" if I ever get to fly Air New Zealand ...

If one must lay over in a airport for several hours between flights ... the Lindberg Terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul isn't a half-bad place to do so.

This is the first time I've seen an airport laid out with a full-blown shopping mall inside the so-called "sterile area".