It has been a whirlwind week as I came back from a trip to Europe and immediately turned around for a trip to Los Angeles – talk about burning the candle at both ends. The trip was a star-studded event as I was able to fly on Qantas Airways’ Airbus A380 (the largest passenger jet airliner in the world) and play a hole with Tiger Woods at Trump National in Los Angeles. The A380 was impressive. I was part of a VIP flight from LAX to San Francisco which turned around after buzzing the Golden Gate Bridge at 8,000 feet. The entire flight lasted about two hours and offered the 150 invited guests a chance to tour all four classes of service – first, business, premium economy and economy. The plane is massive with its double decker design. First, business and premium economy are on the top floor with the bottom floor devoted to economy. Pilot and actor John Travolta was on hand for the flight and the press conference, as was Olivia Newton John, who flew over on the A380’s maiden voyage from Melbourne to join the festivities. The flight offered a chance for close one-on-one time with both celebrities – nice chatting and how do you dos. They both seem to be warm and friendly people. In case you did not know, Travolta is a real pilot trained by Qantas and ranked to fly the B747-400. He is training on the A380 as well and he was all decked out in his Qantas uniform. Olivia was in a flight attendant uniform. Travolta also owns a B707 in the Qantas colors. Qantas maintains the plane in exchange for appearances, flight training and such – it all seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement. During the press conference, I asked the final question to John Travolta. “John, how does the A380 first class compare to the configuration of your own 707?” He replied, “That’s a personal question!” and the audience roared with laughter. Geoff Dixon, Qantas CEO, added, “I know that we do not have double beds.” More laughter! It was a great event and a wonderful plane, one that runs so silently and lifts off without any effort at all. The plane is more economical and it has a quoted per-mile, per-passenger fuel consumption that shows the behemoth does not drink great quantities of fuel. I’ll save Tiger Woods for next week! -Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO