Zoom Doom: Stranded Abroad

I took the picture above on my phone four days ago, as my Zoom flight from London to New York was being prepared for take-off.

I was excited – a two week trip of sightseeing and catching up with friends awaited me. And this picture marked the beginning of what I hoped would be a fantastic holiday.

The flight was smooth, the service great. It was the fourth time I’d flown with Zoom, attracted by their affordable ticket prices and comfortable cabins. It was only half-full – a blessing, I thought, as I blagged an exit seat and stretched out for the ride.

I sat back, sipped a glass of wine and joked to a fellow passenger: “If they don’t start filling these flights, they’ll go bust!”

It seems I tempted fate.

Four hours ago, I checked my email to discover a dozen messages from friends and family.

“Zoom’s gone bust!” they all read. But not one of them was from the troubled airline itself.

I laughed it off. “Surely Zoom would tell their customers first?” I thought.

Apparently not. I went to their website, where I was greeted with a message that left me in no doubt.

Zoom had indeed gone bust. I was stranded.

The website said I should ring my bank and I’d get a refund. My bank said no.

My bank said I could claim a flight home from my insurance company. They said no.

Zoom’s site also said that British Airways and Virgin would offer money off to their aggrieved customers.

I rang British Airways - and they complained. "We don't know where Zoom got that from," they told me. Their cheapest flight home was almost £500. Virgin Atlantic couldn't help me either.

Finally Zoom’s site said that customers could claim back from ‘ATOL’ if they booked with a travel agency. But I had booked direct...

As I went through customs at New York JFK last Sunday, the official looked at my declaration slip and laughed.

“What’s Zoom?” he said. “Oh, another cheap airline!” I replied.

Perhaps he knew something I didn't. All in all, it seems this holiday will certainly be one to remember – but not for the right reasons.

By Joe Braidwood, in Providence, RI (perhaps for quite some time!)

Vibrant Views in the US Capital

The US party convention season each summer usually gives locals in Washington DC a break from politics.

Politicians from both the Democrats and Republicans pack up their bags and head out of town for a week. This year the Democratic Convention, currently underway, is in Colorado and the Republican Convention starts next week in Minnesota.

But the nature of the presidential race this year is so unlike anything that’s been seen before, that you can’t find a DC street where someone’s not discussing the campaigns.

On my way for breakfast this morning I passed a woman screeching down the phone: “McCain’s definitely going to win it,” she said. “The Democrats are just so stupid. So stupid!”


I went into Starbucks to grab a coffee and the barista was talking about Barack Obama.

“Yeah, it’s close, but Obama’s my man,” he said.

I struck up conversation, and was quickly quizzed about British politics. “How’s that Boris Johnson?” he asked. “Can he actually do the job or what?”

But before I knew it, we were back to US politics. The man next to me in the queue chipped in: “Y’know, Obama should’ve chosen Hillary for VP.”

He was Michael Lindenberger, a senior reporter for the Dallas Morning News, in town for a conference.

And his topic of choice, like everyone’s it seemed, was Obama’s choice for vice-president.

“Biden’s good,” he said “but Obama could’ve sealed this election if he’d chosen Clinton. Lots of people talk about the credentials of the candidates, but Hillary was the only one who came pre-packaged with her own bunch of voters. She’d have guaranteed votes.”

I walked through Dupont Circle, a major hub in the city, where even the homeless were discussing the race. “Obama’s going to win it. His campaign has the money and that’s what counts,” a man on a park bench was telling someone.

I then headed to the White House – the big prize in this contest – and found local hip-hop artist Head-Roc filming the music video for his latest track, ‘Change In America’.

“You know, Barack is always talking about change, but he’s not going to change much,” he told me. The rapper said that his latest track was all about this much needed change – and how it wasn’t going to come from the political mainsteam.

“It’s an interesting time,” he continued. “Obama chose Biden for VP, but Biden’s not gonna change things. Biden’s old-school – he’s not change.”

Head-Roc and his film crew were all against the campaigns. They told me that Senator Joe Biden had been a key architect of America’s war on drugs – something that Mr Obama had opposed – and that was just one reason this new political union was a farce.


I then met a lady called Sindy Colledge, who was standing by the White House with a big anti-abortion placard. She told me that for years she had protested against the legalisation of abortion in America, and she didn’t feel this election would offer her any hope.

“Mr Obama has blood on his hands,” she said. “As long as abortion is legal in America, I will stand here. Politicians are killing children. They must repent.”

And finally - Yad Fantu, a man well-known by DC residents for his radical views.

His view of politics in Washington was skewed by a strongly held belief that world leaders all practised necromancy, the art of summoning the dead.

And this election led Mr Fantu to blame the world’s problems on Barack Obama.

“The problem isn’t Osama… it is Obama!” he told me. He said he would only vote for the Illinois senator if he apologised to the world and to God for his black magic.

By Joe Braidwood, in Washington DC