René Seifert - Entrepreneur & Global Citizen

Yesterday I had a very inspiring flight with Lufthansa 754 from Frankfurt to Bangalore, because my seat-neighbour was a "dead head". What sounds grim to the uneducated ear (like mine was till yesterday as well), is a common expression in the aviation industry. It means that a flight attendant is on a flight (sometimes even in uniform) as a passenger, because this flight serves as a transportation flight to her next mission where he or she will be on duty. The reason yesterday was that there was no paying guest in the First Class, hence Lufthansa kept it empty, but therefore was coping with a surplus of flight attendants. Yet, for the return flight of the same crew which will leave tomorrow morning from Bangalore to Frankfurt on LH 755, there again the plane is fully loaded, hence the flight attendant is required. 

Another thing I can assure: My "dead head"-neighbour was very much alive and very friendly, too. And as I always want to know it all, I poked her with tons of question which she patiently answered. How the crews constantly change and they have been trained to work together well in each and every constellation, but that for a longer trip of a few days team-spirit would kick in which would even make a difference for the better. So, it's basically like in any other profession.

What I really appreciated was her commitment which she had towards her company which was true and genuine, and not just a show to please me. And my own observation with Lufthansa's service overall is really positive, and especially it has improved over the last 10 years. In the vast majority, the crew expels a solid German charm which is perfectly fine: It's not subservient, good so, but I'd describe it as friendly, fast and efficient. As the service on board is improving, the gap to the service level on the ground (especially in Germany) is widening. What I have experienced there already from the check-in counter to the desk in the lounges was abysmal. 

When I asked my neighbour what the two shittiest incidents were in her 10 years of flying, she mentioned two. The second-shittiest was a flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt when a passenger got a heart attack. Thanks to the defibrillator on board, a doctor who happened to be on board, managed to re-animate the person and recommended a safety-landing to bring the patient to intense care on the ground. The plane was already somewhere at the east coast of Canada and the nearest airport was prohibitive because of bad weather. An other, further airport seemed possible, the plane was in descend, the captain advised the crew that due to bad weather and a short runway that it should prepare for a "safe landing". The weather was that bad that in the final approach, however, the captain decided for a go-around with next destination Reykjavik in Island. At this point the patient who scratched the end of his days by a narrow margin started to argue with the crew. 

Not what one might expect, that he was scared for his life and why the plane didn't land to get him to hospital. By contrary, he insisted he was fine, he needed to go to Frankfurt, because he would miss his connecting flight. Yet, the pilot clearly told him "no way", first because the doctor said differently and second, by now the plane had burnt so much fuel through the missed approach that it had to land for refuelling anyway. In Reykjavik all went fine, the ambulance took the patient and the plane could continue to Frankfurt within one hour.

Clearly number one of my neighbours bad events happened on October 7th, 2002 when a Boing 747 from Lufthansa in marginal weather conditions was set for approach to Mexico City airport. The crew on the flight deck got a warning from the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) about another plane which would intersect the course of their flight. Air Traffic Control (ATC) gave instruction NOT to climb what was exactly what TCAS commanded. As the planes got closer and closer, the pilots - according to their training - decided to ignore the ATC, follow the TCAS and pull up. My "dead head" sat on the left side of the plane looking out of the window when the Jumbo went into a steep climb, just at that moment the clouds cleared up for a moment and she saw the other plane, an Airbus from Mexicana Airlines, under-flying the Jumbo at 30 meters distance. Pretty shitty picture, isn't it. I found an online-source about the incident here.

The investigation found out 1.5 years later that it was the clear fault of Mexican Air Traffic Control and the pilots had saved the lives of their own 388 plus 120 people of the other plane through their disobedience. Interesting I found the smart way of my neighbour to cope with the incident: She wanted to come over it, deliberately requested the same flight again and for landing asked the captain to watch the landing from the jump-seat from the cockpit. After seeing how this landing could go smooth and safe, she managed to mentally tick it off once forever, and continue enjoying her work as she had always done.

Today I got a bit of video footage which was taken approximately one month ago when I was flying with a my good old school-friend Guido. Him, his wife and their little daughter whom I had visited last year in Luzern (Switzerland) moved back to Munich. And when I happened to be there briefly in February, too, we went for a ride with a Grob 115 which I charted from Augsburg Airport's Schwabenflug, an excellent flight-school and highly recommendable service-company. Guido luckily took his high-end video camera with him, my role that day was to act as "pilot in command". 

The best to come are certainly the video-takes from within the cockpit, yet first due to legal regulations, I had to fly three take-offs and landings on my own because I hadn't done so within the required limit of the preceding three months. Hence, Guido was confined to the visitor's terrace from where he filmed the last of my three landings of that beautiful low-wing aircraft. One can see quite well that flaps fully extracted and coming in at a relatively steep gliding angle. This was due to an unexpected instruction from ATC to cut short the downwind and enter earlier as planned into the base and final. Hence at least some sort of excuse for the brakes which I hit a bit too hard as one can easily hear ;-)

Our route took us on a direct way from Augsburg to the little picturesque airstrip of Leutkirch-Unterzeil within 40 minutes. We were taxiing to the holding point, and upon entering Runway 07, throttle on maximum power, soft push on the right pedal to counter the torque-effect, rotation speed at 65 knots and there we go. Climb up with 75 knots.

After reaching our cruising altitude at 4,500 feet we had a relaxed and calm flight where Guido switched on the camera once again west of Memmingen with a quite nice view on the Alpes.

I can't deny that it always has a very particular charm land on a small airstrip compared to a big airport. For one, the workload on the pilot is way less in terms of rigid procedures, communication with the tower etc. which overall provides this unique sense of freedom which flying in its essence is meant to be. Here, we are turning from the base into the final approach of Runway 24. In order to not appear complacent, one can see that I slightly "overshot" to the right which I had to bring back on track for the entry, yet there was ample time and space to do so in a gentle manner.

After having a coffee in the world-legendary "Propellerstüble" on the airport, we took our seats, fastened the harnessed, closed the canopy and after taxiing to the point where we had touched down 20 minutes before we took-off back towards Augsburg.

Homing towards our departure point of the day which was equally our destination, one can tell well the difference in size of the two airports. Augsburg with it 1,200 meter runway looks really like a big airport which one can easily spot from the distance and have a good alignment into a long-final till the safe touch-down.

All in all, it was a fantastic flight, especially as we were so lucky with the weather and the visibility. And even more we were blessed that Guido had his camera with him so that we are able to share that memorable experience here.

8.15 PM

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Posted to English, Europe, Germany, Language Selection, Travel

Even after returning from "down under" in Australia, I was a bit "down under" with my blogging. But today is a good opportunity to come back to light after an amazing 3 day DLD-Conference in Munich which ended yesterday. On the eLAB-Blog, I wrote a bit more on it, especially about 23andMe, a "Web 2.0 genetics" company which was showcased. The mix of the panels and participants was phenomenal which such high-calibres like Craig Venter, Paolo Coelho, Martha Steward or Marissa Meyer being around. Lots of extremely networking opportunity by talking to a whole lot of extremely smart, positive and energetic people. My photo-set of the event is here.

This year, I was not just a participant, but felt very honoured when Rupert Schäfer , die producer of the DLD; asked me if I wanted to moderate the India-Panel on Monday morning. I guess it was a real sucess with my two guests Farokh Balsara, partner at Ernst & Young India, and Vishal Gondal , founder & CEO of Indiagames and a friend whom I've known for 2 years by now. Here a picture of us two after the panel. 

We had a good conversation about the major differences in India compared to "the west" in terms of demographics, media consumption, pick-up of mobile usage and on the other hand some insights how to enter the Indian market in the role of an entrepreneur or a manager in charge. Both guests had lots to say especiall as they were coming from quite a complementary background. Here is also a brief video with the first 2 minutes about this India panel.

From the feedback I got the audience really liked it and I feel India should be way more promoted in Europe. Thus, I also talked to Loic LeMeur and we found it a good idea to work on an India panel at his conference LeWeb in December. Let's keep the fingers crossed that it works out, would be really cool.

Happy to announce my latest investment into a great company: Cosmotourist, with its English and German sites respectively. Especially as I am in a bunch of the finest folks of the German internet-industry who all co-invested, as this or that blogs are already writing about. 

Undoubtedly my own affinity for travel has been a great reason to invest, especially as I know how valuable up-to-date information from other travelers is who are sharing their own personal experience. And that's pretty much what Cosmotourist is about. A community of like-minded people interested in sharing advise on travel and leisure time anywhere in the world through a trusted network. Would be great if you joined the platform, too, and add me to your Cosmoutourist-network here.

A bit from the technical perspective, this site offers one of the cleanest and well thought architectures which I have seen for a long time, once you get in the intricacies "under the hood" which make it fast, performant and well scalable. From the business standpoint, I do believe that particularly in Germany there is still a huge untapped market which Cosmotourist will be able to capture via its superior product and distribution strategy which will allow for a variety of robust monetization levers.

Moreover, and that's what every investor will emphasize, markets and opportunities will change, but a strong management team will have to be steadfast and flexible at the same time. With Frederik Kraus, Christoph Röck and Constantin Wunn, I found a formidable and complementary founding team, whereby Frederik as the MD is in charge of the day-to-day operations. Knowing and valuing Christoph since our "old joint days" at Lycos Europe was a natural inroad for this kind of relationship.

I will keep posting on Cosmotourist here and wish the team all the best for the joint exciting journey ahead.

In German there is the saying: "Des einen Freud, des anderen Leid", which would in my personal case last night translate into "Bad luck for Air France, good luck for me". Usually, pretty much at the same day, both Lufthansa and Air France operate their daily flights from Bangalore to Frankfurt and Paris respectively. But due to the aircrew strike of Air France, the French carrier has not been flying for four days in a row with the consequence that Lufthansa is taking as many as possible Air France-passengers on board. With another consequence that the plane is getting full-full and passengers are getting moved across classes. So I hardly could believe my eyes when I received that desirable red boarding pass at the check-in counter:

Well, well, I can't complain: The trip was very comfortable when you have a full bed with pillow and blanket for a 9 hours night-flight which leaves at 3.20 in the morning. Sitting on the short upper deck of a huge Jumbo Jet provides an almost intimate experience. Moreover, with a service that does not leave any wishes open: caviar, champagne, small bites and big meals of delicacies along with a selection of the most exclusive wines do make you feel like the Queen of England. At least for the duration of the flight.

I enjoyed the experience unconditionally, but only because this upgrade came for free. I once inquired what a regular First Class ticket for the route would cost: EUR 6,000 for a return flight. Puh. That's a lot of money which buys a lot of nights in very good hotels along with excellent dinners in superb restaurants - down there on the ground. Unless ever becoming super-super-rich, I doubt that I would ever start thinking of putting this money on the table. Then it's really more rewarding giving away to some worthwhile charity like OLPC and still enjoying a decent and financially care-free life.

One more thing I am really looking forward to: Singapore Airlines started this week the first commercial routing with the new twin-floor Airbus A 380 from Singapore to Sydney. Now the biggest and most modern passenger aircraft in the world. And, guess what, I am going to Sydney over New Year and will take exactly that plane. That will be cool and I will be happily posting here - how it is to fly in the A 380-coach class :-)

Hanging around in the office a bit to prepare the week to come. Will have to get a series of things done this week as on Tuesday (16th), I'll be traveling to San Francisco for the Web 2.0 Summit. The good thing for today: I am in my Lederhosen and about to depart for the last day of a phenomenal Oktoberfest 2007. 

I am well on track with this year's Oktoberfest (="Wies'n", the Bavarian term). Out of 6 days, I went there 7 times (on Sunday twice ;-). Yesterday was also big fun with a bunch of great people working for a travel website operating out of Munich. 

Looks like I will have some lunch on the Wies'n today with Josal, a very good friend of mine, go back to the office for some work before I leave to Delhi with the non-stop overnight flight from Lufthansa at 8.30 pm. My EO-chapter Bangalore has organized its annual retreat in the beautiful North Indian city of Udaipur in the State of Rajasthan and I really would have had a hard time missing out on that.

Hope to bring back some nice pictures. Will return on Tuesday morning to Munich and have scheduled already a business lunch for that day - on the Wies'n of course - LOL

Have a great weekend. 

The weather couldn't have been better, and so was the mood for the perfect start of the Oktoberfest 2007. We were right in time for the "Anstich" which is the traditional opening of the first barrel by the Mayor of Munich who serves the first Mass (=mug) to the Bavarian Chief Minister. And here he is, just passing by our box in the "Schottenhamel"-Tent, Dr. Edmund Stoiber. Too bad that he'll be just another 4 days in office before he resigns. He certainly made so much progress on our state of Bavaria unlike any other politician in this country.

And here an "outdoor"-picture of myself in the Bavarian "Lederhosen" in front of the horse carriage which delivers the beer-barrels.

Another 2 weeks to go for the Oktoberfest. Ein Prosit! : -) 

7.16 AM

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Posted to English, Europe, Germany, Travel

Leaving the heavy monsoon of Bangalore behind me, I just arrived in Munich where I am happily looking forward to a dense and exciting weekdend. Saturday 12.00 pm start of the famous Munich Oktoberfest, in the afternoon marriage of a good friend of mine and Sunday lunch (again on the Oktoberfest :-) with Robert Wuttke, founder and CEO of the international online match-making service Be2 .

Yesterday I bought my ticket for Bangalore-Maldives-Bangalore in mid November with a new travel agent after firing my old one due to repeated indolence and non-responsiveness (see also my post from Tuesday). The new one is doing a lot of corporate travel and seems to be an insider in the industry for 17 years where he shared some interesting insights with me which I just repeat at this place without having double-checked them: My regular "shuttle" Frankfurt-Bangalore-Frankfurt seems to be the most profitable for Lufthansa in its entire network, displacing so far Frankfurt-San Francisco-Frankfurt.

I told him about my annoyance that it was for approximately one year no longer possible to book on the e.g. excellent website of JetAirways with a non-Indian credit card for a domestic flight. He confirmed that the rules have been changed after for instance JetAirways has allegedly lost around € 15 Mio. on fraudulent bookings. The agent told me that he and his agency were daily targets of purchase requests for 100 tickets mostly from obscure African prospects which would be settled by credit card. He rejects them all, especially as the credit card companies issue warnings on a regular bases to do so. Even more so as the risk has been shifted to the vendor: In case the credit card turns out to be a fraud, the seller has to return the money but has sold the service.

The latter seems quite in tune with an article that I read about a real mafia which has built up worldwide and which collects and sells forfeited credit cards in bulk. I also realized the same that increasingly when I travel and have some expense with my credit card, my bank would call me on my mobile within half an hour to verify if it was really me. So far, knock on wood, consistently: yes.