John Walton

@thatjohn.bsky.social

3692 Followers 310 Following

Editor in chief of @theupfront.media: in-depth independent aviation journalism at the heart of the passenger experience. Subscribe today! Journo, Japan travel expert & bon vivant. Lover of gardens, 22°C, crochet & Champagne. Big 🏳️‍🌈 w/the 🏳️‍⚧️, 🇫🇷 in 🇪🇺, he/him

An email from "Aerospace Global News" with the subject of "Farnborough International Airshow Day 2: Innovation dominates and orders keep flowing" and the email below
A tattered, dirty English Cross of St George Flag, half ziptied to a lamppost, flaps raggedly in the wind below grey skies.
The nose end of a United A321XLR
A page on a bakery website from France showing a ficelle apéro chèvre miel (an aperitif snack bread thing with goats cheese and honey) clearly showing allergens to milk and gluten
A compilation of various movie posters. on top: describe your favourite movie as boring as possible.
A very amateurish photo of a bunch of people standing in front of a Great British Railway livery train, with the exposure all wrong
A black Citroën Berlingo, which is a sort of minivan, as I have described to you.
A four-door dark grey mini-mini-van sort of thing, sort of if a hatchback got stretched and inflated down the back end
Text: Manuel Wouters is one of Belgium’s most renowned mixologists. He founded Sips, one of Antwerp’s leading cocktail bars, and recently opened Mill Hill in Kasterlee, also in the province of Antwerp. Wouters hosts a TV show, has authored several cocktail books, and has developed his own range of premium Belgian gins.
Picture of a liquor mini and a glass inside an airplane cabin with windows beyond. The Mini is marked "filliers" and "HERITAGE" and is a yellow-orange colour, and looks unctuous and sweet. Text below: Brussels, July 13, 2026 – Brussels Airlines has teamed up with Belgian mixologist Manuel Wouters and distillery Filliers to create “Heritage”, a new signature aperitif that is now exclusively available in Business Class on long-haul flights. Heritage pays homage to Belgium’s emblematic flavours: elderflower, apple and pear. This signature drink underscores the unique “Boutique Hotel” approach Brussels Airlines offers its passengers.
Cathy Rutherford, an older grey-haired Scottish woman holding an umbrella, is interviewed. She says: Rutherford: “Not a bit of good. I'd put a stake through her heart and garlic around her neck to make sure she never comes back.” Interviewer: "Isn't that a pretty horrible thing to say when her funeral's going on right now?" Rutherford: "Too bad."
Screenshot from Le Parisien. A photo of Count Binface, a man in a sort of black Darth Vader suit but with a silvery grey cape and a bin on his head with eye slit and mouthhole. Headline: Législative partielle au Royaume-Uni : qui est le « Comte Tête-de-poubelle », principal adversaire de Nigel Farage ? Subheader: Ce candidat fantaisiste devrait être l’un des seuls à disputer le siège de Clacton-on-Sea au leader de Reform UK, pris dans un scandale. Les autres partis boycottent le scrutin.
Haha sickos meme, but it is "OUI … HON HON HON … OUI" and "LES SICKOS".
"i wish all X a very Y" bugs bunny meme: "i wish all NAVY THE STYLO a very NOT BEING PRESIDENT"
the control panel of a portable air con unit, showing 27°, in purple moodlighting
Paris, from the air, from the southwest, with a few scattered clouds above
“Smash glass in case of danger” placard in front of vinyl wrapped window with BA narrowbody behind.
Some lounge chairs with no power sockets anywhere
Aranet4 showing 28.2 degrees C. Heathrow windows in the background.
pink slime lunch meat slices in the shape of a bear head, with eyes and nose and muzzle and mouth in slightly different ppuns
A book titled THE GAY DOLPHIN ADVENTURE by Malcolm Saville. It looks to be from the 1940s or so and the front cover has five people on a hill pointing into the sea.
BA email. Photo of Woman Laughing With Sunshine, arms outstretched, over hills. Text: Don’t wave goodbye to 1 Avios Sorry we haven’t seen you in a while, but did you know that in the next 12 months, the Avios you’ve collected to date will expire due to inactivity? But don’t stress. You just need to collect or spend some more Avios to keep your account active. Save my Avios
Nonsense Guardian Opinion piece: I came out as a Christian at work — and this is what happened next
Screenshot of a Kirkus review. It reads: A simple introduction to many types of airport workers. Walton, a self-described “aviation journalist,” follows a group of travelers who are diverse in terms of age, race, and ability into one airport and, after a quick, uneventful flight, out another. Along the way he not only introduces an equally diverse cast of employees, from brown-skinned security agent Francine at the luggage scanner to light-skinned immigration official Kevin examining passports at a checkpoint, but also points out different types of airport buildings and sizes of passenger planes, explains how checked luggage is sorted and transported, and ducks behind the scenes to watch brown-skinned chef Safir adding veggies to each preassembled dinner plate; Jasmine, Bradley, and Mia, a diverse trio of technicians, replacing a jet engine; and brown-skinned animal trainer Meena deploying a falcon (named Felix) to chase geese off the runway. It’s an eye-opening tour for young travelers, experienced or otherwise, who think it takes only pilots and flight attendants to get them where they’re going—even if, unlike Lisa Brown’s The Airport Book (2016) and most of the many similar picture books that overtly aim to soothe the anxieties of infrequent fliers, the content focuses more on people than safety procedures. Nearly everyone here is given a name, and within her stylized, screen print–style settings Abbo picks up on that cue by depicting figures with individualized dress and faces. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A spread showing the security process, including body scanners, pat downs, metal detectors, sniffer dogs, swabs, and so on.
Same book and style. Crop in on Melinda with a muffin and peoplewatching while Daddy drinks a coffee, holding hands with Papa.
Section of a children's book, in an airport departures lounge with all kinds of folks walking around, retail areas, and so on. In the centre, Priya is wheeling herself and looking at the departures FIDS board. After going through security, Priya looks for her flight on the departures board. This is a big screen that tells everyone which gate their plane is parked at and when it is time to board. Priya's flight is at Gate 9, so she makes her way through the departures lounge to get there.
Section from a children's book, sort of fun retro 1960s style illustrations. Two buses at the airport kerb, with people and luggage. Off one of the buses, a ramp descends, and a wheelchair user with her bag on her knees is wheeling herself along.
Front page of a children's book, THE AIRPORT: THE INSIDE STORY, by John Walton and Hannah Abbo, publisher Neon Squid. In a retro 1960s sort of artistic style, it shows a boarding gate in an airport with a control tower and airplane beyond. A diverse group of travellers are around the gate: a woman in hijab, a woman in a wheelchair, people of many different skin tones, you get the idea, this book isn't sneakily called like "MAKE AIRPORTS GREAT AGAIN" or something
Section from a children's book. On right, a green zoomy train with a small girl and two men walking along a platform. On left, text: Melinda and her dads arrive by train at the station underneath the airport. She enjoyed the fast train whizzing along the tracks at top speed. The family are going on their first vacation abroad. Melinda insists on pulling her brand-new suitcase all the way to the airplane. This is going to be her first time flying. She's a little bit nervous, but her dads reassure her that it's going to be fun!
Amazon review screenshot from grey generic icon user Sarah. One star of five. Title: "Two dads" pictured and discussed in this book. Text: I thought this book was supposed to be about airports. There’s a political agenda in this book and we immediately returned it. Melinda has “two dads” and it we won’t stand for having books in our home that sneak in ideology like that. Children’s books should not pull in these kinds of social issues.
Yellow Stelia Celeste remove-before-flight tags on top of a pile of my business cards
Two blue business class seats that are pretty indistinguishable
Devil Wears Prada meme: the two blue belts scene, except it's the Discover A330 and Edelweiss A350 business class seats
Looking out the front of a coach at what looks like an overhead catenary for electric lorries
Is this a pigeon meme, except it’s “feurigen abgrund”
Peoplemover replacement bus sign in FRA arrivals
PRM lav out of order sign in English and German
A row of British Airways Club Europe on an old A319
An Air Nostrum for Iberia CRJ
FR24 screenshot of an airplane on approach to Lyon airport
An empty checkin desk
A Class 50 diesel loco in the petrel-y Rail Blue with a big white double arrow on the side
Lesley in red tracksuit walking up to British Midland check-in desk, with two women in 1980s BMI uniforms sitting there, and BMI counters beyond
A BA 747-100/200 and a BA Tristar parked at the west end of a pre-T5 Heathrow, seen over a DC-9 wing (with airfoil strake)
Lesley in a red tracksuit opening up an elderly portable computer in economy on a DC-9
Lesley in a red tracksuit in front of a shop called “delicatessen cheese” in the same airport font
A kiosk with the title “men’s requisites”, containing various items like briefcases and gizmos and whatnots
A text chat. Header: Un conseiller vous répond Left justify: [agent name icon] Fanny Text: Bonjour M. WALTON, je suis Fanny et vous souhaite la bienvenue. [timestamp] Right justify: [Moi] Text: Bonjour Fanny. [timestamp]
The front of the pot, with COTTAGE CHEESE and INSPIRED BY ENGLAND and the linedrawing of a man on in a three-piece suit (actually it's a morning suit I think) with a bowler hat on a bike with a basket, with clouds and a seagull.
what I said in the post but in French, like
that same blobby map, but the southern half of Italy has also seemingly disappeared
zoom in on the label that says all that in french, hon hon hon titty croissant
A zoom in on blobby island, which is as described in the post
Zoom on the back of the cottage cheese pot. A blobby map of Europe has a red box around a UK-ish-sort-of-blo, which appears to leave off Cornwall and the entire island of Ireland, which would be contained within the red box
A pot of Danone cottage cheese. It says « inspiré d'Angleterre », « fromage salé à tartiner ou à cuisiner » and « riche en proteines ». On it there is a picture of the Elizabeth Tower (the one everyone calls Big Ben) and a man on in a three-piece suit with a bowler hat on a bike with a basket, with clouds and a seagull.