Hacker News Reader

Comment by technothrasher | Hacker News Reader

I remember watching a bit on TV years ago about the president of Iceland flying commercially just like any other passenger. I thought at the time there was no way the president of a country really flew around like that. Years later I found myself sitting behind the president of the Turks and Caicos islands on a commercial flight and thought, "huh, I guess I was wrong."

View on HN

The Prime Minister of Singapore, a country that could very easily afford a fleet of private jets if they wanted to, travels on Singapore Airlines. If you're a frequent flyer based on Singapore, running into extra security because he's on board is a not-uncommon occurrence.

Singapore also specifically prides itself on its airline being rated one of the best in the world. Though I don't think the Emir of Dubai flies Emirates.

Emirates should be in Abu Dhabi

No, Emirates is Dubai and Etihad is Abu Dhabi.

Oh thank you

A little related: during the 2008 economic meltdown, the finance minister of Iceland was about to fly out of the country to meet other FM's and talk about the crisis. He was wondering if he should take cash with him, so worried he was that credit cards would stop working...

A lot of leaders of smaller countries don't bother with most of the VIP treatment we see from the big ones. If the country is relatively at internal and external peace there isn't all that much danger to their safety.

I don't think people realize how tiny the population of Iceland is. For some perspective, Detroit's population is 60% higher. The mayor of Austin TX governs over double the citizens as Iceland's president.

My question is how you recognised the president of the Turks and Caicos islands - I'm certainly not qualified to pick him out in a crowd! Perhaps you live on said islands?

There's a whole wiki page for this! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_transports_of_heads_of_sta...

Here in New Zealand there is a military transport option but it's always breaking down and, by all accounts, nowhere near as comfortable as a commercial carrier.

I don't get why they don't just fly Air New Zealand anyway given that the govt owns 52% of it...

Because commercial events will lead Australians to hold the NZ Prime Minister as a hostage.

Again.

The current president of Mexico, at the beginning flew commercial flights but after a year or two he got tired of the sneering and insults (well deserved).

Iceland's population is less than that of Wyoming, and I wouldn't be surprised if the governor of Wyoming was on a normal flight.

The president of Argentina intended to fly commercial but security told him to stop that.

I was flying once with the president of the EU commission that time, a socialist Portuguese. The highest ranking European. I loved Barroso. Two rows ahead of me, and a lot of people started talking to him.

Think about von der Leyen flying commercial :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com