Media plays it for laughs on April Fool's day

[Ryan N]

Media plays it for laughs on April Fool's day
April 01, 2008 12:20pm

ABC Radio in Sydney today tried to convince listeners a stand at the SCG would honour the flamboyant former Sydney Swans player, who helped attract publicity for the AFL club's entry into the rugby league-mad city in the 1980s.

The idea was universally panned, until it was revealed it was an April Fool's joke.

It was just one of many media stunts this morning involving everyone from Kate Richie to the Sunrise team - and of course NEWS.com.au.

Did our story about a Google application that can see into the future fool you?

Around the web, newspaper sites had plenty of fun as they tried to dupe their readers.

The Herald Sun had readers believing the city's congestion woes were over with the Yarra to become a third freeway.

The Mercury capitalised on fears about foxes in Tasmania, with "photo evidence" of the elusive pest.

And The Australian refused to miss out on the fun with a historian's guide to hoaxing.

Meanwhile, back on the airwaves it took a while for Melbourne ABC Radio breakfast host Red Symons to work out the Beijing Olympics weren't going to run the women's events two weeks after the men's.

Someone eventually told him it was an April Fool's joke.

Sneaky Kate Ritchie, whose final Home and Away episode after 20 years airs tonight, told listeners of Nova Radio's Merrick and Rosso program that she had signed up to guest star on rival soapie, Neighbours. Not happening.

And, the Seven Network's Sunrise program's presenters played musical chairs.
Kochie was sports presenter and Mel read the news, while Mark Baretta and Natalie Barr played host? It was only for the day, and it didn't take long for viewers to work it out.

Richard Branson's Virgin Blue airline also got into the spirit of April Fool's day.

The discount airline ran ads in newspapers offering the "no chair fare" - half priced fares for passengers willing to stand for the duration of the flight.

Free calf massages are offered for flights longer than two hours long. The offer closes at 6pm today.

With AAP

[Radi K]

http://www.virginblue.com.au/nochairfare/

[Brenden S]

Good of DJ to have seats on sale though

[Steve Jones]

This came from one of the daily news emails I get

China launches widebody
Chinese state media has revealed the country will roll out is first widebody passenger jet before the end of the year. In an announcement that will shock the world of aviation, Hu Wenming, vice general manager of AVIC 1, told a selected group of journalists: “China is now ready to challenge the western manufacturer hegemony – for too long we have been forced to rely on inferior foreign equipment.” Asked why China’s government had kept the project – launched in the mid-‘90s – a secret for so long, Hu responded: “The threat of industrial espionage could not be tolerated. We have seen how Boeing and Airbus have struggled with their large aircraft projects; had our plans been made public, German and US spies could have gleaned information that would have accelerated their programmes by years. This way, we launch almost level with the A380 and ahead of the 787.” The new aircraft, dubbed the Pian Shu, will seat 400 in two classes or up to 1,200 in a new standing-only configuration to be used on domestic services. Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have already ordered 96 of the new aircraft between them, though a further breakdown was unavailable. Remarkably, list price value of the Pian Shu stands at a third of that of the A380 and almost $50m less than the 787. Rumours abound that several major US carriers are to announce orders shortly.

[Ryan N]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/airl...850960327.html

Airlines play April Fool's pranks on passengers
April 2, 2008 - 9:47AM

Tired of cattle class and looking for somewhere to stretch out? Pay just US$12 more to sleep in the overhead luggage compartments of Canada's Westjet ... on April Fool's Day.

"The overhead compartment has traditionally been a place where guests have placed their carry-on baggage," Westjet vice president Bob Cummings said in a joke statement.

"Given that the overhead bins on our fleet are among the most spacious of any airline, we made the decision to offer sleeper cabins in that space," he said of their fleet of 73 Boeing 737s.

"By offering our existing overhead bins as sleeper cabins, guests will now have the opportunity to lie down for a period of time and arrive at their destination refreshed, rested and ready to go."

The statement was accompanied with a picture of a traveller comfortably nestled in an overhead bin bed with a pillow and a blanket.

Locally, Richard Branson's Virgin Blue airline got into the April 1 spirit by running newspaper ads offering half-priced fares for passengers willing to stand, with free calf massages on flights longer than two hours.

AFP