Transport Tycoon Forums

Expect a lot of Spam from me on here over the next few days... Maybe a few double posts... I'm sorry!

Earlier today (7/12)
From: Amsterdam (Schipol)
To: Berlin (Tegel)
Airline: KLM
Flight Number: KL1833
Aircraft: PH-BXD
Seat: 23E

Enjoyable journey with KLM, first time flying with them, so cannot fault them! Tegel is an issue, the Buses to Berlin seem to be rather busy, however, Brandenburg was supposed to be open by now

Earlier today (10/12):
From: Berlin (Schönefeld)
To: Geneva
Airline: EasyJet
Flight Number: U2 1596
Aircraft: G-EZDT
Seat: 16F

Probably the best ever Landing I have experienced! So soft, despite visibility and wind issues on approach

Heathrow to Colombo A330-300

Colombo to Singapore A330-200.

Both of Sri Lankan airlines, first leg was lovely, got to sleep really easily, good was surprisingly good (for an airline) but my god, the second leg was terrible. Seats were incredibly uncomfortable, I'm glad that was the short hop. My back is now ruined.
I was not expecting such a difference in cabin between the two aircraft.

Thanks for breaking up my posts Ameecher!

Earlier today (12/12):
From: Geneva
To: Rome (Fiumicino)
Airline: Vueling
Flight Number: VY6945
Aircraft: EC-MAO
Seat: 27F 8B

First time with Vueling, and what to say? Aircraft was generally okay, though the seats were closer together (even closer than an EasyJet or Ryanair). I ended up being reallocated a seat, no reason given, so instead of having a Window Seat near the back of the plane, I had a middle seat near the front. A little annoyed, but the views I got instead made up for it!

Another one

Earlier today (14/12):
From: Rome (Fiumicino)
To: Paris (Charles de Gaulle)
Airline: Alitalia
Flight Number: AZ324
Aircraft: EI-DSA
Seat: 22A

Another first time with an Airline, was lovely really! Was interesting when I got to Fiumicino today though, as it took all of 1 minute to go through security... In other words, the Airport was dead!

Anyways, on Friday (or maybe Saturday) I shall be posting my last one in here for a bit

Singapore to Hanoi with tiger air, a320 but could have been a 319. Very smooth flight would fly tiger air again.

Would not arrive as an international arrival at Hanoi again. 2 hours to get through passport control. Not because I was shifty or anything, the actual checking of the passport took about 30 seconds, should have been longer but my passport photo is from when I was 18 and I have beard now. Just an excruciatingly long queue.
Then a bus to the city centre cost me 40p

Pilot wrote:Enjoyable journey with KLM, first time flying with them, so cannot fault them! Tegel is an issue, the Buses to Berlin seem to be rather busy, however, Brandenburg was supposed to be open by now

It was supposed to be open when I visited Berlin back in July 2012 - when we booked the flights it was indeed under the new "BER" code rather than "TXL". About a month before we were due to fly, they then delayed the opening indefinitely...

I hope you're collecting some frequent flyer miles by the way (although admittedly you get close to sod all in discount economy on most European airlines these days). Over time they ought to build up, especially if you do some long-haul flying.

orudge wrote:

Pilot wrote:Enjoyable journey with KLM, first time flying with them, so cannot fault them! Tegel is an issue, the Buses to Berlin seem to be rather busy, however, Brandenburg was supposed to be open by now

It was supposed to be open when I visited Berlin back in July 2012 - when we booked the flights it was indeed under the new "BER" code rather than "TXL". About a month before we were due to fly, they then delayed the opening indefinitely...

That wasn't the first time it was supposed to be open to be fair! Originally supposed to be 2009 I believe. At least I can say that I've been in Brandenburg already, so don't need to visit that one

orudge wrote:I hope you're collecting some frequent flyer miles by the way (although admittedly you get close to sod all in discount economy on most European airlines these days). Over time they ought to build up, especially if you do some long-haul flying.

I'm not, didn't know which scheme to sign up to that would have covered the majority of my flights (Flew KLM, EasyJet, Vueling, Alitalia (booked with AF) and Air France (booked with Flybe).

Anyway, my last one for a while.

Today (16/12):
From: Paris (Charles de Gaulle)
To: Manchester (Ringway)
Airline: Air France
Flight Number: AF1168 (Booked as BE3130)
Aircraft: F-GTAZ (A321-200)
Seat: 32E 32F

Enjoyable trip with Air France, little bit turbulent on departure and a hard landing at Manchester. Still, free beer, and the Gent who was supposed to be sat at the window let me (and the person in the aisle) move up one seat instead, putting me at the window seat instead

Air France, KLM and Alitalia are all part of SkyTeam. Flying Blue is probably your best bet. If you sign up you can retroactively claim miles.

Easyjet allows you to earn Nectar points I think when you book, nowt otherwise.

Vueling lets you earn Avios with Iberia and BA.

I will definitely have to look into some of those, especially Avios, as I seem to be travelling with BA a lot more (even if it is only down to London).

BAEC isn't as generous as it used to be, but at 4000 miles off-peak for a Western European flight it's not too difficult to earn a flight. Reward Flight Saver caps taxes at £17.50 one-way too which is a help. Downside is that most cheapest economy flights earn only 25% miles now.

Will confirm; my return flights on BA to Lisbon only accrued 25% miles on my Finnair Plus account but were purchased by a friend who works for BA in an incredibly discounted fare category so it was only £90 return including 23kg luggage... Not to be sniffed at!

Hanoi to Saigon with Jetstar Pacific on a Vueling a320 complete with Spanish crew. Needless to say they were struggling with the Vietnamese passengers and their approach to air travel.

Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong with Vietjet. They played terrible music the whole way through the very long boarding process and I was allocated the quest seat on an a320. Seat 11B (and obviously 11E). Tantalisingly close to the exit row but because you're in the row in front you can't recline your seat and you have no joy with either the window or the freedom of the aisle.

Only place worse I've found is the back row in a 737 where they still manage to get 6 rows across despite the fuselage narrowing. You just get a really Marie seat, also can't recline.

Ameecher wrote:Hanoi to Saigon with Jetstar Pacific on a Vueling a320 complete with Spanish crew.

That's a bit out of the way for Vueling! I know airlines often lease planes to other companies, but I'm not sure I've heard of many instances of short-haul planes operating on the other side of the world for another company.

I've not heard it often on scheduled airlines but happens all the time for charter; for years Thomson have wet leased (leasing both the aircraft and crew to fly it) 737s from Canadian holiday airlines like Sunwing for the European peak holiday season (April to October) and in return when the demand drops in Europe, wet leases the spare capacity back to the Canadian airlines for their peak holiday season (November to March). Entire airlines have been set up from this arrangement - Air 2000 (which down the line became First Choice Airways and now Thomson) set up a Canadian subsidiary called Canada 3000 which had these arrangements in place for many years.

I believe that Sun Country and Transavia have a similar arrangement, with Transavia leasing planes in the Summer from Sun Country, and then leasing Planes to Sun Country in the winter. I believe both are full scheduled LCCs too.

Of course, I imagine this has a lot too do with Seasonal Work. For example, Vueling has 56 seasonal destinations from Barcelona, and the vast majority of those would appear to be summer destinations to me, so at this time of year, it makes a lot of sense to lease them out. You don't make money off of Aircraft and Crews that are just sitting around, after all!

Another for a "current plane journey" thread - currently on Jet Blue 243 JFK to Havana, with free Wi-Fi as long as the plane is over the US. Running a bit late due to a slight snow storm, so looking forward to tropical weather and a cortadito when I land! Unfortunately weather calls for rain all afternoon in Havana...

Not my plane journey, but figured it fits here.

Finnair booked passengers on Friday the 13th on Flight 666 to HEL
http://www.travelandleisure.com/airline ... 6-helsinki

Oh hey, I can post in this for the first time since 2015!

My last 6 flights:

ABZ - CDG
Air France (Hop!)
Embraer 170
Economy

Flight was fine. It was Benjamin's first flight, and he coped with it quite well all things considered. It was 6am and I'd been up since about 2am though. He did go to sleep eventually, I didn't!

CDG - ABZ
Air France (Hop!)
Embraer 170
Economy

Flight was cancelled 2 days in advance because of a strike. Nul points to you, Air France. So instead, after initially being rerouted CDG - FRA - ABZ (with an hour connection in Frankfurt, and a CDG - FRA flight that was almost always 20 minutes late), we were sent on:

CDG - MAN
Air France
Airbus A320
Economy

The first time I've actually been on mainline Air France, as opposed to Hop!/Régional, etc. Again, it was fine. Still has some free food and drinks - something BA could learn from!

MAN - ABZ
Flybe
Bombardier DHC-8-400 (although I think it's actually a Q400; either way, standard Flybe turboprop)
Economy

After a bus journey from one part of Terminal 3 to another, then half an hour or so in a soulless corridor (admittedly with a view of some planes) with two small children, we boarded this little Flybe plane. Benjamin by this point was fairly grumpy, but did sleep eventually. I think everybody just wanted to get home really! We didn't appear to be the only people connecting here from the Air France flight.

ABZ - BHX
Flybe
Bombardier DHC-8-400
Economy

Went to Birmingham for the meet. Flight arrived early, which was nice. £2.50 for a cup of tea though (necessary at that time of the morning) - not quite so nice. Also, the Flybe automatic seat selection put me next to the one seat on the plane that has no window. Thanks for that.

BHX - ABZ
Flybe
Bombardier DHC-8-400
Economy

Went home after the meet. The morning flight, due to leave at around 9am, ended up leaving at about 1.50pm. Thankfully I wasn't on that one. Mine left slightly late but arrived early. And the seat selection put me in the seat next to the one seat on the plane that has no window. I think it must be deliberately designed to assign the rubbish seats first...

Next flight is today (ABZ - LHR on a BA A319), then back on Sunday (in business class! as that was all that was available via Avios, and it was cheaper than booking a cash ticket in economy). Then later in the year, ABZ - LHR - SOF - LHR - ABZ, and ABZ - FRA - WRO - FRA - ABZ!