Your last plane journey

[airportworker1337]

Will be doing this tommorow, but

From: Manchester MAN
To: Munich (MUC)
Airline: EasyJet
Flight Number: EZY1887
Aircraft: A319
REG: OE-LGK
Seat: 16A, Originally but was moved due to someone in my seat I sat in 17F on the other side of the isle for the duration of the flight.

[airportworker1337]

Delayed 50 minutes on the way back due to aircraft de icing and fog in Manchester delaying the take off on the way to Munich. Also there was a slight wait for a pushback team which delayed us even further.

Departing from : Munich (MUC) STD: 1635 ATD 1730 (Ish)
Arriving in Manchester (MAN)

Easyjet/EZY1888
Seat 20D
Aircraft: A319
REG - G-EZAS

[Jalda]

It was on November...to Paris.

[orudge]

My last flight was today, from London Heathrow to Toronto Pearson on BA's brand new A350-1000 (this particular plane has been flying for less than 2 weeks). It was pretty nice, the in-flight entertainment, screen quality, USB/AC power, etc, was all excellent (I was in economy). I found the width of the seats rather restrictive though - eating my meal was a bit of a challenge. Legroom was also not great.

Arrived at Toronto and passport control, etc, was heaving. They have all these fancy self-service passport control machines you need to use, then you have to join a very long queue for somebody to approve the recept it spits out. Sadly, they no longer stamp your passport when you enter Canada (at least if you qualify for an ETA). So my new passport remains stampless.

[DrWho42]

my last flight was from SFO in san francisco to the palm springs airport in palm springs

[Chrill]

Well, I got out just in time before the Corona lockdown.

13 March
LAX (Los Angeles International) -> CPH (Copenhagen Airport Kastrup) -> ARN (Stockholm-Arlanda Airport)
Flight number SK 932
Flew SAS Business Class, a little treat since it was our honeymoon. The LAX lounge was really nice, and the whole airport was deserted. We sat in the middle of the front row, which meant literally nobody walked past us except the staff. Very nice!

[orudge]

Hm, my last flights...

I was needed to visit a client in Oman in November, and the client was paying, which meant business class, nicely. (On the way there it was straight off an overnight flight and into their offices for a full day of work though, so business class was a requirement!)

Flights were:

ABZ - MAN on Flybe (RIP)
"Business" class (free luggage, seat selection, drink and snack etc)
Embraer 175 (the first time I'd been on a Flybe jet, and probably now the last time!)

MAN - MCT on Oman Air
Boeing 787 business class - full flat bed, very nice indeed

MCT - MAN on Oman Air
Boeing 787 business class - day flight this time, so I enjoyed a lovely meal, lots of wine, and a few movies and TV shows

MAN - ABZ on Flybe
"Business" class again, but on a Dash 8 this time
It was the week of Bonfire Night, this was an 8.30pm flight, and we flew over several fireworks displays, which was a little surreal!

My hotel in Muscat, the Crowne Plaza Muscat, was lovely - right on the beach, with a stunning view, outdoor pool and so on. Nearly £10 for a beer though!

Oh, and connecting from a domestic flight to an international flight at Manchester Airport is interesting - I was the only person making this connection, and had to wait about half an hour for a bus to turn up to take me to the other terminal (I did wonder if I'd been forgotten about). I had plenty of time for the connection though, so wasn't particularly worried - the bus dumped me in a seemingly abandoned area of the airport though, where all the lights were off - was a bit of a weird experience walking through all these massive gate areas, lights turning on as I went. On the way back, we were bussed over again (there were a few of us making the connection this time), then had to wait over 30 minutes for a border agent to turn up and actually let us into the country formally, by which time it was a bit of a rush to get to the gate to get home. Would probably have been quicker going to the immigration desk in the original terminal, going airside, then changing terminals and going through security that way (but an airline representative had taken us on this bus, so we couldn't really do that anyway).

No flights booked for this year though, and I can't see me going anywhere any time soon...

[walter4WB]

The last one flight was from US to Europe, through France to London, because of family needs.

[oftcrash]

At the end of January I flew from Boston to Heathrow to New Delhi to Vizag (Visakhapatnam) for work, then flew back via the same route. On the way there we had a 14 hour layover in Heathrow, so we took the train into London and learned that even the bathrooms cost money. Being sleep deprived, and American, I couldn't control my laughter every time I heard "This is the Piccadilly Line train to Cockfosters". I'm not proud. The whole trip was amazing though - my first time to India. I really want to go back.

[CTarana45]

Return from Basic training at Lakeland AFB! Then a trip to Florida to visit the In-Laws!

Christopher Tarana

[orudge]

Been a while since I did this one, and as it happens, I flew just last week:

ABZ - AMS
KLM Embraer 175
Economy

AMS - MSP
Delta Airbus A330-300 (ex-Northwest)
Economy

And tonight I'll be doing MSP - AMS on another A330, and AMS-ABZ tomorrow morning on another E175.

Last year I happened to get a brand new A330-900neo from MSP to AMS (literally we were the first revenue flight for this particular aircraft), which was nice.

[Pilot]

Flew for the first time since 2018 on Saturday!

STN-BTS (FR63)
Ryanair 737-800 (9H-QDF - operated by Malta Air)
Seat 1A!

Had the entire row to myself, and all the legroom in the world!

[Pilot]

Yesterday's flight

BTS-LTN (W95456)
Wizzair A321neo (G-WUKR - Wizzair UK)
Seat 14A

Nice flight back with a view. Got over Germany and saw my first clouds since leaving the UK on Saturday! Then a somewhat manic dash to get back to Manchester, made it home at 2220!

[orudge]

Hmm, my last flights - well, since October 2023, I had an ABZ-AMS, then connected to Brussels on (ex-)Thalys (all booked via KLM), which ended up being a bit of an almost-disaster after my earlier flight to Amsterdam was cancelled, then they couldn't rebook my train, then I only just made it to the platform in time for my train (the last train of the night) after getting through immigration and so on - only to find the train was delayed half an hour. That was fun. Then my return train was cancelled for maintenance works, so KLM had rebooked me on a flight from BRU-AMS (we were barely in the air for half an hour), then onto ABZ as usual. But because I'd 'missed' my booked train on the way out, KLM considered the ticket incomplete and wouldn't let me check in; that took a bit of waiting at the check-in desk before they eventually let me go home!

After that there was another ABZ-AMS-MSP, and was meant to be an MSP-AMS-ABZ back, but the flight to Amsterdam ended up being cancelled the night before, and I was rebooked automatically onto MSP-LHR-ABZ. That meant a first trip into Heathrow Terminal 3 for me, then a connecting bus to Terminal 5 (ooh tunnels), and then back up to Aberdeen on BA. I was moved to an exit row at check-in on the ABZ-AMS on the way out, which was nice (excellent leg room), and then the same happened when I boarded the seemingly almost-empty LHR-ABZ on the way home.

Since then, another trip to Brussels, but this time on BA, so ABZ-LHR-BRU-LHR-ABZ, which was fine enough, I can't really complain. Except I decided to take hand baggage only on this trip (just a small roller bag), which I carried on board no problem on all my flights except my last one, where they insisted I check it in at the gate, d'oh. If I'd known they were going to do that I'd have just checked it in in Brussels so I didn't have to carry it around all the time. Oh well.

Next up is something new for me, ABZ-DUB on Loganair (ATR 72-600, never been on one of those before) then DUB-MSP on Aer Lingus, on what I assume will be the A321XLR. Then back again, again on the A321XLR, then onto an Embraer 145 with Loganair (presumably one of the ex-bmi Regional planes, with which I used to be very well acquainted). That trip is happening in about a month's time, I'm looking forward to it! Also get US preclearance in Dublin, which will be novel too.

Finally I have a simple ABZ-AMS return trip booked for September, then will hop onto a train to The Hague.

[Pilot]

And another two to add to the list.

Saturday 29th March
STN-CGN (FR2816)
Ryanair 737-800 (9H-QEH - operated by Malta Air)
Seat 12B

Nothing much of note really, short hop over to Germany for a few days break. The dreaded middle seat, but alas, such is the issue with doing it as cheaply as possible and leaving it to the random seat gods!

Took 30 mins to get through security at Stansted, as I hit what appeared to be a bit of a lunchtime rush, but no major issue as I arrived in plenty of time.

Also had to use the little Stansted shuttle train to get over to the flight, which was a nice thing to get in before it gets withdrawn in a year or two.

Wednesday 2nd April
CGN-STN (FR2815)
Ryanair 737 MAX 8-200 (EI-IGW)
Seat 9F

A bit of a bumpy takeoff from Cologne, certainly the most turbulent departure I can ever recall having, but no big deal. Nice 58 minute flight time from take-off to landing, so a bit of time travelling in there as well. The random seat gods blessed me with a window seat and a row to myself too!

First time on a MAX since June 2018, and reminded that it is a much superior experience on-board to a 737NG, even with the Ryanair ultra high-density 197 seat layout.

Security at Cologne was easy, but the queue for the passport stamping took a bit longer than I would have liked (thanks Brexit!). Upon arrival at Stansted, we were delayed awaiting our stand as the guidance system was switched off, but once off the plane, I was through passport control in a minute as it was extremely quiet.

[orudge]

Curiously enough, I haven’t been on a Boeing aircraft since 2019 (having taken, or been due to take, 27 flights since then) - that year I flew a 787-9 twice (my first Dreamliner) and a 777-200ER. My last 737 was in 2018 - four KLM 737s (3 x -700, 1 x -800) plus a Ryanair 737-800. I’ve never been on a 737 MAX.

I have I think been scheduled to fly on KLM 737s a couple of times over the past couple of years, but by the time the flights have taken place, they’ve been swapped out for KLM Cityhopper Embraers - most of the ABZ-AMS flights tend to be Embraers now, with maybe or or two 737s a day.

Post-pandemic, it looks like I’ve flown:

6 x Embraer 190
4 x Airbus A320 (CEO I'm pretty sure)
3 x Airbus A330-900neo
3 x Airbus A330-300
3 x Embraer 175
1 x Airbus A319
1 x Embraer 195 E2

and am due to fly:

2 x Airbus A321XLR
1 x ATR 72-600
1 x Embraer 145
1 x Embraer 190
1 x Embraer 195 E2

A nice variety of planes, but not a Boeing in sight! These flights have all been on KLM, Delta Air Lines and British Airways, with Loganair and Aer Lingus to be added this year.

I'd rather like to get on an A380 before they all disappear (we were booked on one in 2014, but it was rescheduled for an A340 after Qatar's A380s were delayed), but the routes I tend to fly somewhat regularly don't lend themselves well to A380s. My long-haul trips tend to be ABZ-AMS-MSP (or ABZ-DUB-MSP this year); I suppose I could try to do ABZ-LHR-[DFW|ORD]-MSP and hope to get a BA A380 on one of the transatlantic routes, but it's not especially convenient, and runs the risk of BA substituting the aircraft at the last minute!