Plane Bashing

[flymo]

Sounds fab. Amazing really when there are 5th freedom rights like this. I guess a reciprocal agreement of sorts must exist somewhere along the line.

I really did enjoy SQ the times I have flown with them. Only ever flown with one Chinese airline, China Eastern and the service was as good as any airline.

As for Flughafen München, thoroughly good airport. Spent some time there on a visit to Germany. Ausgezeichnet

 

[Anon Mouse]

I'm currently in China and have had a trio from Chengdu to Jinghong (Xinsingbanna Gansa Airport). We flew Chengdu Airlines on a pretty smart Airbus A319 (I think). It was a pretty cool flight but heavilly dealayed in both directions. Sadly there was no beer on either flight and the inflight meal was in the outward direction a packet of biscuits and on the way back a box ontaining a sweet bun and a dry muffin. At leat the girls looked pretty in their cute uniforms even if they could not speak a word of English! The fellow passengers smoking and walking up anddown during take off and landing was a bit worrying though!

 

[SwindonPkwy]

Anyway, I had an excellent trip outbound to Munich on Singapore Airlines from Manchester. I really must highly recommend this route to any aviation enthusiast, even if it means skipping one or two cheaper trips.

It's a very rare chance to fly on a 777-300ER within Europe and a rather luxuriously fitted out one at that. It was hilarious to compare us in size to the ATR which was lining up on a parallel taxiway at MAN!

The crew were probably the best I've ever seen on this occasion, even on a 1h40m flight they set the bar a lot higher than Etihad and Emirates have IME. Exceedingly polite and e.g. addressing economy passengers by name, guiding people to their seats if possible and helping them stow luggage.

I am looking forwards to flying with Singapore in December. I have flown with them before on 744's but this will be my first A380 flights.

Enjoy your onward travel to Athens.

 

[WestCoast]

Amazing really when there are 5th freedom rights like this. I guess a reciprocal agreement of sorts must exist somewhere along the line.

I believe flying rights are dealt with at government level. Not sure about China, but Singapore is very open about this and I'd imagine that's why Singapore Airlines can easily secure fifth freedom rights around the world.

The Singaporean Government allows BA and Qantas flights travelling Australia - Europe (and vice versa) to stop and pick up/drop off passengers on the way to UK/Germany/Australia at Singapore Changi. They also allow multiple airlines (e.g. KLM, Lufthansa, Turkish, Qatar Airways) to fly Singapore - Indonesia with passenger carrying rights. Not to mention Etihad and Emirates have flights between Singapore and Brisbane/Adelaide with flying rights.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The fellow passengers smoking and walking up anddown during take off and landing was a bit worrying though!

Is smoking allowed on domestic Chinese flights?

Enjoy your onward travel to Athens.

Thanks, I'll report back Friday afternoon. I really don't know what to expect from Air China, other than the facts; which is that the scheduled aircraft is an A330-200 and I have a window seat!

 

[SwindonPkwy]

I'm off to Orly in the morning in my quest to earn enough Avios Tier points to maintain my silver status. 20 down, 580 to go. Though I have enrolled my wife and daughter onto my account which will help a little.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I'm off to Orly in the morning in my quest to earn enough Avios Tier points to maintain my silver status. 20 down, 580 to go. Though I have enrolled my wife and daughter onto my account which will help a little.

I'm in the same mode. Just got back from California having scored a bargain first class fare on American Airlines at short notice. That's got me two thirds of the way there in two days! A middle aged 767 with below par entertainment (not that I was bothered) but the seats, food and free booze at the front were excellent considering it's an internal flight. Champagne at 7.30am? Don't mind if I do!

(Business Class is classed as First by AA - there is only one premium cabin, but the tier points are credited by BA as class F - very efficient way of getting the points!)

 

[Ascot]

I too am in a similar dilemma as I've worked out I am unlikely to get over 1,500TPs this year. My membership year runs out in March so I too will have to go on a mileage run to the USA for the cheap AA sectors! As long as I don't accidentally book the 3-Class config aircraft...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Anon Mouse]

Is smoking allowed on domestic Chinese flights?

No, its not allowed at all and normally the smoker gets dealt with straight away just seems on Chengdu Airlines their staff ignore it ditto people not wearing seatbelts on take off and landing!

Hope you enjoy your trip on Air China, I flew with them a couple of years ago from Heathrow to Beijing and it was top notch, but on the return some passengers who should have been on a BA flight were moaning non stop, dont know how the hostesses stayed calm! I have also flown internally with Air China and that was spot on too.

Fot this trip we have flown Finn Air from Manchester to Chongqing via Helsinki and the outward flights were brilliant, so I'm expecting the same on our return! Our flight from Helsinki to Chongqing was like a Chinese internal, I was one of about 4 non-chinese onboard and most the hostesses were chinese! Which for me was pretty nice although my Wife was not impressed at my eyes darting over to them all the time!

 

[rf_ioliver]

Have any of the Av-Geeks on here chosen a route (or even a whole trip) in order to bag an aircraft Type.

I will admit that I did chose Dublin last year in the hope of an E-Jet from Exeter - it was subbed for a Dash 8!

(I'd probably post more at Airliners if they didn't charge $25 for posting rights - if you take First Class for a Month can you post after it expires)

Many times though the first was that I changed to an MD11 to cross the Atlantic (DFW->Gatwick) to avoid a 767 from Chicago... 3 engines good, 4 engines better, 2 engines ... oh #¤% another 777...

Ian

 

[SwindonPkwy]

My first impressions of Orly were very good. It has a small airport feel to it but with big airport facilities. That is, except a direct train service to the capital. For the RER-B you have to change at Antony. You can also use RER-C by taking a short bus ride to Pont-de-Rungis. This is far cheaper if you are not so concerned with time. A bit like Heathrow Connect, I guess. SNCF trains are very tired looking but the service otherwise was good. The Metro has a mixture very old and much newer stock. A great trip so far.

 

[WestCoast]

A very interesting ride indeed! The A330 interior was fairly modern and comfortable, featuring quite generous legroom and PTVs. I ended up with a row to myself due to the 50%-60% load. Interestingly, most of the passengers appeared to be Chinese, continuing from Beijing.

The junior cabin crew appeared to struggle with English so conversations weren't really possible, although they were very polite and courteous. Many of the standard announcements were recorded.

Oddly enough, the captain was almost certainly Spanish and made detailed announcements about the flight progress! I had a look through the magazines and entertainment system, which seemed mainly geared up for a Chinese audience.

The catering service was pretty good, you had the option of an omelette or some sort of noodle dish. I chose the latter and it was very tasty and of course a bit different for me! Accompanied by some nice Chinese tea.

This flight was very reasonably priced and certainly no more expensive than Aegean Airlines, the main competitor on this route. So, it's a thumbs up for Air China on this short route, although they probably wouldn't be my first choice to, say, Australia.

Munich Airport departures was very efficient as you would expect. I've been to Athens Airport a fair few times before and it's a well equipped facility for the traffic it serves. Also, the Metro provides a speedy connection into the city. I'm flying home with easyJet, so nothing too special to report on.

 

[starrymarkb]

No, its not allowed at all and normally the smoker gets dealt with straight away just seems on Chengdu Airlines their staff ignore it ditto people not wearing seatbelts on take off and landing!

Hope you enjoy your trip on Air China, I flew with them a couple of years ago from Heathrow to Beijing and it was top notch, but on the return some passengers who should have been on a BA flight were moaning non stop, dont know how the hostesses stayed calm! I have also flown internally with Air China and that was spot on too.

Fot this trip we have flown Finn Air from Manchester to Chongqing via Helsinki and the outward flights were brilliant, so I'm expecting the same on our return! Our flight from Helsinki to Chongqing was like a Chinese internal, I was one of about 4 non-chinese onboard and most the hostesses were chinese! Which for me was pretty nice although my Wife was not impressed at my eyes darting over to them all the time!

Finnair have built up a large customer base in the far east, their hub is very well positioned on one of the shortest routes.

 

[Anon Mouse]

Finnair have built up a large customer base in the far east, their hub is very well positioned on one of the shortest routes.

Aye, and they seem to do well as a hub for asian flights too. Well recomended way to go too. Helsinki Airport may be small but its not a bad Airport to fester in for a couple of hours providing you have a few euros to part with!

 

[SwindonPkwy]

Being a recent convert to Avios, I have just found that I can register my Tesco Clubcard to automatically credit my Avios points.

Other than, say, a BA credit card, are there any other loyalty schemes that link to Avios?

 

[starrymarkb]

Being a recent convert to Avios, I have just found that I can register my Tesco Clubcard to automatically credit my Avios points.

Other than, say, a BA credit card, are there any other loyalty schemes that link to Avios?

Shell Drivers Club. (though Tesco gives more Avios per £)
Accor Hotels 'Le Club'
Some Lloyds TSB Products
BAA World Shopping

Plus via affilate links
Holiday Extras (Airport Parking)
National Express (5 Avios's per £)

 

[SwindonPkwy]

Starrymarkb, many thanks.

Ed.

 

[Ascot]

Being a recent convert to Avios, I have just found that I can register my Tesco Clubcard to automatically credit my Avios points.

Other than, say, a BA credit card, are there any other loyalty schemes that link to Avios?

For what it's worth you can convert your hotel points over in bulk but I find the exchange rate isn't too good. I tend to just convert over the hotel groups that I only keep in tick-over as they'll end up expiring.

Amex Forex (used to be Travelex in the offer) will give you a few miles if you hand your FF card over the counter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Anon Mouse]

Just came back from China and back in dear old Blighty!

I was very disapointed with the International Terminal at Chongqing Airport. Its tiny, dirty and very old fashioned. It has a Tibetian Shop selling over priced (but very nice) nick nacks, a 'duty free' shop thats more expensive than elsewhere and a Cafe called 'Al Capone's' (pretty apt due to Chongqings past!) that serves up frozen scran, overpriced drinks and oly allow you to drink beer inside. The staff however were really nice and it was a breeze checking in and getting on the plane. I suspect that the International Terminal is only a stop-gap as the domestic Terminal looks fantastic! Its probably relevent too that until recently the only 'International' flights from Chongqing were to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. It was however a great place for watching the various planes take off and land and for viewing the Monorail at a distance! Helsinki Airport however still impresses me as a functunal and comftable place to doss around in between flights.

We enjoyed our flights with Finnair and thought their Cabin Crew were very nice, attentive and helpful making frequent runs through Economy. We had two meals on the main flight which were delicious (according to the wife better than Emirates) The Airbus A340 from Chonqing to Helsinki was spotless and very comftable and the entertainment system was pretty good too. From Helsinki to Manchester the Embraer 190 was also spotless and comftable enough for the 3 hour hop again with really good staff. The toilet however did get a bit gross after a woman allowed her child to vomit all over the place. She did clear up most of it with tissuie but she just left it in a smelly pile on the floor, but thats hardly the airlines fault! As International Transfer passengers we were entitiled to a snack box and a complementary non-alcoholic drink which was enough for the short hop!

All in all I will definatly fly Finnair again, it was my second time and my impression has remained good!

 

[stut]

I has the pleasure of trying out Virgin America last week, on a little 319 from SFO to DFW. Extremely impressed.

They've gone down the route of Air Berlin and the like - low-cost operations but high service. So, although you pay for (decent) meals and checked luggage (as is now normal for US domestics anyway), the rest of the flight is rather decent.

Although SFO and DFW are huge airports, VA use small sub-terminals that are very easy to use (SFO T2 in particular - one of the best US airports I've used). Check-in and security were a breeze, as was luggage retrieval.

There were definite Virgin touches, too - the late boarding announcements all added "and we would hate for you to miss your flight" - cheesy but raises a smile.

On board is impressive. The lighting is a subdued purple, and the seats black leather with hard white plastic moulding. Every seat has good AVOD, including free satellite TV channels, and PPV premium video and films. Any standard earphone will fit. The IFE systems also take payment for food and alcohol, and orders for free drinks, all of which you request at your seat.

There's also on-board wi-fi, at about £6 for a mid-haul flight like this. Worked a treat, too - far faster than I expected (they block streaming video, audio and VoIP).

Seat pitch was on the good side of average, but the seats are fairly high, giving an impression of more space. At 6'1" my knees were a couple of inches from the seat in front, even when reclined.

Very impressed - will definitely use again when in the US.

 

[stuartmoss]

This video features footage taken from Yeadon of movements at Leeds Bradford International Airport (IATA: LBA, ICAO: EGNM) between 13:00 and 17:00 on 14th August, 2012. LBA is the main base of UK budget airline Jet2, as well as being a base for Ryanair. The airport is supported by Multiflight, who operate a hanger opposite the main terminal buildings across the runway, here Multiflight undertake aircraft maintenance as well as operating a flying school, and handling a number of private arrivals and departures.

In 2011 LBA handled 2,941,532 passengers, which made it the 15th busiest airport in the UK. Whilst there is one physical runway at LBA, it actually operates as two runways, depending on the direction that aircraft are taking off and landing, these are runway 14 and runway 32, the choice of runway in use is largely dictated by the prevailing wind.

[youtube]hUTC8DIDyQk[/youtube]

The video is best viewed on full screen at 1080HD, I'm not sure if the embedding box above allows for HD viewing, if it doesn't then follow this link direct to YouTube where you can adjust viewing settings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUTC8DIDyQk

This video features the following aircraft taking off, landing and taxiing on both runway 14 and runway 32 at LBA: Jet 2 Boeing 757 G-LSAI, Mistral Air Boeing 737 EI-DUS, Yorkshire Air Ambulance MD Helicopters MD-902 Explorer G-CEMS, KLM Cityhopper Fokker 100 PH-OFM, FlyBE De Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 G-JEDO, Multiflight Robin 200 G-MFLE, Avion Express Airbus A319 LY-VEU, Thomas Cook Airbus A320 G-TCAD, Air Europa Boeing 737 EC-JBJ, Jet2 Boeing 737 G-CELB, Germania Boeing 737 D-AGET, Jet2 Boeing 737 G-CELH, Jet2 Boeing 737 G-GDFG, Ryanair Boeing 737 EI-ENX, Jet2 Boeing 737 G-GDFB, Jet2 Boeing 737 G-GDFH, Ryanair Boeing 737 EI-DLZ, Ryanair Boeing 737 EI-EKF, Jet2 Boeing 737 G-CELD, Jet2 Boeing 757 G-LSAN, Eastern Airways Saab 2000 G-CDKA, and Atlas Air Service Cessna 560XL Citation XLS D-CNOC.

What is unusual about this footage is the relatively high number of chartered aircraft (Germania, Mistral, Air Europa and Avion Express). The Germania and Avion Express are operating on behalf of Jet2, who had two aircraft with technical problems, the Mistral is bringing in Italian school children who are attending a Summer language school, and the Air Europa is operating on behalf of Thomson.

The footage was all taken during the same midweek afternoon, and despite its relative low ranking in terms of passenger numbers, it demonstrates how busy an airport LBA can actually be.

 

[trentside]

Excellent video Stuart - I was certainly surprised to see so much activity at LBA.

Nice to see some different aircraft, Mistral aren't an airline I've come across before but they've certainly chose a high visibility colour scheme. Always nice to see 757s as well - one of my favourite airliners.

 

[stuartmoss]

Excellent video Stuart - I was certainly surprised to see so much activity at LBA.

Nice to see some different aircraft, Mistral aren't an airline I've come across before but they've certainly chose a high visibility colour scheme. Always nice to see 757s as well - one of my favourite airliners.

Thanks, it was also my first time seeing Mistral, although they have been several times this year with the school kids.

I'm also a big 757 fan, I live under the flight path and when they take off the noise is incredible. Jet2 operate several of them, although sadly they are a dying breed.

 

[WestCoast]

What is unusual about this footage is the relatively high number of chartered aircraft (Germania, Mistral, Air Europa and Avion Express).

All those charter airlines remind me of the '90s at Blackpool and Manchester Airports. At Blackpool, an Air Europa 737 came in on a Tuesday from Tenerife with a Britannia 757 from Alicante on a Saturday. That was pretty much it for international flights...
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I'm also a big 757 fan, I live under the flight path and when they take off the noise is incredible. Jet2 operate several of them, although sadly they are a dying breed.

The 757 is an amazing aircraft, it has the range to cover everything from a short hop to a transatlantic crossing (United has them flying Manchester/Heathrow to New York Newark). Shame they are not so common in Europe anymore, although there are still loads of them in the States.

 

[SwindonPkwy]

I love the 757 and remember BA taking delivery of them in the 80's to replace their Tridents. But fitting winglets to them, that's just wrong!!

 

[Techniquest]

Watched most of the video, stopped after 13 minutes due to having to do other stuff before work, but enjoyed what I saw. It's sure got me wanting to book with Jet2!

Handy having that spot right next to the runway, but I'd feel a bit odd standing in a cemetry doing my spotting! Thanks for sharing

 

[Anon Mouse]

Watched most of the video, stopped after 13 minutes due to having to do other stuff before work, but enjoyed what I saw. It's sure got me wanting to book with Jet2!

Handy having that spot right next to the runway, but I'd feel a bit odd standing in a cemetry doing my spotting! Thanks for sharing

The wall looks pretty low, I'm surprised they have not errected some pallasade fencing. I fancy having a trip there with my camera!

 

[stuartmoss]

The wall is the cemetery wall only, there is a high fence on the airport perimeter, but it's down a dip so not visible. Yeadon Cemetery is definitely the best easily accessible spotting area for LBA. Technically you're not supposed to do it, but I've never been asked to leave. I find if I do it discretely and keep well away from anyone visiting the graves it doesn't cause a problem. Sadly some morons don't distinguish the difference between the cemetery and a recreation ground, and bring kids, footballs, dogs etc. I'm sure eventually that they will spoil it for the rest of us.

 

[Techniquest]

Sadly that's very true, some people are just idiots.

Off out soon, first flight in a few weeks and first with easyjet. Bring it on I say, still got 3.5 hours until my train leaves Hereford and 7 hours until the gate closes for the flight at Liverpool...

 

[doubleamber]

I hired a cessna 172 and toured California, best adventure ever. Did Death Valley and Big Bear in the same day. Planning on going next year, this time flying further south.

 

[Anon Mouse]

The wall is the cemetery wall only, there is a high fence on the airport perimeter, but it's down a dip so not visible. Yeadon Cemetery is definitely the best easily accessible spotting area for LBA. Technically you're not supposed to do it, but I've never been asked to leave. I find if I do it discretely and keep well away from anyone visiting the graves it doesn't cause a problem. Sadly some morons don't distinguish the difference between the cemetery and a recreation ground, and bring kids, footballs, dogs etc. I'm sure eventually that they will spoil it for the rest of us.

Yup theres always senseless folk who spoil things for everybody. I think I will try to arrange a trip!