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Aviation Discussion

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Techniquest

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Yeah, I was quoted £158 on Skyscanner, but by the time I went to the SAS website it was £220!
BA was slightly cheaper at £190!
Not exactly cheap, but the best price I could find!
I don't normally buy stuff onboard, especially coffee, for such a short flight, I think I'll be getting coffee from Pret before I board.
Interesting you say that, when I flew BA LH a few years ago, I thought their coffee was really good, better than VS!

It's complicated, I'm not paying for flights, so I get what I'm given! Not that I have a problem with that, they are free flights afterall!

I flew Norwegian from Copenhagen to Gatwick, a few years ago, and I was impressed.
The only bad thing I can see, is that they use 737s, with a dodgy layout, so some seats don't have windows!
But they fly from Gatwick not Heathrow, which is less convenient for me, and the flight times were a bit of a PiTA, and going to Stockholm they weren't a huge amount cheaper than BA!

Fair enough on the coffee thing, it depends on the journey for me (if it started the day before and I was awake all night, then coffee on board, if I've had time before it and a flight at a good hour, I may not, depending on flight length) but I do love my coffee! I average at least 5 cups a day, again depending on what I'm doing (a 16+ hour day of bashing or a full day at work needs lots of coffee, a day at home but with a fair bit to do I can manage on 3) and the size of the cups varies. As does how strong it is, how much sugar is in it...

If you're not paying for the flights, fair game, but I would be trying to influence the booker using experience of different airlines etc. Just as well I travel solo eh? :lol:

Well it is much newer than a 737 and has a bigger cockpit.

Cockpit size has no real bearing on passengers though! I must admit I was surprised how small a 737-800 cockpit is, but once you're sat down surely you don't need a mansion?! A few extra inches to get in/out would no doubt be better though. Is there actually much difference between Boeing and Airbus with cockpit size?

And is wider, so as a passenger you get larger overhead bins and either a wider seat or a wider aisle depending on the airline (both are good) and large overhead bins. And you have the Airbus control philosophy which allows for things a pilot can't cope with - the pilot of the plane that set down in the Hudson did say he reckoned that with having to manually push the boundaries of a stall (rather than just pulling back hard and the aircraft doing what it knew it could) he couldn't have done it in a Boeing.

Only problem is "if it ain't Airbus, I'm not going" doesn't rhyme :D

Ah yes, "if it's not Boeing, I ain't going" is one of my favourite expressions. I'm going to be suffering an Airbus tomorrow for about 15 hours (not including the time on board before/after) which goes against my Boeing desires, but flight times etc ruled the decision making on this occasion. 4 out of 5 flights on this trip will have been on Boeing craft, not bad for a trip to the other side of the world.

As for overhead luggage lockers, I didn't see them being bigger on my Airbus craft in October than on newer Boeing craft. Admittedly I paid little attention on those BA flights to them as my bag comfortably fitted under the seat in front of me. Just as well, given how on both flights to/from Tallinn BA made repeated announcements about asking passengers to put their luggage in the hold for free. I even got an email asking me to do so before I got to Heathrow! I already had hold luggage anyway, so it wasn't an issue for me.

I also didn't notice an aisle on the A321 that was wider than on a 737-800. If it was indeed wider it wasn't noticeable to me!
 
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fowler9

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I once worked with a girl who said she had never been on a real aeroplane, just an Airbus. I had to explain that Airbus is the name of the company that built it not something that is different from an aeroplane .

For the record my most pleasant flight was on an LAN Airbus A340 from Auckland to Santiago. Sat near the back on the outer two seats. Absolutely bags of space. The cabin crew were amazing and we got free bubbly because it was Christmas Eve.

I believe the 767 is quite roomy but alas I have never had the pleasure.
 

Bletchleyite

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Ah yes, "if it's not Boeing, I ain't going" is one of my favourite expressions. I'm going to be suffering an Airbus tomorrow for about 15 hours (not including the time on board before/after) which goes against my Boeing desires, but flight times etc ruled the decision making on this occasion. 4 out of 5 flights on this trip will have been on Boeing craft, not bad for a trip to the other side of the world.

To be fair the 787 is an excellent aircraft - particularly the windows, which solve the problem I always have on long-hauls of wanting to see out when everyone else is asleep, and are huge - it almost feels like a big flying Pendolino. My long-haul second favourite is the now-almost-classic 777. But I do think Airbus have the edge on smaller craft.

As for overhead luggage lockers, I didn't see them being bigger on my Airbus craft in October than on newer Boeing craft.

With the Boeing Sky Interior they're the same size. On older Boeings they are much smaller, hence why Ryanair's bag size was classically 55x40x20 and easyJet's 56x45x25. (easyJet switched to the latter size once most of their fleet was switched to Airbus, prior to that it was the same as Ryanair for the same reason).

I also didn't notice an aisle on the A321 that was wider than on a 737-800. If it was indeed wider it wasn't noticeable to me!

It's not much, but it does make a difference to squeezing past trolleys if you want a wee, or for two people passing, hence why easyJet specified the wide aisle.

According to SeatGuru, easyJet's seats are 18" wide (to the armrest centre I think), Ryanair are 17". I have a feeling (but don't know which airlines still have that interior) that the original A320 seats before the low-costs came along were 18.5". So it's only an extra 3" on the aisle, but it does make a difference.
 

Techniquest

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Fair enough on the Airbus width, I've never checked to be honest. I've only based it on my experience.

Agreed on 787s and their windows, they're brilliant. I'm on a 777 home tomorrow morning on EY21 from AUH, booked for a -300 I'm informed. I can't remember for sure, but I think G-VIIP with BA was a 777-200. Should be interesting to see what a -3 is like!
 

Bletchleyite

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Fair enough on the Airbus width, I've never checked to be honest. I've only based it on my experience.

Agreed on 787s and their windows, they're brilliant. I'm on a 777 home tomorrow morning on EY21 from AUH, booked for a -300 I'm informed. I can't remember for sure, but I think G-VIIP with BA was a 777-200. Should be interesting to see what a -3 is like!

Just long - very long! :)
 

Techniquest

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Just long - very long! :)

Fair game! Hopefully it'll be a good ride. I would be checked in by now, but while I could check in last night for my A380 flight I couldn't without paying silly money for the Manchester flight. Found a seat for £20 which I'd have paid, but Etihad tried charging much more than that. No thanks! So I'm chancing a good seat when I check in at 11am, still ages to wait yet.

I'm still torn between a window seat for my first A380 or an aisle seat. I usually prefer aisle seats on overnight flights so I don't have to wake anyone up for access to the lavatories, but it's my first A380...See what I can get I suppose!

To be honest I seriously doubt I'll ever fly Etihad again. I have not been impressed. I see why people recommed Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Qantas over Etihad. Indeed, part of me wishes I'd booked with Phillipines instead, as despite an all-Airbus routing I'd have got an A350. Mind you, given the choice I'd have gone with Virgin!
 

Tetchytyke

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To be honest I seriously doubt I'll ever fly Etihad again. I have not been impressed. I see why people recommed Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Qantas over Etihad.

They're not as good as Emirates, but better than BA. Depends on the crew. A daytime Edinburgh-Abu Dhabi flight was very meh, service very mediocre, but then on a red eye return they couldn't do enough.
 

Techniquest

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They're not as good as Emirates, but better than BA. Depends on the crew. A daytime Edinburgh-Abu Dhabi flight was very meh, service very mediocre, but then on a red eye return they couldn't do enough.

I had better with BA than on my 3 Etihad flights so far (one more to go shortly on EY21 1100 AUH-MAN). All 3 crews have been rather lacking, hopefully the last one will be better.

As for the A380, I'll post a fuller review soon but I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be. Some pros to it but I preferred the 787s.
 

Agent_Squash

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And is wider, so as a passenger you get larger overhead bins and either a wider seat or a wider aisle depending on the airline (both are good) and large overhead bins. And you have the Airbus control philosophy which allows for things a pilot can't cope with - the pilot of the plane that set down in the Hudson did say he reckoned that with having to manually push the boundaries of a stall (rather than just pulling back hard and the aircraft doing what it knew it could) he couldn't have done it in a Boeing.

Only problem is "if it ain't Airbus, I'm not going" doesn't rhyme :D

Could always go for ‘If it’s Boeing, I ain’t going’
 

fowler9

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Apologies if I am repeating myself but I found BA's cabin crew very surly and the two A320's, the 747 and the 777 I flew on very shabby. The headrests on both long haul flights were hanging off. Really very poor. Unless they were dirt cheap I wouldn't use them again.
 

ian959

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Apologies if I am repeating myself but I found BA's cabin crew very surly and the two A320's, the 747 and the 777 I flew on very shabby. The headrests on both long haul flights were hanging off. Really very poor. Unless they were dirt cheap I wouldn't use them again.

Exactly what I felt about a flight from LGW to ORL many years ago on a BA 747.. aircraft interior seemed to be falling apart, cabin crew were awful (especially when the kid in the seat next to me developed an obvious medical condition)... vowed to never fly BA again, and so far never had the need to do so.
 

atillathehunn

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I find BA crews to be either utterly awful, or brilliant. There is so few datapoints in the middle. It's not that I want to chat, or know your hopes and dreams, just do the job and don't be hostile. I actually found really quite decent crews on Air France recently. I was surprised. Their English was dreadful so we talked French, but they were solidly in the middle. Exactly what I ask for.

As for the planes... yes, the unrefurbished low-J 747s and the older 777s are utter rubbish. But then crossing the Atlantic, they're still better than AA or UA, on a bar with Norwegian though Delta is better. Heading east there is loads of superior competition, unless it's a route with their A380, which is pretty good. Heading to South Africa, BA knocks spots off of SAA who can best be described as surly. Short haul, the only vague redeeming feature is the frequent flyer programme. Even then, it's no great shakes.
 

Crawley Ben

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Wizz Air to launch a new route from Gatwick to Gdansk, Poland. This will be a daily service and starts on 15th June 2019. Not sure of aircraft type, but guess it will be A320's.

Cheers

Ben
 

fowler9

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Wizz Air to launch a new route from Gatwick to Gdansk, Poland. This will be a daily service and starts on 15th June 2019. Not sure of aircraft type, but guess it will be A320's.

Cheers

Ben
Gdansk is well worth a visit as is Sopot just down the coast which is really nice in the summer and easily accessible by a short train ride from Gdansk.
 

Bald Rick

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Virgin Atlantic to launch flights from Heathrow to São Paulo, Brazil in 2020. Flight will be daily and use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Cheers

Ben

Wow, that’s a big move for them, and a big increase in capacity on the route as a whole.
 

Techniquest

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Virgin Atlantic to launch flights from Heathrow to São Paulo, Brazil in 2020. Flight will be daily and use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Cheers

Ben

Pencil me in as interested! I haven't been to South America yet, and a long flight on a 787 sounds right up my street. I just hope it's not overnight. Put me down for an aisle seat near the engine...
 

Bald Rick

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Pencil me in as interested! I haven't been to South America yet, and a long flight on a 787 sounds right up my street. I just hope it's not overnight. Put me down for an aisle seat near the engine...

It almost certainly will be overnight - the 2 flights that do the route today leave at 2200 (LATAM) and 2225 (BA) arriving around 12 hours later at what is effectively early the next morning. And the flights back are both overnight too - pretty difficult to miss the overnight when flying east on a 12 hour schedule!
 

Techniquest

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It almost certainly will be overnight - the 2 flights that do the route today leave at 2200 (LATAM) and 2225 (BA) arriving around 12 hours later at what is effectively early the next morning. And the flights back are both overnight too - pretty difficult to miss the overnight when flying east on a 12 hour schedule!

Bah. I don't sleep well if at all on overnight flights. Not even on a 14+ hour overnight flight. That said it was on Etihad...Yes I haven't forgotten my full review of them is overdue, but my trip report does not put them in a good light...
 

fowler9

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Bah. I don't sleep well if at all on overnight flights. Not even on a 14+ hour overnight flight. That said it was on Etihad...Yes I haven't forgotten my full review of them is overdue, but my trip report does not put them in a good light...
On the plus side flying to the east coast of South America is a very small time difference. It's just a long flight.
 

Techniquest

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On the plus side flying to the east coast of South America is a very small time difference. It's just a long flight.

True that. I'd post my Etihad review now, but my brain's nearly full of Lithuanian beer :lol:

Had a really good flight over with Ryanair on Tuesday, back on them later to Luton. Back to work at 5am tomorrow, going to hate my 03:30 alarm...
 

fowler9

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True that. I'd post my Etihad review now, but my brain's nearly full of Lithuanian beer :lol:

Had a really good flight over with Ryanair on Tuesday, back on them later to Luton. Back to work at 5am tomorrow, going to hate my 03:30 alarm...
Ha ha. Sleep tight mate. Will look forward to the report.
 

Techniquest

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Ha ha. Sleep tight mate. Will look forward to the report.

Still not posted beyond Day 4 of the Sydney report on my Wordpress, I had intended to do so this afternoon, on my way back from Luton. However a baggage handler had other ideas...

My case was significantly damaged somewhere between bag drop in Vilnius and arrivals at Luton, and I wasn't the only one who had that issue. I need to try and find the receipt when I get home, but that goes back to May 2017 and I seriously doubt I've kept it. Without it, it is incredibly unlikely I'll be able to claim compensation.

Who keeps receipts for cases for that long? Something electrical, yeah I could understand that, but a case?! Unsurprisingly this issue has been at the front of my mind all afternoon!

Talking of today's flight, I'll go into it in the trip report, but I didn't like the beef bolognese on Ryanair. For one, it took over 30 minutes to arrive (it's a warmed up ready meal!) and when it did the pasta was all stuck together and a challenge to break up so I could stir the sauce in. Add in a lack of any real flavour, and it not really being hot enough, and I didn't think it was good value after all. It was fairly filling, don't get me wrong, but I'm now rather dubious about trying the lasagne next time!

A shame as in general I like Ryanair's catering. My crew today was not brilliant either, so by some measure not my best Ryanair flight. Today marked my 25th Ryanair flight since I started logging aviation, so it should have been a landmark flight! The airline, for network size and their planes, is still in my Top 5 though.

Certainly I'll be shopping carefully for my next hold luggage, assuming I ever use it again!

No more trips booked as of today, the end of a 11 day adventure, but that will change soon enough. Of that I have zero doubt! On the horizon, now I have some Etihad Guest miles to redeem (only 6,011 as of 17th March), is a choice of all sorts. The land of the rising sun is on my list to look into, as is another Euro trip. My target for new countries this year was 5 and I currently am on 4. No the UAE is not included in that count!
 
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