Aviation Discussion

[cactustwirly]

That sounds grim!

If it's got decent legroom and maybe some sort of IFE, then in reality it's not a huge amount different than a Boeing 777

 

[nlogax]

If it's got decent legroom and maybe some sort of IFE, then in reality it's not a huge amount different than a Boeing 777

I read that economy seats on these services will be a ~29" seat pitch..think easyJet but with additional IFE (wireless via your own device I believe).

 

[jopsuk]

If it's got decent legroom and maybe some sort of IFE, then in reality it's not a huge amount different than a Boeing 777

or a 757, being a narrowbody built for longhaul

 

[Tetchytyke]

If it's got decent legroom and maybe some sort of IFE, then in reality it's not a huge amount different than a Boeing 777

There's something about a narrowbody for long haul that gives me the shivers. Lanzarote is about my limit. It's not just the seat pitch, it's the seat width and also the lack of space to get up and move around.

 

[WestCoast]

If it's got decent legroom and maybe some sort of IFE, then in reality it's not a huge amount different than a Boeing 777

There's something about a narrowbody for long haul that gives me the shivers. Lanzarote is about my limit. It's not just the seat pitch, it's the seat width and also the lack of space to get up and move around.

I tend to lean more towards cactustwirly on this, some airlines do have very nicely kitted out A320/B737s. I've just come back from a Shanghai - Doha - Warsaw routing on Qatar Airways and while both flights were good, I think I actually preferred the A320 on the second leg to the B777 on the first! The seats and amenities were very similar but the A320 was a tad quieter, had individual air vents to keep cool and generally felt more relaxed due to less people onboard meaning the service was more personal.

Having said that, I've also done a 6 hour slog on a Wizzair A320 from Poland to Dubai and that was quite a different proposal. The fare was about £60 though so if they launch transatlantic on a bolt upright ironing board seat no doubt I'll be the first to book a ticket...

 

[radamfi]

What happens if someone takes your bag from the conveyor belt after it has gone through the security scan, while you are waiting to pass through the body scanner? All your possessions are in there, including your passport.

 

[Bald Rick]

What happens if someone takes your bag from the conveyor belt after it has gone through the security scan, while you are waiting to pass through the body scanner? All your possessions are in there, including your passport.

Shout loudly. There’s plenty of security people around.

Also keep your passport with you. I do.

 

[radamfi]

Shout loudly. There’s plenty of security people around.

Also keep your passport with you. I do.

But what happens if you don't see it being taken and you only realise when the bag is gone? Given how regularly items are forgotten, I would have thought picking up bags by mistake must happen now and again.

 

[Bald Rick]

But what happens if you don't see it being taken and you only realise when the bag is gone? Given how regularly items are forgotten, I would have thought picking up bags by mistake must happen now and again.

If someone picked a bag up by mistake, it is safe to assume they have left their own behind, and will want it back. Alternatively, if someone deliberately took your bag, ie theft, then that’s a pretty brave thing to do in a security hall that is covered with cameras, scanners, and security people.

 

[Bald Rick]

BA have taken delivery of their first A350, and it’s currently at Heathrow, presumably being commissioned for service. Word on the street is that it will start on a Madrid rotation on Monday, BA464/5, before moving on to long haul on the Dubai rotation from Sept 2nd.

Virgin have not had any A350s delivered yet, despite their first three all being earlier on the production line than BAs (the first one was 52 slots ahead!) Virgin’s first 4 have all been built, all have had their first flight, and they are due in service on Sept 10th to JFK.

Update to my post from a couple of weeks ago...

Virgin have now take delivery of their first A350-10, G-VLUX. Their next three to be delivered are all in the ‘flight centre’ at Toulouse awaiting test flights and final acceptance, and should be delivered in the coming weeks. First flight VS153 LHR-JFK on Sept 10. The first 4 will be exclusively on the same route until at least the turn of the year.

 

[YorkshireBear]

A Ural Airlines A321 has crash landed shortly after takeoff near Moscow. There are YouTube videos avaliable in links here https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1429277 of take off and landing taken from the plane.

Appears to hit a flock of seagulls at rotation and loses power in the left engine a few seconds later and then loses power in the right engine. By the time it reached the end of the runway (in the air) it had already lost climb and started a glide descent. Fortunately cornfields are beyond the runway threshold and therefore the crew managed to ditch it into a cornfield with no fatalities. Fortunate as well no fire developed and evacuation was succesful.

The link to airliners Forum contains a wealth of information which i have tried to summarise briefly here.

Good outcome to something that was potentially catastrophic at many other airports!

 

[berneyarms]

Norwegian dropping their transatlantic routes out of Ireland, blaming the 737-MAX situation.

 

[NewcastleOne]

A Ural Airlines A321 has crash landed shortly after takeoff near Moscow. There are YouTube videos avaliable in links here https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1429277 of take off and landing taken from the plane.

Appears to hit a flock of seagulls at rotation and loses power in the left engine a few seconds later and then loses power in the right engine. By the time it reached the end of the runway (in the air) it had already lost climb and started a glide descent. Fortunately cornfields are beyond the runway threshold and therefore the crew managed to ditch it into a cornfield with no fatalities. Fortunate as well no fire developed and evacuation was succesful.

The link to airliners Forum contains a wealth of information which i have tried to summarise briefly here.

Good outcome to something that was potentially catastrophic at many other airports!

Also has the actual landing and takeoff of the flight further down.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Also has the actual landing and takeoff of the flight further down.

Indeed thats what I meant by YouTube links but wasn't clear! Very interesting.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Norwegian dropping their transatlantic routes out of Ireland, blaming the 737-MAX situation.

Could be a convenient excuse?

 

[Aictos]

Could be a convenient excuse?

I rather they improve on their Gatwick European operations as a alternative to EasyJet and Ryanair but hey ho.

 

[berneyarms]

Could be a convenient excuse?

I suspect so - they tried to take on Aer Lingus and that really was never going to work out well

While load factors were in the high 70% to mid 80% the yields were apparently very low. Aircraft having to stop and refuel en route in winter didn’t help costs either.

 

[Crawley Ben]

Delta Airlines are returning to London Gatwick from 22nd May 2020.

They will launch a new route to Boston operated by a 165 seater Boeing 757 on a daily basis.

Virgin Atlantic will also be launching a New York Service from Gatwick on 21st May 2020. This flight will also be daily, and will use an Airbus A330-200 with 266 seats.

Cheers

Ben

 

[ainsworth74]

Just a quick note to say that the discussion on armed police at airports is now in it's own thread here. It was lengthy enough to warrant being in it's own thread.

 

[theageofthetra]

Also has the actual landing and takeoff of the flight further down.

Seen the usual reports elsewhere about the number of pax with no shoes who had to walk a considerable distance to a rescue point. I'd always keep your shoes on, wallet, passport, phone and house keys on your person until the flight is safely at altitude. Same for landing.

 

[Techniquest]

Seen the usual reports elsewhere about the number of pax with no shoes who had to walk a considerable distance to a rescue point. I'd always keep your shoes on, wallet, passport, phone and house keys on your person until the flight is safely at altitude. Same for landing.

Don't most airlines tell you in the safety instructions to remove footwear in an emergency evacuation though? Or is that more a case of remove shoes that may tear the slide? I can't remember right now.

However I would agree that the really important things like keys, wallet and passport really should stay on your person at all times. I wouldn't leave my passport anywhere else, during the flight or not, especially not in a seatback pocket!

I think I've only ever removed my shoes twice on flights. Maybe 3 times, can't be sure. Once on the way back with Jet2 from Cyprus last year, once on a Ryanair flight from somewhere a few years back and maybe on my Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane this year. Just easier to leave them on given the cramped space available usually.

The safely at altitude thing, yeah I do have to agree there. Once I start levelling off I find I'm not as on edge as I was on takeoff. I love flying, and I'm not describing it well I know, but it's more like being on high alert in case an emergency happens. I'd rather be ready to dash out of the plane in a hurry until I hit cruise altitude. It's kinda like driving, during the lessons I was having I was always on edge and only when out of the car and home did I relax. It's weird that, because I used to love driving before I gave up learning many years back.

Anyway, I'm not sure what my point was now! I am however only 22 days away from my first flight in well over 5 months and I really can't wait to get back in the air!

 

[fowler9]

Don't most airlines tell you in the safety instructions to remove footwear in an emergency evacuation though? Or is that more a case of remove shoes that may tear the slide? I can't remember right now.

However I would agree that the really important things like keys, wallet and passport really should stay on your person at all times. I wouldn't leave my passport anywhere else, during the flight or not, especially not in a seatback pocket!

I think I've only ever removed my shoes twice on flights. Maybe 3 times, can't be sure. Once on the way back with Jet2 from Cyprus last year, once on a Ryanair flight from somewhere a few years back and maybe on my Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane this year. Just easier to leave them on given the cramped space available usually.

The safely at altitude thing, yeah I do have to agree there. Once I start levelling off I find I'm not as on edge as I was on takeoff. I love flying, and I'm not describing it well I know, but it's more like being on high alert in case an emergency happens. I'd rather be ready to dash out of the plane in a hurry until I hit cruise altitude. It's kinda like driving, during the lessons I was having I was always on edge and only when out of the car and home did I relax. It's weird that, because I used to love driving before I gave up learning many years back.

Anyway, I'm not sure what my point was now! I am however only 22 days away from my first flight in well over 5 months and I really can't wait to get back in the air!

Where you off to this time mate?

 

[Techniquest]

Where you off to this time mate?

Budapest this time, followed by Tokyo in November and LA in January. LA is on a 747 each way

 

[Aictos]

I'm looking at the London to Warsaw route for next year and at the moment and am looking at LOT/BA, anyone used LOT before?

 

[TheEdge]

Does anyone know if there are any rumblings about the 737 MAX saga impacting the 777X programme?

If I was the FAA I'd be asking some probing questions of Boeing about any self certified changes on the new 777s similar to the changes made to the 737. Or possibly just outright making the 777X go through full independent certification.

 

[robk23oxf]

Does anyone know if there are any rumblings about the 737 MAX saga impacting the 777X programme?

If I was the FAA I'd be asking some probing questions of Boeing about any self certified changes on the new 777s similar to the changes made to the 737. Or possibly just outright making the 777X go through full independent certification.

Problems with the GE9X engines are the reason for the delay to the 777X. While fixing this is mainly down to General Electric, Boeing will currently be having to divert resources to fixing the 737 MAX which will not be helping the 777X programme either. Regarding certification, even if the FAA does certify the 777X the problem will then be the foreign aviation authorities like EASA and Transport Canada who may be reluctant to trust the FAA decision.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Problems with the GE9X engines are the reason for the delay to the 777X. While fixing this is mainly down to General Electric, Boeing will currently be having to divert resources to fixing the 737 MAX which will not be helping the 777X programme either. Regarding certification, even if the FAA does certify the 777X the problem will then be the foreign aviation authorities like EASA and Transport Canada who may be reluctant to trust the FAA decision.

Indeed a lot of what is being said on the aviation forums discusses this. Especially the EASA.

 

[WestCoast]

I'm looking at the London to Warsaw route for next year and at the moment and am looking at LOT/BA, anyone used LOT before?

Yes, had a couple of pleasant trips with LOT on their E-jets and Q400s, domestically within Poland. I've found them very reasonably priced and pretty efficient - catering wise they are better than BA short-haul; you get free tea, coffee and water plus a Prince Polo (a Polish chocolate bar) - they also offer a buy on board menu for meals on their longer European flights. I credit all my miles to Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus scheme for Star Alliance and LOTs lowest fares still get miles on there, so that's a define plus for me over Lufthansa where I get no miles at all on their short-haul promo fares even in Business Class - stingy!

 

[WestCoast]

Don't most airlines tell you in the safety instructions to remove footwear in an emergency evacuation though? Or is that more a case of remove shoes that may tear the slide? I can't remember right now.

In the briefings, airlines often ask you "to remove high heeled shoes as they may tear the slide" which makes sense, but I normally wear soft trainers when flying so I think I would be okay to keep them on.

I've noticed certainly on European airlines that they are also drilling it into flyers that all baggage must be left onboard in the event of an evacuation, so I'd agree it may be good practice to keep phone/wallet/keys/passport on your person during take off and landing.

 

[Aictos]

Yes, had a couple of pleasant trips with LOT on their E-jets and Q400s, domestically within Poland. I've found them very reasonably priced and pretty efficient - catering wise they are better than BA short-haul; you get free tea, coffee and water plus a Prince Polo (a Polish chocolate bar) - they also offer a buy on board menu for meals on their longer European flights. I credit all my miles to Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus scheme for Star Alliance and LOTs lowest fares still get miles on there, so that's a define plus for me over Lufthansa where I get no miles at all on their short-haul promo fares even in Business Class - stingy!

What are the interiors like onboard though too? catering wise they do sound much better then BA, I used to fly with BA specifically for the catering.

Thanks for the above, didn't realise Lufthansa was so tight with the miles tho!