Aviation Discussion

[Bletchleyite]

Now that is dedication. I for one would probably consider following you though, can't fly without a window, would just be weird.



I've never been offered an upgrade, closest I got was the exit-row seats on a couple of short hauls that connected into long-haul flights.

KLM once forced me to take an upgrade from exit row window to business class middle. Was not impressed.

 

[Bald Rick]

Couldnt help but noticed some Facebook outrage this week regarding the new Norwegian flights from Edinburgh/Belfast (and some Irish cities) to Boston and New York starting from this summer...except the flights arent actually to New York and Boston but to ones miles away. In the instance of "Boston" the flights are actually to the state of Rhode Island and an airport in Providence

Handy for Quahog though.

Giggety.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

KLM once forced me to take an upgrade from exit row window to business class middle. Was not impressed.

Forced?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Forced?

That or I wasn't getting on.

I had volunteered for a bump (250EUR if it'd have been needed), but was last on the list and there was a no-show, so they put me back on the original flight. By then they had given away my preferred seat.

So I was left with a middle seat and no 250EUR. Was not impressed. On the Fokker 70s and 100s, so-called business class is just normal seats with a posher sandwich. I could barely fit in.

At least I wasn't at the back I suppose. I really dislike flying at the back of aircraft with no rear exits. That design strikes me as downright dangerous, as if there's a fire in front you won't be getting out.

 

[ian959]

I've never been offered an upgrade, closest I got was the exit-row seats on a couple of short hauls that connected into long-haul flights.

Best upgrade I ever got was on Emirates - economy class air fare Perth to Dubai, upgraded myself to business class as I had enough FF miles, get to the airport to be told "sorry, we have overbooked business class, do you mind travelling first class?" That was kind of nice...

Last upgrade I got was from Cebu to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific to business class, which was pretty good too.

Will never beat my sister though on a flight from New York to London. Her 747 went US at JFK and she had the choice of staying in NY overnight and catch the flight the next day or if she did not mind, she could take Concorde...

 

[WestCoast]

https://www.businesstraveller.com/news/2017/02/28/ryanair-poised-major-frankfurt-expansion/

Ryanair is launching 20 (!) new routes from Frankfurt am Main this Winter including Stansted, Manchester and Glasgow.

This is why I'm starting to wonder whether easyJet has lost its mojo...! At this rate they will beat them to Heathrow I reckon.

 

[dievoyagerdie]

easyJet are going for a slower, sustained growth strategy. Their fleet strategy allows slow growth, stay the same or they can quickly shrink when the next black swan even occurs.

Ryanair have lots of new aircraft coming thick and fast. They have no option but to fly them.

 

[WestCoast]

easyJet are going for a slower, sustained growth strategy. Their fleet strategy allows slow growth, stay the same or they can quickly shrink when the next black swan even occurs.

Ryanair have lots of new aircraft coming thick and fast. They have no option but to fly them.

Understandable but I had always thought the sweet spot for easyJet was those large airports like Paris CDG, Amsterdam and Rome FCO where they competed against legacy carriers like KLM. They became a major player by building up a route network serving these key places like when they took on BA at Gatwick and created their largest hub and blocked competitors like Ryanair. I think they'll find it difficult to enter Frankfurt for instance once Ryanair have built a hub there. However, maybe more niche markets is where they see themselves so they have it covered if they want to grow.

 

[telstarbox]

BA CityFlyer are launching new routes from Manchester, including one flight per week to and from London City (southbound on Sunday and northbound on Thursday evening).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-rediscovers-manchester-after-10-year-hiatus

 

[atillathehunn]

https://www.businesstraveller.com/news/2017/02/28/ryanair-poised-major-frankfurt-expansion/

Ryanair is launching 20 (!) new routes from Frankfurt am Main this Winter including Stansted, Manchester and Glasgow.

This is why I'm starting to wonder whether easyJet has lost its mojo...! At this rate they will beat them to Heathrow I reckon.

Go big or go home!

They do seem to favour the show of force style, and I saw somewhere some interesting analysis on the number of routes they open as daily flights and then never repeat for the next season.

Frankfurt is interesting - there is very little LCC coverage, and Lufthansa short-haul fares are often astronomic.

Ryanair won't touch Heathrow on point of principle, I'm quite sure of it.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Ryanair won't touch Heathrow on point of principle, I'm quite sure of it.

The principle being that there are no vacant slots and Ryanair would never dream of paying market rate to purchase any slots from a willing seller.

 

[atillathehunn]

The principle being that there are no vacant slots and Ryanair would never dream of paying market rate to purchase any slots from a willing seller.

Was rather refering to the expansion and the new tranche of slots which will open up

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Was rather refering to the expansion and the new tranche of slots which will open up

Even new slots arising from the construction of the third runway will have a market value even if regulation constrains that value. But it would still be more than Ryanair would be willing to pay!

 

[atillathehunn]

Even new slots arising from the construction of the third runway will have a market value even if regulation constrains that value. But it would still be more than Ryanair would be willing to pay!

Hence my comment that Ryanair won't go near them. I really don't see where this argument is going. I'm out.

 

[gsnedders]

Even new slots arising from the construction of the third runway will have a market value even if regulation constrains that value. But it would still be more than Ryanair would be willing to pay!

How is gate availability at Heathrow? Is the third runway not just going to make the airport gate-bound?

 

[atillathehunn]

How is gate availability at Heathrow? Is the third runway not just going to make the airport gate-bound?

The expansion will include a new terminal, I believe, as well as an extension to Terminal 2 (possibly also to 5, but I forget the finer details of the proposal).

 

[Butts]

Edinburgh to Cardiff on an Embraer 195 Wednesday Morning. Outrageous - it took 55 mins compared to 50 last time

My word the Train would not even be out of Scotland when I was landing in Cardiff.

Seriously is there any other way to travel between the two Capitals ?

Birmingham to Edinburgh this morning - an Embraer 175 again did it in under an hour.

On both flights I checked in at the airport which has a lot going for it especially if you are travelling alone.

Outward leg Row 15 Exit "2" to myself.

Inward leg Bulkhead 1A - busy flight.

Why pay to reserve a seat with Flybe in these circumstances as there are no "piggy in the middle" seats ?

 

[atillathehunn]

Edinburgh to Cardiff on an Embraer 195 Wednesday Morning. Outrageous - it took 55 mins compared to 50 last time

My word the Train would not even be out of Scotland when I was landing in Cardiff.

Seriously is there any other way to travel between the two Capitals ?

Birmingham to Edinburgh this morning - an Embraer 175 again did it in under an hour.

On both flights I checked in at the airport which has a lot going for it especially if you are travelling alone.

Outward leg Row 15 Exit "2" to myself.

Inward leg Bulkhead 1A - busy flight.

Why pay to reserve a seat with Flybe in these circumstances as there are no "piggy in the middle" seats ?

It would be interesting to look at the number of sales of seat reservations on Flybe. As you say, there's basically no bad seat.

I'm using Flybe's codeshare from Emirates later in the year - flying from central Africa to the West Country. The sublime to the ridiculous changing from an A380 to a Dash-8.

 

[gsnedders]

I'm using Flybe's codeshare from Emirates later in the year - flying from central Africa to the West Country. The sublime to the ridiculous changing from an A380 to a Dash-8.

I have a friend doing a journey soon starting on an A380 and ending on a Twin Otter! (With, I think, a 777 in between?)

 

[Tetchytyke]

I have a friend doing a journey soon starting on an A380 and ending on a Twin Otter!

Yeah, but the Maldives are worth it

 

[atillathehunn]

I've done a jet to a Cessna Caravan before, though only a smaller A321.

 

[AlterEgo]

I have a friend doing a journey soon starting on an A380 and ending on a Twin Otter! (With, I think, a 777 in between?)

I've gone a Jetstream 31 > Do328 jet > A380 before. All flying is good flying!

 

[Joe Paxton]

I have started flying Ryanair a lot more as their route network from Manchester has grown, I find them more flexible on hand baggage nowadays that easyJet. ...

Yep, the second small cabin bag allowance on Ryanair (introduced in recent years) marks a significant difference. Though the airline's CFO reckons Ryanair are "becoming victims of our own niceness" because "people aren’t playing by the rules"! (Independent article.)

 

[Peter Mugridge]

In an e-mail from Aurigny today:

If in reference to equipment you mean aircraft, flights between ACI-SOU-ACI are mainly operated by the Dornier228 and on occasion the Tri-lander both of which are listed under Fleet on the homepage

I queried that as I thought there was rather a lot of publicity a year ago about them having made their final Trislander flight there and then and got this by return:

Aurigny still have the occasional Tri-lander operating on this route, until such time they retire from our Fleet, then the route will operated solely by the Dornier228.

Now, the fact that they didn't seem to recognise the word "equipment" suggests that their e-mail response is contracted out to an agency with no specific aviation knowledge rather than being done by someone in their own office, so - obvious point - are they really still using Trislanders on occasion, and if so presumably they are hired in on a "spot" basis?

 

[AlterEgo]

I was under the impression the Trislander was gone. Still, the Do228 is a niche aircraft and Alderney is still to be scratched off for me...

 

[atillathehunn]

In an e-mail from Aurigny today:



I queried that as I thought there was rather a lot of publicity a year ago about them having made their final Trislander flight there and then and got this by return:



Now, the fact that they didn't seem to recognise the word "equipment" suggests that their e-mail response is contracted out to an agency with no specific aviation knowledge rather than being done by someone in their own office, so - obvious point - are they really still using Trislanders on occasion, and if so presumably they are hired in on a "spot" basis?

A brief 10 second search in Flightradar24 has yielded the following:

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-bevt

That as recently as 07.00 this morning G-BEVT - a Trislander - operated an ACI-GCI rotation.

Aurigny's page on FR24 shows that they have four in fleet, though only one appears to be operations - G-BEVT. It has been out and about throughout the last few weeks, mainly on ACI-GCI shuttles.

 

[theageofthetra]

Yep, the second small cabin bag allowance on Ryanair (introduced in recent years) marks a significant difference. Though the airline's CFO reckons Ryanair are "becoming victims of our own niceness" because "people aren’t playing by the rules"! (Independent article.)

Don't forget with Easyjet you can volunteer to check in a case for free. Did this at the automated check in desks at Gatwick last month (a member of staff comes over and puts a staff code in) and again at the manned desk at Tenerife South. They didn't weigh it or check size but to be fair it wasn't anything ridiculously big or heavy. Then went through with my 'man bag'. Didn't cause any delay either end waiting for the case.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Don't forget with Easyjet you can volunteer to check in a case for free. Did this at the automated check in desks at Gatwick last month (a member of staff comes over and puts a staff code in) and again at the manned desk at Tenerife South. They didn't weigh it or check size but to be fair it wasn't anything ridiculously big or heavy. Then went through with my 'man bag'. Didn't cause any delay either end waiting for the case.

Sounds like you have worked out how to 'double dip' in terms of your free cabin baggage allowance then!

easyJet's rules are pretty clear - unless you've paid for a premium seat, are an easyJet Plus card holder or have a Flexi fare, it's an allowance of one cabin bag per person (and the bag you had checked in for free was in lieu of you cabin allowance).

Ryanair meanwhile now explicitly allow two cabin bags per person (again the larger may end up being put in the hold if stowage space in the cabin is limited).

 

[atillathehunn]

Sounds like you have worked out how to 'double dip' in terms of your free cabin baggage allowance then!

easyJet's rules are pretty clear - unless you've paid for a premium seat, are an easyJet Plus card holder or have a Flexi fare, it's an allowance of one cabin bag per person (and the bag you had checked in for free was in lieu of you cabin allowance).

Ryanair meanwhile now explicitly allow two cabin bags per person (again the larger may end up being put in the hold if stowage space in the cabin is limited).

The benefit of travelling on full flights where they want people to check cabin bags for free at an automated machine!

Flybe allow two too. Though they reduced the size of their carry one and extended it over two bags. Bit stupid.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

A brief 10 second search in Flightradar24 has yielded the following:

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-bevt

That as recently as 07.00 this morning G-BEVT - a Trislander - operated an ACI-GCI rotation.

Aurigny's page on FR24 shows that they have four in fleet, though only one appears to be operations - G-BEVT. It has been out and about throughout the last few weeks, mainly on ACI-GCI shuttles.

Thanks, I am pleasantly surprised and can only keep my fingers crossed that it will stay active for a few more months. would be nice to get the Tri one way and the Do the other as I have yet to sample either type...