Flights you have been on

[Tetchytyke]

Ronaldsway to Manchester and return on a Loganair ATR72 last week. The coffee and Tunnocks biscuit being as exciting as it got.

The joys of island life

 

[pitdiver]

i Know what you mean by the joys of Island Life flying up to Orkney with Loganair sadly on a Saab 340 on a number of occasions

 

[Butts]

i Know what you mean by the joys of Island Life flying up to Orkney with Loganair sadly on a Saab 340 on a number of occasions

Loganair are not my favourite Airline....

Most recent trips BHX-ABZ Delayed by over two hours annoyingly failed to hit the 3 Hour "Compo Barrier" - also failed to issue refreshment vouchers.

INV -BHX delayed by about an hour.

Both at the end of October.

However the "Mini Embraers" are superb when they get going both journeys about an hour.

 

[WestCoast]

i Know what you mean by the joys of Island Life flying up to Orkney with Loganair sadly on a Saab 340 on a number of occasions

I believe they are phasing out those Saabs in favour of more ATRs in the coming years.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Loganair's issue is they don't really have much flex in their fleet, so if one aircraft goes tech you generally have to wait for them to fix it. And sadly the ATR72 is not, and never will be, the most reliable of aircraft.

We see it here when one of the two ATR72s based here has a sit down, either we wait for it to be fixed or we wait for them to fly a spare Embraer here from either Teesside or Aberdeen. Which is fine unless they don't have a spare Embraer.

 

[WestCoast]

Loganair's issue is they don't really have much flex in their fleet, so if one aircraft goes tech you generally have to wait for them to fix it. And sadly the ATR72 is not, and never will be, the most reliable of aircraft.

We see it here when one of the two ATR72s based here has a sit down, either we wait for it to be fixed or we wait for them to fly a spare Embraer here from either Teesside or Aberdeen. Which is fine unless they don't have a spare Embraer.

Didn‘t the (old) Flybe have much the same issues with the Q400s? I thought generally ATRs were the more reliable mainstream turboprop, although I know Loganair have some rather aged ATR42s alongside newer ATR72s.

 

[AlterEgo]

LOT. LHR-WAW 737 Max 8
WAW -BOM 788

Clean, efficient, stress free. Better than BA, though of course, not direct.

LOT are super cheap as well. What did you pay, might I ask?

 

[Tetchytyke]

I thought generally ATRs were the more reliable mainstream turboprop

I'm not sure. I always thought the ATR72 was preferred as it was cheaper to run, but that the Q400 is actually the better aircraft.

 

[pitdiver]

I believe they are phasing out those Saabs in favour of more ATRs in the coming years.

They certainly are replacing them.They will soon have issues with the Islanders that are used on the Inter Island services. There were plans to possibly use electric planes but these didn't progress very far

 

[MasterSpenny]

Sorry to move this thread up but here is my list from this month:
SIN (Singapore) -> LHR (London Heathrow) - done this route twice, first time on an A380 in 2019, and on Wednesday on a 777
LHR -> DOH (Heathrow - Doha) - Was not the best Qatar flight as bag drop at T4 was a nightmare, and too many people on the plane were being loud (in turn being extremely uncomfortable)
DOH - DPS (Doha - Bali) - Expected Doha to be freezing (thats what I was told) but it wasn’t, then was a more comfortable Qatar flight as there was barely any shouty people, was also my first A350 flight
Air Asia: DPS (Bali) -> SIN (Singapore) - just a regular two hour hop

 

[route101]

They certainly are replacing them.They will soon have issues with the Islanders that are used on the Inter Island services. There were plans to possibly use electric planes but these didn't progress very far

I believe a few Saabs are still on the go from Glasgow.

 

[Mojo]

I had 5 flights on ATRs this summer (4 on a -72 and one on a -42) and on all of the flights operated by a -72 one they announced that customers would have their baggage offloaded due to weight restrictions. On one flight they were also asking anyone wishing to defer their flight to come forward. On none of these planes were every single seat taken.

If what is written on Wikipedia is correct, in addition to being very slow, the plane seems to have a very low maximum takeoff weight.

 

[Bantamzen]

My all-time favourite flight was Heathrow to LA on a British Airways A380, followed three days later with an American A321 to Honolulu. Absolutely brilliant flights and a bloody good holiday. Other than that I've flown a few other internal US flights and red-eye from JFK to Manchester, and lots of flights to Greek islands, Spain and Vienna on various budget airlines. And in three and a half weeks I'll be trying of TUI for the first time flying Manchester to Palma de Mallorca.

 

[birchesgreen]

Enjoyed my first flights in over 11 years this week, BHX to INV and back on Loganair ATR42s. My first flights ever on props as well, i made sure i booked row 7 so could get a good view.

 

[Titfield]

It seems pointless to start now but I really wish I had done this when I started flying. I'd love to know now what the 747 was on which I took my first long haul to South Africa, whether I've cleared all the BA G-EUxx 319/320s, my honeymoon A380 to Melbourne, my last 747, my first ever flight in 1994 (AirUK 737 Classic, I know that much)

For the record, my BA flightpath lists 272,000 miles flown with them over 543 hours, but that's just BA. For years most of my flying was on American and my long hauls eastbound are a mix of Qatar, Cathay, BA and soon to add Japan Airlines. I've also used Qantas, Iberia, Air France, Delta, Virgin Atlantic long haul and plenty of EasyJet, Eurowings, Virgin America, United and all sorts of other airlines shorthaul.

I think I'm probably somewhere in excess of 1500 hours by now.

My most recent flight VCE-LHR last week did hold one highlight which was a sighting of Pilot's Glory, a circular rainbow "halo" around the shadow of the plane itself projected on the clouds.

My brother has been back building a record of all his flights and holidays since the early 1980s. He says some of the plane spotter and tour operator former staff pages on facebook have helped identify carriers and aircraft.

We have a regular competition between us trying to name obscure carriers and tour operators who operated from the UK.

My most obscure aircraft one of Qantas pair of 747 SP "shorties" on which I flew trans pacific Brisbane to Los Angeles in November 1986.

 

[Fred43123]

Recent flights for me particularly this month:


LCY-DUB E190 G-LCYT
DUB-STN A320 9H-LMH
LHR-BRU A320 OO-SNL
BRU-LHR A320 OO-SNC (Star Alliance Livery)
LCY-ZRH E290 HB-AZC
ZRH-LHR E295 HB-AZL
MAN-PMI B752 G-LSAB
PMI-MAD A21N EC-NST
MAD-LHR A359 EC-MXV

A few upcoming flights including LCY-BLL on OY-NCO operated by Sun-Air - How do I know it’s that aircraft in advance? It’s the only one fitted with steep approach control. And Singapore Airlines A359 from BCN-MXP.

 

[zigzag]

Just been to Japan with Asiana, via Seoul

LHR - Incheon, A359 first time on one of these, nice aircraft
Incheon - Haneda Korean Air B738 ( should have been Asiana A321 to Narita but late out of LHR meant connection was looking tight connection so was rebooked to Haneda at LHR check in - had hotel booked at Narita and didnt fancy trek over there after midnight so that cost me a few £s as was too late to cancel. Grrrr#1, would have made connection as flight time shorter than scheduled
2 weeks in Japan, lovely country, lovely people
Haneda - Gimpo A332, bit of an old banger this one, everything rattled
48 hour stopover in Seoul, visit to DMZ
Incheon - LHR A359, 13hrs 38mins, all in daylight though you wouldn't know as Grrr#2 the crew insisted on shades down throughout flight, I like to look out of the window, first time Ive ever been offered octopus as in flight meal option

Asiana, decent leg room on the A359 which is most important factor on long flights, IFE adequate a limited number 'western' films/tv shows, but food/beverage service not so good, there was plenty of food but only Asian style, beverage service very poor - just one small glass of wine no refils, soft drinks again small glass didnt even offer you the whole can

 

[william.martin]

Recent flights for me particularly this month:


LCY-DUB E190 G-LCYT
DUB-STN A320 9H-LMH
LHR-BRU A320 OO-SNL
BRU-LHR A320 OO-SNC (Star Alliance Livery)
LCY-ZRH E290 HB-AZC
ZRH-LHR E295 HB-AZL
MAN-PMI B752 G-LSAB
PMI-MAD A21N EC-NST
MAD-LHR A359 EC-MXV

A few upcoming flights including LCY-BLL on OY-NCO operated by Sun-Air - How do I know it’s that aircraft in advance? It’s the only one fitted with steep approach control. And Singapore Airlines A359 from BCN-MXP.

Was any of those LCY flights the week before last as I was plane spotting there for most of the week and I might have some photos?

 

[Tetchytyke]

I had 5 flights on ATRs this summer (4 on a -72 and one on a -42) and on all of the flights operated by a -72 one they announced that customers would have their baggage offloaded due to weight restrictions.

Was this all to or from the same airport?

I’ve been on full Loganair flights and never had it happen, so I am surprised. Loganair even include 15kg hold luggage with every ticket.

What’s far more common is having to do some seat-swapping on quieter flights to keep the weight balanced.

 

[Mojo]

Was this all to or from the same airport?

I’ve been on full Loganair flights and never had it happen, so I am surprised. Loganair even include 15kg hold luggage with every ticket.

What’s far more common is having to do some seat-swapping on quieter flights to keep the weight balanced.

No, they were all on different flights and none of which were in the UK. Loganair can probably get away with it because their flights are relatively short and they don’t need to carry as much fuel due to either short distances and or reliable fuel supplies at both ends.

With a max take off weight of 23,000kg and an empty weight of 13,600kg this only leaves 9,400kg of payload and fuel. Even assuming they only take 2,000kg of fuel, the max payload is 7,400kg for the 72-600. Based on current UK standards for planes with >30 seats the average passenger would weigh 84kg, flight crew 85kg and cabin crew 75kg.

This effectively only leaves a little under 14kg per passenger and probably explains Loganair’s non-standard 15kg limit to allow for the fact that the planes won’t be full or someone won’t bring their full amount. And that doesn’t allow for any freight which is often carried on more rural routes operated by these planes.

 

[birchesgreen]

Was this all to or from the same airport?

I’ve been on full Loganair flights and never had it happen, so I am surprised. Loganair even include 15kg hold luggage with every ticket.

What’s far more common is having to do some seat-swapping on quieter flights to keep the weight balanced.

Yes we had that last week, my wife and i were both able to get window seats.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Nothing very exciting to report, although the ground transport out to the plane at Montreal was a bit weird. But a question for those who know….

Rare for ba 94/95 to use remote gates at yul.

Was it one of those bus type things that raises up to offer level boarding so you don't go up any stairs ?

These were all from montreal mirabel airport and when passenger service stopped there, they transferred the vehicles to dorval

This year I've been on
AA LHR to JFK
BA YUL to LHR
BA LHR to Belfast ( they had to change a tyre whilst we were all boarded)
Wizz Luton to Athens
EZY LGW to innsbruck (amazing approach
Jet2 stansted to thessaloniki (wetleased from titan air)

Coming up i have
SAS lhr to Copenhagen
BA LHR to YUL (usually operated by a 787 but operated by a 777 this winter due to cabin refresh works on ba's 787s)

 

[Tetchytyke]

No, they were all on different flights and none of which were in the UK. Loganair can probably get away with it because their flights are relatively short and they don’t need to carry as much fuel due to either short distances and or reliable fuel supplies at both ends.

That makes more sense, as I’ve not had those issues with either Loganair or Aer Lingus Regional. As you say, both have short flights and reliable fuel supplies, and don’t tend to carry much freight.

 

[Butts]

I believe a few Saabs are still on the go from Glasgow.

Plus of course De Havilland Twin Otters like the one I enjoyed on a day trip to Tiree today from Glasgow on Loganair.

It must appear really incongruous to see the tiny critter book ended by two Easyjet Neos trundling towards the runway at GLA for take off.

11 Passengers out and 5 back the boarding takes forever.

You can see right into the cockpit and feel the force as it rattles down the runway

 

[joncombe]

You can see right into the cockpit and feel the force as it rattles down the runway

Have you been on an Islander? Not sure which islands they operate too with Loganair but if you get lucky you will be sitting right behind the pilot or the usually empty first officers seat.

 

[75A]

Most recent flight was from Birmingham to Belfast (George Best).
Three of the best:
1997 Philadelphia to Heathrow upgraded to 1st class - British Airways The chap I went with worked for B.A.
2000 Brisbane to Sydney on a very lightly loaded Qantas flight, treated like royalty, given champagne etc - it was our honeymoon.
2015 Nice to Stanstead, the grandaddy of a thunderstorm - private jet back from Monaco Grand Prix.

 

[Bantamzen]

Talking of upgrades, on my flight from Heathrow to LAX the check-in agent did his very best to upgrade us but sadly the flight was fully booked. However our luggage did get an upgrade, so they were first on the carousel at LAX which was bloody wonderful as I'd arranged a limo to take us to our hotel in Santa Monica so the driver didn't have to wait long. And I'm glad I did book it, the temp was close to 100 Fahrenheit and he had the AC on full tilt in the car!! Needless to say I tipped him well!

 

[birchesgreen]

I was upgraded from LHR to Bahrain on Emirates once, that was great. Unfortunately it was only about half of my journey and after Bahrain i was back in cattle class.

 

[route101]

Plus of course De Havilland Twin Otters like the one I enjoyed on a day trip to Tiree today from Glasgow on Loganair.

It must appear really incongruous to see the tiny critter book ended by two Easyjet Neos trundling towards the runway at GLA for take off.

11 Passengers out and 5 back the boarding takes forever.

You can see right into the cockpit and feel the force as it rattles down the runway

I have travelled twice on the Twin Otter and twice never made it to Campbeltown. The first time it was just me and someone else on he flight.

 

[ATrainSpotter]

My latest flight was with MEA to LHR from Beirut, with the 10,000th Airbus Family aircraft. Great airline with very generous meals and seemingly unlimited drink service...