Shamrock104 From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 514 posts, RR: 1 Posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 6092 times:
Realising I hadn't had a break all summer, combined with the fact I had to do some business abroad I decided to combine buiness and pleasure and headed off to Romania, taking advantage of the bank holiday weekend. Usually on this route I use SAS or KLM but decided I wanted to try Tarom's A310 out that they operate to Heathrow. I've flown Tarom a few times before, both in business and economy and found their business product excellent, they have 2x2 seating on their 737's. Their A310 was to be a new experience for me.
For the Dublin/London sectors I chose bmi, another new departure for me since EI doesn't really do much to attract loyalty these days.
Dublin - London (Heathrow)
31/07/08
BD 132
Airbus A320-232 G-MIDZ
Dep. 19:55
Arr. 21:15
Seat 3C (Business)
I left the office and took the aircoach to the airport, which went smoothly. Impressive to see the new terminal taking shape at DUB. The existing facilities are a national disgrace, however I was pleasantly suprised at how quiet the terminal was on this thursday pre-bank holiday evening.
Having checked-in online I dropped off my bag and headed for the bmi lounge which was rather empty apart from a few japanese businessmen drinking guiness and a few other business types. There was no one at the desk so I made myself comforable and got myself a beer. A woman then appared and asked for my boarding card which she hardly glanced at. A little while later I wandered down to the gate, on the B pier which bmi seem to be using now that the C pier is being re-constructed. Our hybrid aircraft was waiting in rain.
Not long after boarding started which was a free for all. No priority given to business passengers. I really dislike Aviance, especially in Dublin, they don't seem to care at all. More on this in another report later.
Once onboard I took of my jacket and placed it on the coat hook beside my seat, I would really like if someone had offered to take it and hang it up, it's just one of the little extras that seem to make the difference!
After take off the flight attendant came around with drinks and a choice of either gnocci or some chicken curry with the bmi business snackbox which is rather nice I think. I had the gnocci which was ok but rather tasteless. There were only about 5 rows of business and 8 passengers. Another drink service followed and shortly we were decending towards London.
I love the video bmi show before landing, explaining what do to when you arrive at Heathrow. Its kind of quirky, the intro voice says 'Hi... we're almost there' or something to that effect which is kind of funny, and the graphic of the plane and the terminal is ridiculous, the building just looks like a tiny box compared to the plane.
The service was ok but nothing special on this flight, a very average performance from bmi on this sector. Baggage took an unbelievable 30 minutes from de-planing to arrive on the carrousel, somthing I will give EI credit for at Heathrow, the bags are there within 15 minutes!
There was, of course, no priority tag on my bag either. Thank you aviance...
I took a bus from the central bus station to the Sheraton on this very humid night in London, and they couldn't find my reservation, despite the fact that i'm an SPG gold. Good think I had brought a printed copy with me.
Sheraton Heathrow
London (Heathrow) - Bucharest (Henri Coanda)
01/08/08
RO 392
Airbus A310-300 YR-LCB 'Moldova'
Dep. 12:30
Arr.17:55
Seat 3G (Business)
After a restfull nights sleep it was time for the adventure to begin - another new Tarom experience! I took the heathrow hoppa direct to Terminal 2. I couldn't be bothered walking up the road to get the free coach. The hoppa has to be the biggest scam going at 4 pounds one way. The driver was actually a nice guy though.
I love T2. Actually I love Heathrow in general. I know its a dump but it has memoires attached to it for me. I don't get to use T2 that much, infact the last time I was there was last year to pick up a ticket for a LH flight KRT/FRA/DUB, and we had a great laugh because they couldn't find the flight in the system as it originated in Addis Ababa, but left KRT the next day. Anyway, the low cielings were, as usual very low and the place was absolutely packed with people going everywhere, the que for Tarom was very long, but there was no one at the business check-in desk.
The nice cheerful Alitalia check-in girl was being trained, so things took longer than expected. I asked about which lounge they use and she said to go to the Alitalia lounge past security.
Alitalia Canaletto Lounge
I got to the lounge which wasn't busy but filled up with people going to Athens on OA and Rome with AZ. The girl at the front desk spent most of the time shouting down the phone in italian for most of the time. The lounge was very dated and well worn, but had a reasonable selection of drinks, proscecco on request, italian cakes and buscuits and sandwiches were later brought out. I had a beer and observed the great view over the T2 ramp until I saw the TAROM A310 arrive on schedule. Some other people entered the lounge, two who were particularly amusing, one older gentleman who asked the girl if it was self service. lol, coun't help smile at that, and another really agressive american man who was roaring down the phone for 10 minutes at some poor person 'Sort it out. Its your problem. Find a solution' - repeated over and over ad nauseum.
It was time to head down to the gate, at the far end of the pier which was packed with people going home on holidays, and lots of children with them. I managed to get a seat and boarded almost immediately after pre-boarding.
Our machine ready to take me to Bucharest
I was welcomed onboard by one very senior woman and another younger, middle aged woman who directed me to my seat, 3G.
I made myself comfortable and was pleased to see the interior matched my previous Tarom experiences albeit in a 2-2-2 then 2-3-2 layout with armchair style business seats, very retro! The fa then came around with champaigne, juice or water. I had some bubbly. Announcements were in Romanian and English and the safety video likewise. It was perhaps the funnist safety video I have ever seen. The guy in it looks like someone from a crimewatch photofit, he even has a burgulars hat. hillarious. I would love if this was on youtube. the music is hardcore disco beats as well.
Without much further waiting around we taxied out and headed off into the clear sky for the 2h 45m flight to Bucharest. We passed over the channel, and I put my seat well into recline, and waited for lunch to be served.
There were 3 other passengers in the business cabin, economy however seemed completely full.
As we passed south of Brussels, the middle aged, quite good looking fa came around and placed a table mat on my table, asked me what I wanted to drink and followed by bringing me my meal, a nice assortment of various things, the main course was chicken.
The flight seemed to pass quite quickly, I just sipped the nice romanian wine and listened to my i-pod for the rest of the journey as we headed down over Austria and Hungary into Romanian airspace.
At the gate in Otopeni
Once on the ground in sunny and hot Bucharest my driver was there to take me into town where I spend a very productive and pleasant few days before it was time to come home.
Bucharest (Henri Coanda) - London (Heathrow)
05/08/08
RO 391
Airbus A310-300 YR-LCA
Dep. 09:55
Arr.11:20
Seat 3G (Business)
My day started early, leaving the hotel and getting to Otopeni in record time. Bucharest traffic is a nightmare, but for some reason today it was better than usual. Hopefully when all the construction around Banesa has stopped and the road cleared, it will help.
Check in was done quickly at the Tarom Business Class desk. The woman wasn't able to check me straight through to Dublin but this wasn't a big deal since I had scheduled around 4 hours in Heathrow. She gave me an invitation to the lounge which is the joint-Tarom owned Alpha Rocas lounge downstairs that everyone uses. Its actually ok, quite spacious and there are always lots of different airline magazines which is cool, althogh food other than cakes and crisps is non-existant. They had a good selection of juices which I helped myself too and read a copy of the mail from the day before.
Alpha Rocas Lounge
They called the flight in the lounge which was usefull and I wandered up to the gate which was packed. I was pleased to see the A310 we would be flying on today was the other one Tarom have resorected, YR-LCA. I was welcomed onboard again by two middle-aged Tarom fa's, what i've come to expect. Again, one seemed much more senior and didn't really do anything just seemed to oversee everything. The load in business was even lighter today, just 2 girls in the early twenties who were more than likely family of tarom staff as they were served economy meals and seemed to spend a long time in the cockpit.
Our neighbour going to Vienna.
We pushed back right on schedule for the short taxi to takeoff. It was a beautifully sunny morning and the view was great as we climbed up over central Romania and then the mountains.
The friendly fa seemed a bit more efficient on this sector, although I couldn't fault any service I've had on Tarom before. She told me breakfast would be served in 15 minutes and asked what drinks I would like etc. I had some juice, champaigne and soon after, breakfast was ready. It comprised of chicken with a cream sauce and potatoes. Quite tasty.
Not long after clearing up, the fa asked if I needed anything else, before explaining she was going to help her colleagues out in economy, but asked me to press the call bell if there was anything i needed.
I spend the rest of the 3h10m flight reading and catching up on some paperwork.
The route took us over Austria, Nuremburg and Belgium before commencing our decent into a wet London.
We landed on schedule and taxied in to the usual stand in T2 where our friends from Alitalia were on hand to meet us.
Bags came through quickly (bmi take note) and I wandered over to T1 to check-in with bmi.
London (Heathrow) - Dublin
05/08/08
BD 127
Airbus A320-232 G-MIDP
Dep. 13:45
Arr. 15:10
Seat 3C (Business)
I was originally booked on the later flight that afternoon but didn't really fancy waiting around in the lounge in Heathrow, so I asked if I could change to an earlier flight. My response was met with "What type of ticket do you have" and I thought... oh no. I had a business saver ticket which you can change at a cost, but to be honest, paying 580 euro, I would not expect them to charge me to change. Thats just common sense, and to give them credit, she just changed it immediately without saying a word.
I had to run a bit to get down to the gate on time, and the hasstle with photographing etc on leaving the UK is a bit of a nusence... Nevertheless, the flight was delayed for around 20 minutes which made my run slightly pointless.
I was welomed on board by a rather senior Irish fa who offered to take my jacket - something I was grateful for. She seemed to be much better than her colleague the week earlier, and made a good effort to engage with every passenger in business. The usual bmi boxes were handed out with a choice of sandwiches, I had the BLT which was tasty and I was offered champaigne which went down easily to round off the trip. Before landing she came around with a second offer of drinks, which I accepted, although slipped the bottle into my bag for another day. Business was full on this flight, although mostly with a rather large south american family who were presumably going on holiday or something, but they must have spanned 3 generations.
We landed a little behind schedule and taxied over the the B pier. Although after much messing around with the jetway which Aviance couldn't get to work we deplaned by the stairs.
This flight was a good one with bmi, the fa certainlty took her job seriously and made the extra effort that you don't always get, but expect when you're paying that kind of premium to London.
Tarom exceeded by expectations and will definately use them more frequently now that they are joining Skyteam as an associate. Their A310 rocks!
Hope you enjoyed the report - comments are appreciated.
Upcoming trip reports -
DUB/LHR/DUB - bmi Economy
LHR/BEG/LHR - BA Club Europe
Readytotaxi From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 2298 posts, RR: 3 Reply 1, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 6011 times:
Thank you, that was good.
Tarom is not one I have flown on, what were the loads like in Business Class.
Those buildings looked really neat, is most of the city like that?
you don't get a second chance to make a first impression!
EI320 From Ireland, joined Dec 2007, 1398 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 5904 times:
Thanks Shamrock104, nice TR and some great photos, it's not often we see A310's around these times, especially in Ireland, although the Tarom J cabin looks very oudated!
Tarom seems a nice airline although the J loads to/from LHR seemed truly shocking!
Shamrock104 From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 514 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 5867 times:
Thanks,
Yea, the Tarom cabin may look outdated, but the seats are so comfortable, and you can recline them way back, combined with the low-loads, it felt like an exclusive little club rather than the usual intra EU business class. I would certainly prefer it over a busy BA CE flight in an A320 on that route.
Semsem From Israel, joined Jul 2005, 1779 posts, RR: 4 Reply 4, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 5568 times:
They used to use the A310 to New York but discontinued. About 10 years ago on a flight to Brussels one crashed. I forget the reason. I was in Bucharest 15 years ago. I wonder if it changed much. From the picture it looks the same. Flew on Austrian and Swiss.
Shamrock104 From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 514 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 5127 times:
Thanks for the comments folks.
Quoting Semsem (Reply 4): I was in Bucharest 15 years ago. I wonder if it changed much.
Absolutely. Totally transformed, although those are the old buildings in the centre. It has one of the fastest growing GDP's in Europe, still. A totally different place than 10, nevermind 15 years ago. Hope u had a nice time there.
FLIEGER67 From France, joined Sep 2003, 3759 posts, RR: 58 Reply 9, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 3 days 8 hours ago) and read 4896 times:
Hi, Shamrock104,
great story and informative pix.
Not that easy to catch the A310 nowadays and your lucky, both RO examples in one trip.
It seems real worth the try to go on BMI and RO.
No problems there with photos at OTP?.
Shamrock104 From Ireland, joined Sep 2000, 514 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (3 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 4671 times:
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 9): No problems there with photos at OTP?.
Ha ha. No, not this time. I remember once being in the cafe above departures and the woman went crazy when I was taking photos, she was only a waitress, i'd already taken all the photos I wanted by then so I didn't care.
BA319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 7878 posts, RR: 57 Reply 11, posted (3 years 8 months 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 4082 times:
Great report and pictures, rally enjoyed this, many thanks - not enough Tarom reports out there.
Quoting Shamrock104 (Thread starter): Baggage took an unbelievable 30 minutes from de-planing to arrive on the carrousel, somthing I will give EI credit for at Heathrow, the bags are there within 15 minutes!
- 30 mins for T1 sounds pretty good to me!
Quoting Shamrock104 (Thread starter): I love T2. Actually I love Heathrow in general. I know its a dump but it has memoires attached to it for me
- I remember roaming around Heathrow as a kid, still love the place today
Quoting Shamrock104 (Thread starter): my meal, a nice assortment of various things, the main course was chicken.
- Lacks presentation but plenty of food.
Quoting Shamrock104 (Thread starter): She told me breakfast would be served in 15 minutes and asked what drinks I would like etc. I had some juice, champaigne and soon after, breakfast was ready. It comprised of chicken with a cream sauce and potatoes. Quite tasty.
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