Hiya,

It took a long while for me to find the time to bring one of my recent travels online again. It’s short story this time. Nothing really special, just a normal flight.
Since we are fans of Madonna, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit one of her concerts of her current ‘Sticky & Sweet Tour’. Amsterdam was on her schedule for 1 performance, although the date of her visit to my country and ‘home stadium’ (Amsterdam ArenA) was not suiting our personal agenda.
We had to find another place to see her perform. First we were thinking about a German concert. We were in Hamburg when her ticket sale for Germany started, so it would have been possible to secure tickets for either Berlin, Frankfurt or Dusseldorf. But on the other side, something more ‘special’ would be better in this case. Therefore, we secured 2 tickets for her show in Nice, Cote d’Azur in France, held on August 26 last, in Stade Charles Ehrmann – Palais Nikaia. This was our first time to see her performing in open-air, in perfect Mediterranean weather conditions and another top performance!
The other part of our journey were the travels. Best would’ve been to fly a direct flight AMS-NCE, both KL and HV are serving the route multiple times a day. Although, KL only sell overpriced tickets for a 2 day return. HV is heavily overpriced on this market as well. They will get business anyway from the general ‘Cote d’Azur’ public, and were asking nearly 300 Euro’s for a return. No way that we spend this amount of money for a relative short flight on a carrier which does not provide any service/food/drinks etc.
Looking at other possibilities, I came across FR. Not serving NCE, but their closest point out of my country was to fly in to MRS. Return tickets, very good flight schedule, were purchased for EUR 54,- per person all-in. We also purchased 2 returns on TGV train service from Marseille St-Charles to Nice Ville, about 40 euro’s per person. From my place to Eindhoven, train service cost EUR 22,- pp for a discount return, and some small money for a connecting bus to the airport. Here we save the money, and we also got a nice tour.
To be honest, we could not afford misconnections, or big delays otherwise the overall schedule would have been messed up completely, and then you’re nowhere with FR, of course. But it went all 100% perfect. No delays at all, even not on Dutch Railways (NS)  

Here we go with the actual report on FR!

August 26, 2008

The terminal at EIN is quite modern. Clear and spacious all around, also due to the many use of glass. We checked in online (handluggage only) and held a check ‘n Go boarding pass, giving us the privilege of priority boarding. Therefore, we headed for the security checkpoint immediately. Lines for the check were short. Staff was friendly even started a nice short chat on this early morning. All went smoothly and we were now in the departure lounge. Enough seats available, perfect views on the complete apron. No action at all, although several flights were announced for departure.

Eindhoven Airport: terminal building

Inside the cosy terminal


Such a busy scene this early morning…

After a while, a total of 4 FR Boeing 737-800’s arrived, as well a SA 227 Metroliner operating the scheduled OL flight to HAM, and an AB A330-300, operating for the Royal Netherlands Airforce. Nice to see the traffic and the staff rushing everywhere to minimize the turnarounds.


Several Ryanair flights on the ground for a short while



We got gate no. 4 assigned. A friendly groundstaff saw our boarding passes and picked us out and served us first. She strictly followed the boarding regulations set up by FR, which is very positive! After about 10 minutes we were able to walk to the aircraft. During this walk, another FR B737 got pushback for GRO.
We boarded this fairly new machine at the rear entrance and took seats at row 30. Final load was around 75%, and our middle seat remained empty for the complete duration of our flight.
Doors closed early, manual safety demo was given. I must admit even the voice of the intercom system was clear to understand. Crew was all-British (which helps a lot of course).


EI-DYG, boarding using the rear entrance

EIN-MRS
Flight No.: FR6506 Date: 26AUG08
STD: 0925 ATD: 0918
STA: 1110 ATA: 1103
A/C: Boeing 737-800(WL) Reg No.: EI-DYG
Seat: 30F – Economy Class

Flight number 92 on a Boeing 737, first time on this machine.

Departure ahead of schedule. We watched outside to see some small traffic coming in for landing. Seats were the usual FR ones. No recline, no seatpocket. Although, I won’t complain about these. Pitch is better then on e.g. HV, the main Dutch charter/lowcost airline. HV still uses a seatpocket, which reduces the pitch a lot. This aircraft was having a cabin with ING Bank commercials all around the overhead bins.

Takeoff was from runway 04, into grey clouds. On our way to sunny France! After takeoff, the crew started giving out the Ryanair magazines, with less interesting articles, destination information and of course the inflight shopping pages and pricelist for almost everything on this airline.

I’ll let the pictures do the flight coverage.


Overflying Paris (?)


Leaving the clouds and bad weather behind us…


Approaching into Marseille

Approach to MRS was interesting. Weather was perfect, so views down to Earth as well. Good views on the Mediterranean Sea. And during final approach also some good views on the city of Marseille.

Landing was a rude one, runway 31R. Parking was a while later, at terminal MP2. This is the low-cost terminal at this airport. Not much facilities around. We arrived on time, and I don’t care about the terminal on arrival usually. The shuttle bus to the TGV station departs from the main terminal building. To walk, you must calculate about 5 minutes.


EI-DYG after arrival from Eindhoven, seen from inside the terminal


Next day, August 27, 2008

We arrived on time at Marseille St.Charles station, after a comfortable and interesting TGV ride along the coast, calling at places like Fréjus, Antibes and Cannes. 10 minutes waiting for the shuttle to the airport. Tickets can be bought at the counter inside the station and the bus leaves from busstop 5 or 6.
A comfortable touringcar ride for 20 minutes on the French highway, a survival for the female busdriver. I guess, she’s used to the French driving style, which is really among the worst of Europe I think (sorry for the French readers).


MP2, the lowcost terminal at Marseille Airport

The bus calls at MP2 also, in front of the building. No need to walk a longer distance. Very basic terminal, typical suited to the lowfare companies. Ryanair, easyJet, Transavia, Germanwings, MyAir: these all fly to this place.


Check-In area: typical ‘low cost’ style

Security was a mess. Quiet though, but it took ages since they didn’t know how to deal with a disabled person in a wheelchair. But, we were patient, no need to hurry.
Walking up to first floor for the departure lounge. A coffee corner, a taxfree shop and a minor seating area are available. You must walk downstairs again to reach the boarding gates, but the entrance was blocked since no flights were leaving until ours. No good views on the apron by the way.
Once the entrance to the gates opened, everybody rushed downstairs. People complained, and lots of children. We were somewhere halfway in the line, but somehow a groundstaff took us out of the line again and said, you can come with me and board ahead of the rest, since you’ve priority boarding.
A bit embarrassed we passed all waiting people and boarded as numbers 4 and 5. Our aircraft was parked immediately in front of the building. Walking distance was very short. We boarded via the rear door again, same seats at row 30 righthand side. I made some pictures on our way down to the plane, but got some complaints from the groundstaff: ‘do not make pictures!’.


The only picture I was able to take during boarding

Once on board, we took seats D and F, leaving the middle one empty for ‘own’ use. Boarding nearly completed, only a few middle seats were vacant at the end, including our, as well 31E behind us.
Then on departure time, a oversized lady and child boarded in the front, starting to look for a pair of seats together. Nothing was available of course, and the crew wanted to leave as well. Then this passenger complained to a cabin crew, which came with the passenger to us. She asked my partner to move on to 31E, so the lady and child were able to take 30D and E, als were able to travel together. I had to act quickly to this female cabin crew and strongly complained that we had priority boarding and my partner is not willing to move to provide space to this late boarding passenger who was delaying our flight. The crewmember agreed with me, and my partner moved to 30E. Now the passenger still got what she wanted, because a passenger in 31D moved now to 30D, and the minor problem was solved.
I know it’s Ryanair, and I am not complaining on the airline of crew now, they just to their job. But how you dare to request seats together on a full free-seating flight, when you board too late!

Now we got slightly delayed. Engines were started, and a quick manual safety demo was performed.

MRS-EIN
Flight No.: FR6505 Date: 27AUG08
STD: 1805 ATD: 1812
STA: 1955 ATA: 1953
A/C: Boeing 737-800(WL) Reg No.: EI-DWX
Seat: 30F – Economy Class

Flight number 93 on a Boeing 737, first time on this machine.

During taxiing I noticed some interesting traffic, including a Corseair B747-400, Air Austral 777, a few Air Corsica A319/320’s and the usual European stuff. We used runway 31R for takeoff, and needed quite a lot of runway to get in the air.


Lining up the runway…


Once airborne…

During the flight, the usual FR food/beverage sale service, taxfree articles and scratch cards came around. No problems with it. We bought coffee for EUR 3.00 each. Large cups, by the way and good price for the quantity you get (when I compare with others, like HV or U2).

During the flight we were only able to name the city of Lyon below us, and I’m pretty sure that we closely flew over ORY, since I found some low level heavy traffic below us on approaches for this airport. Last part of the leg was covered completely with a thick layer of clouds.


On short finals for Eindhoven

Our approach into EIN was a bit unstable. Weather was not good at all, some showers and mist around, also at lower levels. Visibility was also reduced. Our highspeed approach came to an end by touching the concrete of runway 04. Immediately after vacating the runway, an Air Berlin A330 also landed on the same runway, so it was pretty close following us! The large Airbus went onto the military apron, it came in with Dutch soldiers from Crete.


Heavy traffic at Eindhoven: an Air Berlin A330-300

At the end, arrival was on schedule again, the crew made up with our minor delay. Flying FR is at least for me, nothing special. I won’t complain heavily on this airline. They perform well, you get what you pay for. I don’t expect a high level of service, on the ground or in the air. I only expect that they are operating safely and according the regulation (and I think they do so), and that the fly me on schedule with possible minor delays only. For the low fare I paid to fly them, I don’t hesitate to spend some more money on drinks by buying on board. Who else flies you for an incredible 54 euros to southern France and back home!
So, from my point of view, FR did very well again on my travels with them. And whenever necessary, I will book with them again in the future. Thanks for reading! Your replies are mostly welcome.

Eric