The UX E95 to PMI and a A.net meet





Hola, dear readers,

it is Monday afternoon, when we reach cold and wet Germany on arrival from Canada

Beavers, Bears And The MD11 YUL-AMS (by FLIEGER67 Nov 21 2010 in Trip Reports)


One day in the office and Spain is on schedule at Wednesday morning.

My wife joins us and so the whole family leaving the wet mess, better known as summer in Germany and looking for some sun in Spain.




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Wednesday, 01.09.2010

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Aeropuerto de Madrid Barajas
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Service LH 4418 operated by Lufthansa
Scheduled: 07.15 // 09.50



Another pretty early start, boarding is printed for 06.45 am, departure from FRA.
Some two hours on the road, parking included, no need to fix the cellphone alarm new, 03.00 am is the well known time for me.
Parking with Tourcare, to calm the fare down to some 40.00 Euro´s for the whole week, nothing exciting on the road and in the terminal at around 06.00 am.
OLCI is interesting, while me and my son´s name showing up with the reservation number, my wife isn´t a member of Miles and More and her name is not on the list to check-in.
LH offers also a frequent flyer program for teens, called Jetfriends, my son is wearing his Jetfriends collar with the card.
It works once again, the female agent at the eco baggage drop off counter sends us immediatelly to the biz desks around the corner.
No time to wait there and surprise, my wife´s reservation is also in the system, boarding passes printed and on the way to security.
Same here, the male agent picking us off the queue and send us to the special line for priority pax, no time to wait and in the secured area minutes thereafter.
Well done this morning LH and FRAport.
The ticket is booked as a return flight, two legs together, so the fare is really acceptable, some 40.00 Euro´s per pax, per leg. Done by Exp.de.
Let me check the screen, always a first for me

Scheduled during booking in mid April is a 737-500, not really this time, the A320 seatmap is on the screen during OLCI.
The second view confirms the first impression, LH operates "only" 45 planes on type for the leg to MAD.
And exactly that machine was my ride some three weeks ago on the return from LHR. No, I´am not amused.
This is "Nordenham" at the gate, registered D-AIQM

A 36 is at the far end of the A gates

Boarding starts not that long thereafter, it´s the A320

Leg no. 61 on type and the second time on this machine

The actual magazine

Cabin view, the load is around 90%.
The last row for us, recline is possible.
A group of girls, heading for a language learning trip in the row before us, talking, talking, bla, bla, bla for the whole duration, very annoying.
I´ve never see any need for some headphones till now, but we will see

Departure from the 4000 meters runway 18, it is 07.30 am, 15 minutes late, the temperature is 9 degrees and its partly cloudy.
2 hours 20 minutes bound for MAD.
Bright grey leather seats in the cabin, clean, the legroom is ok.
Cockpit crew is from Germany, the captain with a short welcome during boarding. The FO, pilot flying today with detailed informations during cruise in german, english and spanish.
A cold plate this morning, nice service

One young and nice blonde FA serving the rear cabin, the two other also blonde middle aged FA´s ok so far.
Clouds above France

The route is via Luxemburg-Paris-Bordeaux and Pamplona at 35000 feet.
Better further on, close to the spanish border

Touchdown on the 3620 meters runway 18L, 09.50 am ontime.
A long way to taxi around the new terminals.
Much warmer in Spain, 24 degrees but also here cloudy sky.
A finger position, down to the groundfloor for the bags,
some twenty minutes to wait with a belt change and no notice, but finally everything is there.
Out in the public to collect the car, a nearly new Renault Clio from Avis, booking is done for some 170.00 Euro´s via emietwagen/traveljigsaw.
Not a minute to wait, very good service.

Four hours to drive now for the Costa Blanca, Calpe between Alicante and Valencia is the target.
Both, the flights and also the rental cars are much cheaper in Madrid than a direct service to the Costa Blanca airports.
So worth the drive this way.
Arrival at the hotel in the afternoon.
The Grand Hotel Solymar, in the middle of town, with direct access to the beach and perfectly calm for us on the 7th floor.
The room

The bathroom

Balcony view

The lobby

Nice seaters

The pool area

The hotel

Direct access to the pool and beach

A picture from the balcony to the "Penon de Ifach", one of the
main sights of Costa Blanca. What about climbing up that mountain?

Beach view



So, a vacation week without more flights, no way!.
Originally booked for Saturday is ALC-BCN on the Spanair MD83
and further to PMI on the Air Europa E95.
Well, my "beloved" Spanair, always good for some cancellations, booked via french ticket dealer Govolo, with the best fare this time. They send me a notice via Govolo only some three weeks ahead, that my flight is cancelled and they offer me generously the evening flight.
Govolo is only contactable by mail, checking the offers, only to see that there is simply no other fitting flight on my date for BCN.
Ok, there is a MAD connection on IB, but nothing what I´am really looking for.
So I declined the offer, cashed my money back, arrival one week thereafter on my credit card account and checking other options.
The BCN-PMI is also a no go, nearly no taxes here.
But there is another way to catch the UX E95 and better on,
I´am dropping a note to a good friend here, Roger (RogerBCN)
what I want to do also with the earlier secured flights and so
he answered that his calendar is open. He decides for a flight to PMI and join me for a city view, very nice.


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