deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 5458 times:
This is a tripreport covering a trip I did to Berlin and London, in early January 2012.
The story about this trip begins in summer of 2006. Me and my Father is looking for the best flight options for our trip to Manchester that fall. One of the options is to go to LHR with SK, and continue to MAN with an airline previously unheard of by me. An airline called bmi. I asked my mother, who two years earlier had quit her job as a flight attendant at SAS, about this airline. She told me it was a British airline, smaller than British Airways, partly owned by SAS.
That time, we ended up flying SK to and from Manchester.
A year or so later, SK sold all of their shares of bmi to Lufthansa, who became the majority owner and later on the owner of the entire bmi-group, including bmi, bmibaby and bmi regional.
Fast forward to the year 2011, it's fall and I notice in my calendar that i will have a week without anything planned right after new year, a perfect time to plan a short trip on one of the days. What I did was to look at the airports of Berlin, as I knew that they soon will close (or be renamed with a new code) in favor of Berlins new airport, BER, and I wanted to visit atleast either one of the two major airports serving the Berlin region today, TXL and SXF, before they are closed. My preferred choice was TXL due to the fact that it's the airport that will close instead of being renamed, and I had also heard about its unique terminal layout. So what I did was to go to the Wikipedia page for Berlin Tegel, to see if there were any interesting yet reasonable destinations I could combine a trip to TXL with.
And there it was, far up on the ”Airlines and Destinations” tab on the Wiki-page. ”bmi – London-Heathrow”. bmi uses Terminal A at TXL, which was great as it was the terminal I preferred to experience.
Right away I checked flybmi.com, and indeed, the one-way fare was a reasonable 72 EUR for the mid-day flight on January 4th. However, the flight was priced at 69 EUR at Lufthansas webpage, which I, ofcourse, found even better value for the money.
Another reason that I preferred TXL over SXF was that I would have an opportunity to try AB, which I had never flown before. So to get to TXL I first checked AB. They offered an early morning departure ARN-TXL for 49 EUR, this would give me a few hours at TXL, which suited me perfectly as I had heard about TXL's famous rooftop spotting terrace.
As I had an arrival into LHR at lunchtime, I could have chosen any of the London area airports to get home, but my choice fell on BA, since I liked them when I flew them in September, and it's nice to have the full barservice, a sandwich and whatnot. Their evening departure was priced at 55 GBP.
Once I had found these prices I quickly booked them all, and started to look forward to the day of departure.
The routing:
A few weeks later, when I was looking through my bookings, I saw on my BA booking that they had what they called a ”Special Offer”, that I could upgrade my flight to Club Europe from 69 GBP. I thought it sounded interesting, so I logged into ”Manage my Booking” at ba.com, to check if it was available on my flight. And indeed it was. So after thinking about it for a day or so I upgraded my ticket to Club Europe. This would be my first flight in Business Class.
At this time, rumors begun circling around, that LH is looking to get rid of loss-making BD. And shortly thereafter, it was announced by LH that BD was indeed for sale. At this time, I was very happy about my decision to have a flight booked on BD, so I could fly them before a possible takeover by another airline.
Shortly after this announcement, LH also transferred the LHR-TXL route to themselves, and on the paper making it a route in the LH network rather than in the BD network. Luckily, the flights would still be operated by BD in behalf of LH, so my flight still looked safe.
Not long after, both International Airlines Group and Virgin Group placed their bids to buy BD. LH later announced that IAG would buy BD. This is the situation when my date of flight approached, and so far it looked that my BD flight would come true.
January 4
The flight was scheduled to leave ARN at 6:30 in the morning, so a rather early wake up call. I got driven to the airport by my father at 5:15 and arrive at ARN Terminal 2 20 minutes later.
The terminal is rather quiet this morning, but there's a queue for AB bagdrop. Luckily, I have already done OLCI, and I'm only traveling with hand luggage today, so with my boarding pass that I printed at home, I head towards security.
Queue for the AB desk:
Security has no queue at all and I'm quickly through.
Once airside, I find out that my gate is 64, which is only 20 meters from the security checkpoint. I head over there to see my plane. I had checked that the inbound plane on the night before was D-ABGH.
This is confirmed once I reach the gate and I see the A319, which is in the old/new hybrid livery.
The gate area:
As you can see, there's not many seats. A problem on many of the gates at T2, They will renovate the terminal soon, hopefully they will add more seating to the gates that needs it.
While I wait for boarding to begin, I spot the Swedish actor Krister Henriksson, famous for playing Inspector Kurt Wallander. I did not see him any more so I do not know where he was heading.
20 minutes later they announced boarding, I joined the queue and soon I could walk down the jetway to my waiting plane.
AB8101
ARN-TXL
Airbus A319
D-ABGH
I entered the plane and was greeted by one of the female FA's. The crew on this flight consisted of two females and one male. All middle aged.
I headed down to the seat I selected the day before while doing OLCI, 24A.
I found the seat to be very comfortable. The cover was light leather. I believe it is the same kind of seats that Norwegian use on their newer 738's.
The legroom could have been better though. But I guess that's to be expected on these A319's with 4 overwing exits.
View from my seat:
A youngish couple were seated on the middle and aisle seat. The load on the flight was rather good, I'd estimate atleast 90%.
When boarding was completed, the folks up in the flightdeck announced that we would have to be deiced, but we would very soon be pushing back to commence the deicing session.
We did exactly that and 10 minutes or so later we begun taxiing towards runway 08 that was our departure runway today. During deicing the safety demo was played on the overhead screens.
After the safety demo there was a satellite image of the airport, showing where we were at the time, a nice feature.
Cabin view during taxi:
Terminal 3 with a Cimber bird:
Passing a BT Boeing on our way to the runway.
We entered the active and preformed a powerful takeoff.
Soon after departure we were engulfed by the clouds and the views of the ground was gone.
Soon we emerged above the clouds, wasn't really any good views though as it was still dark.
Not long after, the seatbelt sign was turned off and the crew announced the the catering round were soon to begin.
The cart quickly reached my row as service begun from the back and I was seated at the second to last row.
We were given a choice of either a Wasa sandwich or a chocolate muffin. I decided on the muffin (I'm sure a certain Finnish member think that was a good choice!), and had some applejuice and some coffee with it.
The muffin tasted nice, lagom size and not dry at all really, suited me well at that hour. The coffee and the juice tasted fine aswell.
During the flight the sunrise begun, and the darkness, at the horizon slowly changed color, which allowed for some more views out my window.
The airshow was on for the entire flight. It was a really nice version, with lots of nice features, including this one, showing what's shown outside the windows.
I also looked through the In flight magazine:
This should be read in German, not in English:
The seatback infront of me, also confirming the aircraft type on the safety folder:
The cabin lights were off for the entire flight, which I rather liked, with the early morning departure and all.
Shortly after the halfway point of this 1 hour 20 minute flight the flightdeck decided to turn on the seatbelt sign as there would be some turbulence ahead. The turbulence was never that bad, however the seatbelt sign remained on for the rest of the flight.
The skies over Sweden were overcast, and so was most of the Baltic sea. I did however manage to spot the island of Bornholm and capture a bad photo of the town Rønne.
Soon we reached the German coast.
And not long thereafter we begun descent.
Some nice clouds upon descending:
I remember reading other tripreports on this forum where they grab a seat on the left hand side of the aircraft, for the nice views over Berlin if there's a landing from the east, so that's why I am seated on an A-seat today. And what do you know, I'm lucky enough to get a landing on one of the 26's at TXL for the only landing I will ever do at TXL.
And indeed, the views over the city is great.
Not long after we touched down on runway 26R. We flared for a rather long time before actually touching down.
Lots of AB birds at Terminal A:
More aircrafts coming in for landing:
Lots and lots of AB planes. Note the intruder:
Luxair landing:
We taxied towards Terminal C, which I liked, as I'd be departing Terminal A later, and this way I got to see something (even if only a little) of Terminal C too.
AB tails at Terminal C:
We parked at a stand infront of the building, next to a company A320.
Deboarding is done both in the front and in the back, so I ofcourse go through the back exit.
My seat after the flight:
Upon deboarding we get offered one of those famous chocolate hearts.
I snapped an under wing photo, ofcourse.
I entered the terminal and went through the baggage reclaim hall and reached the departure hall.
I decided to look around at Terminal C before heading towards Terminal A.
Exterior:
Hmm, do planes get to taxi on the parking lot at Tegel? Wow, they really do need more space.
My roundtour didn't take too long, and soon I headed to the walkway connecting terminal A, B and D with C.
BT taking off:
The first thing I did when reaching terminal A was to find the entrance to the viewing terrace, to see the opening hours for the day.
After a bit of confusion after following the signs, I finally find the entrance and it's scheduled to open at 10am, which is an hour later at that time. So I decide to explore that airport that is Berlin-Tegel.
Terminal A exterior:
Interior:
FIDS:
I believe there used to be an add for the new BER airport on that thing?
A nice little shop, too bad everything in there seemed to cost you an arm and a leg.
An A330 looking intimidating:
I did see this one taxi, it never docked into a jetway though...
Edelweiss did dock into a jetway though.
Terminal D exterior to the apron:
Terminal D was crowded:
Once done exploring the airport, I decided to grab a famous currywurst from a café/fastfood restaurant located in a S-bahn cart, outside of the terminal.
This was my first time eating currywurst, I found it to taste rather good actually.
When I was finished, there was still a few minutes left before the viewing terrace were opened, so I walked around the terminal before arriving at the rooftop terrace a few minutes after 10.
A 2 EUR fee was paid at a machine to get an entrance ticket, the ticket is given to a woman who is womanning the small security checkpoint you need to pass to reach the terrace.
There's one person ahead of me for the security check, but when he is done, I am quickly through too, and I'm admitted to climb the stairs to the rooftop terrace.
The terrace, located on top of Terminal A, is a rather nice and large facility where you can see most of what's going on at TXL.
Here's some impressions:
Dedicated to our Finnish members:
AB heavy departing:
I bet a lot of those markings are never used nowadays!
Does anyone know why there are markings for the Concorde there by the way? I doubt the Concorde visited TXL that often that it would be worthwhile having a mark like that.
There were also an engine from a LH 720 to look at:
KL Fokker taking of:
Empty gates, for now.
Besides me, there was a few photographers there (any A.netters? ) and a couple waving someone off on the BA flight.
My flight to LHR is scheduled to leave at 12:35, so I decide to leave the viewing terrace an hour before departure at 11:35.
I had checked in online the day before (interestingly earlier than the written ”earliest checkin time” at 24 hours before departure) and chosen seat 21F, I had also printed out my boarding pass, showing gate A04 for my flight. I was impressed that they could tell me that over 24 hours before departure. I definitely prefer it this way rather than the ”gate-is-announced-2-seconds-before-boarding”-way that many British airports use.
Once I reached gate A04 there was a queue for the single security checkpoint, so I joined in and waited the 10 or so minutes it took to reach the passport check. I also saw on the FIDS that there was a 10 minute delay on my flight.
After that, I was quickly through the security check and I was airside. This airside covered two gates, A04 and A05. I don't know if all gates are paired up like this but these two were anyway.
Airside was small, but with rather ample seating, as mentioned, there was two gates, and there was a small duty free shop and a café. I did not bother with any of those, and instead I took a seat infront of a window, awaiting the inbound plane.
After 20 or so minutes of waiting I looked up and saw this:
And I could sigh out in relief, knowing that I'd get to have one bmi flight in my log.
The aircraft had arrived about 15 minutes late, so they did a rather quick turnaround and boarding was soon called. I was one of the first non-infant family and non-star gold people to board.
LH3374 operated by bmi
TXL-LHR
A319
G-DBCC
Once in the aircraft I was greeted by the young male purser, turns out he served the Business Class cabin. The economy cabin was served by two attractive young female flight attendants (sorry Markus, no pic), one blonde and one brunette.
Only one overwing exit per side on this bird. As it should be!
I walked down the aisle and soon I found my seat 21F and settled down.
The brown leather seat was very comfortable and offered a nice amount of legroom.
Again the middle and aisle seat was occupied by a couple, a British one this time. The load in the economy cabin must have been 100% or very close to, as I did not see a single open seat.
Soon it was announced that boarding had been completed. The crew did a manual safety demo as the plane wasn't equipped with overhead screens.
The cockpit crew announced our flight time as 1 hour 35 minutes. The departure delay ended up being only 10 minutes or so.
Soon we push back, and begin taxiing towards 26R. The same runway I landed at some hours ago.
Terminal C looking empty now:
As we took off towards the west, we didn't need to adjust our heading that much after takeoff.
Soon we entered the clouds:
And emerged above them:
Cabin view:
After the seatbelt sign was turned off the crew soon begun their service round. I once again decided on apple juice and coffee as drinks. Drinks was served together with one of those Monty's hot wraps.
I really liked this economy service concept. The wrap was tasty, even if the filling of this one (Mediterranean vegetables) wasn't my favorite, I did manage to finish most of it anyway.
The skies over Europe was mainly overcast. Not much to report there.
There was an article in the LH in flight magazine (a BD magazine was also in the seatpocket) about Helsinki, apparently it has become/will be some sort of design capital.
The flight was rather uneventful. There was a little kid in the lap of the women ahead of me. The baby was quiet most of the flight, only heard her scream once or twice.
About 40 minutes before landing the captain went on the speaker saying that there would soon be some turbulence, he then turned on the seatbelt sign and left it on for the remainder of the flight. Hmm, is this becoming a pattern?
Sooner or later the descent into LHR begun.
And Heathrow being Heathrow, we were put in a holding pattern. I had no idea where we were though due to the lack of airshow and the clouds.
Not long after, the flightdeck announced ten minutes until landing, and only a minute later we broke through the clouds, and I realized we were over central London, with great views over all the sights for me on the right hand side.
Earls court:
Westfield Center:
Wembley in the distance:
This ofcourse meant a landing on one of the 27's.
And indeed, we soon touch down on runway 27R.
Heathrow!
A short taxi to T1 follows.
Beautiful bird:
They actually sorted the baggage, putting the ones marked with a priority tag in the front of the cart:
Shortly after docking to a gate there is an announcement saying that we have docked into a domestic gate, and that we have to wait for buses before we can deboard, and the buses is expected to arrive in 5 minutes.
Only one minute later deboarding begins, and I sit idle on my seat until most people has left, so I can take a little cabin shot.
I thank the FA's at the front galley and also say that it was a great flight, which they seem to appreciate.
Into the jetway I go and head downstairs to the awaiting bus, snapping a picture or two as I do so.
I'm guessing this is a lounge? A Great British one perhaps?
Soon the doors were closed and we drove beneath T1 and popped up at a stand for bus arrivals. A shortish walk to immigration follows, and I'm chocked by the long queue.
Luckily, the queue I first saw was for non-EU passport holders.
The queue for EU-passport holders was much shorter and I'm through in three minutes.
Once I had entered Britain, I decided to explore landside of Terminal 1 a bit, since it was my firs time being at this terminal.
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 1, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 5474 times:
Once I was done exploring I went to the Heathrow Central trainstation, to take the free train to Terminal 5, where my BA flight to ARN would depart.
The transfer train turned out to be the Heathrow Express service.
Once at Terminal 5 I took an elevator to reach departure level, where I printed out a boarding pass from a self service kiosk and snapped some pictures of the landside of T5. It is an impressive building.
Not today:
And here begins my first experience of a flight in Business Class.
The first advantage I can take use of is the Fast track security.
There's three people ahead of me so I'm through in no time.
Once airside, I look around in the impressive building that is T5A.
Soon I was ready to go to the lounge, I decided on the South Galleries lounge as it was supposed to be the largest.
Funky artwork outside of the lounge entrance:
They scanned my boarding pass at the entrance and then I was let in.
The lounge was really impressive. It was large, had hot and cold dishes, cereal with milk, soups and a great drink selection, here's some impressions:
As I had chosen the evening flight with a departure at 20:10, I had a few hours to kill before my flight. I was never bored though, spent the time by eating, drinking and surfing the web on my laptop. I was positively surprised to see they had not only UK power outlets, but American and EU aswell.
Which one do you prefer, the A380 or the horse?
I choose this one. For sure.
Two hours or so before my departure, I was browsing the web and I got recommended by a fellow a.netter to pay a visit to the North Galleries or T5B lounge aswell. As I didn't really want to risk it by going to T5B, I decided to atleast check out the North Galleries lounge this time.
Interestingly, when entering the South Galleries lounge I only had to show my boarding pass, but when entering the North one, the lounge agent wanted to see my ID card as well, as she thought I looked too young to enter alone.
Well, I can't blame her as I recently turned 18.
The North Galleries lounge seemed to offer about the same when it comes to food and drinks. However, the views were better with the aircraft taking off from 27R. Too bad it was dark.
Thank you for the tip, Fabrizio!
It also offered better seating for looking at this view.
There also was kind of a “Terrace” where I rather enjoyed sitting.
Sooner or later gate A12 was announced for my flight to ARN. I decided to go there and wait the last minutes til boarding.
Not too many people turned up at the gate, and when boarding was called they called for general boarding right away.
They did have a separate line for priority boarders though. Something I gladly took advantage of.
BA786
LHR-ARN
A320
G-EUUM
I boarded and was greeted by a smiling male purser and an attractive female FA (a second pattern of today?).
I was the second Business Class passenger to board and I grabbed my seat 2F.
The seat, as expected, was very comfortable with a nice headrest, and great legroom.
The stream of passengers heading to the economy class cabin ended quite quickly and boarding completed was announced. A rather light load, as expected, what surprised me however, was the lack of passengers on the Business class section, there were only two of us, sharing five rows.
I believe I overheard the load as 72 passengers.
After this we waited for 10 or so minutes, with the cabin crew chatting with the groundstaff in the forward galley.
In the middle of this, us Club Europe passengers got offered hot towels by the female FA. She was the one who would be serving the Club Europe cabin for the entire flight.
Soon the door was closed and we pushed back. They had some problems getting the safety demo to play properly on the screens, but on the second try it worked fine.
We taxied to runway 27R where I landed some hours earlier. We only have to hold for a couple of minutes before being allowed to enter the active runway.
As it was dark outside, and I knew I wouldn't be able to take any decent photos, I decided to do my first takeoff video. It's not very good, and feel free to skip it if you want, but here it is for those of you who might wanna see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV_KvSa0Npg
I don't know what's up with the sound in the first half of the movie, but it gets better when the takeoff roll begins.
We take off into the rainy skies and soon we enter the clouds. It was overcast for most of the flight.
A little while later, the seatbelt sign is turned off and immediately I get offered a drink.
As mentioned earlier, I recently turned 18, so I thought this was a good time to try the famous drink known as Champagne. So that's what I ordered.
The FA did however wanted to see my ID before serving it, to make sure I wasn't a minor.
A bottle of Pommery were served.
Together with some nuts.
Cabin divider:
View from my seat:
10 minutes later, I was asked what food I'd like. There was an option of either Filled chicken breast with fried potato or Cod fillet. I decided on the chicken.
Only a few minutes later, my meal was served (all catering was done straight from the galley, no carts were used in our cabin).
The main course was served together with some Crackers with blue cheese and marmalade, warm bread and a hazelnut dessert.
Not being a fan of blue cheese, I only ate the marmalade with the crackers.
The hot meal tasted nice, great chicken and the potatoes were decent enough. What I didn't like was the salad which was covered with leek, something I am not a fan of.
No problem though, as I simply didn't eat that part of the dish.
The hazelnut dessert tasted great, just rather small.
Just about when I was done with the meal, turbulence forced the cabin crew to turn on the seatbelt sign for the third time for me today. This made them stop serving hot drinks, which they were doing in the economy cabin at the time.
The next 40 minutes I mainly just sat there, enjoying my champagne, with the occasional glass of apple juice.
My champagne with the empty teacup:
Pictures on the wall:
Highlife also had an article about Helsinki, for the same reason as LH.
When those 40 minutes had passed, the seatbelt sign was turned off again and they could serve hot drinks for Club Europe and the remaining Economy passengers.
I had some tea, a drink I very rarely drink. But I thought that I might aswell have some. Afterall, I was flying British Airways.
When I sat there, enjoying my tea, I noticed descent starting. I also noticed some small villages on the ground, meaning that the clouds had cleared.
I did a quick bathroom visit. They even had pictures in there!
Right after I was finished with my tea, the flightdeck turned on the seatbelt sign, and the cabin lights was turned off.
A quick look at the airshow proved that we would be approaching Stockholm from the south. This could potentially mean some really nice views over Stockholm from my side of the aircraft.
Our routing:
And indeed, some really great views were to be seen over Central Stockholm.
Southern Stockholm, with Ericsson Globe lit in blue.
Central Stockholm:
Soon we touched down on runway 26.
A quick taxi to the end of the F-pier followed where we docked into a jetway.
Next to a BA Cityflyer:
While waiting for deboarding, the female FA asked me if I wouldn't get cold, as I didn't have my jacket in my bag at the time. I said “My father will be right outside the terminal to pick me up, so it's no worries, and besides, I live in Northern Sweden, so I'm very used to the cold.” She responded with “Well, I think it's cold!” and wrapped herself up in a blanket, as the purser had just opened the door.
I deboarded and thanked the crew for a great flight. I was the first one to get off the aircraft.
Non-Schengen part of the F-pier was deserted. As to be expected at this hour. And so was the passport control, and I was through in no time.
My father picked me up outside of arrivals, and my daytrip was over.
To sum things up,
I had a great flight with AB. I liked their service concept, the crew was nice and the aircraft was clean. They had a great airshow, and everything was pretty much on time. I'm traveling with them again in June, hopefully I'll have the same thoughts after that experience.
TXL was an interesting airport for sure, cozy and good spotting opportunity's, but it's really obvious why Berlin needs a new airport. It was very crowded and far too few jetways.
When it comes to bmi, I know my flight was a LH flight, but as the service on my flight was, as far as I've read, bmi service by the book, I'm going to judge it as a bmi flight.
I found the service exceptional as an economy class passenger. A hot wrap and free barservice. What more could one ask for on a 1hr 30min flight? Young but nice crew and everything was pretty much on time.
Heathrow T5 was nice as usual. The BA lounges were great, and I wish I get the chance to fly through Heathrow on a Business class ticket some other time.
The Business flight experience was great. Service was great, the meal tasted great, crew was great, comfort was great. A great flight.
Thank you everyone for reading my tripreport, comments and feedback is appreciated and encouraged!
My next report will cover a trip I did the day after I arrived from this one. Hops on one of SK's busiest routes is on the menu; ARN-OSL-ARN.
volvair From Germany, joined Oct 2011, 167 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 5359 times:
Hi Martin,
great report of a great daytrip and good idea to sample TXL as long as it is still there! I really like Terminal A and it will be sad to see it gone.
Nice you fixed in a BA business class flight for a nice fare. Also good to see the bmi operation ex-TXL.
I am living in Berlin at the moment - only 30 mins door-to-gate from TXL by public transport. You can actually see the building I am living in from one of your pictures. I was actually free on the 4th - we could have well fixed up a meeting. Maybe next time
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Does anyone know why there are markings for the Concorde there by the way? I doubt the Concorde visited TXL that often that it would be worthwhile having a mark like that.
Seems like TXL were desperate for a regular SSC visitor
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): After the seatbelt sign was turned off the crew soon begun their service round. I once again decided on apple juice and coffee as drinks. Drinks was served together with one of those Monty's hot wraps.
Was the service BD or LH? You didn't order a beer, so I can't tell from that! BD has better drinks, LH has better food.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Not long after, the flightdeck announced ten minutes until landing, and only a minute later we broke through the clouds, and I realized we were over central London, with great views over all the sights for me on the right hand side.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): As I had chosen the evening flight with a departure at 20:10, I had a few hours to kill before my flight. I was never bored though, spent the time by eating, drinking and surfing the web on my laptop. I was positively surprised to see they had not only UK power outlets, but American and EU aswell.
Well, despite being in the UK, the majoirty of passengers are probably non Brits, so it makes sense to have other outlets.
I prefer the horse - those models are so expensive
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): A rather light load, as expected, what surprised me however, was the lack of passengers on the Business class section, there were only two of us, sharing five rows.
Very nice to have such an empty cabin
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The FA did however wanted to see my ID before serving it, to make sure I wasn't a minor.
Enjoy being IDed whilst you're young. It doesn't often happen on planes though. I was only IDed once on a plane, on SQ MXP-SIN, and that was when I was around 25!
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6083 posts, RR: 56 Reply 4, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 5147 times:
Hi Martin!
Nice report on a day trip with nice pictures!
AB looks very good again, like I've seen in other reports.
The terminal at TXL looks way too crowded and it seems the new terminal/airport can't come soon enough.
I have to agree with Gabriel; I prefer the horse model over the 380; at least the horse has very nice lines which can not be said of the 380......
Great pictures of Stockholm on approach especially Sodermalm came out very nice.
Looking forward to your next report.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
roberts87 From Netherlands, joined Dec 2011, 660 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 4758 times:
Thanks for the report!
I took a trip to TXL in 2010 to experience it while it lasted, glad you enjoyed it!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): A few weeks later, when I was looking through my bookings, I saw on my BA booking that they had what they called a ”Special Offer”, that I could upgrade my flight to Club Europe from 69 GBP
Ah, BA has offered me those a couple of times as well, but for AMS-LON flights. Not really worth it for such s short hop but I probably would have taken them up on the offer on an LHR-ARN segment as well.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): During the flight the sunrise begun, and the darkness, at the horizon slowly changed color, which allowed for some more views out my window.
You gotta love those in-flight sunrises! Who needs PTV's when you can get that view?
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 1): Heathrow T5 was nice as usual. The BA lounges were great, and I wish I get the chance to fly through Heathrow on a Business class ticket some other time.
I love T5. Too bad the long holds and taxi times are so long at LHR. The lounges certainly do look great, perhaps I should upgrade on a next BA flight ex-LHR.
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1185 posts, RR: 29 Reply 7, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 4670 times:
Hi Martin,
Excellent review of a my-kind-of-daytrip. Good for you to have included TXL as well, I hope you did not leave a tear when taking off cause in a few months time it'll be history. Great to see you took advantage of the BA upgrade, als worth it and certainly for that price even something I might consider as well. Well my next BA flight is in 2 weeks so who knows? BMI's cabin looks pretty nice with the brown leather seats. A good thing they did not try to hang any paintings there. Imho that BA museum cabin looks stupid with those paintings around. And they are even in the lavatory
I'm quite surprised at the lack of seats. Is it like that in the whole of T2?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): During the flight the sunrise begun, and the darkness, at the horizon slowly changed color, which allowed for some more views out my window.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
I believe there used to be an add for the new BER airport on that thing?
So it was.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): rcraft I was greeted by the young male purser, turns out he served the Business Class cabin. The economy cabin was served by two attractive young female flight attendants (sorry Markus, no pic), one blonde and one brunette.
Shame, I should fly BMI more often.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
I boarded and was greeted by a smiling male purser and an attractive female FA (a second pattern of today?).
Shame again, I´ve never used my OneWorld status card till now.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
My next report will cover a trip I did the day after I arrived from this one. Hops on one of SK's busiest routes is on the menu; ARN-OSL-ARN.
JL418 From Italy, joined Jun 2009, 493 posts, RR: 7 Reply 10, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 4142 times:
Hi Martin!
great TR! I was looking forward to read it as it's interesting to see T5 from the eyes of the passengers... And I'm glad you liked it.
Seeing BMI brought back some Lufthansa Italia memories: the interiors and the service style are more or less similar... sad to know that one's gone and the other one might be going very soon. I must say that BMI's business cabin on the A321 looks very nice and the livery... well, it's great! I was on the road today and I saw one of BMI's A332 (or perhaps is it the only one?) taking off. It was a dull day but, still, it grabbed my attention. In this ocean of eurowhite BMI is such a welcome note of distinction. How long? Better look at her while it lasts.
Speaking about T5... Glad you liked, and I'm glad you liked the North Galleries. When I gave you the tip it was still sunny if I remember well and my visit to the lounge happened on a very sunny day, hence the reference to the views. Sadly it wasn't like that for you but the terrazza is another small jewel, isn't it? Like being in the airport proper without having to bump into people now and then.
The funky artwork you've seen is made of those plastic movable parts that made FIDS once. Because of its nature BAA beancounters have decided to classify it not as a work of art but as some kind of airport equipment, or so I've been told. This means that the thing has to pass a health&safety test twice a year so somebody has to pick up a cherry picker, lower the thing down, look at it very intensely for some minutes and then put it up again. Quite strange, isn't it?
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 11, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 4045 times:
Hi Everyone!
Thanks alot for all the comments and feedback!
Quoting volvair (Reply 2): good idea to sample TXL as long as it is still there! I really like Terminal A and it will be sad to see it gone.
Indeed, it seems to be a great, if crowded, little airport. Lets hope the new airport will have as great spotting possibilities.
Quoting volvair (Reply 2): I am living in Berlin at the moment - only 30 mins door-to-gate from TXL by public transport. You can actually see the building I am living in from one of your pictures. I was actually free on the 4th - we could have well fixed up a meeting. Maybe next time
Hey, I didn't know that, you should've told me!
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 3):
Was the service BD or LH? You didn't order a beer, so I can't tell from that! BD has better drinks, LH has better food.
Well, I think the service was still BD as it still was basically a BD flight. I believe the only reason they changed the flightnumbers to the LH ones was so those Heathrow slots was officially LH's and not included in the deal when BD is sold.
Yeah, especially compared to the earlier cramped flights in Y.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 4): The terminal at TXL looks way too crowded and it seems the new terminal/airport can't come soon enough.
Indeed. Lets hope the new airport will be a good one regardless if you're a spotter, an airport-worker or a passenger!
Quoting photophil (Reply 5): Good to see some photos of TXL ... I will be there next week but I will arrive on KL which also uses Terminal A ... let's see
I hope you have a nice experience! Can we expect a report?
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 6): Ah, BA has offered me those a couple of times as well, but for AMS-LON flights. Not really worth it for such s short hop but I probably would have taken them up on the offer on an LHR-ARN segment as well.
Yeah, it's probably better value to do it on a longer sector. Do you know if they serve a hot meal in Club for AMS-LON too, or is the flight just to short for that?
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 6): The lounges certainly do look great, perhaps I should upgrade on a next BA flight ex-LHR.
Do it, make sure to check in early to take advantage of the lounge!
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Imho that BA museum cabin looks stupid with those paintings around. And they are even in the lavatory
I must agree. I would have preferred a speedbird motif or BA titles on the bulkwall instead. Would have been much more stylish.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): I'm quite surprised at the lack of seats. Is it like that in the whole of T2?
At most gates, yes.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Most of the time quite tasty and filling... If they are heated properly!
Sounds like you have a bad experience with them, do you?
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Looks very modern. I guess it was free? How long was the connection time to T5?
It was indeed free. The ride took about 4 minutes.
Quoting OA260 (Reply 8): Indeed BMI have got a product which is pleasant , just a shame it all came too late. For a long time the product was terrible in Y class.
Let's hope SK will improve their in-flight Y product in a similar way!
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 9): Shame, I should fly BMI more often.
Do it while they are still around!
Quoting JL418 (Reply 10): Seeing BMI brought back some Lufthansa Italia memories: the interiors and the service style are more or less similar...
I can see why, I believe they are the same kind of seats, just different colors.
Quoting JL418 (Reply 10): and the livery... well, it's great!
One of the best ones out there. It's up there with NH and KF (Yes, I do like the color blue).
Quoting JL418 (Reply 10): Sadly it wasn't like that for you but the terrazza is another small jewel, isn't it?
Indeed a nice place to be.
Quoting JL418 (Reply 10):
The funky artwork you've seen is made of those plastic movable parts that made FIDS once. Because of its nature BAA beancounters have decided to classify it not as a work of art but as some kind of airport equipment, or so I've been told. This means that the thing has to pass a health&safety test twice a year so somebody has to pick up a cherry picker, lower the thing down, look at it very intensely for some minutes and then put it up again. Quite strange, isn't it?
Oh very interesting, now that I think about it it did sound exactly like one of those old FIDS.
And indeed, very strange!
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 12, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 3829 times:
Hi Martin,
Good to read another nice report of another day trip. That looks like a fun day out, not too tight schedules anywhere so time to relax and do some plane spotting and stuff.
Nice timing as well as I'm flying the same BMI/LH chimera service in two and half weeks, albeit at the opposite direction (mainly to get a taste of that fab BMI LHR T1 lounge!) , so it's good to get a preview of what to expect.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): She told me it was a British airline, smaller than British Airways, partly owned by SAS.
That time, we ended up flying SK to and from Manchester.
I flew BMI DUB-LHR-DUB back in 2003. They left a nice impression on me - nice service, back then there was some sort of hot breakfast sandwich on this short route on the outbound morning flight and a sandwich plus bar service on the flight back.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): And there it was, far up on the ”Airlines and Destinations” tab on the Wiki-page. ”bmi – London-Heathrow”. bmi uses Terminal A at TXL, which was great as it was the terminal I preferred to experience.
Hey, I do that as well! I mean looking up airlines and routes at Wikipedia.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): So after thinking about it for a day or so I upgraded my ticket to Club Europe. This would be my first flight in Business Class.
Those deals are hard to resist, aren't they? Anyway congratulations on your first business class flight, things can only get better from here!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I had checked that the inbound plane on the night before was D-ABGH.
Hey, I've logged that bird as well.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): As you can see, there's not many seats. A problem on many of the gates at T2, They will renovate the terminal soon, hopefully they will add more seating to the gates that needs it.
Ahh, T2 was never the brightest jewel at Arlanda's crown and it still looks as depressing as ever. Ok, I think T3 is still a bit more dire, but only a bit. The AY lounge upstairs was quite okay though.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): After the safety demo there was a satellite image of the airport, showing where we were at the time, a nice feature.
At least they got the location right, unlike HEL which is shown about 40 kilometers too north and Tallinn which is shown in the middle of the Gulf of Finland...
What was it doing there? Operating for Skyways perhaps?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): During the flight the sunrise begun, and the darkness, at the horizon slowly changed color, which allowed for some more views out my window.
Nice shots! One of the reasons I try to always sit on the left hand side on early morning flights to Central Europe from Finland.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
I remember reading other tripreports on this forum where they grab a seat on the left hand side of the aircraft, for the nice views over Berlin if there's a landing from the east, so that's why I am seated on an A-seat today. And what do you know, I'm lucky enough to get a landing on one of the 26's at TXL for the only landing I will ever do at TXL.
Heh, this effect is simply amazing - you witness it every time you do one of those early morning flights into TXL. First the place is absolutely packed with all kinds of AB birds and then, less than two hours later they are all gone!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Hmm, do planes get to taxi on the parking lot at Tegel? Wow, they really do need more space.
Hah, great shot. There's a special taxiway that goes around the whole place and crosses the main access road over a bridge, this BT was dashing (pun intended) over it. It actually looks quite nice if you're arriving to Tegel in a taxi or something and a plane is crossing the bridge at the same time.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): This was my first time eating currywurst, I found it to taste rather good actually.
Good, that S-Bahn place is a nice one and I try to grab some there every time I'm passing through.
Thanks. I didn't know FC... sorry FlyBE Nordic operated some of the AY services to Tegel, or maybe that was just a one-off?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): After that, I was quickly through the security check and I was airside. This airside covered two gates, A04 and A05. I don't know if all gates are paired up like this but these two were anyway.
Yes, all of the gates are paired.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): And I could sigh out in relief, knowing that I'd get to have one bmi flight in my log.
Good! Hopefully the same will happen on my flight too, wouldn't want to end up on another boring LH Airbus.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Once in the aircraft I was greeted by the young male purser, turns out he served the Business Class cabin. The economy cabin was served by two attractive young female flight attendants (sorry Markus, no pic), one blonde and one brunette.
Did the women still wear the funny British hats? Those used to be really funny but quite nice at the same time, a sort of a blast from the more formal times in the past.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I really liked this economy service concept. The wrap was tasty, even if the filling of this one (Mediterranean vegetables) wasn't my favorite, I did manage to finish most of it anyway.
Looks good. Very nice for a flight of this duration.
Ahh, very near to the site of a future a.net meeting!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The lounge was really impressive. It was large, had hot and cold dishes, cereal with milk, soups and a great drink selection, here's some impressions:
Looks good.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): As mentioned earlier, I recently turned 18, so I thought this was a good time to try the famous drink known as Champagne. So that's what I ordered.
Hey, congratulations! Now get used to it!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Only a few minutes later, my meal was served (all catering was done straight from the galley, no carts were used in our cabin).
That looks very good and substantial, although I think I would've gone for the cod myself.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Highlife also had an article about Helsinki, for the same reason as LH.
See, we are everywhere!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I had some tea, a drink I very rarely drink. But I thought that I might aswell have some. Afterall, I was flying British Airways.
How come you poured some dairy stuff in it though!?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): And indeed, some really great views were to be seen over Central Stockholm.
Great shots in the dark! I know how hard those are to make, so very well done.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): While waiting for deboarding, the female FA asked me if I wouldn't get cold, as I didn't have my jacket in my bag at the time. I said “My father will be right outside the terminal to pick me up, so it's no worries, and besides, I live in Northern Sweden, so I'm very used to the cold.” She responded with “Well, I think it's cold!” and wrapped herself up in a blanket, as the purser had just opened the door.
Nice. Reminds me of a conversation I had with some Viking Airlines cabin crew after a LGW-ARN flight in February two years ago. It was probably minus fifteen and very snowy at Arlanda, they looked out in disgust so I just had to tell them about ice swimming and other lovely northern pastimes .
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I had a great flight with AB. I liked their service concept, the crew was nice and the aircraft was clean.
Yes, AB is still a great airline. I was a bit disappointed since they raised their lowest fares from 29,99 to 49,99 EUR last year, but I guess they need to finally make some money...
Having said that it's now half a year since I've last flown with them and still don't have any bookings - nowadays certain airline affiliations and a change in my flying patterns have sort of made them not to really fit into my plans. But let's see, I'm sure I will come up with more bookings at some point.
photophil From Sweden, joined Apr 2011, 178 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 3807 times:
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 11): I hope you have a nice experience! Can we expect a report?
Sure ... but it will likely be a short one as it is (besides TXL) soemthing I have done quite often ...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
While waiting for deboarding, the female FA asked me if I wouldn't get cold, as I didn't have my jacket in my bag at the time. I said “My father will be right outside the terminal to pick me up, so it's no worries, and besides, I live in Northern Sweden, so I'm very used to the cold.” She responded with “Well, I think it's cold!” and wrapped herself up in a blanket, as the purser had just opened the door.
Nice. Reminds me of a conversation I had with some Viking Airlines cabin crew after a LGW-ARN flight in February two years ago. It was probably minus fifteen and very snowy at Arlanda, they looked out in disgust so I just had to tell them about ice swimming and other lovely northern pastimes .
I know these looks ... I always get them from my colleagues at work when we go for lunch at -10degC in wintertime and I am going without any jacket ... maybe I am just a bit more resistant against cold ...
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 14, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 3784 times:
Yeah sorry, forgot to mention but certainly you are coming with us to Berlin in the beginning of June for a proper goodbye to TXL plus a proper welcome to BER the next day!
You can even fly DY/FR to SXF and have a proper goodbye to that airport as well, then fly out there the next day when it has magically transformed into BER overnight!
Excellent! I hope they move the SXF branch of Ess-Bahn to the new airport!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Once in the aircraft I was greeted by the young male purser, turns out he served the Business Class cabin.
On my recent BD flight, the F/As serving my section were all foreign - French and Spanish.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): with great views over all the sights for me on the right hand side.
That looks like the Olympic stadium!
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 1): The transfer train turned out to be the Heathrow Express service
Yes, and the transfer train to T4 is the "Heathrow Connect", a continuation of the stopping train to Paddington.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): And indeed it was. So after thinking about it for a day or so I upgraded my ticket to Club Europe. This would be my first flight in Business Class.
A good deal. I was offered an upgrade for £59 LGW-TRN, but given that it was LGW, and the plane was older, I declined. I've still yet to sample Business...
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 1): I got recommended by a fellow a.netter to pay a visit to the North Galleries or T5B lounge aswell
Excellent when you get real-time tips like that
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 1): lack of passengers on the Business class section, there were only two of us
That may have been why you were offered the special deal!
Why didn't you stayed in London for one night to catch the midday B767-300 back to ARN?! I did nearly the same trip in DEC and I was so glad to have spend one day extra to fly this lovely bird to ARN.
Parton87 From Sweden, joined Sep 2008, 524 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 3461 times:
Hej Martin!
Thanks for the nice story. What a good idea to fly to TXL when you still get the chances. I´m thinking doing something similar this spring! I will always regret that I didn´t try out Tempelhof before it closed!
When I flew to TXL last time it was on the same flight like you
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): We were given a choice of either a Wasa sandwich or a chocolate muffin
When I flew on that flight we get a sandwich. But since AB is in a bad shape I guess they have to do some cutbacks. Still a sufficient service for that short flight
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): During the flight the sunrise begun, and the darkness, at the horizon slowly changed color, which allowed for some more views out my window
Beautiful pictures!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I remember reading other tripreports on this forum where they grab a seat on the left hand side of the aircraft, for the nice views over Berlin if there's a landing from the east, so that's why I am seated on an A-seat today. And what do you know, I'm lucky enough to get a landing on one of the 26's at TXL for the only landing I will ever do at TXL.
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 18, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 3352 times:
Hi again!
Thanks for another bunch of replies!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): not too tight schedules anywhere so time to relax and do some plane spotting and stuff.
Indeed there was no rush at all. Unlike next weekend in TLL, where I will only have slightly less than 1½ hour to make my connection to get back to Stockholm (via HEL btw) after the a.net OV flight. Shouldn't be any problem if the flight arrives on time though. Still slightly worried, you know how the Baltic in January can be...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): Hey, I do that as well! I mean looking up airlines and routes at Wikipedia.
Great minds think alike! Seriously though it's a great way to get an overview of the destinations of a certain airport.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): What was it doing there? Operating for Skyways perhaps?
I don't know, Skyways was my first thought as well.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): It actually looks quite nice if you're arriving to Tegel in a taxi or something and a plane is crossing the bridge at the same time.
Kind of like when arriving by car at ARN if rwy 01R/19L is in use.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): I didn't know FC... sorry FlyBE Nordic operated some of the AY services to Tegel, or maybe that was just a one-off?
I was surprised when I saw it too.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): Did the women still wear the funny British hats? Those used to be really funny but quite nice at the same time, a sort of a blast from the more formal times in the past.
One of the girls wore one during boarding and pre-flight checks. Didn't see it anymore after that though.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 12): How come you poured some dairy stuff in it though!?
Well, as I don't drink tea that often I don't have a standard "procedure" for drinking tea like i do when I drink coffee (black ofcourse), so when she said "And here's your milk" I just poured it in there.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 14): Yeah sorry, forgot to mention but certainly you are coming with us to Berlin in the beginning of June for a proper goodbye to TXL plus a proper welcome to BER the next day!
You can even fly DY/FR to SXF and have a proper goodbye to that airport as well, then fly out there the next day when it has magically transformed into BER overnight!
Would love to go, but sadly that's just one week before my graduation, and since I don't have a schedule for how those last weeks will look when it comes to tests and such, I wouldn't dare to make a booking this early.
Quoting signol (Reply 15): That's good, I'm sure I heard somewhere that AB had downgraded their service to a cookie or chocolate bar...
Well, maybe I got some sort of breakfast service since it was a morning flight.
Quoting signol (Reply 15): Excellent! I hope they move the SXF branch of Ess-Bahn to the new airport!
That would indeed be great.
Quoting signol (Reply 15): That looks like the Olympic stadium!
I believe it is!
Quoting signol (Reply 15): Excellent when you get real-time tips like that
Indeed.
Quoting signol (Reply 15): That may have been why you were offered the special deal!
Most likely, yeah.
Quoting debonair (Reply 16): Why didn't you stayed in London for one night to catch the midday B767-300 back to ARN?! I did nearly the same trip in DEC and I was so glad to have spend one day extra to fly this lovely bird to ARN.
Well, there was a number of reasons, but basically, I have already been on that flight: www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/199430/ , and secondly, I didn't really feel like spending for a hotel night. But indeed, the intra-europe 767 flights are great and if they had a 767 departure that suited my plans that day I would most likely have taken it.
717Flyer From Finland, joined Jun 2011, 303 posts, RR: 10 Reply 21, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 2971 times:
Hi Martin,
Thanks for a really enjoyable read with many nice pictures.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Right away I checked flybmi.com, and indeed, the one-way fare was a reasonable 72 EUR for the mid-day flight on January 4th. However, the flight was priced at 69 EUR at Lufthansas webpage, which I, ofcourse, found even better value for the money.
Yeah, you can do many nice things with 3 EUR, such as buy a muffin.
Yeah, I know that feeling. It is such a pity you can experience it only once - by the next time you're already somewhat used to travelling upfront in business class.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I found the seat to be very comfortable. The cover was light leather. I believe it is the same kind of seats that Norwegian use on their newer 738's.
Indeed, looking at my photos of the cabin of the 737-800s with sky interior the seats really look very similar. Norwegian has chosen a black leather on them though.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I decided on the muffin (I'm sure a certain Finnish member think that was a good choice!), and had some applejuice and some coffee with it.
May I congratulate you for making the right decision!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The seatback infront of me, also confirming the aircraft type on the safety folder:
Indeed, but never ever trust the safety card. Once onboard a Finnair A320 I had a Boeing 757 safety card in my seat pocket. Such a shame I wasn't actually travelling on that long and sleek bird.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Upon deboarding we get offered one of those famous chocolate hearts.
Good to see Air Berlin's cost cutting measures have not taken away that lovely gesture!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Hmm, do planes get to taxi on the parking lot at Tegel? Wow, they really do need more space.
I understand you would've loved to have a lagom lång rundtur but I am afraid the word roundtour, in all its glory, does not exist in the English language. But at least you had a nice little walk.
Well thank you. I did not even know some Finnair flights to TXL were being operated by Flybe (hmm, when will those two Embraers be repainted?). Finnair has also downgraded their Geneva route to Flybe while routes to KBP and STR are ending in a couple of months.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): There was an article in the LH in flight magazine (a BD magazine was also in the seatpocket) about Helsinki, apparently it has become/will be some sort of design capital.
Indeed, we (=Helsinki) is the World Design Capital of 2012. To the disgrace of Finnair, Blue1 was chosen to be the official airline of the event, which is very good if you ask me (come on, riding a 717 is a much classier way to arrive to the WDC than by an Airbus)
As a side note, the Tonibell ice cream truck featured in the inflight magazine has got quite a lot of publicity in Finland lately as it does not have a sales permit and has been providing free ice cream outside the Parliament house to get some publicity.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Highlife also had an article about Helsinki, for the same reason as LH.
Finally those editorial guys are starting to understand what to write about...
Glad you enjoyed your British Airways flight, that main course really does look appealing. And nothing fits better with it than a glass of Champagne. Such a shame that I myself need to wait some time (well, about a year) before I can fully enjoy such benefits.
lukeyboy95 From Papua New Guinea, joined Apr 2008, 951 posts, RR: 35 Reply 24, posted (1 year 4 months 1 week 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 2628 times:
Great selection of flights admittedly . . . and in a few years we will look on this reports as records.
It seems I had as good a service as you on BA. They're not too shabby.
Beautiful views of Berlin.l suspect we will loose most of these at the new airport.
Rgds
Luke
Breaking down the stereotypes - one by one
25 deltamartin: Hi Luke! Thanks for commenting! Indeed, I'm really pleased with my experience with BA. Likely, yeah. I've never flown to or from SXF though so I don't
26 MSS658: Hi Martin Great report you have got there, thanks for sharing! Good to see BD and TXL before they both vanish! AB seems to be decent as well for a LCC
27 LH4116: Hey Martin, finally found some time to read your first&last'ish featuring report. I must say it was a nice read with some good pics, especially th
28 deltamartin: Hi again and thanks for the further feedback! Indeed. I was pleased with my flight with them, very good value for the price. LH will probably be my pr
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