Hi everyone, thanks for reading my (rather short) report.

Any questions, comments or concerns are welcome. Please feel free to leave a comment!

Background:

Well, the background is very simple. I collect countries and airplanes... Of the B737 series, I was missing the 732 and the 736. I had missed a perfect opportunity of flying a 732 on my preferred US carrier DL in December of 2005, when my MCI-CVG flight was scheduled on one of these amazing beasts. Alas, I never got to took that flight. This was the time period when I was too young to fly alone for leisure, so I had to wait until I earned my own money to get another chance, after DL retired the 732 in 2006, I believe. So, what airline should I choose? Well, in North America, I had a choice of Bahamasair and a few Northern Canadian airlines. In Europe... not many choices. Soon, I decided that a trip to the Bahamas would be a good way to spend a couple of days during a very hectic school quarter.

Now, Bahamasair certainly has a reputation... that they're always delayed. The only question is by how much. As I didn't want to wake up too early in Nassau, I decided on taking UP205 to FLL. This meant I'd be spending a night in FLL since I didn't want to miss my flight thanks to Bahamasair's reputation...

Why FLL and not MIA or MCO? Well, I heard domestic MCO flights are usually very noisy due to Disneyland (or DisneyWorld, who cares what it's called). But the deciding factor was the fact that DL flies the 753 to FLL. Perfect. 2 new types and 2 new airports.

Final schedule:
Day 1:
DL2120, MDW-ATL, 319 (N342NB)
DL377, ATL-NAS, M88 (N963DL)

Day 2:
UP205, NAS-FLL, 732 (C6-BFM)

Day 3:
DL1589, FLL-ATL, 753 (N595NW)
DL1512, ATL-ORD, M90 (N907DA)

This report will focus on NAS-FLL. I will write another one for the 753/M90 flights (well, focused on the first segment... I slept like a baby on the MD-90), for sure, but also for MDW-ATL-NAS if I receive any requests. However, the latter will probably not be online until mid-June due to time constraints.

Nassau. I've heard many things about NAS, mostly not positive, I must say. Fine, I didn't stay long, but they don't really seem justified. Yeah, it's not exactly a thriving metropolis with a million things to do, but does anyone really expect that from Nassau, a city of under 300,000 people? It has an interesting center, complete with some interesting-looking buildings, including the famous pink government buildings. There are crumbling buildings scattered throughout downtown, but that adds to its charm, if you ask me. I wouldn't consider Nassau to be a first-rate destination, but I found it better than described online, and yes, I'd recommend a visit, but not a long one if your boredom threshold is as low as mine. Unlike some of the sterile-looking American cities, Nassau certainly seems very much alive. I'll let some pictures do the talking for now.

Government House:


Hilton Colonial Hotel:


Straw Market:


Park:




Famous pink government buildings:




Nassau buildings:
height="600" width="800" />



Beach time:










Cathedral:







Anyway, it was soon time to get back to the airport... The stereotype about the Bahamas, and islands in general, is that nothing runs on time. It is laid-back, the people are friendly, but, unlike the stereotype, the shuttles I booked from/to the airport ran perfectly on schedule... Certainly more on schedule than the FLL ones. The drive was pleasant, with a friendly driver, with whom I discussed topics including how many black people there are in Romania and whether I can do backflips since we're so damn good at gymnastics 

Soon, we arrived at the airport, and I gave him a good tip, said goodbye, shook hands, pounded fists, etc. Very nice guy overall.

Pics of the departures hall:














NAS has a special terminal for US departures, which IMO is better than many, if not most, US terminals. It looks nice, and it's small but functional. There are many expensive places to grab a bite and a drink. The seats are comfortable (unlike the ones in a certain new concourse F in a certain major world gateway... I won't name names, but it's in Atlanta), there a number of power sockets for charging laptops and almost-dead camera batteries before the 732 journey ahead of me.

There are a few outdoors areas in which you can enjoy a snack, but it was way too hot to stay there for long:




Local drink. Not bad:



I got there too early of course, 4 hours or so before the flight, because “everything in the Bahamas is late” and “be there 3 hours ahead of scheduled take-off time”. Well, I saw some interesting aircraft, but really, that's a bit excessive, I think. And as I mentioned above, everything ran on time... Well, so far  

I'll continue in more detail, but first, it's time for some pictures!

FIDS:


NAS Spotting, since I had so much time on my hands:

Rusty-looking AT7:


Former runway, perhaps?


Bahamasair's new acquisition:










Some more AT7 shots. Saw at least 7 that day:








US-based aircraft:











NAS terminal:


Rush hour at NAS, COPA included:





And here she comes, about an hour or so late arriving from Orlando:






Flight No: UP205 (Bahamasair)
Aircraft: B737-200
Registration: C6-BFM, built 1981
STD/STA: 15:45/16:40
ATD/ATA: 18:14/18:57
Seat: 16F

Reservation/Website:
I reserved on expedia, and everything went smoothly. I'd've reserved on bahamasair.com but I had just had a very negative experience booking on AirMalta's website and decided I didn't want any hassles. I trusted expedia. That said, I can't foresee any issues on bahamasair.com, a basic site but one that definitely has fewer bugs than Alitalia's and not many fewer features. Their website is average overall, and could do with improvement, but it's not the worst I've ever visited.

Check-in:
There was no one in line to check-in. I saw that the lady at the desk was busy on the phone so I just waited for her to wave me down (still talking on the phone). Gave her my documents and she processed everything... Not a word said to me. Until... “where are you going?”... “Fort Lauderdale”. A bit more processing and the boarding pass came out. Ah, good, 16F, just like I chose on expedia. I said “thank you” and left. Well, I returned soon after and got the customs form she forgot to give me. Anyway, can't really complain, it went pretty quickly.

Of course, no lounge access... There might be one at NAS, but I certainly didn't look for it. There is a nice outside patio, but it was waaaay too hot for that. My laptop reached dangerous temperatures in 10 minutes and I had to search for my hat if I wanted to continue to sit outside, even for a few minutes. No apron views from this patio, unfortunately...

OK, anyway, I messed around the interwebs and facebook during my time at NAS (free wi-fi? What a great idea NAS!), took as many pictures as I could considering the traffic conditions at NAS, and waited. And waited. And waited. Well, I was looking at Orlando MCO's website since that's where the 732 would be going before going to FLL and it was showing the flight as delayed. Soon enough, a 1hr 15 minute delay appeared on the screens and the gate changed from C52 (air-stair gate) to C44 (jetway). Boo... Although, it was raining, potentially heavily at times, so it's not all bad. Well, 5pm came by, passed, and at around 5:15 the two gate agents announced flights 205 and 207 would be combined and we'd leave at 6:00pm, which meant a 2hr 15 minute delay, which I'd venture to say might be considered as too much by some passengers, including the guy who loudly said “f*ck”, the guy who told me “this is the worst airline in the world, any other airline would've gotten you there by now” and the two elderly ladies who clearly weren't pleased. Something about feeding a dog left at home, maybe?

Anyway, my only concern was about my seat. I wanted 16F or something very similar to it. I asked the guy at the counter if the seats would be the same. They would. Well, not surprisingly, considering the flight was half full! Yes, the two flights combined meant about 60 passengers; possibly a little more than that, but can't have been more than 75 in total.

The boarding procedure started at a good time for a 6pm departure. I think it was around 5:35pm, starting with pre-boarding and FFs (there didn't seem to be many frequent flyers on this flight considering basically no one took the gate agent's offer). I thus boarded very early on and proceeded down the jetway and to the 737-200.



There was absolutely no service on the flight. However, the flight attendants were certainly much more cheerful than any American flight attendants I'd ever seen. Literally any US airline could learn something from this crew! They all greeted me with a huge smile and seemed to genuinely enjoy their job. Well, who needs service on a 35 minute flight, anyway? I got my soda in NAS and really couldn't care less about service. The 732 was enough for me!

I got three seats to myself in row 16, and the other half of row 16 also had 1 passenger in it, a Bahamian lady who basically looked out the window the whole time. So sweet. The American passengers were playing with their iPads and iPods and other iDevices whereas the Bahamian passengers seemed to be enjoying themselves, looking out the window, and generally being in a good mood. The American passengers seemed to be a bit miffed by the delay, because they just had to get home (to watch something on TV, I guess?). The ambience overall was pretty good, because the Bahamians chatted while the Americans slept or became antisocially enthralled by Angry Birds or whatever.

OK, soon we pushed back, the F/As did the safety presentations... Either no mention of electronic devices (hint hint), or I was so enthralled about looking at the 732's engine that I missed that part. At around 6:15 we took off from NAS, runway 14. We climbed out rather slowly, so I got a good view of nice looking turquoise waters, and the island of New Providence and NAS itself. There was quite a bit of turbulence about 10 minutes into the flight, as the weather was pretty stormy around the area. Well, when the captain announced it was safe to move about the cabin (BTW, US airlines annoy me with their seatbelt-sign that doesn't mean anything routine... fellow Americans, please stop suing the airlines for any small incident you have, especially if it's not the airline's fault), I took the chance and went to the lavatory, which was... not quite in good condition. The previous owners of the 31-year old frame, Hapag-Lloyd and TACA, were still present in the aircraft's long history, as some signs in the lavatory were in either German or Spanish along with English. The lavatory wasn't dirty, but it looked like it was about to fall apart. Ancient style door... ancient style everything, really. Well, it's the same for the cabin interior. Old-style seats, and not in very good condition. But, of course, this airplane will probably be retired in the near future, so I guess there's no need to fix anything now... Well, I took a lot of cabin pics this time around, something I don't usually do in industrial quantity.

















Detail on the window shade:

IFE, you say? Look out the window... Although, there was a (very) poorly edited magazine in the seatback. You could see so many pixels in the pictures!














Here's the safety card:




And the magazine:


Takeoff video (not sure how to embed this video on A.net):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alR4uqnr2r0

And after takeoff, more views:








NAS:


Northern edge of Andros Island, I think:




In-flight cabin pic:


Lavatory: bad light, crappy pictures:






Detail:

Cabin view once again:


Lady enjoying her flight and the views:


Over FL:






City ends, swamp begins:


Turning:


Stormy weather:








Well, well, well, what do we have here:


Last wing view:


Well, it was a short flight, so I couldn't bask in the glory that is the 732 for long. Before I knew it we were descending, still far away from the FL coastline. We then flew significantly west of FLL (until the city, quite abruptly, ended and the swampland began) and turned around for a runway 9L landing at FLL. Well, not long to go, so I decided to record a landing video, because, you know, 737-200, thrust reversers, well, I don't think I have to explain this to you. I bet no other aircraft was sparked as many “OMG, we're gonna die, the engine is falling apart” remarks as the 737-200.

Landing Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw51qMRN2bA

Overall the crew was excellent; many announcements from the cockpit, big smiles from the F/As, got introduced to the pilots, was allowed to take flight deck pictures (not in-flight, unlike AF, but I didn't ask, considering we were headed for the USA and I didn't particularly want to see Broward county jail). It was a very nice crew overall and I wish them all the best. Extremely friendly people in the Bahamas, for sure.

Cockpit:








C6-BFM:





This contrasts directly with my first US experience after disembarking the 732. I went to see if I could get anything from a shop (well, I forgot what it was, but there were some pastry products and coffee on display)... Just to have the lady attendant yell “we're closed”... Geez, ok, you're closed, you don't wanna sell anything, but, really, do you have to yell? Can you not say sorry? Did that one word escape from your vocabulary, lady?.. It's not my fault you're closed and there was no sign saying “closed”! Chill out... Well, saying that might be a little bit hypocritical, eh? Well, that set the tone for the evening for me, and I then wondered if an idiot designed FLL airport and where the stairs towards baggage claim were, 'cause all I saw were escalators full of people... I then proceeded to find the airport shuttle stop that was to bring me to my almost-by-the-seaside motel in Fort Lauderdale.

UP205 Grading:

Reservation: 9
I used expedia but had no problems; my preferred seat went through without issue.
Check-in: 5
The agent didn't talk to me, forgot to hand me the customs form, but was efficient and quick.
Boarding: 9
Very organized, much better than expected from UP reviews.
Seat: 3
Not very comfortable, seemed a bit broken, old and tattered, but did its job. Wouldn't want to spend more than an hour in it. Good legroom, though.
Ambience: 10
Excellent ambience. The crew helped set the mood. Perhaps the most jovial flight I've taken since 2001.
IFE: 1
A very crappy magazine, I'm sorry to say! That's about it, unless you want to call the beautiful sea below IFE.
Crew: 10
No complaints at all. Friendly and always with a smile on their faces. Professional during safety instructions.
Food/Beverage: N/A
On-Time: 0
Absolutely disastrous.
Disembark: 7
Took a while to get everyone going. I stayed back and got off last so I could take a few pics of the flight deck.
Lounge: N/A

Overall: 54/90=6.00
Not bad for “the worst airline in the world”.

Would I recommend Bahamasair? Well, “if you have time to spare, fly Bahamasair”   If you can take a delay with a smile... sure, why not! Pad your schedules heavily after a UP flight, though, or you probably will get burned!

Would I recommend Bahamas? Yes, why not. I'm not a person whose main interests include beach going but, sure, Nassau can keep you occupied for a couple of days even if you don't particularly enjoy the beach. Watch out for the strong Sun, though!

Thanks for reading; hope you've enjoyed the TR. If you have any questions, please let me know! Comments are always appreciated.

Previous TRs:
March 2012, ORD-CDG, Delta, 763 (by dc9northwest Apr 8 2012 in Trip Reports)
March 2012, FCO-JFK-ORD, Delta, 333/CR7 (by dc9northwest Apr 1 2012 in Trip Reports)
March 2012, OTP-FCO, Alitalia, A319 (by dc9northwest Mar 28 2012 in Trip Reports)
MCI-OTP: Three Upgrades And A380 Flight Deck Visit (by dc9northwest Feb 13 2012 in Trip Reports)
The Baltic States In 6 Easy Flights (by dc9northwest Dec 26 2010 in Trip Reports)
Romanian TR: Bucuresti-Suceava Via Timisoara (by dc9northwest Dec 24 2010 in Trip Reports)
Connecting In ATL, Right Before The Snowstorm (by dc9northwest Mar 1 2010 in Trip Reports)
MCI-ATL-AMS-OTP With DL And KL (60+pics And Vids) (by Dc9northwest Jun 14 2007 in Trip Reports)