deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Posted (9 months 3 weeks 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 10329 times:
This is a tripreport covering my flights on Ethiopian Airlines, Alitalia and Air Berlin to visit Rome and Venice.
This tripreport is rather delayed, due to a series of computer and camera related issues I have had this summer (one of which will be “featured” in this report). Anyways, enjoy!
In the late fall of 2011, I happened to spend a weekend with my grandmother. During this weekend I asked her if there were any cities in Europe that she had always wanted to visit but never gotten around going to. She quickly responded with ”Rome.” and a second later she added ”and Venice.”
I was very glad to hear this, as I had long been wanting to try the Ethiopian fifth-freedom flight between ARN and FCO, as a part of the flight between ARN and ADD.
I told her that I could work out an itinerary suggestion for the early summer of 2012 and present it to her if she was really interested in going there. She was positive to the idea.
My Mother and Father were also positive to the idea and were interested in coming along too.
The flight to Rome was, obviously, a no-brainer, the non-stop ET flight was the way to go. A flight was found for 13th of June, at 80 EUR on the Ethiopian webpage, but we decided that the SK webpage was the better option for some 25 or so EUR more. Not the cheapest option but for this flight it was worth it. Since it's part of a longhaul journey the service were expected to be good also.
Further on, there were two non-stop options between FCO and VCE. Easyjet and Alitalia. After my first flight with easyJet earlier that fall, I wasn't very keen on flying them again (see: Hello And Good Bye LH Italia! ARN-CPH-MXP-ARN (by deltamartin Oct 28 2011 in Trip Reports) ), and since the AZ flight was only some 15 EUR more expensive, even before all extra charges when booking with EZY, at 50 EUR, and it was also operated on the favorite plane of mine, the MD80, the choice of airline was again really a no-brainer.
An early morning flight for June 16th was chosen.
To get back to Stockholm from Venice there where three reasonable options, the cheapest being BT via RIX for 110 EUR, the other two being AB via BER and SK via CPH, both costing about 150 EUR.
We decided on AB due to the fact that it had the latest departure time from VCE, and we'd get to do a short transfer at a brand new airport in Berlin, which would open on June 3rd. The flight to BER would leave Venice on June 17th, on the late afternoon, and we'd arrive at ARN from BER the same night.
After displaying this travel plan to my fellow travelers and getting their approval, I booked these flights and we were set to go.
Some time during the spring AZ changed the schedule for our FCO-VCE flight by some 20 minutes or so, and just like Palmjet experienced with AZ recently, they both called and emailed us to make sure we were aware of the schedule change.
The months passed by and the trip was getting closer, and about 1 ½ months before the journey, about three weeks before the scheduled opening of the new BER airport, it was announced that the airport would not be opened at the scheduled date, and not even during the summer. It was said to be delayed indefinitely. The date of March 17th, 2013 has later been said, but it's again doubtful it will be ready by then...
No major trouble for us though, a few days later our booking was changed to go via TXL rather than BER. Same flight numbers and timings. The only thing we'd miss was to experience a brand new airport, but I guess that will have to wait (for us and for Berlin!).
Map provided by Great Circle Mapper: June 13
We arrived to Arlanda by car, and parked at the Lindskrog parking lot, right next to runway 19L, they offer a free shuttle bus which departs when you are ready to go to the terminal, and they ask when you will arrive to get your car, so they can pick you up when you land.
A short drive, and we are soon at Terminal 5.
We walked in to the check in hall and were met by a long queue, the queue was sadly to the check in desks of our ET flight.
Most people in the queue had loads of luggage, so that's likely the reason for the queues.
About 20 minutes of queuing and we reach the desk, we are comparably quickly checked in and handed our boarding pass. For some reason though, our EuroBonus numbers weren't in the system, despite adding them when booking, so the agent again entered them into the system.
We were soon done and we went through security which was quick and we found ourselves airside at the B-pier at ARN.
FIDS:
At this time we headed to the SAS lounge, I snapped some pictures on the way.
Once at the lounge we're accepted to the Scandinavian lounge without any problems, although the lounge agent couldn't see our flights in the system since ET uses a different system than SAS, but we're accepted after a quick check of our boarding passes.
The Scandinavian Lounge at Arlanda is nice, but as I have noticed during my limited visits, it can be quite busy during peak hours. Still, the food and drinks offers are nice, and the seating is comfortable.
Some limited apron views from the lounge:
It's quite busy as we arrived but as time goes the amount of people in the lounge is reduced.
I have some snacks together with a Ginger Ale, cheers PH!
The printed boarding time was already at 19:55 for our flight at 21:00, and as this time approached the status of our flight on the FIDS changed to “Go to gate” so that was what we decided to do, we did after all have a passport check to pass before reaching our gate (since our ET flight is continuing to ADD), and with an elder in our group it wouldn't be wise to wait until last minute either.
During the walk towards the gate, I noticed that the seats we had chosen, 32 C, J, K and L had been changed to 32 B,C, J and K. This meant that we had no window seat assigned. I had no clue why this change had taken place either. At this time I cursed to myself why I hadn't taken a proper look at the boarding passes earlier, perhaps they could have fixed it at the lounge (although doubtful about that, due to the different systems used, as mentioned earlier).
A couple of minutes later we reach the passport check which was quick and a minute later we are in the non-Schengen zone of the B-pier, from which the ET flight usually leaves.
At this time we wait for boarding to be called and about 5 minutes later that is exactly what happens.
Gate area:
Our plane, as seen from the gate area:
Boarding was first called for the back rows and Business class passengers, and since we're on row 32 we're among the first 20 or so to board.
ET703
ARN-FCO
Boeing 757-200
ET-AMU
As we board the aircraft I get quite mixed responses from the cabin crew, some are smiling and welcoming while some of them are quite reserved.
The crew was of mixed age and gender. The men seemed to be working more in the front of the cabin while the women seemed to work more in the back.
As we boarded from door 1L I get a chance to see the Business class seats, and while being no flat-bed seat or anything they do look like very comfortable armchairs. I can imagine that they are great for day flights and not the best for a night flight.
Row 32 are located in a mini cabin behind a galley/lavatories located at a couple of emergency exits mid-cabin. As one passed by these lavatories one could clearly smell urine. This smell was noticeable in the entire mini-cabin.
I sat down at my newly assigned 32 K (I originally had 32L, next to me, grrrr!) and inspected my surroundings. The seat was a very comfortable leather one, with a nice amount of legroom. Each seat had a pillow and a blanket provided.
Some seatpocket contents:
Safety folder:
Cabin view:
Overhead panels:
Boarding took its sweet time, and the overhead bins were filled to the brims quite early in the process. As the A/C was turned on some time during boarding, the urine smell was gradually removed, never to be smelled again.
The window seat next to me remained open for quite a while, until a polite young woman informed me that it was her assigned seat. I asked if she would prefer an aisle seat and I got the response “Sure, It doesn't really matter.”, which was music to my ears.
View out the window at my new/old seat:
Me and my father, who was seated next to me, were chatting a little with her throughout the flight. Apparently she was heading to Uganda, to which she frequently traveled, and she flew ET most of the times, mainly due to the cheap price and good connectivity at ADD.
The boarding was soon completed and a safety demo was played on the overhead screens as we pushed back.
The flight was probably 100% full in Economy, as I didn't spot a single open seat.
Taxiing:
Cabin during taxi:
We taxied to our takeoff runway 19R, where we preformed a powerful takeoff. Nothing else to be expected by the overpowered 757!
After takeoff we do a little twisting and turning to line up for Rome, but not too much since we did take off towards the south anyway.
Registration on top of the wing:
Quite impressive wingflex for a narrow-body:
A few minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off, and the crew quickly started to prepare for the service round.
Some Hollywood movie was shown on the overhead screens, but I didn't pay any attention to it. I very much prefer to watch this anyway, note the other aircraft:
The service round also took it's sweet time, likely due to the good load on today's flight (I can see why they are making this a nonstop! But then again, this was during the early summer season). But around an hour after takeoff the cart reached our row, and we could chose between vegetarian or fish. I chose the fish. It was salmon with potatoes, served together with a salad, a bun with soft cheese and a carrot-cake.
The salad was decent enough but not really my taste.
The hot dish was good enough.
The carrot cake on the other hand, was probably the best dessert I have ever had on a plane, it tasted heavenly!
Shortly after the meal there was a drinks run, I asked for the Ethiopian beer I had read about on a couple of other trip reports, but the FA just said no when I asked if they had any, so I decided on some Sprite and sparkling water instead.
Another look out the window:
Once the meal was finished and the trash was cleared I decided to head to the toilet.
I also snapped a photo of the forward, larger, economy cabin:
Soon after I got back to my seat the cabin lights were dimmed. At this time most of the people were either watching the movie, resting or playing around with electronic equipment. I decided to listen to some tunes.
Sooner or later we started our descent and the cabin lights were again turned on so the cabin crew could prepare the cabin for landing.
Shortly after the cabin lights were again turned off and the seatbelt sign was turned on.
Somewhere over Italy:
Cabin during descent:
During our approach to FCO, somewhere over some random city in mid-Italy I noticed someone pointing a green laser on us. It's probably not dangerous at this height and from that angle, but still a very unnecessary and idiotic thing to do.
We soon touched down on what I believe was FCO's runway 16R, which meant a rather quick taxi to the non-Schengen satellite pier.
We docked to our gate and the seatbelt sign was turned off. It was announced that the people continuing to ADD should stay inside the aircraft. As expected most people were continuing towards Ethiopia, so we were a part of a minority when we deboarded the aircraft. I'd estimate that we were around 20-30 people with Rome as our final destination.
Parked at our gate:
We enter the terminal and as we are docked at the gate next to the “train station” we only have to do a short walk to the driverless train that will take us to the main terminal building.
We don't have to wait long for the train to depart and the ride is seamless so we are soon at the terminal building.
We are quickly through immigration and find ourselves in the luggage hall where we first buy a couple of water bottles from a vending machine and then we find our luggage waiting for us.
Next we find ourselves in the arrival hall. As we only had three nights in Rome, one of which we would be arriving late and one of which we would depart early, we decided that we might as well stay at a hotel close to the airport. We decided on the Hilton Rome Airport hotel, mainly due to it's very good location with walking bridges all the way from the terminals to the hotel curbside.
Facade in daylight:
It turned out to be a good choice to stay at the airport, as we found out that the hotel offered a free shuttlebus between the Hotel and central Rome, departing once every second hour in either direction. We used this for service to reach and get back from Rome. The service only took 40 minutes and dropped you off right behind Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II.
June 14 & 15
During our stay in Rome we did a multitude of the touristy things one is expected to do at a first visit to Rome. Sadly though, due to one of the previously mentioned camera issues, all pictures I took at the Vatican state are lost, together with some other pictures from Central Rome. But here's some of the pictures that didn't get lost:
The previously mentioned Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II:
Famous ruins:
That building in the distance looks quite familiar:
Yup, the Colosseum:
We also went inside:
A really impressive structure:
I've always had a thing for stadiums and arenas, so this was definitely the highlight of our visit to Rome:
Fontana di Trevi:
Spanish steps:
Fiat 500:
Approaching the Vatican, every picture from here on from Rome got lost:
The one food picture from Rome that didn't get lost:
Due to staying at the airport, I did some exploring of the landside parts of FCO during the evenings. I'll share some of those pictures as well:
Walking bridges connecting the terminals, parking lots and our hotel:
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 1, posted (9 months 3 weeks 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 10354 times:
June 16
So came the day of our departure from Rome to Venice. With a rather early departure time of 8:20, we had a wake up call at 6:30 and we were at Terminal 1 about 30 minutes later.
I had checked in at a dedicated check in computer in the hotel lobby the day before, selecting seats 11 A, B and 12 A, B for us.
As we reached the Alitalia desks we were directed to the SSK's, where we printed our BP's. It was a quite inefficient process including manually enter the ticket number , which had to be repeated for every single passenger separately.
Once done we went to an empty Alitalia bagdrop desk, where each piece of hand luggage had to be weighted separately and an “Autorizzato In Cabina” tag were attached. The check in agent also asked if anyone had a frequent flyer card, when I mentioned my KLM FlyingBlue membership she seemed to be positively surprised and confirmed that it was in the system. Not that it really mattered much since this was a very low booking class granting zero miles to me.
All this took quite some time but after around 15 minutes of checking in activities we were done. A rather long time considering that there were only a few more passengers there at that time.
On to security we went which was quick with no queue and we were through in a couple of minutes.
FIDS:
As we arrived airside and gone upstairs, we had around 45 minutes before scheduled boarding time. And since we hadn't had any breakfast yet we decided to grab something at McDonald's. Turns out it was awful. Seriously, if you ever find yourself at FCO's terminal 1 at the morning hours, do not go to McDonald's for breakfast. I don't know why but my Ham and Cheese toast sure didn't taste like a ham and cheese toast.
Some views of T1 airside:
Soon enough it was time to head towards our gate. B11 at the end of the B-pier was assigned for our flight.
A couple of minutes of waiting at the gate area and then boarding was called.
BP's were scanned and we were let down the jetway.
AZ1471
FCO-VCE
McDonnell Douglas MD80
I-DANU “Trapani”
I walked down the jetway and reached the beautiful and sleek MD80 that would bring us to Venice. It was sadly quite dirty around the door, though.
As I entered the cabin the two male FA's were doing some paperwork in the galley, so no proper greeting.
The other FA's on this flight were two middle aged women.
The first impression of the cabin can easily be described in one word; Green! But that was really to be expected. Overall the cabin was rather nice and clean.
I sat down on 11A, on the old-fashioned green fabric seat. It was rather comfortable, although the headrest was a little low and the seat itself a little hard, but that's just minor details and the comfort was definitely fair for a shorthaul flights.
No complaints about the legroom either.
View out my window:
Love the motif 1:
Love the motif 2:
Cabin view:
Overhead panels:
Safety card:
Magazine:
The flow of boarding passengers quickly calmed down and the load was rather light at maybe 40%.
At this time we just stood there at the gate for about 20-25 minutes before anything happened. As the door was still open and I hadn't heard “Boarding completed” I assumed we were waiting for another checked in passenger.
My theory was confirmed once “Boarding completed” was announced and another announcement about offloading the missing passengers luggage were made, and that we would be pushing back in about 10 minutes.
The crew prepared the cabin for departure and a manual safety demo was preformed and then we pushed back.
We taxied to runway 25 where we took off.
An Air Dolomiti Embraer got to go ahead of us:
Turning on to the active:
Being seated on the left hand side, I was treated to some nice views of some of FCO's terminals.
The satellite where we arrived a few days earlier:
Later, some nice views of the town of Fiumicino were also to be seen.
We flew over the ocean for a little while, before banking to the right and we were soon above Italy again, heading towards Venice.
Some mountains in the distance:
The seatbelt sign was later turned off, and shortly after the crew begun the service run. Which consisted of Coffee, Tea and water. I had some coffee and water, which I found adequate for a flight of that length at that time.
The rest of the flight was rather uneventful, I took a stroll around the cabin, taking some pictures here and there.
Wing view, love the logo and registration on the wing:
Cabin views:
My seat:
Soon enough the descent for Aeroporto di Venezia was commenced. We didn't need to change our direction too much since we were landing from the south.
Turns out that choosing a seat on the left hand side was a bad idea, as the views on the right hand side were supposed to be great on this approach.
Oh well, I did have some, errr... interesting views on this side too.
Mestre, on the mainland:
Boats going between Venice and VCE:
Private/Business jet apron:
We soon touched down on runway 04R.
EZY and an interesting 727:
At least I can see the terminal now during landing, so that's one positive aspect of being seated at the left side!
I also spot this beauty, behind the AF jet, during breaking.
We soon vacate the runway and taxi to a remote stand. I'm rather glad about this as it would mean I could snap more pictures as I deboard.
Parked next to a Volotea 717, dedicated to 717Flyer:
We soon come to a complete stop and the seatbelt sign is turned off. I gather my stuff and follow the stream to the front door to deboard. I believe they are deboarding through the back door too, but I decide against heading there since I'm seated so far forward in the plane.
I snap a lot of pictures of the beautiful MD80 as I exit the aircraft, I was glad to see that the dirt was concentrated around the door, and the rest of the fuselage was as clean as ever.
TRAPANI:
Loooong:
Alitalia:
I also managed to get a better look at the Tu-154.
I boarded the bus and shortly after we drove off to the terminal.
Once there we wait a couple of minutes for our bags and then we head to the arrivals hall.
We decide to go to Venice by water-bus, which costs us 27 EUR r/t per person, if I remember correctly. We bought these tickets in the arrival hall.
A 5 minute walk takes us to the Venice airport docks.
Terminal, curbside:
The ride takes about 1 hour 20 minutes and is operated by Alilaguna.
Spotting from the boat:
The boat takes us to Piazza San Marco.
The first thing we did was to go to our hotel to leave our bags, we stayed at Hotel Città Di Milano, which we chose due to its central location (around 3 minutes to Piazza San Marco by foot).
Hotel facade:
The room:
Our 1½ day in Venice were spent seeing the famous sights in Venice, and randomly walking around on the narrow and very Venetian looking streets.
These Venetian masks was sold everywhere:
Views at and around Piazza San Marco:
And at night:
Some random Venetian street views:
Love it:
Having a Gelato:
We also went for a ride in a Gondola. Expensive at 80 EUR for 30 minutes, but it was more of a crossing-something-off-the-bucketlist thing.
I'd say it was worth it for this one time, but not something I'd pay to do again. The experience itself was cool though, and not something you can experience anywhere else in the world (hence the expenisve price, I guess).
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 2, posted (9 months 3 weeks 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 10337 times:
June 17
And so came the day for us to leave Italy.
We headed towards the airport quite early, using the return part of our waterbus tickets.
Bye Venice!
Once at Venice airport, we grabbed some food at an airport restaurant.
After this we had to wait a while for check-in for our flight to Berlin to open, we found some seats in the arrival hall where we sat down during this time.
During the wait I also went on a little walk to look around VCE landside.
VCE was quite crowded, which can be visible in some of the pictures.
Soon enough it was time for check-in for our flight to open, two hours before departure, and as soon as the desks were announced we went over there and a queue had immediately built up.
At first there were one economy desk open, and one for OW status-holders. After about 20 minutes of queuing another economy desk were opened which marginally sped things up. We ended up queuing for about 40 minutes before it was our turn. I had checked us in online the day before so all we had to do was to claim our boarding passes and drop our bags, the agent also wanted to see our passports.
A couple of minutes later we headed to the security check which had a comparably quick queue and about 15 minutes later we were airside.
We had originally planned on using the lounge available to Diners Club-card holders, but since we arrived airside about 15 minutes before scheduled boarding time we didn't think it was worthwhile to pay the 125 SEK per person to enter, so we decided to just grab some water and sodas from a café airside instead.
Apron view:
Our gate was 04, in the crowded downstairs bus boarding area, so that's where we spent the last 5-10 minutes before boarding was called.
Once boarding was called we joined the queue, and we managed to get on the first bus.
AB8991 operated by Germania
VCE-TXL
Boeing 737-700
D-AGEU
We soon parked next to the 737-700 that would carry us to Tegel.
Under wing picture, dedicated to Markus, of course!
I was glad to see that the bird that we would fly was one of the planes operated by Germania, which would be a new airline for me.
This was, however, not acknowledged by by the crew in any way, other than their uniform was a little different. I think.
As you can see, D-AGEU was also painted in AB's interim livery, just like my only previous flight on AB earlier this year.
I entered the cabin, was greeted by the young German female FA working in the front galley.
I soon reached my chosen seat 3A, where I put my backpack in the overhead bin and then sat down.
View out my window:
The seat was a comfortable leather seat, probably chosen by Germania once upon a time, as it's not the usual AB seat.
The legroom was decent.
Overall, I can't really complain about the seat comfort.
Cabin view:
When booking these flights on the AB website, we decided to prebook a meal each for us, my Father and me decided on Currywürst, while my Mother and Grandmother decided on a Mediterranean omelet. The price was about about 6-7 EUR each. As boarding had calmed down the previously mentioned FA approached us to confirm that it was us that had prebooked meals.
Boarding is soon completed and it appears to be quite a good load on today's flight, I'd say a load of 95-100%.
I think the safety demo was done manually. The plane was equipped with overhead LCD's, but I believe they were only used for some cartoons played later during the flight.
We taxied to the same runway I had landed at a little more than a day earlier, 4R, where we preformed a takeoff to the north.
After takeoff we banked to the right and preformed a lazy 360 degree lap, to climb and once again line us up to Berlin.
At the end of this 360 degree turn, I was lucky enough to see all of Venice down below. A very impressive sight.
I was extra happy about this after screwing up by sitting on the wrong side of the plane while landing the day before.
The seatbelt sign was soon turned off and only a few minutes later our meals were delivered. As she handed out the trays she also asked what we would like to drink. I had a fanta, and we also decided to have a small bottle of sekt each for 4 EUR, as it happened to be the brand I had when I graduated, called Henkell Trocken, only a couple of weeks earlier. It was a nice “closing of the circle”, as this trip was also partly to celebrate my graduation.
The meal:
The drinks:
And as you all know, the best way of enjoying bubblywine is above the clouds!
The rest of the flight progressed smoothly, the views of the alps was very limited due to it being quite cloudy though.
The previously mentioned cartoons:
Seatpocket contents:
Company in the sky:
Cabin view to the front:
And to the back:
Soon enough we commenced our descent to Berlin-Tegel, aka “The airport I thought I would never visit again, but I'm still quite glad to visit one more time”.
Once we had lined up to the runway, Berlin appeared on my side of the aircraft, which meant I was once again lucky enough to score a landing on one of the 26's. Just like on what I thought would be my one and only landing at TXL ( Try It Before It's Gone, TXL & Bmi ARN-TXL-LHR-ARN (by deltamartin Jan 9 2012 in Trip Reports) ).
Tempelhof seen in the distance:
Central Berlin, and Tempelhof:
Suddenly during our descent, we banked heavily to the right, showing me Tegel on my side of the airplane. I could also see the plane infront of us, which did not to this maneuver. I can only assume that we did this because we were too close to the plane in front of us.
TXL:
We did a 360 degree turn, while staying at the same height, and we were soon lined up for TXL again.
Berlin, take 2:
We soon touched down on runway 26R.
I always seem to see a Luxair bird when I'm at TXL. Well, 2/2 times so far.
Terminal A:
Hangars:
As breaking was completed and we were down to a reasonable velocity, we vacated the runway on an intersection outside of the hangars, where we quickly crossed the other runway to reach the terminals.
Dedicated to Nils (sorry, I just had to!):
We had landed on time, so our shortish connection of 45 minutes looked safe.
We parked at a remote stand outside of the LH hangar, next to this beauty:
An AB OW-logojet passing by:
We were soon deboarding, and I thanked the FA as I did so. We also got a chocolate heart.
Last views of the plane:
In to the bus we go, and we soon found ourselves being driven to Terminal C.
We leave the bus as we get there where we enter the terminal and head upstairs for flight connections.
We're soon going downstairs again to a horribly crowded airside of TXL Terminal C.
A queue is already forming at our gate, C65, and since there's not a single open seat to spot we decide to join the queue as well.
Boarding is called only a few minutes after, and the queue starts moving forward. Seems like this flight will be quite busy also. We get to go in the second bus.
AB8100
TXL-ARN
Boeing 737-800
D-ABKD
The bus drives to our 738 parked at the far end of the apron outside of Terminal C.
A plane in the new livery this time!
We get greeted by the middle aged female FA working in the front galley.
I have once again a short walk to my seat, as I decided on the same one as on the last flight, 3A.
The seat here is the same model as on my first flight with AB.
Quite comfortable, and with better legroom than on the Germania bird we just flew.
Seatback infront of me:
View out my window:
Boarding was soon completed, a few open seats on this flight, but still a good load at around 85%.
This time the safety demo is played on the overhead screens as we push back. During the flight an airshow is shown on the screens most of the time.
Pushed back:
We taxi to runway 26R where we have to queue a couple of minutes before we can take off.
Niki taking off:
No doubt who dominate TXL:
Our turn to take off:
This flight was rather uneventful, I mostly enjoyed the nice sunset and listened to some good tunes.
Gotta love winglet shots!
On the service round we can choose between a Wasa sandwich or a nutmix, I choose the latter. I wash it down with some sparkling water and fanta.
Cabin view:
The sunset is a quite drawn-out process, since we are traveling northbound:
During the early descent I notice that we are over central Stockholm, as I see Stockholm-Bromma airport, BMA, down below.
Then some northern suburbs follow, this is Täby:
We soon line up ARN's runway 26, where we land without any drama.
We taxi past all the other terminals to reach our gate at T2.
Terminal 2 with an AF and a KL bird, after the recently swapped terminal with DY who now has their international ops in T5.
Docking to the jetway:
We're soon allowed to deboard and I thank the FA's in the forward galley as I do so.
Once in the terminal, I snap a final picture of our plane before we go and grab our bags and then head back to our car in the Lindskrog shuttle.
To sum things up,
Ethiopian was a nice airline, I can't fault their service nor can I fault their crew, and the seat comfort was great. I think they are a good addition to Star Alliance. There are small things that could work better though, such as the slow check-in at ARN (would be easily fixed if they moved over to the SAS check-in hall, but maybe their systems doesn't cooperate good enough for that), the urine smell during boarding and the change of our pre-selected seats for no apparent reason.
The domestic flight on Alitalia was pleasant, on a very nice plane. A small delay but it wasn't an issue. I wouldn't mind try them on another sector another time. Special note to the inefficient check-in process at FCO though.
AB again treated me well, a nice surprise to get a Germania operated bird. The seats were comfortable and the provided service on the second flight was nice. I'm also a fan of being able to prebook a hot meal, thumbs up to that!
FCO was a decent enough airport, I didn't really have time to explore airside much but what I saw was good enough. Stay away from that McDonald's though.
VCE seemed quite nice also, but crowded during peak season. The check-in queue for AB moved way to slow, other than that I can't really find anything worth complaining on.
And TXL, what can I say? Crowded and filthy Terminal C, yet a rather seamless layover. I'm sure it will be better at the new airport, whenever it opens. I'll probably never visit TXL again, but that's what I said last time too.
It was nice to finally visit Rome, but overall the town wasn't really to my liking. It was great to see all these famous landmarks, and I'm sure I'll be back one day though, for whatever reason.
Venice was a unique place and I'm glad I have seen it. The place was far too touristy and expensive though for being a good place to stay for any longer period though. I won't return anytime soon.
Thank you all for reading my tripreport, any comment or feedback is appreciated.
My next report (which I hope should be up soonish) will cover the FlyBe route BMA-OSL, my first flight on WF, and a couple of SK Airbuses.
LH4116 From Sweden, joined Aug 2007, 1672 posts, RR: 15 Reply 4, posted (9 months 3 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 10061 times:
Hejsan Martin, nice report!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): A flight was found for 13th of June, at 80 EUR on the Ethiopian webpage, but we decided that the SK webpage was the better option for some 25 or so EUR more.
I've heard that ET have had some major issues with their webpage, but still I'm sure it would've been bookable through an online travel agent for the same €80 rather than paying the extra €25 for booking via SAS.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): For some reason though, our EuroBonus numbers weren't in the system, despite adding them when booking, so the agent again entered them into the system.
Seems to be a reoccurring problem, and quite strange since they use SAS as ground handler.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Once at the lounge we're accepted to the Scandinavian lounge without any problems,
Nice, were you able to guest the whole family as EBG?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): we did after all have a passport check to pass before reaching our gate (since our ET flight is continuing to ADD), and with an elder in our group it wouldn't be wise to wait until last minute either.
Nice that you remembered the passports. A friend of mine who flew the route a few months ago was denied check-in for not bringing his passport. He hadn't done enough research about the flight. Luckily however he managed to get a temporary passport for 2000 SEK + some expensive taxi rides. From what it seems, many people do the same mistake when flying ET on the route, so maybe it was time to have that FCO stopover removed
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I can imagine that they are great for day flights and not the best for a night flight.
Were the seats the red recliners, similar to the old UA Business Class?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The service round also took it's sweet time, likely due to the good load on today's flight (I can see why they are making this a nonstop!
Operating a 757 with maximum load at its maximum range is not really economic for the airline. I hope they decide to upgrade the route to a 767 soon
That's strange considering they also offer spirits for free. Maybe she thought you were under the legal drinking age?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I noticed someone pointing a green laser on us. It's probably not dangerous at this height and from that angle, but still a very unnecessary and idiotic thing to do.
In many countries that's illegal, and classified as sabotage against air traffic. But finding the crook would be difficult...
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): As we only had three nights in Rome, one of which we would be arriving late and one of which we would depart early, we decided that we might as well stay at a hotel close to the airport.
Wow that's a good choice, if it included free shuttle and all! Also given the high hotel prices in Rome, I suppose it must've been a bargain in comparison
Knightsofmalta From Malta, joined Nov 2005, 1415 posts, RR: 17 Reply 5, posted (9 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 9835 times:
Hi Martin
Nice one. Looks like you and your family had a good time in Italy. It's also very nice of you, if I might add, to ask your granny where she would like to go, when in fact the trip was to celebrate your graduation. Which reminds me, congratulations on that! May I ask what you graduated in?
But on to the report...
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Some time during the spring AZ changed the schedule for our FCO-VCE flight by some 20 minutes or so, and just like Palmjet experienced with AZ recently, they both called and emailed us to make sure we were aware of the schedule change.
Really? Could it be that after so many years Alitalia has finally realised that customer service is not just a myth?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The Scandinavian Lounge at Arlanda is nice, but as I have noticed during my limited visits, it can be quite busy during peak hours. Still, the food and drinks offers are nice, and the seating is comfortable.
Yeah, lately that seems to be the case with most of the Star Alliance lounges I find. Even so, the Scandinavian lounge is ARN is a lovely.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The seat was a very comfortable leather one, with a nice amount of legroom. Each seat had a pillow and a blanket provided.
From the pictures you took it looks as though generally speaking, ET take good care of their aircraft. Even the loo looks acceptable.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The flight was probably 100% full in Economy, as I didn't spot a single open seat.
No wonder ARN will receive an nonstop again.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Next we find ourselves in the arrival hall. As we only had three nights in Rome, one of which we would be arriving late and one of which we would depart early, we decided that we might as well stay at a hotel close to the airport. We decided on the Hilton Rome Airport hotel, mainly due to it's very good location with walking bridges all the way from the terminals to the hotel curbside.
Such a beautiful clean wing. The name of the airlines is so stylish.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I snap a lot of pictures of the beautiful MD80 as I exit the aircraft, I was glad to see that the dirt was concentrated around the door, and the rest of the fuselage was as clean as ever.
Ah, la bellissima! What I like about Alitalia is how they always refer to the MD-80 as 'la Super Ottanta' - the Super 80.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Once at Venice airport, we grabbed some food at an airport restaurant.
Looks rather tasty!
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 2): At the end of this 360 degree turn, I was lucky enough to see all of Venice down below. A very impressive sight.
767747 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 1750 posts, RR: 26 Reply 8, posted (9 months 3 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 9126 times:
Good report on your travels around Europe!
Wow, how amazing to get such a plentiful meal on your Ethiopian Airlines flight. I remember the good ol' days when we'd receive a meal like that on a flight between New York and Miami in Coach on a 757!
Air Berlin looks like a good airline; I've read a lot about them, I wouldn't mind flying them sometime.
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6082 posts, RR: 56 Reply 9, posted (9 months 3 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 8786 times:
Hej Martin !
Thanks for a great report with very nice pictures !
Great to see you try to ET flight ARN-FCO and very nice that you spent some time there as well. There's a lot to see but people are much friendlier elsewhere in Italy. I spent my 10th birthday in Rome in 1976....so a while back.....
McDonald's at FCO is great...at least for spotting. Perfect location. Spent a few hours there about ten days before you.
Good to hear that you went to Venice as well; I stayed at a similar (same?) hotel in 1988 and Venice is something everyone should see at least once.
You had some great flights and ET looks the best here. Extra bonus to get an extra carrier in Germania on the way back!
Too bad you lost a lot of the pictures but it means you need to go back to the Vatican again!
Looking forward to your next report!
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1173 posts, RR: 29 Reply 10, posted (9 months 3 weeks 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 8539 times:
Hello Martin,
Nice one my friend! The ET 757 obviously being the highlight here with the classic cabin. The brown seats look ugly as hell but I’m glad the seating comfort was quite good. Strange to see a galley in the midst of the aircraft, never seen that before on a 757. It does make it feel a bit more widebody-esque, doesn’t it. The AZ MD is of course an equally nice catch, that green interior is just fabulous imho! Concerning AB, I will be having my first encounter with this airline in 2 weeks time, going widebody to PMI in holiday season, am I crazy
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): but we decided that the SK webpage was the better option for some 25 or so EUR more.
Any reason to that? So you could enter your EB number?
Let me correct that: ‘do not ever go to McDonald’s for whatever meal’
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The seatbelt sign was later turned off, and shortly after the crew begun the service run. Which consisted of Coffee, Tea and water.
Yes indeed! I wouldn’t mind a drawing like that on my living room floor.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I was lucky enough to see all of Venice down below. A very impressive sight.
Pardon me my ignorance but is Venice city an island?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Soon enough we commenced our descent to Berlin-Tegel, aka “The airport I thought I would never visit again, but I'm still quite glad to visit one more time”.
I also thought I’d never visit TXL again, but in the meanwhile I have. For only a few minutes though
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): The service round also took it's sweet time, likely due to the good load on today's flight (I can see why they are making this a nonstop!
How many passengers were ADD-bound - any estimation?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): But around an hour after takeoff the cart reached our row, and we could chose between vegetarian or fish. I chose the fish. It was salmon with potatoes, served together with a salad, a bun with soft cheese and a carrot-cake.
That meal looks really nice!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Shortly after the meal there was a drinks run, I asked for the Ethiopian beer I had read about on a couple of other trip reports, but the FA just said no when I asked if they had any, so I decided on some Sprite and sparkling water instead.
BA319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8263 posts, RR: 56 Reply 12, posted (9 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 8333 times:
Hi Martin,
Nice read, thanks for posting.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Some time during the spring AZ changed the schedule for our FCO-VCE flight by some 20 minutes or so, and just like Palmjet experienced with AZ recently, they both called and emailed us to make sure we were aware of the schedule change.
- Seems AZ have a consistent service standard here, good to know.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Row 32 are located in a mini cabin behind a galley/lavatories located at a couple of emergency exits mid-cabin. As one passed by these lavatories one could clearly smell urine. This smell was noticeable in the entire mini-cabin.
- Yuck! - quite revolting!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): around an hour after takeoff the cart reached our row, and we could chose between vegetarian or fish. I chose the fish. It was salmon with potatoes, served together with a salad, a bun with soft cheese and a carrot-cake.
- Not a bad looking meal, if I was picky I'd suggest the carrots were a tad overcooked.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I'd estimate that we were around 20-30 people with Rome as our final destination
- Wow, I never expected that many to be continuing on to ADD.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 13, posted (9 months 3 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 8187 times:
Nice report Martin!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): In the late fall of 2011, I happened to spend a weekend with my grandmother. During this weekend I asked her if there were any cities in Europe that she had always wanted to visit but never gotten around going to. She quickly responded with ”Rome.” and a second later she added ”and Venice.”
It's great when you can when you can magic a trip out of thin air!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Some time during the spring AZ changed the schedule for our FCO-VCE flight by some 20 minutes or so, and just like Palmjet experienced with AZ recently, they both called and emailed us to make sure we were aware of the schedule change.
Good service was AZ!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
I sat down at my newly assigned 32 K (I originally had 32L, next to me, grrrr!)
Annoying! Still, you got the window in the end
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I chose the fish. It was salmon with potatoes, served together with a salad, a bun with soft cheese and a carrot-cake.
Looks great for an intra-EU flight
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Turns out that choosing a seat on the left hand side was a bad idea, as the views on the right hand side were supposed to be great on this approach.
Shame you missed that great approach. Good that you got it on the return though
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter):
The first thing we did was to go to our hotel to leave our bags, we stayed at Hotel Città Di Milano, which we chose due to its central location (around 3 minutes to Piazza San Marco by foot).
I stayed there! Rather basic hotel, but great loaction!
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 14, posted (9 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 8127 times:
Hi everyone!
Thanks alot for all comments already!
Quoting OA260 (Reply 3): I love the AZ Green interiors on those MDs . Enjoy them while they last !
Indeed, I'm glad to have catched a ride on the classic AZ MD80!
Quoting OA260 (Reply 3):
Thanks MSC have lovely ships and interiors but sadly the food onboard leaves much to be desired.
Ah okay, good to know! I'd love to do a mediterranean cruise one day!
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4): I've heard that ET have had some major issues with their webpage, but still I'm sure it would've been bookable through an online travel agent for the same %u20AC80 rather than paying the extra %u20AC25 for booking via SAS.
Well with SAS we also got a higher booking class with 100% EB earning, we had a SAS ticketnumber, for easier rebooking in case ET would remove the FCO stop which was rumored already when booking, and we could add our EB numbers on the SAS webpage, which wasn't possible on ET's at the time.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4):
Nice, were you able to guest the whole family as EBG?
Yup, I guess I could just since it's an SAS lounge, as the official rules says 1 guest when it's a Star Alliance flight.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4): Nice that you remembered the passports. A friend of mine who flew the route a few months ago was denied check-in for not bringing his passport. He hadn't done enough research about the flight. Luckily however he managed to get a temporary passport for 2000 SEK some expensive taxi rides. From what it seems, many people do the same mistake when flying ET on the route, so maybe it was time to have that FCO stopover removed
Ouch! Those temporary passports sure can come in handy sometimes!
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4):
Were the seats the red recliners, similar to the old UA Business Class?
Yeah, I'm fairly certain it was that model.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4):
That's strange considering they also offer spirits for free. Maybe she thought you were under the legal drinking age?
Nah, I got the impression that she just didn't have it in her cart or they don't serve that beer brand in Economy.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4): Wow that's a good choice, if it included free shuttle and all! Also given the high hotel prices in Rome, I suppose it must've been a bargain in comparison
I wasn't really involved in the booking of the hotel (other than recommending us to stay at the airport for the aforementioned reasons), but I think it was quite a good price for a hotel with such quality, compared to the same in central Rome.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4): I assume the city was safe for tourism, etc?
I didn't feel unsafe, but as usual with big cities there's the risk of pickpocketing etc, which i think is quite a big problem in Rome.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4):
That looks just like Malpensa!
Indeed, the check-in halls of both T1 and T3 has many similarities to MXP!
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 5): Which reminds me, congratulations on that! May I ask what you graduated in?
Thanks, William! I graduated from a Space Technology education at Rymdgymnasiet, or Upper Secondary School of Space Technology as it's called in English.
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 5): Really? Could it be that after so many years Alitalia has finally realised that customer service is not just a myth?
Hopefully! At least I can not testify to have seen any of the horror stories of the "old Alitalia".
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 5): From the pictures you took it looks as though generally speaking, ET take good care of their aircraft. Even the loo looks acceptable.
Indeed, the only complaint is the smell during boarding.
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 5):
Such a beautiful clean wing. The name of the airlines is so stylish.
Yeah, but I remember that the chicken was very dry and without any sauce, which I didn't like!
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 6): Always great to try out a fifth freedom route. They're now flying direct ARN-ADD aren't they?
Indeed, I'm glad I got to try ET before they canceled the route.
Quoting LondonCity (Reply 7): I've often wondered why Italian airports lack the beauty of their home country.
Take the ATC tower at FCO as an example
True, and good point! Not even the newer terminals within the country is very good looking.
Quoting 767747 (Reply 8): Wow, how amazing to get such a plentiful meal on your Ethiopian Airlines flight.
Indeed, I guess it was due to it being a segment of a long haul flight.
Quoting 767747 (Reply 8):
Air Berlin looks like a good airline; I've read a lot about them, I wouldn't mind flying them sometime.
Yeah, shorthaul they are a nice carrier, I haven't heard to good things about their longhaul product though! But I think their new product are rather good too.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 9): McDonald's at FCO is great...at least for spotting. Perfect location.
The Landside McD at T3 was great, I also spent some time there! The airside T1 one might have good views too, that's true, the area was blocked off during my visit though.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 9): Venice is something everyone should see at least once.
True.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 9):
Too bad you lost a lot of the pictures but it means you need to go back to the Vatican again!
Also true! And I'm sure I will be back one day.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 10): Strange to see a galley in the midst of the aircraft, never seen that before on a 757. It does make it feel a bit more widebody-esque, doesn%u2019t it
Yeah it does indeed!
Quoting sultanils (Reply 10): Concerning AB, I will be having my first encounter with this airline in 2 weeks time, going widebody to PMI in holiday season, am I crazy
Now that's sounds exiting! I'm looking forward to read about it!
Quoting sultanils (Reply 10):
Any reason to that? So you could enter your EB number?
That was one of tne reasons, the others being that it was a higher booking class giving more points, and that it would be booked with a SAS ticketnumber, which would have made things easier in case ET would have canceled the FCO stop before our flight.
Nope, sadly. Only liquids for service on our flight.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 10): Pardon me my ignorance but is Venice city an island?
The city center (the famous part with channels on the streets) is spread out on a group of islands surrounded by water, the city of Venice extends to the mainland too, though.
I'm not good at defining whether a Ginger Ale is good or not, but lately I have become more and more fond of the drink, so I can say that I truly enjoyed it!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 11): How many passengers were ADD-bound - any estimation?
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6082 posts, RR: 56 Reply 15, posted (9 months 3 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 8031 times:
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 4): Were the seats the red recliners, similar to the old UA Business Class?
Those pictured are economy seats and were never featured as Business seats on UA. UA had similar but wider seats in domestic first a long time ago but they went away over ten years ago with the DC-10s.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
CaptainRed From Germany, joined Oct 2010, 578 posts, RR: 19 Reply 17, posted (9 months 3 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 7713 times:
Hi Martin,
excellent report here, nice pictures as well from Rome and Venice. Great to read something about that ET 5th freedom flight. It seems to be a really enjoyable flight, exotic airline, good service, plus a 757 which is always nice. Just a shame that you missed that Ethiopian beer, didn't they have beer at all on board, since you ordered a Sprite instead? (Btw that can looked cool)
The rest of the trip covered some quite familiar things for me. Having done the FCO-VCE run earlier this year as well, although on easyjet, which certainly wasn't as interesting as the AZ Mad Dog, which is definitely an interesting bird. Just how can you choose a seat on the left side for this flight, think you haven't done your homework properly here ? But then at least you got a nice shot of Venice during departure.
Well done to take the boat shuttle from the airport, even though it is rather expensive, but you have to do that for the experience. Finally two solid flights with AB, the Germania operated plane certainly a plus.
infodesk From Switzerland, joined May 2006, 1241 posts, RR: 34 Reply 18, posted (9 months 3 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 7520 times:
Hi Martin,
What a nice gesture, to visit two places that your grandmother wanted to see. I'm sure she really enjoyed the trip.
How very exotic, catching Ethiopian on a 5th freedom flight. What a nice addition for your log. Good job you managed to get your window seat after all. The meal looks pretty generous too.
Shame that you lost so many of your photos. I would also be really cross about this. Still, at least it wasn't all of them.
Great that you caught the MD80, but doesn't the cabin look dated with all that green and those big seats?! Interesting to hear about your pre-booked meal on AB, I've never done this. As for TXL, yeah, I don't think any of us thought we'd be logging it again!
Happy flying
Infodesk
"Do nothing in haste, look well to each step and from the beginning think what may be the end" - Edward Whymper
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 19, posted (9 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 7089 times:
Hi again, and further thanks for all comments and feedback!
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 16): I'm glad you where able to manage to fly ET.
While looking a bit outdated they sill provide good service.
Indeed, No real complaints except for the check-in and seat hassle.
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 16): Nice you where able to manage to get the MD80
Yeah, I really love those MD's!
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 17): It seems to be a really enjoyable flight, exotic airline, good service, plus a 757 which is always nice.
Yeah, the flight was nice and I can't complain about the service!
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 17): Just a shame that you missed that Ethiopian beer, didn't they have beer at all on board, since you ordered a Sprite instead?
They did have Carlsberg, but I didn't really feel like having a beer, it was more about trying that Ethiopian brand.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 17): Just how can you choose a seat on the left side for this flight, think you haven't done your homework properly here
Indeed, I was stupid, I just thought the left side was the way to go, since we were 4 people and the MD is in a 2-3 configuration!
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 17): Well done to take the boat shuttle from the airport, even though it is rather expensive, but you have to do that for the experience.
Indeed, when in Venice do as the Venetians do!
Quoting infodesk (Reply 18): What a nice gesture, to visit two places that your grandmother wanted to see. I'm sure she really enjoyed the trip.
She claims she did, and I sure did enjoy it too!
Quoting infodesk (Reply 18): How very exotic, catching Ethiopian on a 5th freedom flight. What a nice addition for your log. Good job you managed to get your window seat after all. The meal looks pretty generous too.
Yes, I was pleased with ET and I'm glad how it all turned out!
Quoting infodesk (Reply 18):
Shame that you lost so many of your photos. I would also be really cross about this. Still, at least it wasn't all of them.
Well, due to some unrelated hassle later I almost lost all of these photos plus the ones from two other trips, so I'm glad I managed to get these back.
Quoting infodesk (Reply 18): Great that you caught the MD80, but doesn't the cabin look dated with all that green and those big seats?!
Outdated, yes, but comfortable enough and very clean.
FLIEGER67 From Turkey, joined Sep 2003, 4387 posts, RR: 57 Reply 20, posted (9 months 2 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 6934 times:
Hej, hej, Martin,
great story and pictures, really well done.
I like to see all the places I´ve been myself from you´re point of view. Perfectly interesting.
Shame with the lost pictures, more will be nice.
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2948 posts, RR: 7 Reply 21, posted (9 months 2 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 6716 times:
Hi Martin,
nice report! Since my own travels on ET last year I've been waiting for your report to see how they compare.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): there were two non-stop options between FCO and VCE. Easyjet and Alitalia
I actually like to mix up with planes and trains - no chance to try the Eurostar Italia high speed train on this day?
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): Most people in the queue had loads of luggage, so that's likely the reason for the queues.
Also my impression of my checkins with ET. I even joked with the agent in FRA about it. Seems like many people like to carry their kitchen sink back to Africa!
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): But around an hour after takeoff the cart reached our row, and we could chose between vegetarian or fish
I was impressed with ET catering, even if on my several flights, many of the dishes were remarkably similar.
Quoting deltamartin (Thread starter): I've always had a thing for stadiums and arenas, so this was definitely the highlight of our visit to Rome:
Me too, one of my highlights of Rome, along with the Circus Maximus, or what little remains of it! As an aside, for this reason I tried to get tickets to the Olympics athetics, so see the stadium - on failing, I still managed to get to visit it for a Paralympic athletics event!
Maybe that's McDo in general? Though I do have a soft spot for McDo breakfasts - I even had one myself this morning!
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 1): randomly walking around on the narrow and very Venetian looking streets.
The best thing to do!
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 2): When booking these flights on the AB website, we decided to prebook a meal each for us, my Father and me decided on Currywürst
How was it? Was it worth it, compared to the "free" sandwich or snack that they still serve?
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 22, posted (9 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 6496 times:
Hello again, and thanks alot for the additional feedback!
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 20): great story and pictures, really well done.
Thank you, Markus!
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 20): And special congrats to that superb airliner selection.
Again, thank you! I do my best!
Quoting signol (Reply 21): I actually like to mix up with planes and trains - no chance to try the Eurostar Italia high speed train on this day?
I was considering that option, but when I noticed that the flight was scheduled on the MD80 there's no way a train can win me over!
Quoting signol (Reply 21): Also my impression of my checkins with ET. I even joked with the agent in FRA about it. Seems like many people like to carry their kitchen sink back to Africa!
Oh yes! You should have seen how stressed the poor SK check-in agent at ARN was.
Quoting signol (Reply 21): Maybe that's McDo in general? Though I do have a soft spot for McDo breakfasts - I even had one myself this morning!
Haha! Well, sometimes McD's is perfect, all depending on the situation. With that said, I of course prefer to try local cuisine when I'm traveling.
Quoting signol (Reply 21): How was it? Was it worth it, compared to the "free" sandwich or snack that they still serve?
It was nice, but still "airplane food", so to speak. I'd say it is worth it if one has a flight when it's mealtime, and one does not want to run around chasing food at the airport before departure or after landing.
flightsimboy From Canada, joined Sep 2005, 849 posts, RR: 4 Reply 23, posted (9 months 2 weeks 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 6421 times:
Really enjoyed your trip report like I do the others hat you put on here. It just flowed through so nicely, it encouraged me to not stop reading!! Sorry to hear about your pics in Rome though. That must have been quite a loss. Congrats on your graduation. Keep your nice reports coming from Sweden!!
There's another one in the pipeline and two more in a queue after that.
Martin
25 lukeyboy95: Hi Martin. Congratulations on the graduation - sounds like it should take you to some interesting places in your life ahead. Great little report too a
26 deltamartin: Hi Luke! Thanks for the feedback! Thank you! And hopefully it should. Glad to hear that they were caught and punished accordingly. Yeah, I shall remem
27 airbuseric: Hi Martin, lovely report, interesting airline (ET) and the 757 is a real treat of course! Good choice. They better leave or the calling or the mailing
28 Parton87: Hej Martin! Thanks for the great story. Nice that was able to catch ET to Rome before the start to fly direct to ADD! They looks nice. Generous meal f
29 deltamartin: Hi Eric and Robert! Thanks for commenting! Thanks Eric! The 757 sure is a nice change from the 737's or A320's. I'm glad that the OLCI worked hassle-f
30 adamspotter: Hello there Martin, Great idea to catch the ET fifth freedom ARN-FCO sector, wanted to try that one myself but was already to late as it is now unfort
31 deltamartin: Hi Brendan! Thank you for dropping by! Thanks! I must say, I was quite surprised about that too. Indeed, especially for being intra-Europe. Thanks! An
32 eastafspot: Hey Martin, I am really impressed by your trip report, especially the ET sector between your town and FCO, of course the standards of the other airlin
33 deltamartin: Hey East African Spotter! Thank you! Yeah the sub the usual 757 for a 767 sometimes, but it's not very common. Thanks again! Yeah it could have been m
34 dc9northwest: Hej Martin, Sorry about the delay--but here are my comments on your ET/AZ/AB experience. I did enjoy--thanks very much and it's too bad some pictures
35 deltamartin: Hi Alex! Thanks for the feedback! I must agree, it's nice to get a change from the usual 737's and A320's. I'd have preferred meat or chicken as well,
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