sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1185 posts, RR: 29 Posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 10429 times:
Introduction
Note: I will split this report in 2 parts for your reading comfort This part contains the first 2 of 4 flights taken that day.
The amount of intra-Europe widebody flights is quite scarce. Most flights within Europe and beyond - even medium longhaul ones - are operated by narrowbody aircraft. Sure, there are some nice widebody flights in Europe to get yourself onto: LA, KU, SQ amongst others.
Always on the lookout for something different, I noticed that Air Berlin also does some intra-Europe widebody flights, namely to the popular Spanish holiday island of Palma de Mallorca, operating the A332 and A333. As you may or may not know, tons of tourists of German and other descent fly out to this destination of fun and sun practically all throughout the year. Needless to say that the amount of flights offered ex-Germany is impressive.
While browsing the schedules and fares on AirBerlin.com it became apparent that STR, CGN, MUC, DUS, FRA amongst others were regularly visited by an Air Berlin A330. Seeing STR in that list reminded me of the fact that since May 2012, the Lufthansa route between BRU and STR was given in the hands of Germanwings, which is part as well of the Lufthansa group. Having never ever set foot on a Germanwings plane as well I thought it would be great to combine both Germanwings and Air Berlin to get me to PMI.
Timings were very favorable for a daytrip so a BRU-STR flight with Germanwings was booked for € 47, together with a STR-PMI-BCN flight on Air Berlin - with STR-PMI operated by an A333 - for € 119.
Then 1 thing remained: getting home from BCN to BRU. Brussels Airlines and Vueling both had suitable departures in the evening but the price with Brussels was already skyhigh so I had to settle with Vueling for € 89.
To sum it up: 3 new airlines, 1 new type (A333), 1 new airport (STR) and - more importantly - enough connection time to allow me some relative peace of mind I was also in contact with the founding member of Tripreporter Productions Inc, namely a.netter FLIEGER67, who kindly agreed to a meet and greet at STR.
BRU-STR on Germanwings’ A319
STR-PMI on Air Berlin’s A333
PMI-BCN on Air Berlin’s B738
BCN-BRU on Vueling’s A320
And on a map (thanks to the excellent www.gcmap.com, copyright Karl L Schwartz):
Brussels Airport - BRU
Having done OLCI the day before - Vueling does allow you to check in 7 days in advance and Germanwings 3 days in advance - and with the morning duties duly done I hop on the bike and arrive at my usual parking spot at
o’clock.
The main FIDS - which is of the rolling type, don’t you just love that - shows that all is fine for me right now:
There are not too much people around this morning due to it being Mother’s Day and an official holiday in Belgium so my passage through security is swift and happy. On my way there I see some advertisement that I think fellow a.netter OA260 amongst others will appreciate:
This area will most likely change a lot in the near future as BRU starts another major building project soon called ‘The Connector’:
Some photos of how that’ll look like can be found here. I grab the obligatory bottle of water and a dry croissant to-go and proceed for my usual stroll up and down the terminal. Next to the gate where my flight should be leaving from, sits this one, awaiting that one last passenger. ‘Just a little bit, yes!’ I answer the gate agent when she asks me ‘MAD sir?’ I’ve taken this very flight a few times when traveling to Peru and Mexico on Iberia some years ago:
Must-have-an-A330-in-a-report. Arriving from the J-oF-K, dedicated to FlyingFinn76 and MSS658:
Some interesting advertising here:
A few minutes before schedule, the expected silver-yellow-burgundy A319 turns into the gate:
This brave worker pulls the umbilical cord out of the ground to provide the plane with the needed energy:
The turnaround is pretty quick and by the looks of it, the load will be extremely light this morning.
BRU to STR
4U2161
A319 D-AKNS
STD-STA 8:35-9:40
Y class
seat 25A
A mixed crew of 3 - male, female, black, white - awaits us, not happy not sad, just business friendly as one would say Most people sit near the front of the aircraft, in the so called ‘Best Seat’ zone, but being a hardcore a.netter, I opt for the very last row in the ‘peasant zone’ - which btw FLIEGER67, has a window on this plane. I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
The overall cabin impression is excellent. It hosts the ultrathin Recaro seats, the colours used are pleasant and warm and the legroom is very satisfying:
Next door is a Lufty brother/sister preparing itself for the journey to FRA:
The safety demo is done manually. I get a private one, because the 2nd F/A performing it is standing just behind the very last passenger in the front part of the cabin. So I pay attention like a well behaved school boy.
After that the captain mumbles something about a 55 min flight time and a routing over Liège but that’s all I can understand from his F1 speech.
At T minus 3 we leave the gate:
The last weeks there were some re-surfacing works ongoing at 25R, but due to the dry and good weather these works were ready before schedule. No departure from 02 then, but from the newly surfaced 25R:
The ultralight load sees us lifting off early, fighter jet style!
Banking left after departure so I can take my signature BRU shot:
See you tonight hopefully!
Those who paid quite some money to sit upfront now receive their benefits: a free drink and snack. As I’m seated far away, I can’t tell what I miss out upon but I’m not hungry anyway. Although a cup of tea is more my cup of tea (pun intended), so I order one from when an F/A asks me if she can get me anything. A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer. Hey, that’s 20% more expensive than on SN And the muffin/hot drink combo costs here € 4,80 iso the € 4 on SN. The thought that the home carrier at least has some things right, makes me a bit warmer inside
Here’s the contents of the seat socket, the magazine is not overly interesting:
Being creative with barf bags. No need for a bag this morning as we sail smoothly:
The weather was good in Brussels but underway the sun has a hard time cleaning up the clouds:
But in the final stage of the flight, the conditions improve some:
Life is good in the valley:
And beyond as well:
I chose a righthand side seat to anticipate a 25 arrival and good views of the airport but it seems we’re not doing that as we approach over some hilly terrain from the west for a landing on 7:
20 minutes ahead of schedule we arrive at STR:
Passing by a Cessna farm:
And passing by an ill-fated Contact Air F100. According to FLIEGER67 this one only does 1 MXP run in the morning and 1 in the evening. For the remainder of the day, it sits idle on the tarmac.
Passing by an oryx from the Middle East. This one does an interesting STR-ZRH-DOH routing, but the STR-ZRH leg is only sold in business class. It would’ve been a perfect 5th freedom flight but the flight time is short and prices are steep.
The airport building is no example of contemporary engineering, au contraire:
At last, we make a stop at a remote stand and join the morning meet with a few company planes. Deboarding is pretty fast with this light load:
One last look to this nice machine, a route I will surely fly again at this price!
Stuttgart Airport - STR
I’m landside pretty quickly where I agreed to team up with FLIEGER67, who is indeed awaiting me at arrivals, smartly dressed and all
We hop into FLIEGER67’s car - the weather is nice and warm - and drive to a spotter’s place where we spend some nice time talking this and that and of course watching some departing and arriving traffic. Having about an hour to spare, FLIEGER67 kindly drops me off again at T1. Thanks very much for your time and the meet, the pleasure was mine!
The Air Berlin flight actually leaves from T3 but as I fear that maybe the security lines will be somewhat longer with all these holiday makers on their way to PMI, I decide to take FLIEGER67’s advice and security check myself at T1 instead:
The process is smooth enough and moments later I’m airside again. The terminal is a bit of a mix of building styles, annexes, extras which makes it look somewhat chaotic. This restaurant is integrated in the gate waiting area:
The apron views are not good due to the fact that blinds are lowered to keep the sun out, thus generating a GVA effect. Well, there’s not that much interesting traffic anyway...
Well, apart from this one then, arriving from Varna:
After a short stroll I arrive at T3, which is located at ground level and basically is just a large hall with seats - enough of them - and doors that lead to the apron. LCC style in other words. My flight is the only one that will leave from here in the coming time and by the looks of the number of people around, it’ll be pretty full as I expected:
I set myself aside and watch the show. Lots of kids around and about but for the moment they are relatively quiet At 11:20 - bang on time - I see something big, white and red touching down: she has arrived! Not to my surprise, the plane parks at a remote stand. With a turnaround time of only 45 mins for a full widebody aircraft, I smell trouble ahead.
But surprisingly, the whole boarding affair is fast and organized. People are asked to line up at either the left or right door, depending on their seat number. The staff checks this carefully and turns back those that are in the wrong line.
STR to PMI
AB9388
A333 D-AERQ
STD-STA 12:05-14:00
Y class
seat 9K
When we arrive at the plane, there’s lots going on, the ‘feuerwehr’ is on site, apparently cooling down the brakes with a fan:
A lot of apron workers are present as well, to guide everyone quickly into the aircraft:
‘El Capitan’:
One last look to the apron before setting foot on board:
I feel sorry for the person who has to hammer in all those rivets:
When I step onboard, almost all seats are already taken. This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
The crew is a very mixed bag and appears to be PMI based: quite some older crew members are around and mostly speak Spanish and bad German and worse English. They seem quite disinterested at first and at second as well. That will prove on later in the flight.
The legroom is fairly OK, but for longer flights it could pose a problem. There’s a black (IFE?) box under the seat in front which restricts my legroom somewhat. Overall, the seating comfort is fine but this plane really shows it is old and heavily used:
The housing of the lighting is not transparent anymore:
The German captain comes on the horn and explains the situation with the firemen: cooling down the brakes to speed up our departure. He concludes by saying that everything will be perfectly safe for our flight to PMI. I guess there are quite some nervous flyers on board today.
Well, we are fully ready to go at the expected departure time but once again ATC pins us another 20 mins to our parking spot as we have to wait for our slot.
Meanwhile, them guys are packing up and leaving for another boring day ‘on guard’:
At last, we leave our parking position and head for the departure runway 7.
I wouldn’t mind having something like that in my garage:
We turn onto the runway and fire up immediately:
Bye STR! The takeoff feels quite powerful.
We make a right hand turn immediately. Pictured here is Köngen:
And the airport we’ve just taken off from:
This one’s for Knightsofmalta, you know this airport, don’t you
And obviously, this is GVA:
Less obvious now, here’s NCY:
Meanwhile, we have established cruise and the crew is released to do their duties. A male F/A comes round to take orders for those who would like a hot meal (to be paid for!). As I made an online order for a ‘penne arrabiata’, I feel no need to order a second hot meal. Only a few people make an order though. As the cart is rolled out, there’s a free sandwich with ‘käse’ and something else (I don’t get it because the Spanish F/A distributing the sandwiches has a hard time speaking some proper German) and free drinks. I decline the sandwich offer but ask for some apple juice and water.
Well, the cart passes and people that ordered their hot meal get it delivered quite quickly. But nothing for me... I wait some 10 more minutes but nothing happens. I push the call bell but nothing happens in the next 10 minutes as well. Then the trash is collected by another Spanish F/A. When she passes I ask about my meal:
‘Excuse me, but I have prebooked a meal’, I tell her.
‘It’s coming’, she says with a puzzled look and walks off, only to return within 10 seconds:
‘Did you order on internet’?
‘Yes, I did’.
‘OK, one moment’.
Hmm, I wonder if the order didn’t get through or they didn’t take notice? Eventually my meal reaches me, it is accompanied by a glass of water but there’s no bread like with the other dishes. Before I even have the chance to ask about the bread, the F/A walks off again and I’m left to my own devices.
The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
Now this red sauce and white trousers are not an ideal combo so I try to eat with great care - to which I succeed brilliantly
Meanwhile, we leave the mainland over Marseille and enter the blue golden Med:
Could this be Swiss? Yes, it is!
After the meal, I browse some in the available magazines and meanwhile the crew does a duty free sale:
Soon enough, the captain comes on the horn again and announces we will be landing in about 20 mins. By this time, we have already entered Palma de Mallorcan airspace and before joining in the line of arriving planes we perform a holding loop over the northwest part of the island. This gives some nice views:
Eventually we descend more and the last part of the flight takes us over the dry land area of Mallorca in summertime:
We land 20 minutes late on 24L after 1h40 of air time:
The Air Berlin operation here is really massive:
I’m a bit anxious - yes again - about my connection to BCN as it is now shortened to 40 mins and I’m not even in the terminal yet. I hope for a finger gate arrival to speed things up but to my surprise we are guided to park at a remote stand.
Follow the yellow dotted line and please stop BEFORE the follow-me car
Deboarding is also surprisingly swift, there are 6 buses waiting in half a circle around the aircraft. This appears to be an efficient strategy.
I have still have time for some sunny shots:
You can’t get any closer to a widebody than this...
‘Under the wing, you know’.
P&W powered:
After this last shot I quickly jump into the bus, which brings us to the C terminal - the Air Berlin terminal.
I’ll end this part here.
For now, a few questions still remain...
Will I make the connection to BCN?
What is the % of humidity in the BCN T1?
Are my knees still sore?
There’s more to come so stay tuned!
For now: thanks for reading!
As far as I know they don't have any traffic rights, also not for business class. Do you have any information on where C class could be booked? (Not on the QR site, ITA Software also doesn't show it...)
palmjet From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 1051 posts, RR: 16 Reply 2, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 10054 times:
Hi Nils
Great first part of your recent trip to PMI.
I nice combination of flights too by the look of it.
The cabins of the Germanwings aircraft you took looks very different to the flight I took with them back in 2004 to CGN. Back then, no recaro seats and terrible non existent legroom. Thank goodness the flight from LGW to CGN was short - I nearly could not feel my legs when I got there.
Lovely to see PMI again too in your pics - what a great way to arrive there. Yes, AB have such an impressive operation there - I remember seeing rows and rows of AB on the ground there.
Sorry the inflight service seemed pretty average on the 333 - still, nice to get a widebody intra Europe so thanks for bringing us part 1!
RvXKaz From Singapore, joined Apr 2011, 184 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 9976 times:
Hey Nils!!
Very pleasant surprise to see your latest flight TR up so soon! Its very interesting to read about your experience on AB - as you've mentioned, there are so few intra-European flights on widebody aircraft! Really nice that you've managed to score this one, a real Mother's Day treat to yourself indeed! haha...
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The amount of intra-Europe widebody flights is quite scarce. Most flights within Europe and beyond - even medium longhaul ones - are operated by narrowbody aircraft.
Its tragic actually, especially when compared to Asia!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I noticed that Air Berlin also does some intra-Europe widebody flights, namely to the popular Spanish holiday island of Palma de Mallorca, operating the A332 and A333. As you may or may not know, tons of tourists of German and other descent fly out to this destination of fun and sun practically all throughout the year.
The lucky Germans! haha..
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): To sum it up: 3 new airlines, 1 new type (A333), 1 new airport (STR) and - more importantly - enough connection time to allow me some relative peace of mind
You've planned very, very well!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Vueling does allow you to check in 7 days in advance and Germanwings 3 days in advance
Very interesting to note, 7 days in advance is very generous! My impression is that most airlines only allow up to 48 hours in advance so even Germanwings' 3 days is not shabby either!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): There are not too much people around this morning due to it being Mother’s Day and an official holiday in Belgium
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
That's a really empty flight!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The safety demo is done manually. I get a private one, because the 2nd F/A performing it is standing just behind the very last passenger in the front part of the cabin. So I pay attention like a well behaved school boy.
haha, very, very nice and special in a way.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Banking left after departure so I can take my signature BRU shot:
Great spectacular scenes during take-off!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This one does an interesting STR-ZRH-DOH routing, but the STR-ZRH leg is only sold in business class. It would’ve been a perfect 5th freedom flight but the flight time is short and prices are steep.
Wow, I'm surprised that QR flies to STR, let alone STR-ZRH! Thank you for the enlightenment! Nice to see that they have 5th freedom rights, hopefully they will bring fares down soon.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): A lot of apron workers are present as well, to guide everyone quickly into the aircraft:
Looks like everyone is appropriately-dressed for a nice holiday in Spain!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The crew is a very mixed bag and appears to be PMI based: quite some older crew members are around and mostly speak Spanish and bad German and worse English. They seem quite disinterested at first and at second as well. That will prove on later in the flight.
Wow, I'm actually very surprised to hear Air Berlin has Spanish crew, and Spanish crew who speak bad German as a matter of fact. Having crew from a foreign nationality is one thing but not being able to speak the language is atrocious!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): We make a right hand turn immediately. Pictured here is Köngen:
Beautiful scenes, even more beautiful than the spectacular take-off from BRU in fact!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Hmm, I wonder if the order didn’t get through or they didn’t take notice? Eventually my meal reaches me, it is accompanied by a glass of water but there’s no bread like with the other dishes. Before I even have the chance to ask about the bread, the F/A walks off again and I’m left to my own devices.
Gosh, sorry to hear about the service lapse. They really need to brush up on their service delivery.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Now this red sauce and white trousers are not an ideal combo so I try to eat with great care - to which I succeed brilliantly
haha, nice to hear your trousers were safe! Did it taste good and just curious, how much was it? Its quite interesting to have a hot meal on an intra-European route.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): By this time, we have already entered Palma de Mallorcan airspace and before joining in the line of arriving planes we perform a holding loop over the northwest part of the island. This gives some nice views:
Lovely views indeed. Looks like a nice holiday awaits your fellow passengers from the flight!
Was the flight full? How long was the flight actually, from STR to PMI?
Anyway, great TR and a lovely first half of your Mother's Day treat! Quite a breath of fresh air to see your experience on a widebody A330 after a string of narrowbodies previously! Thanks very much for sharing!
Bests,
Gavin
They say that I'm a dreamer. But I'd only Dreamt Skyward.
jwhite9185 From United Kingdom, joined May 2007, 721 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 9869 times:
Nice report there with some good pictures. Always amazes me to see all these European airlines with the same style seats these days - just with a different cover on depending on the operator.
Look forward to reading about the rest of your journey.
BZNPilot From Belgium, joined Feb 2006, 257 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 9781 times:
Hi Nils, great report covering your journey so far! A nice itinerary you pieced together, too, getting the widebody on a European route.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Seeing STR in that list reminded me of the fact that since May 2012, the Lufthansa route between BRU and STR was given in the hands of Germanwings, which is part as well of the Lufthansa group. Having never ever set foot on a Germanwings plane as well I thought it would be great to
That reminds me, I need to give Germanwings a try also on the STR route as well, sometime.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): To sum it up: 3 new airlines, 1 new type (A333), 1 new airport (STR) and - more importantly - enough connection time to allow me some relative peace of mind
FLIEGER67 From Turkey, joined Sep 2003, 4390 posts, RR: 57 Reply 7, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 9697 times:
Hey, Nils,
what a great story and idea behind, well done.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): hardcore a.netter, I opt for the very last row in the ‘peasant zone’ - which btw FLIEGER67, has a window on this plane.
Lucky you with this ex US-Air plane, much better legroom than on the newer examples.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter):
And passing by an ill-fated Contact Air F100. According to FLIEGER67 this one only does 1 MXP run in the morning and 1 in the evening. For the remainder of the day, it sits idle on the tarmac.
Sad but so it is. DUS and MXP are the only Contact flights now.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Passing by an oryx from the Middle East. This one does an interesting STR-ZRH-DOH routing, but the STR-ZRH leg is only sold in business class. It would’ve been a perfect 5th freedom flight but the flight time is short and prices are steep.
And it´s my fault with the traffic rights about QR´s STR-ZRH.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter):
I’m landside pretty quickly where I agreed to team up with FLIEGER67, who is indeed awaiting me at arrivals, smartly dressed and all
Hey, you know this was a standard biz day, at least in Baden-Württemberg!.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): We hop into FLIEGER67’s car - the weather is nice and warm - and drive to a spotter’s place where we spend some nice time talking this and that and of course watching some departing and arriving traffic. Having about an hour to spare, FLIEGER67 kindly drops me off again at T1. Thanks very much for your time and the meet, the pleasure was mine!
Exactly my pleasure, you know.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Now this red sauce and white trousers are not an ideal combo so I try to eat with great care - to which I succeed brilliantly
rogerbcn From Andorra, joined Sep 2006, 1135 posts, RR: 19 Reply 8, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 9669 times:
Hola Nils!
Nice to follow your report so fast on line.
Great to see your adventures through STR and PMI, and great to catch one of those big ones to fly to PMI.
I have just arrived back from BCN T1 where I said my goodbyes to some friends going to PMI. I have been lucky enough to see the landing of SQ B777 from GRU and the two hour delayed departure of QR to DOH and I noticed the answer to your question.
CaptainRed From Germany, joined Oct 2010, 578 posts, RR: 19 Reply 9, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 9655 times:
Hi Nils,
nice first part of your report, great idea to catch the A330 on this route. And looks like you got a very reasonable fare for this flight, after all it is main holiday season in Germany, and with Mallorca being the "17th state of Germany" you can really expect a full load on this route. I also checked out this flight occasionally, but never found any good fares.
Great that you could even include a small a.net meeting with Markus, well done. Did you go to this currywurst place on the other side of the airport near the cargo apron?
Hey, cool, this one took me from STR to FCO earlier this year.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Wow, that's a very low load, good for you, but bad for the airline.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): When we arrive at the plane, there’s lots going on, the ‘feuerwehr’ is on site, apparently cooling down the brakes with a fan:
Interesting, never seen this. Nice from the captain that he explained it afterwards.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy
Looks nice, and indeed a good sized portion. But sorry to read that the service left a lot to be desired. After all when you take the effort to even pre-order a meal they should be a bit more organized and have the meal delivered to you quickly. Most likely you were the only one on board to have a meal pre-ordered.
Now looking forward to read about your Vueling experience.
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6190 posts, RR: 79 Reply 10, posted (9 months 1 week 1 day ago) and read 9546 times:
Hi Nils,
great report with very good pictures, well done! Congratulations on getting on AB's A333. D-AERQ is scheduled to leave the fleet in December, btw. I don't know how long the last A333 will remain in the fleet, though.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The amount of intra-Europe widebody flights is quite scarce. Most flights within Europe and beyond - even medium longhaul ones - are operated by narrowbody aircraft. Sure, there are some nice widebody flights in Europe to get yourself onto: LA, KU, SQ amongst others.
Not to forget about TK which sends A332s, A333s, A343s and even 77Ws to CDG, DUS, FRA, LHR and other European destinations regularly. Well, of course these may be replaced by smaller types on short notice.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter):
While browsing the schedules and fares on AirBerlin.com it became apparent that STR, CGN, MUC, DUS, FRA amongst others were regularly visited by an Air Berlin A330.
They even send them to NUE - which means a lot!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter):
Timings were very favorable for a daytrip so a BRU-STR flight with Germanwings was booked for € 47, together with a STR-PMI-BCN flight on Air Berlin - with STR-PMI operated by an A333 - for € 119.
Good deal!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Wow, that's really low. I'll fly DTM-MUC on 4U next month.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Next door is a Lufty brother/sister preparing itself for the journey to FRA:
That seems to be D-AIBH which is the newest A319 in the fleet - when did you make that trip?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Passing by an oryx from the Middle East. It would’ve been a perfect 5th freedom flight but the flight time is short and prices are steep.
It's better to try QR on a longer flight!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
Well, it's a veteran from 1996.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The legroom is fairly OK, but for longer flights it could pose a problem.
The A333s aren't used on long-haul flights any more.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The crew is a very mixed bag and appears to be PMI based: quite some older crew members are around and mostly speak Spanish and bad German and worse English.
That's very odd. FAs on a German plane should be able to speak proper German.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
Yes indeed, that doesn't look nice at all.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter):
Now this red sauce and white trousers are not an ideal combo so I try to eat with great care - to which I succeed brilliantly
Good. But why do you wear white trousers on a trip???
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I’m a bit anxious - yes again - about my connection to BCN as it is now shortened to 40 mins and I’m not even in the terminal yet. I hope for a finger gate arrival to speed things up but to my surprise we are guided to park at a remote stand.
debonair From Germany, joined Jan 2004, 2098 posts, RR: 4 Reply 11, posted (9 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 9415 times:
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The amount of intra-Europe widebody flights is quite scarce. ... Sure, there are some nice widebody flights in Europe to get yourself onto: LA, KU, SQ amongst others.
Ever thought about the AerLingus A330 route to AGP? Not to forget the British charter airlines/aircraft like Monarch A300, Thomson Airways B767, Thomas Cook UK B767... What about an EI A330 / ZB A300 AGP day trip combo??
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I noticed that Air Berlin also does some intra-Europe widebody flights, namely to the popular Spanish holiday island of Palma de Mallorca, operating the A332 and A333.
This year AB is operating 3 versions to Mallorca, A330-300 all Economy, A330-200 all Economy and A330-200 with BusinessClass (cool if you catch a C-seat for Y-fare!).
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The overall cabin impression is excellent. It hosts the ultrathin Recaro seats, the colours used are pleasant and warm and the legroom is very satisfying:
This A319 is an ex US AIRWAYS A319- have a closer look, the bulkhead is still with US carpet covered!
Quoting palmjet (Reply 2): Back then, no recaro seats and terrible non existent legroom.
Oh really? Well it’s 8 years later and things seem to have improved. I felt like I was on a LH plane, comfort and legroom wise that is.
Quoting palmjet (Reply 2): I remember seeing rows and rows of AB on the ground there.
It’s still the same as far as the eye can see.
Quoting palmjet (Reply 2): Sorry the inflight service seemed pretty average on the 333
The service was really miss...and miss. Not too happy about that but I guess the full majority of my fellow pax didn’t care as they were in a holiday mood!
Quoting palmjet (Reply 2): still, nice to get a widebody intra Europe
Indeed and that was the main reason for this trip.
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Very pleasant surprise to see your latest flight TR up so soon!
Thanks, I did my uttermost best to give you a.netters some reading stuff for the weekend
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): a real Mother's Day treat to yourself indeed!
Yes and I left a small gift for the wife back home so she was happy as well! That’s a win-win situation lol!
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Its tragic actually, especially when compared to Asia!
You guys are really spoiled, you know
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): You've planned very, very well!
Well, I was one happy camper when I puzzled this booking together. I’m glad it worked out fine. Oh wait, you haven’t seen part II yet
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Very interesting to note, 7 days in advance is very generous! My impression is that most airlines only allow up to 48 hours in advance so even Germanwings' 3 days is not shabby either!
Ryanair and easyJet are even more generous in that aspect... but they don’t have reserved seating so it’s a bit different.
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Nice to see that they have 5th freedom rights
Well, I’m sorry to have to tell you that this is actually not true sadly enough... I was wrong
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Looks like everyone is appropriately-dressed for a nice holiday in Spain!
Yes, a plane load full with fashionistas!
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Wow, I'm actually very surprised to hear Air Berlin has Spanish crew, and Spanish crew who speak bad German as a matter of fact. Having crew from a foreign nationality is one thing but not being able to speak the language is atrocious!
You can say that again. And it’s only the language issue, the whole service was a bit of a miss if you ask me. But I guess most of the pax didn’t care...
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): They really need to brush up on their service delivery.
They indeed have to. Promise on the website and deliver in the plane. Make it work guys!
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Did it taste good and just curious, how much was it?
The taste was rather OK, a bit on the spicy side. The price was € 9 iirc...
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 3): Was the flight full? How long was the flight actually, from STR to PMI?
I did not check the other cabin parts, but I guess it was full or nearly full. The flight time was 1h40min.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 9): And looks like you got a very reasonable fare for this flight, after all it is main holiday season in Germany, and with Mallorca being the "17th state of Germany" you can really expect a full load on this route. I also checked out this flight occasionally, but never found any good fares.
Lucky for me, this day was a public holiday in Belgium and the fare was the better one I could find. And indeed in full holiday season so needless to say I booked it without any delay.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 9): Did you go to this currywurst place on the other side of the airport near the cargo apron?
No, but I have seen it. It’s an Essbahn as well, right?
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 9): Hey, cool, this one took me from STR to FCO earlier this year.
Really? Nice coincidence. So I guess you were happy with the cabin comfort as well?
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 9): Interesting, never seen this. Nice from the captain that he explained it afterwards.
Neither have I, but I think it raised some (safety) questions with the pax so the cpt did a good job in explaining what was going on. At first I thought we would be heavily delayed but lucky no such thing.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 9): After all when you take the effort to even pre-order a meal they should be a bit more organized and have the meal delivered to you quickly. Most likely you were the only one on board to have a meal pre-ordered.
Exactly my point. At least they should read the manifest and notice my reservation in the booking.
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 10): D-AERQ is scheduled to leave the fleet in December, btw.
Oh, is it really? Good thing then I was able to fly that one! The other possibility would have been D-AERK.
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 10): Not to forget about TK which sends A332s, A333s, A343s and even 77Ws to CDG, DUS, FRA, LHR and other European destinations regularly.
Indeed, in fact the list is almost endless . But pricewise, this was a good option nonetheless.
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 10): The A333s aren't used on long-haul flights any more.
A browse on data.flight324.com revealed that this particular aircraft did a DUS-AUH rotation some weeks ago. Probably a sub?
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 10): FAs on a German plane should be able to speak proper German.
At least!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 10): But why do you wear white trousers on a trip???
Hey, that’s my comfy summer gear. And besides: I was in a holiday mood so one has to dress himself appropriately
Quoting debonair (Reply 11): Ever thought about the AerLingus A330 route to AGP? Not to forget the British charter airlines/aircraft like Monarch A300, Thomson Airways B767, Thomas Cook UK B767... What about an EI A330 / ZB A300 AGP day trip combo??
I’ve thought about all those as well but schedule and price were most suitable for this one You’re right, there’s plenty more to discover!
Quoting debonair (Reply 11): This A319 is an ex US AIRWAYS A319- have a closer look, the bulkhead is still with US carpet covered!
I did notice there was carpet on the lower part of the side wall but I didn’t see the buklhead.
infodesk From Switzerland, joined May 2006, 1241 posts, RR: 34 Reply 14, posted (9 months 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 8879 times:
Hi Nils,
Wow, how fast are you at writing your reports? I very much enjoyed this one, particularly as flew PMI-ZRH on the A333 2 years ago and it was a trip I have happy memories of. AB's A333 comes to ZRH 3 times a week in summer, although last week one flight was operated by a 747 of Pullmantur Air, how exciting would that have been? Great photos of Majorca from the air that you took.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The main FIDS - which is of the rolling type, don’t you just love that -
I love them, a shame they are becoming such a rare sight.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): There are not too much people around this morning due to it being Mother’s Day
You have Mother's Day in August? March in England, May over here....
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): peasant zone’ - which btw FLIEGER67, has a window on this plane. I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Lucky you, my last row peasant zone seat on my only 4U flight had no window.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer.
That's quite steep. The tea on EZY may not be any cheaper, but you do get a big cup.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): For the remainder of the day, it sits idle on the tarmac.
Sad, isn't it? The planes used on the routes in & out of ZRH always seem to be working hard.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This one does an interesting STR-ZRH-DOH routing, but the STR-ZRH leg is only sold in business class. It would’ve been a perfect 5th freedom flight but the flight time is short and prices are steep.
If only! I've tried and tried, no traffic rights and no exceptions for staff
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
I quite liked the absence of the overhead bins in the middle. It creates a feeling of space.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): be PMI based: quite some older crew members are around and mostly speak Spanish and bad German and worse English. They seem quite disinterested at first and at second as well. That will prove on later in the flight.
Interesting. The crew on my flight were DUS based and I found them all to be very friendly.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This one’s for Knightsofmalta, you know this airport, don’t you
Nice shot, it's featured in my log a few times as well!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
Looks quite tasty, but the long wait you had was unacceptable.
I'm intrigued to know how your transfer in PMI was.....!
Happy flying
Infodesk
"Do nothing in haste, look well to each step and from the beginning think what may be the end" - Edward Whymper
mloew From Germany, joined Oct 2011, 24 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (9 months 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 8876 times:
Hi Nils,
nice TR! I still wonder why there are so many Germans visiting Mallorca when you consider the mostly outdated hotels and 'high' prices compared to destinations like Turkey.
But anyway, nice to get a widebody for an intra-European flight. Btw - AB chartered even some 744s (I think from Pullmantur) and 772s (from EuroAtlantic) this year for some PMI flights from MUC and DUS, IIRC.
LH4116 From Sweden, joined Aug 2007, 1672 posts, RR: 15 Reply 16, posted (9 months 1 week 6 hours ago) and read 8670 times:
Hoi Nils, nice report!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): On my way there I see some advertisement that I think fellow a.netter OA260 amongst others will appreciate:
I'm quite surprised they still have that advert there. When I was in BRU five months ago, it was there too.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): and with the morning duties duly done I hop on the bike and arrive at my usual parking spot at
Suppose the 2-wheeler did a good job zig-zagging through the morning traffic?
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 17, posted (9 months 1 week 4 hours ago) and read 8539 times:
Hi Nils!
Great report, just as usual! Glad to read about your experiences on 4U and AB, I hope you'll make that connection!
Good idea to catch one of the few intra-Europe widebody flights. My next report shall also cover a flight of that kind.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter):
BRU-STR on Germanwings’ A319
STR-PMI on Air Berlin’s A333
PMI-BCN on Air Berlin’s B738
BCN-BRU on Vueling’s A320
Perfect itinerary for a daytrip!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The main FIDS - which is of the rolling type, don’t you just love that - shows that all is fine for me right now:
The sound is its best feature.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
In other words, this A330 is quite different from the "normal" ones.
akhmad From Netherlands, joined Sep 2005, 2332 posts, RR: 53 Reply 18, posted (9 months 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 8133 times:
Haai Nils,
What a great weekend read! How exciting to fly intra-Europe with a wide-body, surely a distinctive experience as it is a short haul flight! For the sake of this excitement, I chose GA 416 for our onward journey to Bali wfrom Jakarta.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Note: I will split this report in 2 parts for your reading comfort
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The thought that the home carrier at least has some things right, makes me a bit warmer inside
Great! Now you know how I feel about Garuda!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): People are asked to line up at either the left or right door, depending on their seat number. The staff checks this carefully and turns back those that are in the wrong line.
Way to go! Strict boarding procedure was just needed.
How nice of them to advertise this. For all I know everybody else is trying to keep all this information a secret. I applaud.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Excellent. Obviously not good for the industry but it's great to be on a flight like that. I can't remember the last time I was on a flight that empty.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer. Hey, that’s 20% more expensive than on SN
Wow, that's quite steep for a cup of hot water and some bagged fragments of dried and processed faux tea leafs.
Dear lord, that livery (if you can even call it that) is hideous. Painful to even look at. Late 90's Bulgarian aesthetics at its best. I mean look at that font!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I’m a bit anxious - yes again - about my connection to BCN as it is now shortened to 40 mins and I’m not even in the terminal yet.
You really like to cut it short as of recently Nils. Taking a liking to "living dangerously" by any chance? You know some people say that's a sign of early mid-life crisis...Haha. Even if you are too young for that. I know because I'm going through it myself
Too bad about the not-so-stellar flight attendants on the flight to PMI. As you know my experiences with Spanish FAs have not been so great either. I think the spaniards should leave the flight-attending business to somebody else and stick to what they do best: Train great chefs, actors, architects, soccer and handball players and great (albeit flopping) basketball players. I adore Spain but some things they just can't get right.
Looking forward to the return leg. I'm assuming you had no time to check out Palma?
Thanks!
WideBodyroga
Visit my aviation page: http://widebodyroga.weebly.com/
MSS658 From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2212 posts, RR: 14 Reply 20, posted (9 months 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 7783 times:
Hello Nils
After I had the honor to get a small preview of your trip yesterday I'm glad to read it. It looks great as always. 4U and AB seemed to please you.
It's interesting to see that you had the NEK seating on 4U, I did not realize they had it as well. My flight to MAN did not have it.
Interesting to know as well that AB has spanish crews, I did know they had a great operation in PMI but did not know that AB had even a base there. Interesting too see this different configured A333 as well.
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1135 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (9 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 7750 times:
Hello and thanks for sharing this very intersting itinerary.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The Air Berlin flight actually leaves from T3 but as I fear that maybe the security lines will be somewhat longer with all these holiday makers on their way to PMI, I decide to take FLIEGER67’s advice and security check myself at T1 instead:
As if it makes any difference... STR is only one big building anyway, and airside all gates are connected, they may call it Terminal 1, 2 or 3, it's all one building. It just confused people
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): When I step onboard, almost all seats are already taken. This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
I remember flying this aircraft when AB took over LTU and flew to Shanghai and Beijing around the Olympic games. The load was so low that they had to drop the routes shortly after.
Didn't knew that AB had PMI based cabin crews by the way.
Thought their whole PMI operation is organized with NON-PMI based aircrafts. Meaning, one plane would fly i.e. NUE-PMI-VLC, one other STR-PMI-BCN , a third one HAM-PMI-AGP, another one TXL-PMI-SVQ and back... And people could connect all in PMI. And since it's such efficient there, and AB has mainly taken over one part of the airport (which was recently renovated) I am sure you made your connection easily - There is no security, too
abrelosojos From Venezuela, joined May 2005, 4917 posts, RR: 55 Reply 22, posted (9 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 7655 times:
Interesting report. Thanks for sharing. It is indeed rare to get a 333 on intra-Europe routings, but I am glad you managed to snag one. That meal on AB looked awful!
I look forward to having the great mysteries revealed in your next TR .
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6083 posts, RR: 56 Reply 23, posted (9 months 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 7577 times:
Hi Nils !
Great report with nice pictures ! Seems like a perfect day out for you; some new airlines and meeting up with fellow A.netters.
4U looks very good for such a short flight and it seems you were lucky to get the aircraft with okay legroom.
The 333 looks a bit old but still okay for such a short flight. Too bad you got the meal so late. Cabin crew didn't seem very good.
Travelling with white pants seem to very adventureous although I travel with a white sweat shirt but I only wear it when the cabin gets too cold and never when eating.
Looking forward to the second part!
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
dc9northwest From Romania, joined Feb 2007, 1735 posts, RR: 4 Reply 24, posted (9 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 7500 times:
Hey Nils!
Nice TR, it was a good read--and looking forward to the 2nd part!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Having done OLCI the day before - Vueling does allow you to check in 7 days in advance and Germanwings 3 days in advance
Hmmm... Blue Air was 14 days ahead of time at one point. I think they might still do that, but I'm not sure. That might help
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Just a little bit, yes!’ I answer the gate agent when she asks me ‘MAD sir?’
Hah. MAD as in angry or MAD as in crazy?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The turnaround is pretty quick and by the looks of it, the load will be extremely light this morning.
Good fo us, not so good for the airline.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer. Hey, that’s 20% more expensive than on SN
I guess the German economy is working better at the moment.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): And passing by an ill-fated Contact Air F100. According to FLIEGER67 this one only does 1 MXP run in the morning and 1 in the evening. For the remainder of the day, it sits idle on the tarmac.
That's a shame. F100s are nice planes...
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): After a short stroll I arrive at T3, which is located at ground level and basically is just a large hall with seats - enough of them - and doors that lead to the apron. LCC style in other words. My flight is the only one that will leave from here in the coming time and by the looks of the number of people around, it’ll be pretty full as I expected:
Hmm... Well, I guess that's what you have to expect flying on AB... Boarding an A330 from the apron can take a while, so they need to be organized. Luckily, this was in Germany
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): When I step onboard, almost all seats are already taken. This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
Interesting. Was this just in the front, or throughout the cabin? Any idea?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): He concludes by saying that everything will be perfectly safe for our flight to PMI. I guess there are quite some nervous flyers on board today.
Well, it's very easy to interpret the fire department doing "something" to the wheels as being unsafe.
A hot hot meal. Good for you... it's my favorite type of pasta. Hope they didn't ruin it.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Hmm, I wonder if the order didn’t get through or they didn’t take notice? Eventually my meal reaches me, it is accompanied by a glass of water but there’s no bread like with the other dishes. Before I even have the chance to ask about the bread, the F/A walks off again and I’m left to my own devices.
So, had the aircraft previously been fitted with seat-back IFE and was it ripped out later?
Shame that the cabin service was less than spectacular on the AB flight.
Quoting RvXKaz (Reply 13): Interesting that they were selling hot meals for this really short sector, even though its on the A330 aircraft.
Yes, although the presentation looked very LCC and a flight of 1:40 isn’t that short, no?
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): Hi Nils,
Wow, how fast are you at writing your reports?
Err, pretty fast maybe
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): AB's A333 comes to ZRH 3 times a week in summer, although last week one flight was operated by a 747 of Pullmantur Air
Yeah, I heard about that one as well, that should be really cool to fly on! Is it scheduled on certain days or is the whole operation more ad random?
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): I love them, a shame they are becoming such a rare sight.
Agreed. Doesn’t ZRH have one as well?
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): You have Mother's Day in August? March in England, May over here....
In May for the whole of our massive country and in Aug in the Antwerp region alone.
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): Lucky you, my last row peasant zone seat on my only 4U flight had no window
I believe you. Markus warned me as well, that’s why I chose the before last row but since the whole plane was virtually empty and the last row DID have a window I felt obliged to reseat myself.
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): The planes used on the routes in & out of ZRH always seem to be working hard.
Those are probably the only ones by now
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): If only! I've tried and tried, no traffic rights and no exceptions for staff
Like I said in a previous reply: my source of info was wrong. It doesn’t appear to be bookable unfortunately...
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): Nice shot, it's featured in my log a few times as well!
Ha ha, so you definitely are familiar with this airport as well.
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): Looks quite tasty, but the long wait you had was unacceptable.
The taste was good, the presentation somewhat less and don’t talk to me about the waiting time!
Quoting infodesk (Reply 14): I'm intrigued to know how your transfer in PMI was.....!
Quoting mloew (Reply 15): AB chartered even some 744s (I think from Pullmantur) and 772s (from EuroAtlantic) this year for some PMI flights from MUC and DUS, IIRC.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 16): Suppose the 2-wheeler did a good job zig-zagging through the morning traffic?
It did, but since it was a public holiday that day, there was no real zigzagging required.
Quoting LH4116 (Reply 16): So with that in mind, the Schengen corridor was originally called "The Marathon"?
Well, if a name would be chosen for that, this would be a candidate. But I noticed that walking distances at BCN are almost equal so BRU’s not the only one here.
Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 19): I can't remember the last time I was on a flight that empty.
I can, it wasn’t that long ago and on a nice Kuwait Airways old Airbus
Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 19): Dear lord, that livery (if you can even call it that) is hideous. Painful to even look at. Late 90's Bulgarian aesthetics at its best. I mean look at that font!
The only positive thing is that’s it’s an MD!
Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 19): You really like to cut it short as of recently Nils. Taking a liking to "living dangerously" by any chance? You know some people say that's a sign of early mid-life crisis...Haha. Even if you are too young for that. I know because I'm going through it myself
Nah, no really. The flight from STR to BCN was on 1 ticket so I wasn’t too worried. Besides the AB operation at PMI is concentrated in 1 part of the terminal so no need to worry much. Unless... nah... you’ll read.
Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 19): I adore Spain but some things they just can't get right.
Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 19): I'm assuming you had no time to check out Palma?
Not at all but I’ve visited Palma already and it’s too damn touristy at this time of the year so no need to!
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 20): My flight to MAN did not have it.
Well, I’m curious to see as to how your plane looked like from the inside then. Mine was nice and spotless.
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 20): Interesting to know as well that AB has spanish crews
Well, I’m not too sure that the crews are Spain based but there the majority of them were certainly of Spanish descent.
Quoting reifel (Reply 21): Hello and thanks for sharing this very intersting itinerary.
Hi reifel, thank you for your reply.
Quoting reifel (Reply 21): STR is only one big building anyway, and airside all gates are connected, they may call it Terminal 1, 2 or 3, it's all one building. It just confused people
It confused me as well but now it’s clear of course. Not that is makes much sense to call it T1, 2, 3,... if it’s just 1 building.
Quoting reifel (Reply 21): Thought their whole PMI operation is organized with NON-PMI based aircrafts. Meaning, one plane would fly i.e. NUE-PMI-VLC, one other STR-PMI-BCN , a third one HAM-PMI-AGP, another one TXL-PMI-SVQ and back... And people could connect all in PMI. And since it's such efficient there, and AB has mainly taken over one part of the airport (which was recently renovated) I am sure you made your connection easily
I’m really not into AB scheduling and such but it could be very well the case like you say. Fact is that the whole AB operation at PMI is really impressive.
Nope, they were a very mixed bag to say the least...
Quoting The777Man (Reply 23): Travelling with white pants seem to very adventureous
Ha ha, then I’m really the adventurous type! But only in summertime, you know. And besides: I had to blend in with the rest of the passenger all dressed in holiday outfits.
What a nice way to spend a day, flying down to the sun.
Hello Roy, thanks for comment. And indeed a nice day in the sun - but not on a beach
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 25): A simple, uncluttered livery that is not so "in your eye" as some other carriers.
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 25): Who did they get the MD-82s from?
I haven’t a single clue. I’m quite sure Planehunter does know a thing or 2 about that
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 25): So, had the aircraft previously been fitted with seat-back IFE and was it ripped out later?
Shame that the cabin service was less than spectacular on the AB flight.
I can’t tell, I don’t quite know how LTU’s cabins were configured. And indeed the cabin service was not worth many stars unfortunately...
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 26): Nice report Nils! Looks you had a nice morning of flying. Looking forward to the continuation!
Hello Robert, thank you!
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 26): Does make the cabin feel quite more spacious!
MHTripple7 From United States of America, joined Feb 2008, 1050 posts, RR: 5 Reply 29, posted (9 months 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 7220 times:
Thanks for posting this TR, there are very few Air Berlin A330 reviews out there.
Must say that the cabin looks terrible! Like something you'd see on an old A300, not an A330. I'll avoid AB A330s for that reason alone!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The crew is a very mixed bag and appears to be PMI based: quite some older crew members are around and mostly speak Spanish and bad German and worse English. They seem quite disinterested at first and at second as well. That will prove on later in the flight.
The cabin crew seemed rather awful on your flight. Not good at all.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): (I don’t get it because the Spanish F/A distributing the sandwiches has a hard time speaking some proper German)
Flight attendant for a German airline can't speak German? This has to be a joke! Unbelievable.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
I agree, that's a generous portion and looks pretty good. How did it taste?
A very interesting read, but I don't think I'll be finding myself on Air Berlin anytime soon!
Knightsofmalta From Malta, joined Nov 2005, 1415 posts, RR: 17 Reply 31, posted (9 months 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 7051 times:
Hey Nils
How's it going? First of all thanks for the interesting report and my compliments on the very stylish opening image.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The amount of intra-Europe widebody flights is quite scarce. Most flights within Europe and beyond - even medium longhaul ones - are operated by narrowbody aircraft. Sure, there are some nice widebody flights in Europe to get yourself onto: LA, KU, SQ amongst others.
Last year AB operated some flights from Zurich to Palma with the A330 as well, but I'm not sure they're doing that this year too. They seem to be downsizing Zurich more than anything.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): To sum it up: 3 new airlines, 1 new type (A333), 1 new airport (STR) and - more importantly - enough connection time to allow me some relative peace of mind I was also in contact with the founding member of Tripreporter Productions Inc, namely a.netter FLIEGER67, who kindly agreed to a meet and greet at STR.
Sounds like a perfect day out actually!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): and with the morning duties duly done I hop on the bike and arrive at my usual parking spot at
Did anybody see you take that picture? They were probably wondering what you were doing taking a picture of your dashboard early in the morning!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The main FIDS - which is of the rolling type, don’t you just love that - shows that all is fine for me right now:
That's brilliant, especially the clicking sound as the display changes.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This area will most likely change a lot in the near future as BRU starts another major building project soon called ‘The Connector’:
I've hear about that. Don't they already have a tunnel?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I grab the obligatory bottle of water and a dry croissant to-go and proceed for my usual stroll up and down the terminal.
That sounds...eh...mouthwatering.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Lucky you, not so lucky Germanwings.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Although a cup of tea is more my cup of tea (pun intended),
Full points for trying!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This one does an interesting STR-ZRH-DOH routing, but the STR-ZRH leg is only sold in business class.
Really, where can I book that? I've been trying on the QR website but the route does not show up.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): When we arrive at the plane, there’s lots going on, the ‘feuerwehr’ is on site, apparently cooling down the brakes with a fan:
Was any reason given why they had to cool the landing gear brakes? One way or antoher it's nice to get up so close to the big bird.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This one’s for Knightsofmalta, you know this airport, don’t you
Cheers mate! Nice of you to have thought of me!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Hmm, I wonder if the order didn’t get through or they didn’t take notice? Eventually my meal reaches me, it is accompanied by a glass of water but there’s no bread like with the other dishes. Before I even have the chance to ask about the bread, the F/A walks off again and I’m left to my own devices.
Sounds charming, sure you weren't flying Iberia?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
I dunno, that looks quite tasty.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Meanwhile, we leave the mainland over Marseille and enter the blue golden Med:
Those are some lovely pictures you took there, the Med looks so serene!
debonair From Germany, joined Jan 2004, 2098 posts, RR: 4 Reply 32, posted (9 months 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 7028 times:
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 17): In other words, this A330 is quite different from the "normal" ones.
No! All A333 have this special configuration without overhead bins...
Quoting MSS658 (Reply 20): It's interesting to see that you had the NEK seating on 4U, I did not realize they had it as well
One huge problem with 4U, as the have picked up so many second hand examples with different configurations (especially in the beginning) - 4U is not having a standard product.
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 25): So, had the aircraft previously been fitted with seat-back IFE and was it ripped out later?
No! All ex LTU A330's are non-PTV equipped from the beginning. Only the A330-200 will be PTV reconfigured.
Quoting MHTripple7 (Reply 29): Must say that the cabin looks terrible! Like something you'd see on an old A300, not an A330. I'll avoid AB A330s for that reason alone!
Don't worry and once more, this configuration is only used on intra European A333 services. AB A332's have a standard cabin- with overhead bins and PTV. Plus all A332 to fly to AUH will receive a Premium cabin- including a luxury BusinessClass!
Nice pic and odd enough reminds me of the front cover of a Laker Airways DC-10 inflight entertainment guide I once saw Nice image well done .
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): On my way there I see some advertisement that I think fellow a.netter OA260 amongst others will appreciate:
Arr nice pics and nice ad . Certainly looks very appealing all that blue sea
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
WOW they didnt change it one bit since I flew on a similar looking interior with LTU FRA-VRA back in 2004 !
Thanks for a lovely report as always Nils and I cant wait until the next part .
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 34, posted (9 months 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 6776 times:
Hi Nils,
This must be the first "Nilsson report" that comes in more than one part!
But yeah, great to read about your little Ballermann trip down to Mallorca. I didn't know AB also ran the widebodies to STR, I've used to seeing them mostly on the DUS-PMI/AGP and NUE to PMI routes.
Is the Contact Air service STR-PMI now gone?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The amount of intra-Europe widebody flights is quite scarce. Most flights within Europe and beyond - even medium longhaul ones - are operated by narrowbody aircraft. Sure, there are some nice widebody flights in Europe to get yourself onto: LA, KU, SQ amongst others.
Add to that IB, CA, TK and BA too. But yeah, these are always fun experiences and yes, definitely worth catching if you are able to do so.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Then 1 thing remained: getting home from BCN to BRU. Brussels Airlines and Vueling both had suitable departures in the evening but the price with Brussels was already skyhigh so I had to settle with Vueling for € 89.
No Ryanair BCN-CRL this time? You are still in shape, don't need a new workout so soon?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Must-have-an-A330-in-a-report. Arriving from the J-oF-K, dedicated to FlyingFinn76 and MSS658:
Thanks pal, although I'd much rather seen the AC 767 to be honest with you, for well known reasons!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): . I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Wow, that's a light load! Wonder how long LH will then keep this route running if the trend is like this. Would be more suitable to a CRJ (which I think it was some years ago?).
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer. Hey, that’s 20% more expensive than on SN
Hey, you are starting to sound like Jonas.
But did you notice how those passengers that were booked on the LH flight number (I assume this flight has something like that since it replaced the Contact Air operated LH service) were handled? Did they get something for free?
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Being creative with barf bags. No need for a bag this morning as we sail smoothly:
"Emergency exit" - hilarious!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Passing by an oryx from the Middle East. This one does an interesting STR-ZRH-DOH routing, but the STR-ZRH leg is only sold in business class. It would’ve been a perfect 5th freedom flight but the flight time is short and prices are steep.
Qatar doesn't seem to be very fond of offering cheap fifth freedom flights, I've been looking at the OTP-SOF and even TBS-GYD segments and while they are somewhat cheaper than a full Y or C fare they definitely aren't cheap.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I’m landside pretty quickly where I agreed to team up with FLIEGER67, who is indeed awaiting me at arrivals, smartly dressed and all
Ahh, Markus' classic business attire. You see (financial) business in Germany is still very strict business so you need to be dressed accordingly. Unlike in Finland for example.
But good for him to provide some Swabian hospitality to you and a ride with the Bavaria's best!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I feel sorry for the person who has to hammer in all those rivets:
Don't - at least he has a job and a rather secure one at that, judging from the very full Airbus orderbooks...
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The legroom is fairly OK, but for longer flights it could pose a problem. There’s a black (IFE?) box under the seat in front which restricts my legroom somewhat. Overall, the seating comfort is fine but this plane really shows it is old and heavily used:
That looks quite tight to me. Heck, even Hannah was complaining about the AB 330 legroom (Eric also but he is Dutch and thus doesn't fit into normal people's seats anyway) so there must be something to it. Sure, I'd still like to fly one but probably not on longhaul, one of these segments sounds much better. BTW AB used to operate TXL-NUE once per week with the A330 as well, now that would be a fun flight to catch!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
I once had this dish onboard AB - it was quite mediocre IMHO, tasted just like a supermarket microwave meal. I much prefer the Currywurst dish.
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 781 posts, RR: 2 Reply 35, posted (9 months 4 days ago) and read 6772 times:
Hi there Nils,
Another great report as usual and what a great idea to catch this wide-body!
Germanwings looks nice, although the passenger amount is a bit worrying. AB looks ok, not that impressed by the crew though!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
Hi MHTripple7, thank you for reading and commenting.
Quoting MHTripple7 (Reply 29): Must say that the cabin looks terrible! Like something you'd see on an old A300, not an A330. I'll avoid AB A330s for that reason alone!
The cabin indeed wasn’t in the best condition, but I’ll take it as a part of the charm in flying this full old lady in full charter config.
Quoting MHTripple7 (Reply 29): The cabin crew seemed rather awful on your flight. Not good at all.
Indeed, they were a very mixed bag.
Quoting MHTripple7 (Reply 29): Flight attendant for a German airline can't speak German?
They did speak German but in a really abominable way. Lucky for me I’m not German, I wouldn’t be so happy
It was a perfect day indeed: sun & planes. Don’t need much more on a summer’s day off.
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 31): Did anybody see you take that picture? They were probably wondering what you were doing taking a picture of your dashboard early in the morning!
Ha ha! The area where I park my bike is not exactly a place where lots of people pass by. Only airport employees who come by (motor)bike as well.
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 31): That's brilliant, especially the clicking sound as the display changes.
BRU’s FIDS rolls but doesn’t make a sound so it’s a job half done
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 31): Really, where can I book that? I've been trying on the QR website but the route does not show up.
Err, you can’t, QR doesn’t have the traffic rights... Too bad, ain’t it?
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 31): Was any reason given why they had to cool the landing gear brakes?
It was quite warm in STR, but it was even warmer and more humid in PMI. I think it had something to do with the short turnaround time of 45 mins which probably isn’t enough time to properly cool the brakes in these warm conditions. Just a thought...
This must be the first "Nilsson report" that comes in more than one part!
Hello Petteri. Due to too much pics and somewhat more to tell then usual I decided to split up. 4 flights and +200 pics in one report is a little too much imho, it makes readers loose focus
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 34): I've used to seeing them mostly on the DUS-PMI/AGP and NUE to PMI routes.
I haven’t a single clue. Ask mr FLIEGER67, he is the Contact Air expert.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 34): No Ryanair BCN-CRL this time? You are still in shape, don't need a new workout so soon?
Nope, not at all. A proper airline this time lol!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 34): Would be more suitable to a CRJ (which I think it was some years ago?).
It used to be a CRJ700 for years until the switch to 4U. Markus has done that route as well of course.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 34): But did you notice how those passengers that were booked on the LH flight number (I assume this flight has something like that since it replaced the Contact Air operated LH service) were handled? Did they get something for free?
My guess is that they’re booked in the ‘best seat’ section in the front. They get catering ‘for free’!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 34): Qatar doesn't seem to be very fond of offering cheap fifth freedom flights
Nope they aren’t. And this doesn’t have 5th freedom rights, I was misinformed...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 34): Don't - at least he has a job and a rather secure one at that, judging from the very full Airbus orderbooks...
It wasn’t that bad but can you imagine that this plane did a DUS-AUH-DUS run some weeks ago as a replacement plane (I guess). I don’t want to be stuck in these seats for that kind of flight...
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 37, posted (8 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 5798 times:
Hoi, Nils!
Finally my time to read your A330 experience, which we experienced together that day, though on different aircraft. But you know all that!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I noticed that Air Berlin also does some intra-Europe widebody flights, namely to the popular Spanish holiday island of Palma de Mallorca, operating the A332 and A333.
I even managed to secure on A332 on DUS-MUC... some you can hop on a cheap domestic one from time to time it seems.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone
No moneymaker. Mothersday situation I hope, otherwise a route to be axed soon. I can only be positive about 4U btw, had several flights on them (in their early years) and all good.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I agreed to team up with FLIEGER67, who is indeed awaiting me at arrivals, smartly dressed and all
That's how I know him as well
btw, really interesting that A333 without center overhead bins. Looks like uhm, Il-96
Regards
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
- Bugger that's a light load!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The safety demo is done manually. I get a private one, because the 2nd F/A performing it is standing just behind the very last passenger in the front part of the cabin. So I pay attention like a well behaved school boy.
- At least you were paying attention, these folks which just ignore it really annoy me.
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): Although a cup of tea is more my cup of tea (pun intended), so I order one from when an F/A asks me if she can get me anything. A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer.
- For a cup of tea, yikes, that's daylight robbery!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The German captain comes on the horn and explains the situation with the firemen: cooling down the brakes to speed up our departure. He concludes by saying that everything will be perfectly safe for our flight to PMI. I guess there are quite some nervous flyers on board today.
- I suspect something to do with the firemen being there......
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): The meal portion is generous and appears to be quite spicy (hence the extra water?). It is however very basically presented:
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2948 posts, RR: 7 Reply 41, posted (7 months 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 3767 times:
Hi Nils,
excellent as usual, thank you! On seeing a report to PMI, I thought that maybe you'd decided to take the family to a beach holiday Still, interesting routing, and no kids = more opportunity for photo reporting!
I actually quite like Germanwings, I've only had one recent flight with them, and another nearly-flight (they resceduled, so I had to cancel and rebook another), but overall I've been pleased.
AB are becoming a bit of a monolith, so big that people will almost automatically book them without checking elsewhere. On the other hand, great for widebodies in Europe!
Did they still serve the "free" sandwich along with your meal? And also, what are you doing wearing white trousers?! Especially after riding a motorbike!
All the best with the next leg, I'll see if I can read it soon, but I have such a large reading backlog at the moment!
Quoting signol (Reply 41): I thought that maybe you'd decided to take the family to a beach holiday
Not quite. You don't want my 'loud' daughter next to you on an aeroplane
Quoting signol (Reply 41): but overall I've been pleased.
Glad to hear that, I was too and most likely it wasn't my last flight with them.
Quoting signol (Reply 41): AB are becoming a bit of a monolith, so big that people will almost automatically book them without checking elsewhere. On the other hand, great for widebodies in Europe!
'A monolith': ha ha, good point. At least in Germany maybe? And yes for the WB's but this one was an old lady nearing her retirement.
Quoting signol (Reply 41): Did they still serve the "free" sandwich along with your meal? And also, what are you doing wearing white trousers?! Especially after riding a motorbike!
Yes they did on the STR-PMI flight but I declined since I had a prebooked warm meal. And white trousers = summertime!! And I wear all my motorcycle gear over my white trousers. I never ever ride my bike without proper protective gear.
Quoting signol (Reply 41): I'll see if I can read it soon
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 45, posted (6 months 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 3003 times:
Nice report Nils! Great way to get down to PMI!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): I count a total of 20 passengers and the last 20 rows or so are for me alone:
Just how I like it!
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): A few minutes later, my tea is ready and my wallet € 2,50 poorer. Hey, that’s 20% more expensive than on SN
Ouch, that's so expensive. If they charged a fair amount (EUR 1?...hey, it's a glass of hot water and some tea!), then I think a lot more people would buy stuff
Quoting sultanils (Thread starter): When I step onboard, almost all seats are already taken. This ex-LTU plane has a dense all Y config.. Note the abscence of overhead bins in the mid section and the old school overhead monitors::
I guess the lack of storage could be a real issue sometimes?
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 45): Ouch, that's so expensive. If they charged a fair amount (EUR 1?...hey, it's a glass of hot water and some tea!), then I think a lot more people would buy stuff
If they charged a fair amount, they most likely wouldn't make any profits out of the BOB.
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 45): I guess the lack of storage could be a real issue sometimes?
I think that wouldn't pose that much of a problem. Usually those holiday makers jam everything in their hold luggage iso taking it in the cabin. Except for those big square beautycases lol!
CARST From Germany, joined Jul 2006, 705 posts, RR: 1 Reply 47, posted (6 months 3 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 2627 times:
Good report Sultanis, the AB A333 looks a little bit tight and touristic regarding seat pitch. I have the feeling these aircraft did not get an interior refurbishment since the late 90ies when they flew with LTU. I should have a look at my old photos if the upholstering is still the same. I hope not!
Any a nicely planned day-trip with some decent flights. If you could have gotten a better price on the last sector it would have been a nice mileage-run, at least for an a.netter who is also flying just for the joy of flying.
Parton87 From Sweden, joined Sep 2008, 524 posts, RR: 2 Reply 48, posted (6 months 3 weeks 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 2439 times:
Hello Nils!
Sorry, I missed your report when you upload it, that´s why you hadn´t get a reply from me before! Whit that said, a great report with nice pictures and you know since before that I like your sense of humor in your writing
Great that you was able to catch the A330 on such a short flight. I also did that this summer and it´s was a very enjoyable flight and something different from what you usually fly.
The meal on AB dosn´t look to bad and a very generous portion too and if you take the free sandwich with it it will be very filling.
Looking forward the next part, let´s if you make your connection
Quoting Parton87 (Reply 48): Sorry, I missed your report when you upload it, that´s why you hadn´t get a reply from me before!
Hey, no worries
Quoting Parton87 (Reply 48): Whit that said, a great report with nice pictures and you know since before that I like your sense of humor in your writing
Thanks, I try to do my best and I watch Monty Python for the humour part, that helps
Quoting Parton87 (Reply 48): I also did that this summer and it´s was a very enjoyable flight and something different from what you usually fly.
I guess you are referring to the AZ A332 FCO-MXP or was it the other way round?
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1185 posts, RR: 29 Reply 51, posted (6 months 3 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 2184 times:
Quoting CARST (Reply 47): Good report Sultanis, the AB A333 looks a little bit tight and touristic regarding seat pitch.
Hello CARST, thank you for your reply! Indeed the AB 333 felt very touristy inside out. The seat pitch was fine but I don't want to see myself stuck in that seat for a flight to AUG for example.
Quoting CARST (Reply 47): I have the feeling these aircraft did not get an interior refurbishment since the late 90ies when they flew with LTU.
Same feeling here, anyone can confirm?
Quoting CARST (Reply 47): If you could have gotten a better price on the last sector it would have been a nice mileage-run
Ha ha, a mileage run on VY, not in one hundred years lol!
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From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1185 posts, 
This part contains the first 2 of 4 flights taken that day.
I’ve taken this very flight a few times when traveling to Peru and Mexico on Iberia some years ago:
And the muffin/hot drink combo costs here € 4,80 iso the € 4 on SN. The thought that the home carrier at least has some things right, makes me a bit warmer inside 
Sultanils
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