LTN - TFS ZB056 19th August 2003

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Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 160

Hello everyone. This is my first ever trip report. Sorry, but I dont have any pictures.

ZB056
Luton - Tenerife South
Sch Dep: 1445
Act Dep: 1515
Seat 12F
Aircraft: A321 G-MARA

Going to Tenerife 7 times in the last 10 years, this flight has become almost a yearly occurance. I booked it at the local travel agents as you can often get a better deal there than on the internet. We managed to get the tickets for around £20 cheeper than on the internet for around £190. I also got the seats prebucked from Monarch HQ. They gave us 12EF and 13 DEF, didnt think about where they were at the time, but I knew that we were going on a A321. We decided that I would go with my mum in row 12, with my dad, sister and her friend in row 13.

We got to Luton Airport 3 hours early and check-in wasnt open yet, so we waited around for a while, watching what movement there were and oberve the police whic are allways really funny at LTN. With 2.5 hours to go check in opened and we were around 5th in the queue. With 1 person checked in the airport had a complete systems failure, with all the belts stopped and the check in systems dead. We waited around an hour for them to fix the problem and they had to do a manual check in. At this time the airport was packed and there were queues everywhere. Suddenly the checkin started moving and I had to fetch my sister who had gone to the loo, or we would of had to have gone to the back of the queue. They gave us the seats that we pre-booked, which was good. We then had to carry our luggage manually to a central area, rather than putting them on the belts and then went airside. Lots of flight were delayed at this point and our flight was no exeption. We started boarding at 1445, when we should of been taking off. I boarded through the front stairs, and proceded to find my seat. Much to my surprise it was located a row behind the extra leg room seats. As there are only 2 seats for them 11DE, there was no seat in front of me, so having more legroom than the people with extra leg room seats. I thought then that this was going to be a good trip, as I was going to have the same seat on the way back. At about 1505 we pushed back (from stand 3 - i think) and it was then that they told us that there was going to be no IFR at all. There was a big graon throughout the whole cabin. I was talking to one of the Cabin Crew who wa seated in front of me, and she said that she didnt like this flight much as it was her longest on her rota and that it arived back at LTN at midnight which makes it a bit of a long day. Fortunally we had a quick take off and turned left over Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted, down to the South Coast. They brought the free drinks around and gave us another one later because of the Ifr and all the problems that we had at lTN. The meal was brought round next when we were just going over the Northern tip of Spain and I didnt like it that much, ZB usually haave really nice meals, and what happened to them Menu cards that they used to do? After that it was uneventful heading towards TFS, although I did see that there was a lot of cloud in the Atlantic which I hadnt seen before. Landing was really bumby into Tenerife as the wind was up again, with the pilot battling to control the aircraft and we landed with a huge bump. Soon after that he put the reverse thrust on, causing the plane to vibrate rally badly which I had never experianced before. We taxed to the stand, where we got an airbridge and walked off into the terminal.

Took ages for the luggage to come and some peoples got left behind at luton. Thankfully after a while ours came and then we could get our taxis to Victoria Court 2, in Los Cristianos for our 2 week break, my 7th in TFS.

thanks

Ashley

Original post

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 1,098

Very good report Ashley.

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 74

Well they could have fixed the IFE, but that would have caused more delays, what would you like, getting on holiday or a couple of hours delay, your call :rolleyes:
So most were probably happy with some complimentary drinks. As for the LTN airport system going down, it is very rare in my experience, but sounds like the staff did well.
As for turbulence going into TFS, perfectly normal, rarely is it smooth.Battling for control, LOL, do you work for the Sun, promising future as a journo i think :D Bumpy landing, it happens. Better to land in the right place on the runway don't you think.

Spotty M "321" Driver.

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 160

there was windsheer problems, wingtip nearly hit the ground

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 74

Yeah OK if you say so :eek: Probably felt much worse than it was. All in a days work my friend.

Spotty M Driver ;)

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 160

yeah, spose so