MAN-LGW-MAN Jet2

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Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

29/01/05
LS903 MAN-LGW
Departure time - 1425 Actual - 1420
Arrival time - 1535 Actual - 1520
Aircraft - Boeing 737-300 G-CELF

Well at long last, my 1st flights of the year had come. After 3 weeks of exams, I decided to have a nice break down with my aunt in Brighton,
before she moved to Bolton. I was able to do this, due to the fact that Jet2 had announced they were to operate on the MAN-LGW route,
and that would be much better for me than to do LHR with my beloved bmi!

After yet another uneventful 2hr train journey, I arrived at Terminal 1 just under 2 hrs before I was to depart. I checked in down stairs where
MyTravel checked in. After a problem with the printer, I was given seat 7F, and I then found some food and a table. My aircraft was at MAN
all day so it was there when I arrived

Before I knew it, 1 hr had flown by, so I decided to shoot through to the Departure lounge, and head to the end of both T1 piers. The end of
Pier B is a good spot to take photos but the glass was a bit dirty so they didn't turn out so good. I then proceeded to my gate which was gate
9, and our aircraft was ready to board. I got on very swiftly and took my seat. I watched an Aer Arran beside us load, and in 10 mins our
aircraft was ready to push back. To my surprise, only 54 were on the flight, with HALF of them Pilots or Cabin Crew of VS, MON or FCA!

We pushed back, taxiied to 06L via the viewing area ( was anybody there?) We waited for a MYT 752 to take off, plus a company 733 and a
bmi ERJ145 to land, before we lined up. We took our time standing on the runway, a good 90 seconds before take off thrust was set, and
away we went. It took us about 20 seconds to get airborne, and then we went into the clouds which their bases were bout 3500ft. We
followed the LISTO1S SID and went over Birmingham

In-flight was quite boring, nothing but cloud to see outside, and inside the in-flight service had begun. Armed with my 50p for a can of Coke, I
waited and waited, before they didn't even glace at me, and passed me! I had to sort of punch the attendant ( i'm not a violent person :D) to
get his attention. Ah well!

Time flew quite quickly, and we were only in the cruise, which was 22,000 ft, for a few minutes. We then began our decent into LGW. The
crew prepared the cabin quite quickly, and we were all set to land, well before the seatbelt sign was switched on. It was hard to say where
was where by looking at the ground. We did do one circuit of the hold at WILLO before we landed on 08R.
Moments before landing, the
cabin crew told us something I had never heard them say before, that the sound that we will hear on landing is a normal operation procedure
so we didn't have to be alarmed! Of course he was talking about reverse thrust, but once we touched the ground, the First Officer didn't even
use it!

We taxiied off the runway and went straight into Stand 4. I decided to ask for a deck visit which I got, and had a good 10 min chat with the
FO, about how he got into the industry, and what he recommended me to do. A very nice chap indeed, but aren't they all are!
I got my bag off the "new" UK carousel, and headed off to the train station, for a few day's relaxation :D

02/02/05
LS902 LGW-MAN
Departure time - 0820 Actual - 0810
Arrival Time - 0925 Actual - 0905
Aircraft - Boeing 737-300 G-CELH

After those few days of relaxation lol, it was time for me to head home. After a 5am wakeup call, and a free train ride to LGW, I checked in,
got seat 2F and went straight to departures. I went upstairs in the South Term lounge to get some brekkie, and to go to the viewing area to
watch those amazing 777's land!

Out of the darkness, came my aircraft. At 1st looks, I thought it was CELF again, but it turned out to be CELH! At the gate, were around 24 of us, I thought there must be more, but no, there were 25 of us on a 149 seater! We boarded well ahead of schedule, and we all thought of us, all 24, that we were to depart 30 mins early!! But there had to be someone stuck in those tax-free shops, and it took him a good 20 mins to board the plane, which meant we were 10mins ahead of schedule.

After pushback, and a short taxi to 26L, we did a rolling takeoff, as a DL B763 was right behind us. As we were so light, it only took us about
13 seconds to get airborne, where once again, we went into the clouds!! We followed the LAM4M SID, fly over cloud and more clouds but
luckily, the cloud dissipated for a bit right above the area I wanted to, DERBY! Saw my footie club's Stadium, so I was chuffed!

Our approach was a DAYNE2A arrival on 24R. We banked north then west over the peak district, where we catched the localizer and
landed in a foggy and damp Manchester. Full Reverse was applied as a PIA 777 was right on our backs!

We then taxiied to our stand on Pier B, where we were then taken by bus to T3 to collect our luggage, which was there waiting for us!
Got the train home...but that's a different story.... :D

I hoped you enjoyed my report as much as I enjoyed flying them :D

Pics will be up when attachments is working again!

Original post

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 3,124

Nice report, I've read a few things recently about the very low loads on their MAN-LGW flight. Seems to be hovering around the 20 mark more often that not. :eek:
Goddamit, get that uploading problem sorted! ;)

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Yep, ive also read about absolutely crap loads on this service, still early days though.

Nice report - Always like to see them on Jet2 :)

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 131

I flew on this service Monday eve, MAN LGW. There was only 36 on the flight. Can't understand why, its cheaper than the train! Perhaps needs more promotion?

Mark

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

cheers all, as you say Mark, a bit of promotion will go far, as it can give BA a run for its money on that route, but if it stays like this, i'm afraid a chop will be on the cards!

Don't worry RIP, once its up, i'll be one of the 1st to use it, and just a taster to you, there are 2 cockpit shots :D

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 679

Thanks for the report! Jet2 sound good, hopefully I will be able to try out one of there routes in the near future.

Flex 35

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

why dont you use an external image host like me. :)

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

OK mate, give me a link and i'll do that!

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 3,539

Great report, I'll be flying this route in just under 2 weeks time. Although the low pax numbers are disappointing, I'm actually quite pleased in a way because the first train from my home town only gets me to LGW 1 hour before departure, and there's no way I'm going without a window seat!

OK mate, give me a link and i'll do that!

www.photobucket.com . Sign up for a free account and upload your photos there. Then just link them back to here. Try and be selective though, if you try linking too many it'll exceed the bandwidth allowance and the shots wont show up.

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 3,394

Great report, look foreward to seeing the pics! :D

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

Cheers Dan, yeah Mark told me bout u'r little trip on Sunday, when i went with him to LHR

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

Lets try then, just one or two
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/elganthomas/1aa.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/elganthomas/4aa.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/elganthomas/75ccd7ea.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/elganthomas/12bb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/elganthomas/13bb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/elganthomas/19bb.jpg

Quality is reduced due to me resizing them sorry

Lets try that

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 1,887

Nice report and pics

Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 2,495

Im surprised at the low loads but I suppose on all the forums there was quite a bit of hype so alot of people expected it to go well. I wonder how MAN-EDI will go. Are they promting that?

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 3,124

Im surprised at the low loads but I suppose on all the forums there was quite a bit of hype so alot of people expected it to go well. I wonder how MAN-EDI will go. Are they promting that?

There's the odd ad in the paper, and recently I've noticed big ads on the side of bus shelters. Not seen anything other than that. A quick check of the timetable also reveals that they have added the morning flights for the summer.

Member for

20 years 2 months

Posts: 2,495

Morning flights for the summer is good because when I saw the timetable first there was a huge hole thats has now been filled.

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 4,255

I think Jet2 need to retime their flights on the LGW sector.
There is the early morning one, then a big gap till the evening where there are 2 flights within an hour of eachother. A midday flight instead of the 1st evening flight would be best, but ops might not allow that.