jet2, Aer Lingus, Ryanair & Easyjet - 14/2/06

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Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

Hi everybody!

4 Flights yesterday - very good value as well working out at an average of £15 per person per flight. Here's a trip report - not great detail cos I did a similar thing a couple of months ago.;

FLIGHT 1
LS902
jet2.com
Gatwick - Manchester
G-CELG

Scheduled Dep. Time - 0830
Actual Dep. Tim - 0845
Scheduled Arr. Time - 0945
Actual Arr. Time - 0920

After waiting for ages in the Viewing Area in departures in the South Terminal...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/eb8a0d2c.jpg

...finally G-CELG landed onto 26L 5 minutes early and Gate 01 was displayed on the Information Boards. This flight was not very full at all and was slightly disappointing at only 50 Passengers, mainly businessmen but also a few families. I was assigned seat 24A, and I was the furthest passenger back on the plane, with the last 3 rows not being used. We boarded in the wind and drizzle at LGW at about 0820 and the doors were shut very shortly afterwards, as we pushed straight back and began engine startup. The taxi to 26L was extremely short and after only 5 minutes of taxiing and waiting we zoomed off at 0845, climbing very steeply through the low cloud and mist.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/53669675.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/0f6634ed.jpg

Cruising altitide was 24000 feet which was slightly optimistic i think, and after only a couple of minutes after levelling out, the captain announced our descent into a cloudy but dry Manchester onto 24R. The landing was extremely good considering the wind and we taxied quickly to Stand 9, next to G-CELI, where a coach took us to Terminal 3 arrivals.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/54d7f511.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/1e803630.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/0548b7ee.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/13239ce4.jpg

One flight down, 3 more to go :)

FLIGHT 2
EI215
Aer Lingus
Manchester-Dublin
EI-DEO

Scheduled Dep. Time - 1325
Actual Dep. Tim - 1335
Scheduled Arr. Time - 1420
Actual Arr. Time - 1405

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/43204543.jpg

The flight boarded from Gate 15, a very long walk, passing a Turkish Airlines 737-800 and both the jet2.com 737-300s. At 1250, 5 minutes ahead of schedule, the inbound flight arrived on 24R and taxied over. About 100 passengers got off so the turnaround took a little longer, but still very quickly. Boarding started at 1315 and I boarded via the front steps as I was in 15A, but i guess i could have gone on the back as well given that it's half way. The other 80 passengers took their seats and we pushed back bang on schedule at 1325 and taxied to 24R this time, waiting for a Bmibaby 737 to land before it was our turn.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/6794dbe3.jpg

We departed straight out towards Liverpool and the Isle of Man in clear weather conditions at 18000 feet, before descending into the cloudy and damp Dublin at about 1350. Once again, the landing onto Rwy 28 was excellent in the strong wind and we were very early. :). We parked up at one of the 'A' gates.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/68c2c524.jpg

I'd never travelled Aer Lingus before and was very impressed with them, for the price that we paid. OK, you don't get anything for free, but the service was excellent and the plane was very comfortable.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y251/tomfellows/a69e8984.jpg

more in a moment.......

Original post

Member for

19 years

Posts: 1,995

FLIGHT 3
FR9847
Ryanair
Dublin - Cork
Ei-DCT

Scheduled Dep. Time - 1755
Actual Dep. Tim - 1805
Scheduled Arr. Time - 1845
Actual Arr. Time - 1840

We boarded at gate A1 and our plane arrived shortly after an Aer Arran ATR42 to Sligo had departed. Then, the rush for boarding started - we got ourselves towards the front of the priority queue. Boarding then started and we stepped out of the lovely warm terminal to the horribly chilly outside, where EI-DCT was refuelling as EI-DAO was arriving from Luton. I took 8A, just in front of the engine. I was quite surprised at how busy the flight was - 140 passengers is way more than I thought that there would be.

In true Ryanair fashion we taxied fast to Rwy 28 again where we jumped the queue ahead of an Aer Lingus A321 and began the take off. Immediately we entered cloud and turbulence, which was with us all the flight meaning the captain kept on the seatbelt sign. It was pouring it down outside, with visibillity very poor - i could only just see the strobe flashing on the wing.

The weather was very similar in Cork, except gale force winds and driving rain, which greeted us when we got off. It was a great landing in the wind - didn't even feel us come down onto Rwy 17. We parked up in front of a delayed Aer Lingus A320 friom Paris and went through passport control and straight to the easyJet check in desk for EZY788 to LGW.

FLIGHT 4
EZY788
easyJet
Cork-Gatwick
G-EZMS

Scheduled Dep. Time - 2045
Actual Dep. Tim - 2105
Scheduled Arr. Time - 2205
Actual Arr. Time - 2155

Cork departure lounge is absolutely awful - although the new terminal will probably be much better. There was nothing to do apart from visit the shop and listen to Eastenders which was being shown on a TV somewhere. The Aer Lingus Heathrow flight was delayed by 10 minutes and our A319 landed just behind schedule at 2030. Boarding started at Gate 3 10 minutes later and we had to walk in the rain to the plane, which was G-EZMS, a fairly new one. I took 22F. There were 100 passengers on board and we settled down at the end of a long day. The captain came on and told us the route, that we'd be heading east after departure and heading towards Swansea, and just south of Oxford before coming south of Gatwick before turning 180 degrees to land on 26L.

We used Runway 17 again and the wind was from more of a crosswind direction than earlier, as a lot of rudder was used on the runway to keep us straight. In general, the flight was bumpy and the seatbelt sign was on for most of it, with the cabin crew refusing to serve hot drinks, which I suppose is sensible.

The descent started about 20 minutes before landing and we arrived back at LGW. Unfortunately we had to park at a remote stand (Stand 141) next to the Thomsonfly 737, because it seemed like we had a technical problem as a few engineers were inspecting an engine. We took the coach to the terminal and after handing back our boarding passes at customs, we went home.

Overall:
Jet2 - 9/10
Aer Lingus - 9/10
Ryanair - 9/'10
easyJet - 8/10

Thanks,

Tom

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 1,614

Great report as usual!

Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

Great report, I noticed in your first Aer Lingus A320 shot in the background you can see Piaggio P180 D-IZZY with its rear facing props :D

BTW 24000ft is standard cruising altitude for all LGW-MAN flights because of the detour round east London the flights have a significant extra amount of track miles to get 6000ft higher than the usual LHR-MAN flights which are limited to 18000.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 1,289

Excellent report Tom! :D

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,213

BTW 24000ft is standard cruising altitude for all LGW-MAN flights because of the detour round east London the flights have a significant extra amount of track miles to get 6000ft higher than the usual LHR-MAN flights which are limited to 18000.

geek...

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 841

Great report there!

Member for

20 years 5 months

Posts: 5,019

Great report to complement the greta shots :D:D

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 1,645

The shots are very 'greta' indeed, Ben. ;)

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

That's a great report with some great shots