Jardines Del Rey - EGCC - TCX Premium

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

Flight Route: Jardines Del Rey - Manchester Ringway Intl
Flight Time : 08:35
Class: C - Premium Economy - Thomas Cook Plus
Meal: Hot Meal, Continental Breakfast
Other Services: Complimentary Drinks, Duty Free

Flight Number: TCX174L
Aircraft Type: A330-200
Registration: G-OJMC


After Two weeks on the wonderful cayo islands it was 15:30 and time for the transfer buses to arrive. The flight was due on time as i had checked it earlier, one advantage of Easter time zone, and about the only.

Upon arriving at the newly refurbished Jardines Del Rey airport from the 5 minute transfer, check in way very quick at the 2 premium desks, 1 more than at Manchester. They don't even check the weight of the cases. Another set of priority stickers were added to the three cases as they were loaded onto the containers in front of our eyes. I noticed the container had a big label on it, reading "FOR PRIORTY BAGGAGE ONLY".

Before proceeding to the VIP lounge i went up the stairs to the viewing area to see if the aircraft was parked in, and it was, this time however it was G-OJMC which has recently been refurbished. This means i have been on both of the A330 aircraft in the Thomas Cook fleet.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/G-OJMC.JPG

G-OJMC parked up on stand

I then proceeded to the VIP lounge down the stairs. I don't like saying bad of people but there was a little lad about 6 i reckon, now i don't know if you have seen only fools and horses when damion is born. Well i swear its like that, he kept staring at me, like he was possessed, it happened on the outbound flight, kicking my seat, then he was in the vip lounge, and then sat behind us again in row 2, kicking the seat and staring at me.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/VIP.JPG" width=650

The VIP lounge was nice, and it was air-conditioned, but they had to turn some away as they had over booked it

The departure boards said that the flight was due to depart the stand at 18:50, 5 minutes ahead of schedule, even though it landed an hour early. The cabin crew boarded first, they had only arrived the day before from gatwick, at this point i knew it wouldn't be long until boarding and sure enough at 17:25 boarding started. I walked across the concrete to OJMC, it must have been 40`. There was water dripping out from the tanks underneath the aircraft and as the cabin crew greeted us at the bottom of the steps, someone was asking why it was leaking and weather it was supposed to do that, but it happens to all aircraft. Unlike on the outbound journey the air conditioning was not steaming, so i figured they had the temperature up a little onboard, however the ice in it was cracking and the same person who asked about the water asked about the cracking noises.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/boarding.jpg

presenting the boarding card to the cabin crew they showed me to my seat

Seen as there were no wheelchair passengers i requested row one, because there is 1" more leg room and you don't get no-one reclining in front of you.

Again on the seat, was an amenity pack, blanket, pillow, bottle of water and headset. On this aircraft the PTV videos must have been slightly different because there was a welcome aboard message been shown on the screens, different to G-OJMB. It also had a picture of the plane on it, very classy i thought. As i stared at the screen falling to sleep one of the cabin crew members commented "very intresting isn't it". I took the opportunity to ask him something, someone before i traveled said that G-OJMC had no map channel, so i asked when it had been installed. It had been installed after March 04, so it didn't have the JMC logo on it like G-OJMB.

After rolling down runway 28, we did the second rolling take off again, one from Manchester and now from Jardines Del Rey, the runway is very bumpy, but the cabin didn't explain this. One of the cabin crew members was looking rater worried at one point.

As we climbed over the Bahamas we hit slight turbulence but nothing much. We went in a diagonal line over the Atlantic in the end taking a slight detour but more about that later.

The first drinks service was served, again it was fully complimentary, and this cabin crew didn't mess around, ask for 1 drink, you get 2, and at £ that's excellent.

Shortly after the cabin crew that are dedicated to the premium cabin cabin explained the full service onboard for the premium service. First it would be a choice of Beef and Ale Pie or Ginger Chicken. Then another 2 drinks services, followed by Duty Free, then another 2 drinks services, then continental breakfast before landing in Manchester.

We reached our alluded of 39000, no security on this flight so it was totally uneventful so i was pleased to see we took a slight detour, more about that later.

The captain explained we would be routing over cork, dublin and then finally landing at Manchester at 07:55. O no we aren't.

After all of the drinks services and breakfast i noticed something odd, the map reached Ireland, we were south of Ireland, heading straight for Paris. We flew near to the Bay of Biscay and up over Bristol, Wales and went over Liverpool airport, then turning right over the penines and then finally landing half way down runway 24R.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/ROUTE.JPG

First Time ive seen a long haul flight take this route

This flight was getting even more strange, Gear went down about 15 minutes before touchdown, indicating that the aircraft was going too fast, and at that the air brakes were on full, and the flaps were extended, engines on idle. Must have been a really strong wind. I was not on a window seat but i took a quick glance out of the window, and could see what turned out to be the US Airways A330-300 in front, performing a series of turns to final.

In the end i reckon it was touch and go on having to go around with the US air just in front, as it had only just left the runway as we touched down.

The pilot was going too fast off the runway and had to brake really hard to stop. But just seconds after another BA aircraft landed so that's probably why he nipped off early.

We finally parked up at gate 25 i believe, but i could be wrong. The premium cabin should receive pritoty disembark, but after 5 minutes of no air bridge at the front they started to let everyone off at the middle door. As i was leaving the door, i heard them saying, the air bridge is ready now.

Can you remember i spoke about the container on the plane saying for priority baggage only, well the Cubans had got it all wrong, it was loaded on first, thus coming off the plane last, the priority baggage came off last. Yet im not complaining to Thomas cook it was a communication problem in Cuba.

So that's it for another year, next July its going to be either

Mexico - Cozumel - First Choice Airways

Florida - First Choice Airways

Sharm El Sheik - First Choice Airways

Original post

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 1,098

Great report Topjet!!

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 929

Yes I agree, superb detailed report, 10/10!

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

thank you very much