Point'n Spot: April 2012

Hello everyone! Time flies, already one year since my last post. Life has been busy, but here is the trip report on my short holiday I spent in Firenze beginning of February.

Be warned that this is a very long report with lots of pictures (80), so please seat confortablyand enjoy! ;)

Background

Some months ago, my girlfriend and I decided to visit the city of Firenze, Italy and finally settled for an extended week-end beginning of February. There was no direct routes from BRU, and after some research (and advice, thank you Stij!), we finally ended up with a nice itinerary: Brussels-Munich-Firenze and return with Lufthansa, for a fare of 150 EUR. This would allow me to add two new airports and one new type on my list. We also looked at Ryanair to Pisa and the train to Firenze, but taking into account the fees for one hold luggage, shuttle to Charleroi and train to Firenze, the price was around the same, so for me it was a no brainer ;-)

BRU-MUC

Flight number : LH2283

Scheduled time of departure / arrival : 08 :55 – 10:15 (on time)

Plane: Embraer 195 (D-AEBI)

Seat 7F (window)

Load factor: Y:90% / C:90%

We arrived at BRU around 07:15, and passed security without any issue nor any queue, before heading to our scheduled gate: A47, after some tour in the shops. Minutes after we seated, I received an SMS from Lufthansa:

And indeed, the gate had just switched with the flight to Stuttgart. Nice service, always appreciated!

Around 20 minutes later, boarding began, and I was greeted by a smiling F/A. I am always thrilled when entering a type of plane I’ve never flown before, and was pleased by this Embraer. Good seating (2+2), comfortable seats, and the legroom was acceptable.

Boarding was rapidly done, with a load factor of approx. 90%. Even my blue suitcase was on board ;)

Fortunately my belongings accompany me!

After a manual safety demo, pushback took place, when at the same time I could enjoy the sight of a nice neighbor arriving from Switzerland:

SWISS International Airlines - RJ100 - HB-IYS "Shopping Paradise"

After a short trip between Pier A and B (lots of Jet Airways 330’s at that time of the day), we followed a private jet towards runway 07R from which we would take off.

On the way, I could also spot a Bulgaria Air RJ

Bulgaria Air - Bae-146-200 - LZ-HBC

As well as a Hainan Airlines A330

Hainan Airline - Airbus A330-200

And the Blue Panorama B767

Blue Panorama - Boeing 767 - EI-EED

Saying hello to an old friend:

Korongo - Bae-146 - OO-MJE

We then lined up on 07R and waited for a SN A319/20 to land on 020 before taking off to Munich.

Take off was uneventful and soon we headed East to Germany, overflying Tervuren Parc.

Shortly after having reached our cruising altitude, the breakfast was served: hot beverage, soft drinks, some muesli and yoghurt, not bad for a one hour flight!

Soon, the landscape was changing and what we could see through the window were snowy fields below our wings, quite beautiful!

With such nice landscape to admire, time flies, and we began our descent towards Munich. We made a parallel approach together with an Aegean A319 (or -20?).

We touched down gently on German soil.

We had a long taxi, allowing us to visit MUC airside

Lufthansa - Airbus A330 - D-AIKO

Our friend from Aegean

Air Dolomiti - Embraer E190 - I-ADJK

We reached a parking stand and while the stairs were being connected, another E195 parked alongside us.

Lufthansa - Embraer E195 - D-AEBE

We soon disembarked to board a bus, and began to wait for one passenger who apparently lost his phone in the plane… to finally find it back in his pocket.

We had another visit of the airport, by bus this time, and finally we could enter the terminal. I must say I was a bit nervous, as we had only 40 minutes to connect to our next flight to FLR. We could fortunately easily spot our departure gate, go up one floor, rush a bit, go down another floor, arrive at the gate, and immediately board another bus that would lead to our RJ85. We spent less than 5 minutes in the terminal. Everything went well, but 40 minutes is still quite short to connect in MUC if both of your planes are in remote stands and need bus transfer!

MUC-FLR

Flight number : LH1686

Scheduled time of departure / arrival : 10:55 – 12:15 (on time)

Plane: Avro RJ85 (D-AVRJ)

Seat 16C (aisle)

Load factor: Y:100% / C:100%

Once aboard the bus, we enjoyed again a sightseeing tour of MUC, to finally come close to D-AVRJ, our ride to Firenze.

Lufthansa - Avro RJ85 - D-AVRJ

Before going on with this trip report, a small word about Lufthansa’s Rj85. Of course, the first thought when you read this airline name together with this plane type, is: “What? 3+3 seating in that plane? This will be cramped!” I must say that, even though the RJ’s at SN give a spacious feeling with their 2+3 seating, that was not that bad with Lufthansa’s ones. Actually, I did not really have a claustrophobic feeling, the only thing being that the aisle is VERY narrow (I took pics of it in the FLR-MUC flight, see further in this TR). Anyway, on LH’s RJ’s, there are some two rows where the seating is 2+3: rows 16 and 17. And this is one of these that I chose. So, this said, let’s continue with the report :)

Boarding could be done by the front and rear doors.

As we had row 16, and as I never boarded a Jumbolino by the back door, this was the way to go! Before climbing the stairs, I could spot my luggage ready to board:

Still with us!

We were greated by a smiling F/A, and were seated in a matter of seconds.

D-AVRJ is not too young, but was clean.

Decent legroom and 2+3 seating on this row

Duct tape can fix anything!

Loadfactor was 100%, apparently there had been some cancelled flights to Firenze, which was confirmed by the Italian guy seated in 17C that experienced 3 (three!) missed flights (missed connection or cancellation) to Firenze in the past 36 hours! Some people would have certainly be quite angry (to stay polite) at such situations, but he was beyond that stage: he was just very happy to be in a plane to his city, no matter what. And he made sure all the people inside the plane knew it!

We eventually pushed back and left Munich on time, heading South towards Italy. Contrary to the first flight, there was not much to see outside:

Nothing to see but clouds and fog...

Once we reached our cruising altitude, the service started. To answer the question some could ask themselves, yes, they have trolleys designed for such narrow aisle.

At this time of the day, a small lunch was served: one sausage with potato salad and two grisinis bread. Not that bad for such a short flight... and that was tasty. :)

Soon after, the descent began, and everybody prepared him-/herself for landing. The landing was soft, unlike the braking (Firenze runway is not too long). After a backtrack, we reached our parking position, where a bus was waiting for us.

Deplaning...

After a very short ride, we entered the terminal and less than ten minutes later, our luggage arrived on the conveyor belt. Our cold but nice holiday could begin.

Firenze

For those who never went to Firenze, here are some pictures of the city:

Yes, this is the same place as on the pic above...

As you could see, the weather was cold during the entire trip, around -5°C, but we did not complain much, as at the same time, it was up to 15°C colder in Belgium ;-)

Too soon, it was time to say arriverdici! to Firenze and pack our luggage…

FLR-MUC

Flight number : LH1687

Scheduled time of departure / arrival : 12:50 – 14:05 (on time)

Plane: Avro RJ85 (D-AVRR)

Seat 16C (aisle)

Load factor: Y:80% / C:80%

We arrived at the airport 1h30 before scheduled departure, more than enough for such a small airport. I could test for the first time the mobile boarding pass I had downloaded on my Ipod, and I must say that sometimes I’m still surprised how fast technology evolves. Who could imagine that you could check-in online and download your boarding pass on your mobile phone, 10 years ago (I flew my first commercial flight in 2002, and still had a printed boarding pass in a stored paper folder… I’m feeling old, suddenly!)?

Security was a breeze, the personnel very friendly, and less than 10 minutes after having entered the airport, we could go to the small café and enjoy a bit of spotting while waiting for our flight.

Alitalia - Airbus A319 - EI-IMO

Meridiana - Airbus A320

Cityjet (Air France) - Avro RJ85 - EI-RJR

Meridiana - Airbus A320

Lufthansa - Avro RJ85 - AVRR

My ride waiting for me

It was time to head to the gate, where the on-time departure was confirmed.

We boarded a bus for a very short ride, and the boarding could proceed, but only by the front door this time, leaving time for some additional pics:

I wrote above that the aisle was very narrow: you can judge by yourself (actually, it is almost half the size of SN’s RJs):

Boarding was soon completed, and we headed to the runway, for a backtrack, the line-up and one of the funniest take-off I ever had! Due to the short length of the runway, the pilot needs to spool the engines, block the brake during approx. 10 seconds and… LOS!

(click here to watch it in HD and full screen)

The beginning of the flight was bumpy, resulting in a big grin on my face :D

We finally reached our cruising altitude, and contrary to the previous flight, there were no cloud, and the landscape over the Alps was stunning!

The lunch this time consisted only in a bread with some cheese.

It was however tasty, and we continued to admire the scenery:

Flying over the Zugspitze, Germany's highest summit

Too soon, one of the best flights of my life ended. We approached Munich, landed softly and had a new sightseeing tour before entering the terminal.

MUC-BRU

Flight number : LH2290

Scheduled time of departure / arrival : 15:20 – 16:45 (on time)

Plane: Embraer E-195 (D-AEBH)

Seat: 7F (aisle)

Load factor: Y:95% / C:80%

As we had more time (1h15), we were less stressed and could make a bit of shopping. After having used the VISA card on some items, we reached our gate and took a complimentary cup of tea and waited to board.

Plenty of choice, and free!

Boarding started on time. Still with the electronic boarding pass, I tried the automatic gate, just for fun, as usually I prefer interacting with human beings than with machines.