Hello everybody!
Here is a new report, with as usual lots of
pictures!
Background
Following last February’s trip in Firenze,
my fiancée decided to study there during this month of September.
I decided to accompany her for this
week-end. The flights were booked in June, and include the following itinerary:
- 01/09/2012: Brussels - Firenze with Brussels Airlines
- 02/09/2012: Firenze - Lyon - Brussels with AirFrance Group (respectively Airlinair and AF Regional).
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| Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz. |
I will fly there again end of the month,
with an outbound flight Brussels - Rome -
Firenze (Alitalia) and an inbound direct flight Firenze - Brussels with Brussels Airlines. If these flights are interesting,
they will be described in another trip report.
BRU-FLR
Flight number: SN3139
Scheduled time of departure / Arrival:
15:30 – 17:30 (on time)
Plane: Avro RJ85
(OO-DJY)
Seat: 13C (aisle)
Load Factor: Y:100% / Y+ & C: 95%
We arrived at BRU around 13:45, and dropped
off our (heavy) luggage at the counter, welcomed by a very friendly agent.
Minutes after, we were walking the long tunnel to the Pier A, and passed
security in less than 5 minutes. We soon arrived at our gate (A50), and had 45
minutes to wait prior to boarding.
What to do in
that case? Well, for me, spotting of course... lots of SN birds (RJs, A330s), a
Fokker from KLM, an A300 from DHL, a RAM B737, nothing unusual. Except this
one: a Moroccan Air Force C130:
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| Moroccan Air Force – C130 – CN-AOR |
Meanwhile, our RJ85 (OO-DJY) had been ferried
to our gate (was it possible that, at 15:30, it was her first flight of the
day?).
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| Brussels Airlines – Avro RJ85 – OO-DJY |
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| OO-DJY – First time on this plane |
Boarding started around 15:00, we went to
our seat (13A and 13C). We pushed back at 15:25, and took off minutes later
from the usual runway 25R. The take off roll seemed quite long (42 seconds),
but it was not a surprise, as the total load factor was approaching the 100%.
The flight was uneventful, the blue sky partially cloudy, and almost no
turbulence. Just before commencing our approach, we had a small but tasty
surprise: the flight attendants were distributing Neuhaus chocolates to
everybody, for free. Was it a one shot? Is it a new trend at SN? Was it to
celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Belgian chocolate maker?
Anyway, it was a gesture welcomed by everybody!
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| Happy 100th Birthday, Neuhaus! |
We landed on the wet runway 05 of Firenze
Airport at 17:15, 15 minutes ahead of schedule, but this time the braking was
not as intense as with Lufthansa in February. A bit of backtrack later, we
reached our parking stand and disembarked.
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| OO-DJY |
The baggage claim was quite packed, with a
long line in front of the “Lost luggage” desk, as if a whole plane arrived without
anything in the hold! This was not the case for us, and 15 minutes after
deboarding, my blue suitcase and its companion were amongst the first to be put
on the belt, and instants later, we were at the bus stop to the centre of the
city.
FLR-LYS
Flight number: AF5994
Scheduled time of departure / Arrival: 17:40-19:20
(on time)
Plane: ATR42 (F-GPYF)
Seat: 3F (window)
Load Factor: 100%
After a nice week-end in this beautiful
city, it was time for me to fly back to Belgium. I arrived at the airport
around 16:10, and walked directly to security (no luggage this time, left at my
fiancée’s studio)... to discover an enormous queue (easily 150 people for 2
gates)! Not surprising as we were on the last Summer holiday week-end, but
still, I had the souvenir of February where the airport was empty, so this was
a big difference. However, everything went smoothly, and it took less than 15
minutes to pass airside. After having bought 1l of Limoncello (the 1l bottle were on discount,
cheaper than the 3/4l ones, go figure!), I went in the café with view on the
apron (no, I did not drink the Limoncello) to spend some time spotting.
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| Firenze Airport apron |
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| Air Dolomiti – ATR 72 –I-ADCC |
Soon after, I saw my plane landing, on
time, what reassured me as I had a tight connection (30 minutes) in Lyon . From
far away, it seemed smaller than the ATR72 I was expecting (as per the info
mentioned when I booked the flights), and comparing it with the Air Dolomiti
ATR72 in front of my eyes, I concluded that I would fly with an ATR42 instead.
No issue at all: I had booked that particular flight to get a new type, well it
was not the one expected, but no problem with that, as I never flew with an ATR
before anyway!
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| AirFrance (Airlinair) – ATR 42 –F-GPYF |
I left the café and went to the gate. The
area was crowded, but several flights were boarding, so 10 minutes later, half
of the people had left in the buses. Apparently, it was the peak hour! And very
soon after, it was our turn.
I boarded in the bus, and went next to one
of the door, in order to take other pics, without any window interfering
anymore.
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| Alitalia – Airbus A319 –I-BIMA |
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| Meridiana – Airbus A319 – EI-DFP |
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| Lufthansa (Regional) – Embraer E195 – D-AECA |
The bus doors closed, and we crossed the
entire apron, the runway, and finally arrived in the Biz Jet apron where our
plane (and several other airliners) was parked. This was a nice ride, passing
very close to even nicer bizjets... We arrived finally next to our ride,
and I noticed one thing I was not aware
at all: on the ATR, there is a cargo hold between the cockpit and the cabin.
Now, that was worrying me a little bit: on online Check-in, I was glad to have
seat 3F, because it was meaning I could get quickly off the plane, which was
important due to the short connection time in Lyon... Now, it was the opposite:
I would be among the last to deplane. Well, I would see! In the meantime, let’s
take some pics of this turboprop!
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| Boarding F-GPYF |
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| F-GPYF - wingshot |
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| F-GPYF – T-tail |
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| F-GPYF – trying to be artistic |
And let not forget the neighbours!
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| Solid Air – Falcon 900b – PH-NDK |
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| AirFrance (CityJet) – Avro RJ100 – EI-RJE |
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| Private – Beechcraft King Air 200 |
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| D-AECA being prepared for her next flight |
All the other passengers having boarded, it
was my turn to be greeted by the very friendly F/A and I went through all the
cabin to find my seat. And there, another surprise: the legroom was terrible!
My feeling is that it is worse than Ryanair (I’ll have the opportunity to
verify this very soon). My neighbour offered me to exchange my seat with one of
his travel companions, seated in seat 2C at an emergency exit... “Thank you, it
was a very nice offer, but the flight will be short, and I won’t exchange my window seat :-) “
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| More than Ryanairesque legroom... |
However, if one of the people from row 1
had offered the same deal, I would not have hesitated long before accepting.
Indeed, the seats 1D and F are facing the back of the plane. Now, that is
interesting (especially if you travel with 3 other people!)!
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| See the unusual seating configuration? The lady in front is a passenger |
Speaking of window seat, the view was
directly on the propeller.
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| Big prop – hope it is well fixed! Don’t want to become a Carpaccio ;-) |
And speaking of prop, Airlinair (operating
the flight for AirFrance) seems to be proud to have turboprops in their fleet,
as it is explained in a folder in the backseat pocket (if you want to read it,
a higher resolution picture is available here
).
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| Folder on ATR’s advantages |
Boarding was eventually completed, and the
engines were finally started, at 17:40. At that moment, I became a little bit
worried, as I knew that we would have to backtrack the entire runway before
taking off, so reducing again the margin for my connection. Anyway, I could not
do anything about it. After a powerful take off (remember, this is a short
runway), we headed North-North-West towards Lyon, and were soon above the
clouds.
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| Above the clouds |
On this short flight, there was still a
service, consisting in a cold drink and a snack (cookies or salted grisini). I
took a Coke and the grisini, and tried not to breath too hard, as the tray
table was pressing against my stomach...
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| Grisinis and Coke |
Although being loud, the ATR is not an
uncomfortable machine (except for the cramped seat, but that is more an airline’s
than a manufacturer’s choice) for short haul, and we did not feel the
turbulence, despite one warning from the crew while approaching the Alps. And
the scenery was beautiful, despite some clouds.
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| Alps under the clouds... |
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| ... but also above the clouds. Is it you, Mont-Blanc? |
Soon after, we left the mountains for
greener landscapes
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| No more mountain |
And we started our descent, literally
slaloming between the clouds.
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| Fun slalom between the clouds |
We overflew the airport of Grenoble-Isère,
and shortly after, were on final to land on runway 36R of Lyon Saint-Exupéry
Airport.
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| Grenoble-Isère airport |
Landing was soft, and after letting an
Airbus from Easyjet take off, we crossed the runway 36L and arrived at our
parking stand, 5 minutes behind schedule. Minutes passed before I could
deplane, and I entered directly in the terminal 20 minutes before the scheduled
take-off of my flight to Brussels. Fortunately, there was no bus ride.
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| Out of my first ATR |
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| Front desk, thanks for the smooth flight! |
I made a small movie of this flight (for
full HD version, click on the youtube logo)
LYS-BRU
Flight number: AF5406
Scheduled time of departure / Arrival:
19:50-21:10 (on time)
Plane: Embraer ERJ145 (F-GUBE)
Seat: 3A (window & aisle)
Load Factor: 100%
I was just inside the terminal when I heard
a public address call concerning my flight to Brussels... announcing that the
boarding would be slightly delayed due to the airplane being refuelled. I was
relieved, I would not have to sprint across the terminal! On the way to my
gate, I took several pictures.
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| AirFrance (Regional) – Embraer ERJ145 – F-GUBO |
An ATR from an airline I had never heard of
before: Farnair Europe. After a web search, I learned that it is a Swiss
company specialised in Cargo, with a fleet of 12 ATR72, 2 ATR42 and 2 Beech
1900, all cargo, and 2 ATR42 in Passengers configuration. The passengers planes
are for charters or wet-lease. More info on this airline on www.farnair.com .
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| Farnair Europe – ATR42 – HB-AFF |
As soon as I reached my gate, boarding
started.
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| Sorry for the blurry picture |
The walk to the airplane was short, but I
took the time to enjoy it. The ERJ145 is a very good-looking
machine, and give the impression of being like a private bizjet (but not as
sexy as the Falcon I saw earlier in Firenze!)
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| AirFrance (Regional) – Embraer ERJ145 – F-GUBE |
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| F-GUBE – long nose! |
We were greeted by a friendly flight
attendant, and seconds after, I was in my seat 7A (Window and Aisle, thanks to
1+2 seating), and this was a world of difference with the ATR regarding comfort
and legroom! Give me an ERJ145 any day!
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| Comfortable seat |
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| Excellent legroom |
The cockpit door was open, and we were
welcomed by the very friendly captain. Nice to really see him speaking, and
even cracking jokes with some passengers; that gave a sort of “family” atmosphere.
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| Front desk, before the Captain speech |
While the boarding procedure was finishing,
I looked at our neighbour, a beautiful CRJ700 from Britair, about to depart.
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| AirFrance (Britair) – CRJ700 – F-GRZC |
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| F-GRZC |
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| Kenavo, F-GRZC, have a nice flight! |
Shortly after, we pushed back, and started
our taxi towards runway 36L, while an A321 from Onur Air was landing.
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| Onur Air – Airbus A321 – TC-ONS |
Take off was smooth, and quieter than the
ATR (that was not hard ;-) ), and we directly headed towards Belgium. During
all the flight, I could enjoy the sun setting, which was beautiful!
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| Sun preparing to set |
On this flight, drinks and snack were also
provided. I choose some white wine, with cheese-crackers.
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| Time is now appropriate for some wine! |
While sipping my Chardonnay, I continued
watching the sunset.
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| Nature still offers the best IFE |
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| The sun going down under the clouds |
In the middle of the flight, we encountered
some turbulence, that I felt strongly this time, and I had to firmly hold my
glass in order to avoid spitting its content all over. (Un)fortunately, this
did not last long, and the Captain soon announced that we were about to start
the descent. We flew through the clouds, and saw the sun again, still setting.
And at 21:05, we gently touched down on
Runway 25L, and taxied towards our gate, on the A Pier.
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| End of A-Pier |
Finally, our plane stopped at some meters
from the jetbridge. I deplaned, took the stairs to get into the jetbridge, and
started the usual walk to get out of the airport.
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| Last pic of the day... |
Conclusion
I spent an excellent week-end, with 3 good
flights. The direct one with SN was the practical choice to get to Firenze with
the minimum hassle (no connection, comfortable aircraft), and the chocolate at
the end was a nice touch.
The return was more “for the fun”, and to
try a new type of plane and new airport. I enjoyed flying with the ATR,
although I’ll hesitate to take it again in the future if the alternative is
something else than a usual A319/20 or B737.
Indeed, the ATR (at least with Airlinair) was too cramped to be entirely
comfortable, and fortunately the flight did not last longer.
Also, the short connection was a bit
stressful, but everything went well in the end.
Finally, the last flight to Brussels was
truly enjoyable, with an excellent atmosphere, beautiful landscape, and
comfortable aircraft.
Thank you for having read this trip report,
and see you next time! As usual, any comment / question is welcome!
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