Hi folks,
Just back from my trip to Orlando, which I thought was going to be a nice simple trip there and back on the Monarch A330…. but for Hurricane Frances!
Managed to “hunker down” as the American’s say for a week, but then it got too much with the propect of another one on its way. Trying to get a flight out of anywhere in Florida was virtually impossible, but for AirTran Airways!
AirTran seemed to the only ones with seats at a reasonable price (When I say reasonable, I mean less than FULL FARE!). I seem to remember AirTran used to be a slightly different name, blue and white livery and the same airline that crashed in the Florida Everglades? Can anyone confirm this?
Well, just to say, they’re a great airline. Ended up on a seemingly new B717 from MCO to BWI, my escape route from Florida! Would highly recommend then, apart from a little disorganised checking-in.
And for my final treat, and thanks to my friends at Virgin, I managed to get Premium Economy back from Washington Dulles to LHR last night. I was so pleased to see the A340-600 pull up at Dulles! If there’s one aircraft you really need to experience close up, its the A340-600!!! 😎
Have to say, hats off to Virgin! This was my first trip with them, and they’ve really got it sorted. Even the loo’s on the aircraft were totally space age, lots of silver and bright blue lighting.
Long live the A340-600!!!
airbusbaby 😀
By: G-OJET - 14th September 2004 at 21:54
Well, I thought the B717 was pretty neat aircraft. Nice cabin, very quiet, loads of room in the hat racks, although not quite the same pull on take-off as I’ve experienced on the Spanair MD80’s. Maybe the flight deck just didn’t need quite so much power out of MCO, I’m no expert there! The cabin is more my speciality!
By: mongu - 14th September 2004 at 18:12
😮 Not quite, alot of work went into making the B717 what it is, it’s a world apart from the DC-9 in terms of systems, avionics, and reliability. We all know that it still retains the DC-9-Type fuselage, apart from the vertical tail.
Indeed, that would be akin to comparing the 707 and 739 or 753; they share a fuselage cross section.
By: Grey Area - 14th September 2004 at 18:05
Hmmm…. it’s not quite a world apart from the MD-90 though, is it? 😉
By: Bhoy - 14th September 2004 at 11:26
but of course, seeing as how it now has Rollers for engines. 😉
By: G-OJET - 14th September 2004 at 11:24
A 717 is just a tarted up rebadged DC9 anyway
No sh*t 😉
Slightly less noisey I seem to remember too!
By: steve rowell - 14th September 2004 at 08:04
Thats it RenFrew!!!
Thank god someone remembered!!!
I think they merged with another carrier, and took their name. I remember AirTran having the Valujet DC9’s for a while, indeed our Captain still had “DC9 Captain” label on his bag.
Cheers for that.
A 717 is just a tarted up rebadged DC9 anyway
By: ACA345 - 13th September 2004 at 18:52
Your are right Ren, it was ValueJet. But later they became AirTran.
On the subject of Hurricanes, I have had the pleasure to be here for all of them so far. In my area we avoided Bonnie and Charley, but did not get so fortunate with Frances which luckily was not to powerful. And now we have Ivan. As of 11 a.m. the track is keeping it way west of Tampa Bay but it may turn early placing it more in our area. Hopefully I dont get the pleasure of being in a category 4 or 5 Hurricane. Those storms essentially shut down everthing for almost a year before everything is back up.
You are right too, the 346 is a wonderful aircraft.
By: G-OJET - 13th September 2004 at 18:49
Thats it RenFrew!!!
Thank god someone remembered!!!
I think they merged with another carrier, and took their name. I remember AirTran having the Valujet DC9’s for a while, indeed our Captain still had “DC9 Captain” label on his bag.
Cheers for that.
By: Ren Frew - 13th September 2004 at 18:40
!
AirTran seemed to the only ones with seats at a reasonable price (When I say reasonable, I mean less than FULL FARE!). I seem to remember AirTran used to be a slightly different name, blue and white livery and the same airline that crashed in the Florida Everglades? Can anyone confirm this?
Er… I’m thinking Valujet were the airline with a crashed a DC-9 into the Everglades in the mid 90’s?
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September 13, 2004 at 6:28 pm