RE: Fokker 100

I flew on the Fokker 100 in July, EMA-PMI with bmi. On the way out I sat at the front, just behind the first class area. It was a great aircraft, very smooth and quiet, probably the best flight I’ve had.
The way back though I sat about half way down and it was a very different story. The aircraft is much louder from the middle back and god help anyone who sits on the last few rows.
Nice aircraft to look at, bmi base virtually their whole fleet at EMA but none are painted in the new colours yet :-(.

A few shots of the aircraft:
http://www.plane-mad.com/thumb/bd100_ema-1-t.jpg http://www.plane-mad.com/thumb/ojf100_lhr-1-t.jpg http://www.plane-mad.com/thumb/klm100_bhx-1-t.jpg

RE: Look what delta can do!

I can’t top either of them but my worst experiences have been with Airtours.
EMA-ACE: The plane laded very late already and we where ready to go, then we get told they need to change a tyre, an eventual 6 hr delay followed
ACE-EMA (The return flight): Took off relatively on time, but had to make a fuel stop in Nantes, France! The captain said that the runway in Lanzarote wasn’t long enough for our MD-83 to take a full load of fuel and as we had strong headwinds we had to stop.

Beleive it or not we decided to give them another go Manchester-Malta.
We were constantly told that it would be 3/4 hour delay, but apparently the plane was still stuck in Cyprus 2 hours into this with some sort of problem. After our party made a few complaints and stated that we wouldn’t be too pleased with flying on one of the Air Atlanta Tristars, we were taxiied to a local hotel for a free meal, just the 7 of us.
We eventually flew out 11 hours later on Britannia (on time), 3 hours ahead of everybody else we found out later.
The return flight was on time 😮 , but the TV’s were broke.

RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?

Fair enough, overlapping is meaningless so I don’t see any real problem with Virgin joining Star.
The CO agreement is also on certain routes from Gatwick, certainly Virgins flights to Orlando and both carriers share codes for their Newark flights.
I thought I heard a while ago that Continental were looking to end the agreement, has anyone else heard this or was it my imagination?

Anyway I totally agree with Greekdude1, I cannot possibly see Virgin joining any alliance other than Star, I find it surprising to hear so many people who disagree, but everybody has their own opinion.

RE: Virgin in Star Alliance?

I can’t see Virgin joining anyone but the Star alliance. They are as stated above 49% owned by Singapore Airlines and already have agreements (frequent flyer anyway) with Singapore, SAS and BMI.
The catch is that is a bit of overlapping with Star carriers, US routes with United and Tokyo with ANA but I still can’t see them joining any other group, if they ever do.

RE: Web Designers

I’m no professional, but I’ve got my own web site:
http://www.plane-mad.com

Can I be any help?

RE: which is the best airport

Palma de Mallorca is a nightmare for walking distances and apparently so is Dubai. On the subject of small regional airports East Midlands isn’t that bad, it just needs some work on it, especially on the baggage reclaim.
I tend to share the same views that large airports like Heathrow are too overcrowded and a bit of a nightmare.

RE: New/restyled a/c c/s in the planning?

Could be Delta, good suggestion! I liked their new old colours, the one in the middle that didn’t last very long.

I would like to see Monarch have a change, its getting a bit outdated now.

When do we get the answer, I’m looking forward to hearing who it is!