Well after a nice stay in Torremolinos (Hotel Amaragua very good, althogh Jet2Holidays was the only english operator there so majority were German/French etc) It was time to come home!! We checked out at 10am and set off to drop the hire car off at the Niza cars depot just outside Malaga Airport. We opted for a car as it was only £20 more than the taxi transfer offered by Jet2Holidays but it gave us flexibility as we went off several days to Gibraltar, Mijas and Marbella.
We dropped the car off at 10.30 and were taken to the Terminal by te shuttle bus. We were checking in at desks 4-7 which were miles away from the main entrance. It was quite busy with the majority of UK flights leaving similar time to ours, these included various ZB, BA, EZY etc.
Check in was fast and efficient and i was allocated seat 18A with my family around me on rows 18 & 19. We proceeded through security was was quite speedy and grabbed a bite to eat and had a look around the shops before sitting down near a bit window looking onto the runway and some stands. There were a few movements mainly EZY and ZB. The flight from Leeds arrived at Malaga 20 minutes early and we watched it pull up to gate C50. This time it was G-LSAI.
Flight: LS186
Sched Departure: 13.00
Actual Departure: 12.50
Sched Arrival: 15.00
Actual Arival: …….. Well thats the interesting bit lol
Aircraft: Boeing 757-200 G-LSAI.
We were called for boarding at 12.20 at gate C50, we went over at about 12.30 and there was just a few people there. We went down the air bridge and were met by another friendly member of crew. She showed us to our seats, this time overlooking the wing and engine. At this point the plane was anly about 20% full, I wasnt sure how busy it would be as it was New Years Day but suddenly there was a rush of people and the plane filled right up. At about 12.40 the captain came on welcoming us and informing us that there were 2 captains and a first office in the cockpit today and that 2 passengers were missing and their bags were about to be offloaded. Within about 30 seconds of him saying that they boarded so the doors were closed quickly and we were pushed back. Once everyone was om I could say there were about 200 people on which I though was quite good for the day!
We taxied to the runway behind a bmi baby 737 which waited for another bmi baby to arrive then quickly took off, us following behind. We rotated quickly and steeply and flew over the coastline of the Med. We then took a sharp left turn and flew over the Sierra Nevada. The pilot came on the tannoy informing us of our route and the weather at Leeds. Not good, he said it was wet and foggy. Our routing was the same out the outbound flight, Madrid, Bay of Biscay, Torquay, Manchester then Leeds.
The flight was very smooth and fairly clear over Spain but more cloudy over France and then Thick cloud over the UK. Here is a pic of the engine when we were over France:
G-LSAI also arrived with Jet2 from China Southern. She was built in 1987 so is another elderly bird!! Yet again she was in good condition, a few scuffs and pen marks on the seats but not bad. Here is a pic of the cabin:
At about 14.15 the captain came over the pa letting us know that visibility at Leeds was not good, although within limits at the moment it may get worse. A few people sighed but I think most people wern’t bothered as it was only a maybe. There was a guy a few rows infront of me who kept asking the crew if it was safe and normal to divert. Well we carried on and started to decend into the cloud, we suddenly seemed to rise up again over the cloud and into the sun again. The cabin crew then got a call from the cockpit. The captain then came over saying that unfortunatley the visibility at Leeds had gone down to 320 metres which was way under the minimum for the 757 (500 metres i think?) so due to the fuel situation we would need to divert to Machester rather then hold for it to improve. Great. A lovely trip down the M62 to look forward to! Well anyway we did a few turns and started our decent into manchester. There was a lot of cloud but no fog. We touched down smootly and taxied past the old MyTravel hangars, Now with Thomas Cook signs on 🙁
We parked next to some VLM F50s and were met my some Menzies reps and busses. They told us that there were some coaches waiting for us outside the Jet2 check in. We all got off onto the buses and they took us to the terminal. Security was painfully painfully slow and annoying!!! After 20 odd minutes we were through and made out way out of the arrivals hall infront of Victoria House and were met by some coaches, the crew appeared and got in a taxi. The coaches set off at about 16.15 for Leeds. This journey was sooooooo slow, it was only an hour but dragged on and on and on. The whole coach was in silence most of the way which made it a bit uncomfortable. There was a guy sat near us who was on the Jet2 B737 CDG-LBA flight that also diverted to MAN, although most other 737-300’s got in ok with the CATIII Ils.
We arrived at Leeds at 17.15 to lots of fog!! it was awful! We got off the bus and I went for a look at the arrivals board in the terminal, most Jet2 737 flights, bmi and Ryanair were getting in just the 757’s and dash 8’s that were diverting to MAN or another airport (not going to name it as everyone goes on how Leeds has bad weather and runway constraints etc and this new airport is much better lol)
Well that was an eventful end to our holiday. Very impressed with Jet2 and just a shame we had to go to Manchester! Come on Bridgepoint lets get LBA’s runway sorted!! Please! 🙂
Overall I give the flight:
Punctuality: 10/10 (we were due to arrive 15 mins early at Leeds but the weather set in)
Crew: 10/10 all frendly and happy and smiley
Comfort: 10/10
Overall another great flight with Jet2, very nice and enjoyable. Keep up the good work 😀 😀 😀
I took the follwing pictures after a stroll down the beach towards the airport. Not of the highest quality but give a good idea of the main traffic around 11-13.00
Flybe E195
TOM B738 from MAN
GSM B738
Sterling 737
Jet2.com G-LSAI, from LBA
IB Airbus
FCA A321
Police Chopper
Thanks for reading!
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