09/08/06
Palma De Mallorca – Barcelona
IB1711
A320 (EC-JSK)
Barcelona – Birmingham International
BA1797/IB7591
RJ100 (G-CFAA)
Well after arrival at the airport at about 10am or so we all checked in for our flights back home, again check-in was incredibly simple with my bag being sent through all the way back to Birmingham and got the window seats assigned for both flights as with the way there. Going through security was not much of a problem once again but the queue was obviously bigger being the time of day and the influx of charters going back out but it was easy.
After finding the departure lounge we all said our goodbyes as Dan and Stuarts flight was going out an hour before mine back to BCN to connect with their flight to LHR, they managed to bag another MD-88. After watching them depart I sat around their gate aread which was devoid of people bar this one British family who happened to be on my flight, there was not much action outside except I managed to see my flight taxi in. Soon enough my flight was called for boarding and it was a short walk just two gates away.
On boarding EC-JSK I could see this was going to be an immensly different ride to the MD-88, the interior was immaculate with a light grey leather on all seats. The seats were very comftable indeed with qreat legroom and to top it off I had no-one in the middle seat so it was quite nice to stretch out!
After information from the pilots about our flight in both Spanish and English (ditto with the saftey demonstration) we pushed back and taxiied out for RWY 24R for departure.
After a powerful take-off we made the turn towards BCN.
At this point I was incredibly relaxed in my comfy two areas of seats, clean! windows and a relativly new aircraft. After a short time cruising we made our decent back into BCN and followed an EZY 737 onto the ILS for RWY 25L….
Sorry, reflections galore on this one.
….and followed the same track off the runway as the BA flight but this time towards a gate at IB’s terminal.
This time I had nowhere near as much time to kill but made had to make the walk down the very long terminal towards the area for BA departures where Dan’s and Stuart’s plane (The ‘Blue Peter’ B757) was already waiting for the last few passangers before heading back to LHR, at the same time I could see my aircraft taxiing in. At this point I was literally praying for it to have ‘BA CONNECT’ titles but just my luck standard old G-CFAA taxiied in next to ‘Blue Peter’.
I watched ‘Blue Peter’ push back and depart like a rocket! off 25R to head back to LHR, soon enough my flight was called for boarding at 1400 for a 1430 departure. This time I had 3F which was great having the right hand side on the way back next to engine no. 3 and to top it off I had two empty seats next to me meaning literally putting your legs up for the flight.
Everyone seemed to be boarded by 1420 and just as the cabin crew closed the doors all the cabin lights, air conditioning etc turned off. I didn’t actually think much of it at first but two minutes or so later the Captain came on informing us the APU had failed and they were having trouble starting the engines and after many aplogies saying they’d do their best to get the problem sorted. They got a generator on the ground to keep the Air Con on inside the hot cabin.
Time gradually passes and the lights/air con kept randomly going off and on, the cabin crew explained to us that we couldn’t actually go back into the terminal and at the same time we couldn’t obviously go on the ramp so there was no choice but to sit tight. We were advised to bring the window covers down halfway or so to stop the cabin getting any hotter. At this point I was dying for a drink as it was sweltering but the purser also explained as they now sold food and drink on board they had no available drinks to give out.
By this time it was 1510 or so and we were 40 minutes behind schedule, we kept getting apology annoucements and updates which I was impressed with. At the same point the cabin crew announced they were going to be giving out free glasses of water to all the pax despite company policy and this was welcomed throughout the cabin. Eventually at 1525 success! with the problem sorted we could finally push back and head back home.
The crew still had to perform the saftey demonstration and it was incredibly plain to see that they were just as hot, sweaty and uncomftable as all of us but they put in a full effort.
After making a very slow taxi we lined up on 25R for departure where we sat idle for about 5 minutes before applying full throttle and up into the blue.
We made the turn to head for home and were into the cruise at FL300. At this point the cabin crew announced that they would start serving food and drink and as a way of aplogy for the delay, all soft drinks would be free for the entire flight with everything else remaining at standard price. Was surprised to hear but again was glad that BACON did everything they could to make the pax feel comfy again.
G-CFAA was definatley the more comftable aircraft, despite being the older model, check the wierd guy on the right looking at me.. 😀
As were were passing the French/Spanish border I fell asleep not waking up again till we were over the English Channel, it’s always an incredibly relaxing and comforting sight seeing the UK again in all it’s green glory, the Captain explained we would be making the desent over London before landing on RWY 33 at BHX, on the way over London I did manage to catch a glimpse of LGW and a GSM 737 just above us which was crusing north towards Scotland. Before we knew it we were on the ILS for 33 in very dull skies, it was a bumpy approach but the pilots managed a smooth touchdown and we exited and headed back to Terminal 2.
On the way I managed to see the stranded TNT 737 (OO-TND) looking very lonely sitting near the Elmdon site on the old 06/24 runway devoid of TNT markings and sitting on a jack where it’s right undercarraige was supposed to be. We parked up at Gate 3 of T2 inbetween a BACON ERJ-145 and an AF 143.
Starting to look like Manchester around here!? :dev2:.
I waited for the cabin to empty before heading to the front and asked the Captain himself about getting in the flightdeck to which he promptly said “Yes of course! go right in”. I met the FO and had a brief chat about the flight and how was the trip etc getting a picture before heading up the airbridge to collect my baggage and so ended my Palma trip getting from plane to arrivals in 10 minutes.
The pictures will not be as great quality because I’ve had to resize them but I hope you enjoyed!
Tom
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