Large plane discussion

[gwolfdog]

Stay Safe, the Third Wave is beginning!

My Friend in Austin, healthy and late 30's is still in Hermit Mode.

 

[railiner]

Was everyone wearing actual masks over the mouth and nose? Where I live a lot of people use thin fabric instead of a real mask or put the top of the mask just below their nostrels. Full flights and booked middle seats are a turnoff but it's the quarantine at the end that makes air travel impractical for me. If I drive I can quarantine before the trip, avoid stops that would risk contact with others, and still travel reasonably safe. Whereas if I fly I have no control over who sits near me and ignoring the quarantine would put the people I care about at risk.

Since they have no services rendered on the flight, the FA's had little else to do, than go up and down the aisle, and enforce the mask policy. I saw them doing that, a few times.

I am going to drive my car back to Florida, nonstop. I can do it with just two pit stops for fuel and rest room....

 

[railiner]

Welcome home. We are lucky in that we have a couple of decent supermarkets that deliver. The Fairway in Douglaston became "Food Bazaar" and they have a first 3 deliveries free offer, and the Key food on 164th and 69th delivers online orders. Be safe The area adjacent to ours has had a recent surge, you are better off with deliveries!

Thanks! I'll probably use the Key Food. I wouldn't walk into Aron's, if you offered me free food, in line with what I've heard about the hotspot in that community...

 

[railiner]

Being a skeptic, I would like to see some data regarding how many people actually go into Quarantine for 14 days after travel. It seems like Pandora's Box has been open and your only real safety involves finding a small rural town and never going anywhere, JMHO

Haha....that's what my wife and I did, after returning to our home outside Okeechobee, from a cruise in March. Now we have moved into Palm Beach County, so we are not as isolated as before....

 

[Alice]

Since they have no services rendered on the flight, the FA's had little else to do, than go up and down the aisle, and enforce the mask policy. I saw them doing that, a few times.

I am going to drive my car back to Florida, nonstop. I can do it with just two pit stops for fuel and rest room....

If you can manage to drive at night safely, you'll find less crowded pit stops making it easier to stay far away from any unmasked people.

 

[gwolfdog]

If you can manage to drive at night safely, you'll find less crowded pit stops making it easier to stay far away from any unmasked people.

That's when all the sick people travel too avoid infecting more people. You can't win with the Covid.

 

[Palmland]

We just returned from a 2900 mile auto road trip to see our sons in the northeast, friends in northern Vermont, and check out a couple towns on lower eastern shore of MD. We never felt unsafe. We always followed Covid guidelines and as did most all we came in contact with. We always used outside restaurant dining or delivery to our room for several hotel nights where we had contactless check in and avoided common areas. We chose to venture out and accept the risks. Glad we did. I suspect the odds of an accident on an extended auto trip are greater than contracting Covid.

 

[railiner]

I still can't tell if the A319 should be considered cute or ugly. The dimensions are so goofy it looks like a child's toy to me. There's an even tinier A318 but I don't think I've ever flown one in the flesh.

Funny you should mention never having flown in an A-318...I hadn't either. Last year, I returned to JFK from Bordeaux, France, and got my first flight in one of them to Paris....and then connected there to my first ever flight in an A-380....
Talk about extreme's....

 

[Trogdor]

I, just barely, managed to catch a ride on an A318 during the few minutes that Frontier operated them in the mid-2000s. I had a flight MDW-DEN to which, me being me back then, I arrived at the airport a bit late and got to the gate a few minutes after boarding was supposed to have ended. However, a delay (apparently related to removing an unruly passenger from the inbound) meant they hadn’t started boarding yet.

I think it was 2008 or so.

 

[PVD]

Very few A-318 were sold, akin to the 737-600. Frontier had some, all gone now, Air France still has some. Economics don't work for that size, weight, and price in either the 737 or Airbus. It is really the realm of the Embraer or Canadair, particularly the E-Jets and the BBD C series (now known as A-220) A few votes for crew and maintenance commonality, but rarely enough to make it worth it. I think WestJet might be the only 737-600s in North America.

 

[Trogdor]

I think WestJet might be the only 737-600s in North America.

I believe there is one other operator of 737-600s, but if I told you how to fly on them, then I'd have to kill you.

 

[jiml]

Primary customers were SAS and Westjet. There were around 70 built, with most airlines preferring the slightly larger 700 and 800 variants. It was, as pointed out above, Boeing's answer to the A-318. Funny how neither were very successful, but wonder how newer versions would sell today with airlines looking for smaller, more efficient models.

 

[jiml]

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/...operating-the-london-city-new-york-jfk-route/

 

[railiner]

Did you watch this video, offered in the above link?
https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/videolibrary/details/86/202

 

[jiml]

Did you watch this video, offered in the above link?
https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/videolibrary/details/86/202

I had not seen that one - thanks for posting. I have seen a number of other videos on the airport though. Most airlines use shorter-range regional jets to access it. Also of interest regarding the route: a fuel stop in Ireland was necessary so the 318 would have the range westbound only. The time required for servicing allowed for US Immigration pre-clearance to take place there (as is the case with most Ireland-originating flights). Definitely a "niche" route and airplane.

 

[jis]

Many years back Lufthansa had a J only 738BBJ flight flown for them by Privatair from Stuttgart to Newark. I flew on it once. It was, needless to say,, a wonderful flight with great service.

 

[PVD]

I believe there is one other operator of 737-600s, but if I told you how to fly on them, then I'd have to kill you.

I was only referencing airlines, not gov't/military

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Air Canada had a couple of ETOPS A319s they used between St. John's Newfoundland and London Heathrow. A short flight taking about 4 1/2 hrs.

It got MAX'd (and we know what happened to those!!)......and then COVID hit. Now a St. John's to London passenger (if he can even travel) has to fly 3 hrs west to Toronto and allowing for connecting time there......about 7 hrs after first leaving St. John's he is now eastbound at 30,000' passing over Newfoundland again on his way to London. Total travel time: about 12 hrs vs: about 4 1/2 hrs!

 

[jiml]

Air Canada had a couple of ETOPS A319s they used between St. John's Newfoundland and London Heathrow. A short flight taking about 4 1/2 hrs.

It got MAX'd (and we know what happened to those!!)......and then COVID hit. Now a St. John's to London passenger (if he can even travel) has to fly 3 hrs west to Toronto and allowing for connecting time there......about 7 hrs after first leaving St. John's he is now at 30,000' passing over Newfoundland again on his way to London. Total travel time: about 12 hrs vs: about 4 1/2 hrs!

The only knock on those YYT-LHR flights was the limited seat recline and decidedly domestic meal service. Although a short flight, it was still overnight and it's not like AC reflected the distance in their pricing. Flights from Halifax on a 767 with flat beds in J and better catering were not more expensive, and in fact one could choose to fly from St. John's with a connection in Halifax for the same fare (with a slight additional tax component). Unless you were in a hurry and didn't mind sleeping upright, the latter made more sense. That having been said, there were usually seats available on the 319 that were popular with airline staff looking for a weekend in London.

If you're wondering what happened to the ETOPS A319's btw, pre-Covid they were flying YYZ-KEF - a route which I believe is now suspended.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

The only knock on those YYT-LHR flights was the limited seat recline and decidedly domestic meal service. Although a short flight, it was still overnight..........

The first year AC did the St. John's – Heathrow flight on the A319 (guessing around 2005 – '06) it was a daytime flight leaving St. John's around noon and with the time difference....arrived LHR around 9 in the evening effectively missing all onward connections to other European Cities. It did a quick turn and was back in St. John's before midnight......Newfoundland Time.

The following year.....it assumed the common TATL schedule: overnight eastbound and morning/early afternoon westbound. Allowing for much better connections in LHR.

 

[jiml]

The first year AC did the St. John's – Heathrow flight on the A319 (guessing around 2005 – '06) it was a daytime flight leaving St. John's around noon and with the time difference....arrived LHR around 9 in the evening effectively missing all onward connections to other European Cities. It did a quick turn and was back in St. John's before midnight......Newfoundland Time.

The following year.....it assumed the common TATL schedule: overnight eastbound and morning/early afternoon westbound. Allowing for much better connections in LHR.

AC made a lot of dumb decisions with TATL flights back then. I'm a big fan of daytime flights arriving in London in the evening, checking into a hotel and feeling relatively normal the next morning. They had a daytime out of Toronto around the same era, but would substitute a domestic-configured 762 regularly. I fell for this more than once. Cramped BC seat and a small galley provided a much lower class of service for the same premium price.

A funny aside was how AC shared Terminal 3 in LHR with Qantas and American back then. Although A319's were quite common at Heathrow, seeing AC's among all the jumbos at T3 was quite a contrast.

 

[Dakota 400]

Air Canada had a couple of ETOPS A319s they used between St. John's Newfoundland and London Heathrow. A short flight taking about 4 1/2 hrs.

It got MAX'd (and we know what happened to those!!)......and then COVID hit. Now a St. John's to London passenger (if he can even travel) has to fly 3 hrs west to Toronto and allowing for connecting time there......about 7 hrs after first leaving St. John's he is now eastbound at 30,000' passing over Newfoundland again on his way to London. Total travel time: about 12 hrs vs: about 4 1/2 hrs!

I enjoyed watching the video. Thanks for posting it!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Air Canada had a couple of ETOPS A319s they used between St. John's Newfoundland and London Heathrow. A short flight taking about 4 1/2 hrs.

The only knock on those YYT-LHR flights was the limited seat recline and decidedly domestic meal service. Although a short flight, it was still overnight and it's not like AC reflected the distance in their pricing.

I'd imagine a substantial portion of the fare came from "wasting" a prized LHR slot on one of the smallest aircraft in the fleet. We're talking about the airport that was most responsible for the introduction and purchase of the A380.

I'm a big fan of daytime flights arriving in London in the evening, checking into a hotel and feeling relatively normal the next morning.

I agree that daytime flights to Europe are highly preferred but also surprisingly rare (at least in my limited experience).

 

[jiml]

I agree that daytime flights to Europe are highly preferred but also surprisingly rare (at least in my limited experience).

My flight of choice is AA90 (ORD-LHR) - currently suspended. More than a dozen flights over the years. Leaves Chicago at 9:00am, having a nightcap at London hotel by 11:00pm local. There was also a seasonal Boston-London, which was on a smaller plane - usually 757.

 

[PVD]

Not sure, but it might relate to the ability to connect to flights to other cities if you arrive in the morning....