At Boston Logan International
Wha.. you can have illegal sea foods?
One of those “little facts we don’t really care about” is that the retail side of Boston Airport is run by a Spanish airport group who have a monopoly in London (but not for much longer). Gotta admit – it shows with the in-airport music with advertising every few minutes
.
A slow move from the Shuttle gates to the Express gates, and an hour and a half wait. Time to do some writing whilst the plane is being prepared…
Boarding was called in zones, with practically no one paying attention as normal...
EMB-175 at the gate
Leg 6 - US3160 - Boston Logan International Airport - Philadelphia International Airport US Airways Express operated by Republic Airways, Embraer 175, Seat 18A Miles Flown: 280, Miles Earned: 600
Map generated by the wonderful Great Circle Mapper
http://gc.kls2.com
The Photos
But enough BAA bashing and their lack of retail management. Time for a new aircraft type. This time, Embraer 175. As this will be my first time aboard one of the little E-Jets, I'll try and positive.
Seating is 2 x 2, so immeidently, it feels a little tighter than a 737 or A319, and yes – in classic US Airways Express configuration (so the windows are misaligned, but on the positive sides, the seating was comfortable (even in slimline configuration) and even though it was a 31” pitch, it felt a bit more than that.
The seat
Cabin
By amazing luck again, I had a clear seat next to me on my flight (although there was a fair load on the plane with only a few seats at the rear of the plane – enough to justify this class of aircraft on thisroute)
Taxing was a bit of a trek, but take off was quick, powerful and fast, pushing into the air very quickly.
Taxiing
Up and away again
After a few turns and an appropriate climb level, the electronics light was extinguished.
The ride was choppy only on landing, but otherwise was very smooth. In addition, I found the ambient noise levels to be very low (I was playing some music on the iPhone (Elbow – On a Day like this) to the point where the volume was at 40% - considering I’ve been needing 60/70% on the Airbus’s and nearly 80% on the 757, there is some real work done on accousitc the design this plane.
A service run was done again, with a brisk trade in drinks being done. This was one run, with 2 cleanup runs. The cockpit crew were nice and cheerful, however the cabin crew didn’t really want to doing this flight tonight, and thus service was passable (even though I've found in the past that Republic group airlines are the better regional outfits...).
On approach
On approach to PHL, a departure list was given of where to connect to - a very nice touch.
Landing
Again on landing at PHL, it was a quick landing and taxi to the gate – for where was a 5 minute wait get an airbridge driver, then a 15 minute mess around to initially try to get the gate onto the plane. In the end, a tug dragged the plane forward a foot, and the airbridge docked successfully.
Next: PHL-DUB - This plane is a bit big for a 757....