Carfield
Nov 23, 04, 9:04 pm
Independence Air’s inaugural A319 flight
Dear all,
As promised, here is my inaugural Independence Air’s A319 flight. Since the delay of DH’s A319 certification, there have been speculations and pessimistic comments about DH and this day would never come. Too bad, the curse was broken, and first A319 revenue flight officially took off from R/W30 of Dulles at 9:52am. Well I bought a RT between JFK and TPA via IAD, and was forced to change once due to the delay of the inaugural flights. Flyi.com was very easy to use and I was able to change without many problems. Also, my flight, DH 1, from IAD to TPA, was the officially first A319 revenue flight. Both A319s were already sitting at B24 & B26, (while Jetblue moves to B48 and 50) when my inbound flight from JFK arrived. There were glitches throughout the morning, especially regarding monitors, various servicing aspects, but staffs arrived early to prepare for the inaugural flight. Here is the full report.
November 23, 2004
DH 1071 JFK-IAD Lv0600 Lv0724 CRJ-200RJ N697BR
Well, DH used gate B23 at Terminal four, and this morning, JFK was crowded as expected, especially there were numbers of flights heading Central American and Caribbean destinations. DH also saw a long line, compared to my last 6am flight I took earlier this month. I really think DH should install some kiosks there, especially JFK will continue to play somewhat a major destination role. 6am flight was fairly full, but I got both 10A and B to myself. That was nice. However I spotted more than 50pp in line, but I guess some people were early for the later am flights.
Boarding began around 5:41am and there were some constructions at DH’s gate areas. Dorothy welcomed us on board, and door was closed at 6:02am. JFK was fairly busy this morning with many cargo flights landing on R/W 4R. We finally took off from R/W31L at 6:23am. Flying time was forty-nine minutes.
Service was surprisingly the full DH service, including beverage, snacks, such as cookies, pretzels, sun chips, and cereal bars, hot towelette and mints. Usually JFK flights only get a quick beverage service. A great way to start the morning! Washington DC was very foggy this morning, but it did not affect us in the morning. We landed at R/W1R at 7:12am, and then parked at gate A1E four minutes later. Our a/c will continue onto Providence.
DH 1 IAD-TPA Lv0920 Arr1140 Airbus A319 N803BR
DH 11 TPA-IAD Lv1230 Arr1445 Airbus A319 N803BR
TPA flight got N803BR, and MCO flight got N804BR. Well as I mentioned earlier, there were some minor glitches with flight information monitors, as none of DH flights to TPA/MCO were displayed in Concourse B’s screens. Gate agents arrived early at 7:22am, and started to test various systems, while various technical staffs came help out. Well I looked out at the window and saw various ground staffs walking around and the catering service started early, as one person was obviously the supervisor and it took twice to park the truck correctly. But nothing unusual… Well the boarding pass machines were still not set up, so boarding was quite confusing, as one agent had to pick up stubs from the agent at the gate. Well the display system finally worked thirty minutes prior to boarding. As expected, the gate was full of families, and most of them were surprised about seeing the A319. Boarding began right on time at 8:55am, and it was boarded according to row numbers – pre-boarding, Row 16+, Row 12+, and rest of the rows… It was obvious that the Tampa flights were slightly less popular than Orlando, which was normal, but the outbound flight to Tampa was about 75% full with some non-rev. CEO of DH made a speech after boarding was completed, and announced about the new service to PBI, but also another sunny destination to be announced soon. F/As were enthusiastic about the new flights, and four F/As were used on the inaugural flights. The cabin was typically of any Airbus interiors used by B6 and F9 – but of course, the DH used the same seats as its CRJ -- blue slim line seats, but I am not sure if the seats will be changed with the PTV installed. However, the cabin is definitely very spacious. Row 1-3 seems to have slightly more legroom – I did not measure anything, but perceptional wise, first couple rows may have an extra inch. Best legroom is Row 1 and Row 10, exit rows, but unlike Jetblue or Frontier, exit rows feature side tables on DH, which somewhat reduce the width. However legroom is still good. Basic layout of the a/c is the same as F9 – front galley, front lav, aft galley and two aft lavs. I am also impressed with DH’s catering trucks – with completely DH colors – very cute. Due to some late connecting passengers from Portland, Maine, and paperwork, doors did not close till 9:34am. I also note that the F/As did the weight and balance both directions – I guess they are too used to CRJ weight and balance. I don’t know if I am right, but only at extremely light flights, some kinds of weight and balance are needed, especially putting folks in the back. It happened to a number of my Alaska flights in the West Coast. We pushed back two minutes later and two IAD yellow fire truck gave us a full water salute. Great way to start the flight… BTW, the safety demonstration was not done the celebrity style, so good news for some and bad news for some, but I guess eventually celebrity demo will happen. We took off from R/W30 at 9:52am. Flying time was an hour and fifty-six minutes.
F/A service styles are similar to Jetblue – writing pads to take individual beverage orders, and drinks were distributed in trays, like CRJ, and then snack basket was passed out with the normal choice of Souffler’s assorted cookies, Synder’s pretzels, Sun Chips Original flavor, and Quaker’s cereal bars strawberry flavored. However, only cups were provided, but F/As came around with refills after the initial round, and then coffee run. The outbound group was a bit more concerned if we have enough to drink or not. Of course, a cute F/A, Ben, made better impressions. I took a ten minutes nap, and then the pilots announced our descent, and F/As sprang into actions for the signature hot towelette and mints. Then Ben led a tribute contest and gave out some goodie bags, and model planes. Questions include what kind of coffee served, six values of Indy-Air, next destination, and overbooking situation. I did not get any prize on the way into TPA, but got a goodie bag on the return (sort of cheating because I know the questions and answers already… but I really want the goodie bag – contents include Indy-Air cookies, sticker, computer mouse pad, and playing cards.
Descent began at 11:24am and we landed on a sunny TPA airport’s R/W18R at 11:48am, and parked at gate D47 a few minutes later. Surprisingly, we got a second water salute from TPA airport. Passengers, especially the kids, were enthusiastic. Everybody clapped. Also a quick note, Indy-air has yet to receive the certification for passengers to use cell phones during taxiing on its A319s, so for the next few weeks, you will be warned not to turn on the cell phone till we arrive at the gate and seat belt sign was off.
The return flight was somewhat delayed for obvious reasons. The gate agent took a while to align the gate with the entrance, but it was sort of expected, and DH padded much time into the schedule. Well, TPA airport really lacked food service – only Starbuck, a bar and a deli for the B6/DH area. Anyway, boarding soon began at 12:22pm and the loading of the return flight was every lighter. The last half of the a/c was completely empty. I got a whole row to myself, while there were few DH pilots and staff sitting around. However, I overheard the staff saying that DH purposefully holding back some seats, just in case of more delays especially the Thanksgiving crunch. BTW, D47 was the A319 gate at Tampa. Pushback happened at 12:49pm and then took off from R/W18R at 1:01pm. Flying time was an hour and forty-four minutes.
Nothing much to add about the service sequence! We landed at R/W1L on 2:45pm and parked at gate B24 a few minutes later. Our flight would continue onto MCO, and the MCO arriving flight would continue to TPA. Well it took a bit to line up the jetway again, but understandable. The gate area was more congested at this time of the day.
DH 1090 IAD-JFK Lv1600 Arr1725 CRJ-200 N647BR
Well a few plane-spotting notes – Virgin’s A340-300 G-VSUN and KLM’s Boeing 767-300ER PH-BZF!
I looked at the monitor and noted that the 3pm flight was delayed. So unexpectedly, our flight was 100% full. Flying time was forty-five minutes and we got a quick beverage service. IAD was foggy so there were ten planes in front of us. However, we were able to cut ahead two DH CRJs, US 734, and couple UA baby jets (maybe there were hold at other airports…). Anyway we landed at R/W13L at 5:15pm. Terminal four was very busy – Virgin’s Boeing 747-400 G-VBIG, LX’s 343 HB-JMI and 332 HB-IQI, and Virgin big print’s M11 PP-VQF.
Well I feel DH inaugural flights were excellent. I am disappointed about not seeing the buy-on-board meals as promised by the website, but since alcohol is not even served yet, the catering may not be completely set up yet. Nonetheless, the inflight service maintains a certain high standard, while ground service can be improved. I am also surprised not to see too many press attentions and feel that it is a waste for Indy-air not to publicize. I can’t wait for Indy-air to come to LAX soon.
Carfield
Dear all,
As promised, here is my inaugural Independence Air’s A319 flight. Since the delay of DH’s A319 certification, there have been speculations and pessimistic comments about DH and this day would never come. Too bad, the curse was broken, and first A319 revenue flight officially took off from R/W30 of Dulles at 9:52am. Well I bought a RT between JFK and TPA via IAD, and was forced to change once due to the delay of the inaugural flights. Flyi.com was very easy to use and I was able to change without many problems. Also, my flight, DH 1, from IAD to TPA, was the officially first A319 revenue flight. Both A319s were already sitting at B24 & B26, (while Jetblue moves to B48 and 50) when my inbound flight from JFK arrived. There were glitches throughout the morning, especially regarding monitors, various servicing aspects, but staffs arrived early to prepare for the inaugural flight. Here is the full report.
November 23, 2004
DH 1071 JFK-IAD Lv0600 Lv0724 CRJ-200RJ N697BR
Well, DH used gate B23 at Terminal four, and this morning, JFK was crowded as expected, especially there were numbers of flights heading Central American and Caribbean destinations. DH also saw a long line, compared to my last 6am flight I took earlier this month. I really think DH should install some kiosks there, especially JFK will continue to play somewhat a major destination role. 6am flight was fairly full, but I got both 10A and B to myself. That was nice. However I spotted more than 50pp in line, but I guess some people were early for the later am flights.
Boarding began around 5:41am and there were some constructions at DH’s gate areas. Dorothy welcomed us on board, and door was closed at 6:02am. JFK was fairly busy this morning with many cargo flights landing on R/W 4R. We finally took off from R/W31L at 6:23am. Flying time was forty-nine minutes.
Service was surprisingly the full DH service, including beverage, snacks, such as cookies, pretzels, sun chips, and cereal bars, hot towelette and mints. Usually JFK flights only get a quick beverage service. A great way to start the morning! Washington DC was very foggy this morning, but it did not affect us in the morning. We landed at R/W1R at 7:12am, and then parked at gate A1E four minutes later. Our a/c will continue onto Providence.
DH 1 IAD-TPA Lv0920 Arr1140 Airbus A319 N803BR
DH 11 TPA-IAD Lv1230 Arr1445 Airbus A319 N803BR
TPA flight got N803BR, and MCO flight got N804BR. Well as I mentioned earlier, there were some minor glitches with flight information monitors, as none of DH flights to TPA/MCO were displayed in Concourse B’s screens. Gate agents arrived early at 7:22am, and started to test various systems, while various technical staffs came help out. Well I looked out at the window and saw various ground staffs walking around and the catering service started early, as one person was obviously the supervisor and it took twice to park the truck correctly. But nothing unusual… Well the boarding pass machines were still not set up, so boarding was quite confusing, as one agent had to pick up stubs from the agent at the gate. Well the display system finally worked thirty minutes prior to boarding. As expected, the gate was full of families, and most of them were surprised about seeing the A319. Boarding began right on time at 8:55am, and it was boarded according to row numbers – pre-boarding, Row 16+, Row 12+, and rest of the rows… It was obvious that the Tampa flights were slightly less popular than Orlando, which was normal, but the outbound flight to Tampa was about 75% full with some non-rev. CEO of DH made a speech after boarding was completed, and announced about the new service to PBI, but also another sunny destination to be announced soon. F/As were enthusiastic about the new flights, and four F/As were used on the inaugural flights. The cabin was typically of any Airbus interiors used by B6 and F9 – but of course, the DH used the same seats as its CRJ -- blue slim line seats, but I am not sure if the seats will be changed with the PTV installed. However, the cabin is definitely very spacious. Row 1-3 seems to have slightly more legroom – I did not measure anything, but perceptional wise, first couple rows may have an extra inch. Best legroom is Row 1 and Row 10, exit rows, but unlike Jetblue or Frontier, exit rows feature side tables on DH, which somewhat reduce the width. However legroom is still good. Basic layout of the a/c is the same as F9 – front galley, front lav, aft galley and two aft lavs. I am also impressed with DH’s catering trucks – with completely DH colors – very cute. Due to some late connecting passengers from Portland, Maine, and paperwork, doors did not close till 9:34am. I also note that the F/As did the weight and balance both directions – I guess they are too used to CRJ weight and balance. I don’t know if I am right, but only at extremely light flights, some kinds of weight and balance are needed, especially putting folks in the back. It happened to a number of my Alaska flights in the West Coast. We pushed back two minutes later and two IAD yellow fire truck gave us a full water salute. Great way to start the flight… BTW, the safety demonstration was not done the celebrity style, so good news for some and bad news for some, but I guess eventually celebrity demo will happen. We took off from R/W30 at 9:52am. Flying time was an hour and fifty-six minutes.
F/A service styles are similar to Jetblue – writing pads to take individual beverage orders, and drinks were distributed in trays, like CRJ, and then snack basket was passed out with the normal choice of Souffler’s assorted cookies, Synder’s pretzels, Sun Chips Original flavor, and Quaker’s cereal bars strawberry flavored. However, only cups were provided, but F/As came around with refills after the initial round, and then coffee run. The outbound group was a bit more concerned if we have enough to drink or not. Of course, a cute F/A, Ben, made better impressions. I took a ten minutes nap, and then the pilots announced our descent, and F/As sprang into actions for the signature hot towelette and mints. Then Ben led a tribute contest and gave out some goodie bags, and model planes. Questions include what kind of coffee served, six values of Indy-Air, next destination, and overbooking situation. I did not get any prize on the way into TPA, but got a goodie bag on the return (sort of cheating because I know the questions and answers already… but I really want the goodie bag – contents include Indy-Air cookies, sticker, computer mouse pad, and playing cards.
Descent began at 11:24am and we landed on a sunny TPA airport’s R/W18R at 11:48am, and parked at gate D47 a few minutes later. Surprisingly, we got a second water salute from TPA airport. Passengers, especially the kids, were enthusiastic. Everybody clapped. Also a quick note, Indy-air has yet to receive the certification for passengers to use cell phones during taxiing on its A319s, so for the next few weeks, you will be warned not to turn on the cell phone till we arrive at the gate and seat belt sign was off.
The return flight was somewhat delayed for obvious reasons. The gate agent took a while to align the gate with the entrance, but it was sort of expected, and DH padded much time into the schedule. Well, TPA airport really lacked food service – only Starbuck, a bar and a deli for the B6/DH area. Anyway, boarding soon began at 12:22pm and the loading of the return flight was every lighter. The last half of the a/c was completely empty. I got a whole row to myself, while there were few DH pilots and staff sitting around. However, I overheard the staff saying that DH purposefully holding back some seats, just in case of more delays especially the Thanksgiving crunch. BTW, D47 was the A319 gate at Tampa. Pushback happened at 12:49pm and then took off from R/W18R at 1:01pm. Flying time was an hour and forty-four minutes.
Nothing much to add about the service sequence! We landed at R/W1L on 2:45pm and parked at gate B24 a few minutes later. Our flight would continue onto MCO, and the MCO arriving flight would continue to TPA. Well it took a bit to line up the jetway again, but understandable. The gate area was more congested at this time of the day.
DH 1090 IAD-JFK Lv1600 Arr1725 CRJ-200 N647BR
Well a few plane-spotting notes – Virgin’s A340-300 G-VSUN and KLM’s Boeing 767-300ER PH-BZF!
I looked at the monitor and noted that the 3pm flight was delayed. So unexpectedly, our flight was 100% full. Flying time was forty-five minutes and we got a quick beverage service. IAD was foggy so there were ten planes in front of us. However, we were able to cut ahead two DH CRJs, US 734, and couple UA baby jets (maybe there were hold at other airports…). Anyway we landed at R/W13L at 5:15pm. Terminal four was very busy – Virgin’s Boeing 747-400 G-VBIG, LX’s 343 HB-JMI and 332 HB-IQI, and Virgin big print’s M11 PP-VQF.
Well I feel DH inaugural flights were excellent. I am disappointed about not seeing the buy-on-board meals as promised by the website, but since alcohol is not even served yet, the catering may not be completely set up yet. Nonetheless, the inflight service maintains a certain high standard, while ground service can be improved. I am also surprised not to see too many press attentions and feel that it is a waste for Indy-air not to publicize. I can’t wait for Indy-air to come to LAX soon.
Carfield