JBLUA320
Dec 27, 06, 4:44 am
Delta Connection 6142
(operated by Freedom Airlines)
Burlington VT (BTV) – New York NY (JFK)
December 24th 2006
Scheduled Departure: 14:35
Actual Departure: 15:00
Scheduled Arrival: 16:10
Actual Arrival: 16:25
Seat: 2A (Coach)
Equipment: Dash-8-100 N805LR
We arrived at Burlington at about 1pm and checked in at the Delta Connection counter with a friendly agent, who looked to be employed by Comair (who only operate one daily flight to BTV from CVG, the ATL and JFK being flown by ASA/Freedom). Reserved row two seats were issued for BTV-JFK and row 33 for JFK-SVO. I was told to check at the New York gate for exit row or bulkhead seating, and took my boarding passes.
My dad and I proceeded through security at about 2:00, and it turns out his keys were attached to a Swiss army knife – and I had some cologne that had to be placed into a baggie. We gave up and decided to check my book bag. It was just barely the cutoff, but a friendly DL Connection agent and a ramper said they’d make sure my bag would make the flight, and they tagged my bag with a nice blue business elite / priority tag.
Upon re clearing security, I sat at the gate and waited until about 2:40 when N805LR taxied by. New pilots boarded the aircraft at Burlington, and we boarding at about 2:50. I noticed both Mesa 2005 ATW Regional Airline of the Year and We Support our troops stickers above the obligatory Operated by Freedom Airlines, Inc. designation. The Dash 8 cabin was a little worn out, obviously ex-AC, but not in any seriously bad condition, and it was clean. Our flight attendant didn’t close the cabin door until 3pm, when we pushed, and both engines were started for the short taxi to the runway. This Dash 8 rocketed into the sky off the runway, but slowly climbed to cruise altitude.
Our friendly flight attendant offered drinks (order taken and then delivered by hand) and a basket with snack choices (Biscoffs, Chips, and Pretzels I believe), and then picked things up about 20 minutes before landing.
Upon arrival at JFK, there was no gate agent, so we were held another 5 minutes while one was located, and we walked across the tarmac to one of the regional “gates”, and to the short connection at JFK.
Summary: Freedom/Mesa was fine. The F/A was nice, they were slightly late, the plane was a little worn, but they got what they needed to done, at a reasonable fare.
Delta 30
(operated by Delta Air Lines, Inc.)
New York, NY (JFK) – Moscow, RU (SVO)
December 24th 2006
Scheduled Departure: 17:20
Actual Departure: 17:45
Scheduled Arrival: 11:00
Actual Arrival: 11:20
Seat: 22D (Coach)
Equipment: Boeing 767-300/ER N180DN
All communications are in Russian unless otherwise noted, at the beginning of the flight a lot of announcements were made in Russian that were not translated to English, other than that announcements were mostly 50/50 Russian/English. I didn’t see a single American passenger in Coach.
We arrived at the gate about an hour before departure to what could best be described as a typical Russian scene. A long line of people in a combination of leather jackets and Russian furred coats was in line to speak to one man, who looked like an agent, while another man stood idly. I approached this second agent and asked him what everyone else was in line for, but he had no answer. That was odd. I asked the second agent for exit row seating, he said only if one exit was behind the other, so we were forced to settle for 22D+E as seats instead.
The aircraft was being prepared for boarding at about 4:45, and a man, apathetic at best, rude at worst, apparently Delta’s Russian agent for this flight, checked our passports and visas, and marked our boarding passes as ready to enter the Russian Federation. Zone 1 boarding began, with a typical Russian flood to the gate.
All men and women, from Zone 1 to 7 tried to push through, but for the most part, a different agent who was handling boarding, stood his ground. There was a surprising amount of passengers in Zone 1, even ones in Coach behind us. Who gets into Zone 1 anyway? However, he let us through – since the mass was so confusing anyway, I would’ve probably never made it to Zone 2 boarding. To add to the calamity, the business passengers who had boarded were turned back twice, as the on board lighting kept on failing, but this issue was finally fixed, and boarding was resumed.
A flight attendant welcomed us aboard and showed us the best route to our seats. At row 22, there was a pillow, blanket, quasi-amenity kit with eyeshades and earplugs, and headphones awaiting me. I took my seat, picked up my cell phone, and called my girlfriend as the passengers kept piling onto the flight, and the Russian chatter in the aisles grew progressively louder. I could tell this was going to be an interesting flight.
As the passengers settled down a Russian flight attendant spoke in loud Russian to the man next to me “You’re not going to keep your stuff down there, well you can’t.. Move it up now while you still can” and he did so. Some man behind me kept on nagging the flight attendant to allow him to change seats, and before the doors closed, they discovered that this man’s seat was inoperative, so he was forced to move. She talked about comping drinks for some people who switched seats (there were a lot of confusing seating switches I didn’t full understand) I think the man with the broken seat, wound up in a seat that belonged to a cello, and the cello was moved into the back row with some other instruments (apparently there was an orchestra flying home on this flight, more on them later.)
The Russian flight attendant returned to shift things around in the overhead to accommodate some more instruments that belonged to the orchestra, and my dad’s book bag moved across the aisle. After this was done, she began loudly asking if anyone wanted an exit row, in Russian of course, going from row to row to do so. She asked my dad, he said only if we could be better, she then said “Your son isn’t 15.”, we quickly responded back that I was, but that it was fine, and she said “Sorry, only one seat, can’t help you.”, and she moved on back to try to solicit volunteers. It actually took her a few rows, because many pax didn’t speak English well enough to understand the emergency instructions on this flight.
The line to the runway was surprisingly short for JFK, and we blasted into the sky around 6:00pm. As the aircraft seemed to level out, passengers began using the lavatories, and the tone of the no using the bathroom with the seat belt sign on grew more and more irritated, before the crew seemed to give up. The fasten seat belt sign would stay on for all of the flight, except for a 10 minute interval between the flight growing normal and expecting turbulence again. After about 45 minutes of cruising, the meal cart came around. I had the pasta while my dad had the chicken. The pasta was definitely edible, nothing special, the salad was fresh and good, but the brownie they served with it was amazing, definitely the best part of the meal. I will have to see if it’s possible to buy the brand, because it really was quite good. The Russian guy next to me was even impressed. Overall, the meal was good, the only comparison I would have is AeroSvit on JFK-KBP (since I haven’t flown Aeroflot in ages), and this meal was far tastier than that.
Alcohol was flowing quickly on this flight, with almost everyone taking advantage of a free cocktail with their dinner. The drink cart came around during dinner, and a different Russian F/A gave me a full can of Coke without asking. After the meal, the tea/coffee cart made an appearance, and I listened to Channel 7, Non-Stop Hits, as Little Miss Sunshine didn’t strike me as an appealing movie. About an hour after the meal, a flight attendant came around with a snack basket, containing Sun Chips, Biscoffs, Crackers, and Peanuts. This was the first time I’ve seen nuts on a plane in coach in a long time.
After that, flight attendants were nowhere to be seen. About four hours into the flight, I realized I couldn’t sleep anymore, the entertainment was at air show, and Hit List was only playing the second half, which, as much as DJ Poetri seemed interesting, was getting fairly repetitive. I headed back into the galley, walking by a row of three seats entirely for musical instruments, and stood around in the galley. The scene here was amusing, to say the least. Three Russian guys were flirting with one of the flight attendants and talking about the good old days, while a different group of Russians was flirting with another one of the flight attendants.
Eventually I joined into the conversation, getting random advice from the drunken Russians, and talking to the flight attendants a bit, while snacking on nuts and Biscoffs from the basket, and another can of Coke I got from one of the F/As. It was a funny conversation and atmosphere back there, almost like a Russian train’s restaurant car from an old movie. We probably “hung out” for about 45 minutes before another flight attendant came by, informed the two cheerful Russians they’re going on rest, and this other F/A didn’t talk to the drunks at all, and eventually began trying to kick us out, because there were only 4 masks in the galley, and she was starting to warm breakfast.
I agreed after grabbing an orange juice, went back to my seat, and got some sleep. I woke up right as breakfast began, and breakfast consisted of a warm croissant, a granola bar, jam, butter, and condiments, and a drink of my choice. I had a coffee, which was fine by airline standards. The croissant was good, and it was actually flaky, which is rare for airline food. After breakfast, I used the lavatory, heard the purser tell flight attendants 20 minutes before landing, they collected the garbage, and the aircraft began descending. I gave my orange juice to my neighbor, who had gotten really thirsty through the night, and at about 11:16am, Delta’s flight 30 touched down at SVO.
Upon taxi, pax began trying to get up, but the flight attendants repeatedly announced that there was no getting up until we were on the blocks. Eventually, they got the point and remained seated. These Russian flights are funny. They announced the no-self-service of alcohol rule 3 times, including one announcements by the captain, as the atmosphere on any Russian aircraft tends to be more laid back, with alcohol being a large contributor to that, of course.
The aircraft was on the blocks, and on the way out the Russian F/A and myself (and my father) chatted a bit. It was funny, before we left she promised next time we flew we’d be in the exit row, I grabbed an amenity kit from BizE on my way out, and we began a fast walk/run to SVO customs.
My dad and I broke our record for SVO after this flight. We crossed the passport control for non-Russian citizens, with no line. Of course, we had to really hurry down to the customs hall, but that still was amazing, considering how hellish the lines at Sheremetyevo can be at times. However, any gained time was lost in luggage inefficiency, with the luggage taking 30 minutes to start, and another 15 minutes for my priority tagged bag to come out. We went through the Customs without any problem, and the flight was over.
In conclusion, the Russian crew made this flight fun and strange at the same time. The drunk really left a funny impression, but the customer service was good, the crew never denied any requests, and the flight was more-or-less on time. I’d appreciate if next time Delta could perhaps organize boarding more at JFK, allow elites to pre-reserve exit rows, and maybe have the F/As make a run down the aisle (It was fine for me as I knew they were ready to serve in the galley, but some might not want to make that run). The return will hopefully give a better insight into Delta, as this crew definitely was at least a tad out of the normal for DL. I hope you enjoyed this report.
(operated by Freedom Airlines)
Burlington VT (BTV) – New York NY (JFK)
December 24th 2006
Scheduled Departure: 14:35
Actual Departure: 15:00
Scheduled Arrival: 16:10
Actual Arrival: 16:25
Seat: 2A (Coach)
Equipment: Dash-8-100 N805LR
We arrived at Burlington at about 1pm and checked in at the Delta Connection counter with a friendly agent, who looked to be employed by Comair (who only operate one daily flight to BTV from CVG, the ATL and JFK being flown by ASA/Freedom). Reserved row two seats were issued for BTV-JFK and row 33 for JFK-SVO. I was told to check at the New York gate for exit row or bulkhead seating, and took my boarding passes.
My dad and I proceeded through security at about 2:00, and it turns out his keys were attached to a Swiss army knife – and I had some cologne that had to be placed into a baggie. We gave up and decided to check my book bag. It was just barely the cutoff, but a friendly DL Connection agent and a ramper said they’d make sure my bag would make the flight, and they tagged my bag with a nice blue business elite / priority tag.
Upon re clearing security, I sat at the gate and waited until about 2:40 when N805LR taxied by. New pilots boarded the aircraft at Burlington, and we boarding at about 2:50. I noticed both Mesa 2005 ATW Regional Airline of the Year and We Support our troops stickers above the obligatory Operated by Freedom Airlines, Inc. designation. The Dash 8 cabin was a little worn out, obviously ex-AC, but not in any seriously bad condition, and it was clean. Our flight attendant didn’t close the cabin door until 3pm, when we pushed, and both engines were started for the short taxi to the runway. This Dash 8 rocketed into the sky off the runway, but slowly climbed to cruise altitude.
Our friendly flight attendant offered drinks (order taken and then delivered by hand) and a basket with snack choices (Biscoffs, Chips, and Pretzels I believe), and then picked things up about 20 minutes before landing.
Upon arrival at JFK, there was no gate agent, so we were held another 5 minutes while one was located, and we walked across the tarmac to one of the regional “gates”, and to the short connection at JFK.
Summary: Freedom/Mesa was fine. The F/A was nice, they were slightly late, the plane was a little worn, but they got what they needed to done, at a reasonable fare.
Delta 30
(operated by Delta Air Lines, Inc.)
New York, NY (JFK) – Moscow, RU (SVO)
December 24th 2006
Scheduled Departure: 17:20
Actual Departure: 17:45
Scheduled Arrival: 11:00
Actual Arrival: 11:20
Seat: 22D (Coach)
Equipment: Boeing 767-300/ER N180DN
All communications are in Russian unless otherwise noted, at the beginning of the flight a lot of announcements were made in Russian that were not translated to English, other than that announcements were mostly 50/50 Russian/English. I didn’t see a single American passenger in Coach.
We arrived at the gate about an hour before departure to what could best be described as a typical Russian scene. A long line of people in a combination of leather jackets and Russian furred coats was in line to speak to one man, who looked like an agent, while another man stood idly. I approached this second agent and asked him what everyone else was in line for, but he had no answer. That was odd. I asked the second agent for exit row seating, he said only if one exit was behind the other, so we were forced to settle for 22D+E as seats instead.
The aircraft was being prepared for boarding at about 4:45, and a man, apathetic at best, rude at worst, apparently Delta’s Russian agent for this flight, checked our passports and visas, and marked our boarding passes as ready to enter the Russian Federation. Zone 1 boarding began, with a typical Russian flood to the gate.
All men and women, from Zone 1 to 7 tried to push through, but for the most part, a different agent who was handling boarding, stood his ground. There was a surprising amount of passengers in Zone 1, even ones in Coach behind us. Who gets into Zone 1 anyway? However, he let us through – since the mass was so confusing anyway, I would’ve probably never made it to Zone 2 boarding. To add to the calamity, the business passengers who had boarded were turned back twice, as the on board lighting kept on failing, but this issue was finally fixed, and boarding was resumed.
A flight attendant welcomed us aboard and showed us the best route to our seats. At row 22, there was a pillow, blanket, quasi-amenity kit with eyeshades and earplugs, and headphones awaiting me. I took my seat, picked up my cell phone, and called my girlfriend as the passengers kept piling onto the flight, and the Russian chatter in the aisles grew progressively louder. I could tell this was going to be an interesting flight.
As the passengers settled down a Russian flight attendant spoke in loud Russian to the man next to me “You’re not going to keep your stuff down there, well you can’t.. Move it up now while you still can” and he did so. Some man behind me kept on nagging the flight attendant to allow him to change seats, and before the doors closed, they discovered that this man’s seat was inoperative, so he was forced to move. She talked about comping drinks for some people who switched seats (there were a lot of confusing seating switches I didn’t full understand) I think the man with the broken seat, wound up in a seat that belonged to a cello, and the cello was moved into the back row with some other instruments (apparently there was an orchestra flying home on this flight, more on them later.)
The Russian flight attendant returned to shift things around in the overhead to accommodate some more instruments that belonged to the orchestra, and my dad’s book bag moved across the aisle. After this was done, she began loudly asking if anyone wanted an exit row, in Russian of course, going from row to row to do so. She asked my dad, he said only if we could be better, she then said “Your son isn’t 15.”, we quickly responded back that I was, but that it was fine, and she said “Sorry, only one seat, can’t help you.”, and she moved on back to try to solicit volunteers. It actually took her a few rows, because many pax didn’t speak English well enough to understand the emergency instructions on this flight.
The line to the runway was surprisingly short for JFK, and we blasted into the sky around 6:00pm. As the aircraft seemed to level out, passengers began using the lavatories, and the tone of the no using the bathroom with the seat belt sign on grew more and more irritated, before the crew seemed to give up. The fasten seat belt sign would stay on for all of the flight, except for a 10 minute interval between the flight growing normal and expecting turbulence again. After about 45 minutes of cruising, the meal cart came around. I had the pasta while my dad had the chicken. The pasta was definitely edible, nothing special, the salad was fresh and good, but the brownie they served with it was amazing, definitely the best part of the meal. I will have to see if it’s possible to buy the brand, because it really was quite good. The Russian guy next to me was even impressed. Overall, the meal was good, the only comparison I would have is AeroSvit on JFK-KBP (since I haven’t flown Aeroflot in ages), and this meal was far tastier than that.
Alcohol was flowing quickly on this flight, with almost everyone taking advantage of a free cocktail with their dinner. The drink cart came around during dinner, and a different Russian F/A gave me a full can of Coke without asking. After the meal, the tea/coffee cart made an appearance, and I listened to Channel 7, Non-Stop Hits, as Little Miss Sunshine didn’t strike me as an appealing movie. About an hour after the meal, a flight attendant came around with a snack basket, containing Sun Chips, Biscoffs, Crackers, and Peanuts. This was the first time I’ve seen nuts on a plane in coach in a long time.
After that, flight attendants were nowhere to be seen. About four hours into the flight, I realized I couldn’t sleep anymore, the entertainment was at air show, and Hit List was only playing the second half, which, as much as DJ Poetri seemed interesting, was getting fairly repetitive. I headed back into the galley, walking by a row of three seats entirely for musical instruments, and stood around in the galley. The scene here was amusing, to say the least. Three Russian guys were flirting with one of the flight attendants and talking about the good old days, while a different group of Russians was flirting with another one of the flight attendants.
Eventually I joined into the conversation, getting random advice from the drunken Russians, and talking to the flight attendants a bit, while snacking on nuts and Biscoffs from the basket, and another can of Coke I got from one of the F/As. It was a funny conversation and atmosphere back there, almost like a Russian train’s restaurant car from an old movie. We probably “hung out” for about 45 minutes before another flight attendant came by, informed the two cheerful Russians they’re going on rest, and this other F/A didn’t talk to the drunks at all, and eventually began trying to kick us out, because there were only 4 masks in the galley, and she was starting to warm breakfast.
I agreed after grabbing an orange juice, went back to my seat, and got some sleep. I woke up right as breakfast began, and breakfast consisted of a warm croissant, a granola bar, jam, butter, and condiments, and a drink of my choice. I had a coffee, which was fine by airline standards. The croissant was good, and it was actually flaky, which is rare for airline food. After breakfast, I used the lavatory, heard the purser tell flight attendants 20 minutes before landing, they collected the garbage, and the aircraft began descending. I gave my orange juice to my neighbor, who had gotten really thirsty through the night, and at about 11:16am, Delta’s flight 30 touched down at SVO.
Upon taxi, pax began trying to get up, but the flight attendants repeatedly announced that there was no getting up until we were on the blocks. Eventually, they got the point and remained seated. These Russian flights are funny. They announced the no-self-service of alcohol rule 3 times, including one announcements by the captain, as the atmosphere on any Russian aircraft tends to be more laid back, with alcohol being a large contributor to that, of course.
The aircraft was on the blocks, and on the way out the Russian F/A and myself (and my father) chatted a bit. It was funny, before we left she promised next time we flew we’d be in the exit row, I grabbed an amenity kit from BizE on my way out, and we began a fast walk/run to SVO customs.
My dad and I broke our record for SVO after this flight. We crossed the passport control for non-Russian citizens, with no line. Of course, we had to really hurry down to the customs hall, but that still was amazing, considering how hellish the lines at Sheremetyevo can be at times. However, any gained time was lost in luggage inefficiency, with the luggage taking 30 minutes to start, and another 15 minutes for my priority tagged bag to come out. We went through the Customs without any problem, and the flight was over.
In conclusion, the Russian crew made this flight fun and strange at the same time. The drunk really left a funny impression, but the customer service was good, the crew never denied any requests, and the flight was more-or-less on time. I’d appreciate if next time Delta could perhaps organize boarding more at JFK, allow elites to pre-reserve exit rows, and maybe have the F/As make a run down the aisle (It was fine for me as I knew they were ready to serve in the galley, but some might not want to make that run). The return will hopefully give a better insight into Delta, as this crew definitely was at least a tad out of the normal for DL. I hope you enjoyed this report.