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Widebody aircraft on short haul Euro routes

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Old Apr 7, 2017, 7:38 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by airoli
This is not how the economics of operating planes work. Nobody flies a wide-body rather than a narrow-body just to keep the former "in the air".
Well, I'm not so sure about that.. this is just speculation, but on tuesday, the 1026/27 rotation was operated by WK (happens every now and then, this had even been scheduled for an entire season two years ago), and it *might* be cheaper for LX to put a large plane onto the route instead of renting a small one from Edelweiss. Seems not too probable to me, but just as a thought..
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 9:44 am
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by bruce80
it *might* be cheaper for LX to put a large plane onto the route instead of renting a small one from Edelweiss.
Edelweiss is fully owned by LX so "rental costs" are left pocket - right pocket. The significantly higher landing fees, handling fees, fuel costs etc. for a wide-body are real costs. @:-)
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 12:58 pm
  #18  
 
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Hm.. I asked the FA, and they were as surprised (and as excited) as the passengers about the equipment change. They couldn't give a reason, and there were also only two pilots on board, while I would have expected that there would be more than two on any training flight.

However, this really was the best shorthaul on LX that I've ever had (and I've had many). All the C passengers from the mini cabij were invited to move up front to the F cabin, and the FAs really seemed to enjoy to try to create that special first class feeling for us (even though the old F seats are really uncomfortable, particularly due to the weird headrests).

I can really recommend to try to get on one of those flights if you have the possibility to do so; according to one of my fellow passengers, this seems to happen quite regularly on the friday rotations to DUS for a few weeks now.
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Old May 24, 2017, 11:43 pm
  #19  
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Widebody service to PRG

Interestlingly this week shows two widebody flights ZRH-PRG-ZRH:

5/28: LX 1486/87: A333
5/31: LX 1486/87: B77W

Are these for real, or some schedule error?

PS: there is also a 77W 5/25 & 27, and a 343 5/26 .....

Last edited by cesco.g; May 24, 2017 at 11:49 pm Reason: added P.S. remark
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Old May 25, 2017, 12:37 am
  #20  
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Originally Posted by cesco.g
Interestlingly this week shows two widebody flights ZRH-PRG-ZRH:

5/28: LX 1486/87: A333
5/31: LX 1486/87: B77W

Are these for real, or some schedule error?
They are real:

[KVS Tool 8.4.7/Diamond - Timetable]
Code:
ZRH  Zurich Kloten CH [LSZH]
PRG  Prague Ruzyne CZ [LKPR]
MON  22 May 2017 - 28 May 2017

Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Frequency | Dur'n | Dep T | Arr T | Meals | Miles   Kms | Codeshare
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -------------------------------------------------------------------
LX         1484    ZRH   08:30     PRG   09:45     319  0   1234567     01:15       -       2   S         318   512
LX         1486    ZRH   12:05     PRG   13:20     77W  0   ---4-6-     01:15       -       2   S         318   512
LX         1486    ZRH   12:20     PRG   13:35     77W  0   --3-5--     01:15       -       2   S         318   512
LX         1486    ZRH   12:35     PRG   13:55     319  0   12----7     01:20       -       2   S         318   512
LX         1498    ZRH   17:55     PRG   19:15     320  0   123456-     01:20       -       2   S         318   512
LX         1498    ZRH   18:10     PRG   19:30     320  0   ------7     01:20       -       2   S         318   512
[KVS Tool 8.4.7/Diamond - Seat Map: 28 May 2017/LX 1486/ZRH-PRG/77W/Y-Economy]
Code:
     A      B      |    D      E      F      G      |    J      K      
22                      +P$    -P$I          +P$
23   +P$    +P$         +P$    +E$    +E$    +E$         -P$    -P$
24   +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$    +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$
25   +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$    +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$
26   +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$    +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$
27   +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$    +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$
28   +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$    +E$    +E$         +E$    +E$
29   +P$    +P$         +P$    +P$I   +P$I   +P$         +P$    +P$    [>] [L]
30   +$     +$          -$     -$     -$     +$          -$     -$
31   -$     -$          -$     -$     -$     -$          +$     -$
32   +$     +$          -$     -$     +$     +$          +$     -$
33   -$     -$          +$     +$     +$     +$          -$     -$
34   +$     +$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
35   +$     +$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
36   +$     +$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
37   +$     +$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
38   -$     -$          -$     -$     +$     +$          +$     +$
39   -$     +$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
40   -$     -$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
41   -$     +$          +$     +$     +$     +$          +$     +$
42   +$     +$          +$     +$            +$          +$     +$
43   -$     -$          +$     +$            +$          +$     +$
44   -$     -$          -$     -$            -$          -$     -$
45   -$     -$          -$     -$            +$          +$     -$     [G]

[+] Available     [-] Unavailable    [X] Blocked         
[E] Elite         [P] Premium        [$] Chargeable      
[R] Rear-Facing   [%] Recline Limit  [I] Infant Bassinet 
[V] Keep Vacant   [F] Crew           [M] Missing Window  
[>] Exit Row      [W] Wing Row       [=] Bulkhead Row    
[L] Lavatory      [G] Galley         [C] Closet/Storage  
[|] Aisle         [^] Upper Deck     [S] Stairs
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Old May 25, 2017, 2:03 am
  #21  
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This is quite common. Flew to PRG on LX 77W last year. A lot of upgrades to C class

This was in connection with deliveries of 77W to LX and short trips to HAN and PRG for crew training. It has been discussed in this forum before, so look for the thread.
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Old May 25, 2017, 9:14 am
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by SK AAR
This was in connection with deliveries of 77W to LX and short trips to HAN and PRG for crew training. It has been discussed in this forum before, so look for the thread.
Other than crew training, they might also take advantage of a demand surge on 25 and 28 May, as this marks the beginning and end of the long Ascension Day weekend in Switzerland and PRG is a popular destination for this weekend. No doubt they will be able fill the plane.
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Old May 25, 2017, 9:48 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by SK AAR
This is quite common. Flew to PRG on LX 77W last year. A lot of upgrades to C class

This was in connection with deliveries of 77W to LX and short trips to HAN and PRG for crew training. It has been discussed in this forum before, so look for the thread.
Good to know, maybe a chance to sample the new 77W seats upfront.

I was aware of the new 77W training flights, but some flights are 343, 333 besides the 77W. Another curiosity is, that the w/bs are always middays.
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Old Jun 26, 2017, 7:53 am
  #24  
 
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Today, I'll have the "honour" to be flying the F cabin again on LX1026 (HB-JMI). Actually, this was a bit strange - upon OLCI for the last flight on the A343 on this route, I were only offered seats in the C cabin (and only moved forward after boarding upon invitation by the FA), but this time, I was instantly offered a seat in the F cabin (and only the F cabin). Does anyone know wheter there are any criteria by which the candidates for the first two rows are chosen, and what they are? In both cases, I had my FTL number in the booking.
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Old Jun 29, 2017, 4:56 am
  #25  
 
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Same experience on June 18th. Surprisingly the flight ZRH-DUS on the A343 was completely full and the FA told me that the flight back the same evening is also nearly full. Only pilot training? I doubt that. But there was no trade fair in DUS in that time.
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Old Jun 29, 2017, 6:05 am
  #26  
 
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Interestingly enough, according to the LX website the A343 has the same seating capacity as an all-economy A321 (219 seats). Maybe there are just too many business class passengers.. at least on monday, there was a trade fair, but while the FAs on the route still seem to be quite surprised about the large plane, it seems that the A340 is becoming more and more common on this route.
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Old Jun 29, 2017, 7:32 pm
  #27  
 
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The reason why the A333/343s are currently being used on short-haul routes is due to aircraft shortage within the European fleet.
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Old Jun 30, 2017, 3:07 pm
  #28  
 
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Yep - I saw the A343 last night (Jun 29) in Brussels, I assume going back to Zurich. Can't really make financial sense ?
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Old Jul 6, 2017, 11:10 pm
  #29  
 
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LX do not have enough narrowbody aircraft for their shorthaul programme. This is the reason for the widebody substitutions. I also understand there are 2 shorthaul frames that are/were MX.
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Old Jan 10, 2018, 2:18 am
  #30  
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A couple of weeks ago I found myself unexpectedly on an A343 flying ATH-ZRH!

Aegean’s website only allowed me to check in online for the first two legs of my return from LCA (LCA-ATH on A3 and ATH-ZRH on LX) approx. 42 hours before departure of the LX flight. I had originally reserved 2F but when I checked the seatmap I found the seat next to me was occupied, so I decided to move myself to 5F which was the first window seat with nobody next to me.

Since swiss.com would not let me check in for the last leg ZRH-MAN however many times I tried I was pleased when a check-in agent at LCA handed me a BP for all 3 segments. I didn't even look at the seat number which had changed from 5F to 5K for the second leg. Also I usually check the registration of the incoming aircraft on FR24 when flying from an outstation but I didn’t for some reason on this occasion. It was quite a surprise when I entered the aircraft and an FA told me to go through the galley and turn left!

I’m not sure what would have happened if I had kept my seat in 2F but it looked like the First cabin was kept empty.

Last edited by NewbieRunner; Jan 12, 2018 at 2:47 pm Reason: typo
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