(apologies – I only have gopro shots from this portion!)
HV6521, 11th June 2016
Dep: AMS Amsterdam Schiphol 14:15 (local time)
Arr: LPA Gran Canaria Las Palmas 17:55 (local time)
Flight length: 1980 miles, 4 hours 40 minutes
Operated by: Transavia (Boeing 737-800, PHHZJ)
Seat: 17B (
economy extra leg room)
Trivia: Only my third international flight to neither start nor end in the UK (
previously: OSLCPH, JFKYVR)
We scored a lift to Schiphol, albeit at the price of arriving three hours before departure… That turned into a plus rather than a minus when we ran into some friends at the check-in line, jumping us a few spaces since they were also queuing for Transavia’s communal desks (and our flight was just about open for bag drop). Nonetheless, check in takes us twenty minutes to clear, then security was another ten – a mixed bag, with verbal instructions only given in Dutch, but the use of body scanners allowing me to keep my belt and shoes on.
Finally airside, the group of us hit Starbucks for a variety of beverages and cakes but struggled to find comfortable seating, both there and roaming the terminal. So once caffeine and sugar cravings had been satisfied and our friends departed for their (rather earlier) flight, we decided to sample the lounge options.
Obviously our Transavia tickets counted for nothing, but priority pass gave us a couple of options, both from Aspire. We opted for the nearer one (26), which was nothing special in terms of space, decor or catering. The savoury offering was limited to a soup, some salad / olives, bread rolls, and cheese. However, the drinks selection was more extensive and they did have stroopwaffels, which goes a long way in my book. Their Wi-Fi was stuck in an endless authentication loop but Schiphol will give you four hours of basic or an hour of premium for free, so I stuck with that. Overall nothing exceptional, but it ticked the crucial box of a quiet, comfortable spot away from the crowds to fill the rest of our time until boarding. Given that we paid nothing to get to the airport, the cost of guesting my partner in and having the peace of mind of being airside yet not dealing with the terminal seems worthwhile.
Aspire Lounge 26
That was confirmed when we made our way over to the gate, to find a sea of people forming only an approximation of a queue for the single lane. The call to gate had gone out at 13:35 but boarding didn’t actually kick off until 20 minutes after that- fortunately we had taken our time getting there having stocked up on food en route.
Boarding crowds
On board, I noticed first the abundance of green and then the position of the emergency exits – not on our supposed ‘extra leg room’ row 17, but the two before it. Fortunately examining the window spacing revealed our seats to be the best of both worlds – we indeed had (some) extra space, but could also make use of the under seat storage since it wouldn't be blocking an exit. Looking at how tight the rest of the rows were, I'm definitely glad we paid the extra, considering these would be home for nearly five hours:
Extra leg room
Standard Pitch
Push back was at 14:22, but then it was the typical long drive around Dutch countryside before lining up for our take-off roll. We eventually took to the skies at 14:35, some twenty minutes off schedule.
From then we were mostly left to our own devices – there’s no food or drink service unless you opt for something from the buy on board menu, so apart from a pass through the cabin offering luxury items and cigarettes there was little sight of the crew. There were some interesting views out the window for the first couple of hours, but by 5pm we were leaving the coast of Portugal – and thus mainland Europe – behind us. Fortunately my impulse purchase of
The Martian from the airport book store turned out to be an excellent choice, so I ploughed through 200 pages of that before descent started at 18:10. The sun-drenched Gran Canarian landscape that we were presented with on approach looked completely alien – not all of it attractive due to some industrial zones, but definitely interesting. And hot.
On the ground at LPA
Transavia passengers turn out to be of the "applaud a landing" variety, although that was less distressing than the chap in the aisle seat next to me, who stuck his hands down his trousers for a good rummage before disembarking. Anyway. We were in the terminal by 17:45 (rolling back an hour in accordance with local time), ten minutes ahead of schedule despite the late departure. It was another twenty minutes before we were reunited with our luggage, and ten more to extract ourselves from the seemingly far too large terminal complex and reach the bus stop. But that just meant 18:15 boarding for an 18:20 bus, and we were never going to be able to make the preceding 17:50, so no complaints. €8.10 each for a ticket, and off to what would be our world for the next six days – Maspalomas.
Bus to Maspalomas