So, should we mourn its passing? This depends, of course, on the replacement. Shorthaul 737s on mainline KLM offer less generous leg-room, and pack 140-190 passengers in with a 3-3 config. However, the Fokker’s successors on CityHopper routes are much more agreeable Embraer 190 and 175s, arranged with 2-2 seating. Being longer than the Fokker 70, it’s generally a roomier experience despite an extra 20 passengers: most rows in economy have 31” pitch (but beware 8/9/10, which are squeezed together by the row 11 exit). Better still, the first seven rows expand that to 33”, and although some at the front will be required for business class, the rest are made available at a modest extra charge to economy passengers as ‘Economy Comfort’. Still flush with compensation cash, I’d opted to do just that, securing window seat 6F for £11.
As I returned to the land of data I received a gate notification for my next flight - D6F (confusingly similar to my seat assignment). This turned out to be an extremely easy transfer, as after trundling around Schiphol for a bit the bus delivered us to the lower level of gate D3. From there I ascended to the concourse level of D pier, which marked the furthest extent of my travels - as of now I’d be in reverse gear, unravelling my progress for the day. Descending on the opposite side to D6 (of which D6F is one of a series of gates), I settled in for a short wait before boarding another bus to another remote stand.
After another magical tour of the airport estate I was first out, and thus first up the steps at 21:30. After a quick check with the still-busy cabin crew to confirm that they were a) ready for us and b) intending to travel to Bristol, I made my way to the aforementioned 6F. This would have been an excellent opportunity for an empty plane shot, but for some reason I’d packed away my camera kit during the bus ride to the terminal, and not reversed that step during the ride from the terminal. So instead here’s the obligatory legroom shot, and a glance across the aisle:
Embraer 190 Economy Comfort leg-room
Embraer 190 seating
We were ready to go ten minutes later, but since that was earlier than planned, ATC decided to hold us until the scheduled 21:45, at which point we pushed back. With an estimate of 55 minutes flying time, we should therefore be comfortably on time at Bristol. And so it unfolded... the only event to note was the catering run: a single pass this time, half an hour into the flight. Our tiny box traded ‘tasty sandwich’ for ‘tasty wrap’, but was lacking the cookie and thus had me eyeing up the cake in my gift bag. Since I hadn’t yet got a proper photo of all the loot, I bravely held out in the interests of journalism.
Tasty Wrap (geen stroopkoekje)
We swept into Bristol ten minutes early, passing my (now former, but then current) office in the old terminal building before parking up at the current one. BRS has an unusual status in my flying history On the one hand, it’s my third most-used airport, the origin of my first BA flight, and one end of my two most flown routes (13 counts of BRS-EDI, and 12 of EDI-BRS). On the other hand, shuttling to and from Edinburgh is all I’d ever used it for, and it had been over three and a half years since I last passed through. This arrival therefore marked the first international leg, no doubt the first of many as my Dutch ties outweigh my Scottish ones these days.
Although steadily growing, Bristol is still a light refreshment compared to my more regular diet of Heathrow and Schiphol. We may also have been the last arrival of the night, so from wheels down to landside took all of 13 minutes, and I was boarding the bus home 5 minutes after scheduled landing. The Airport Flyer is more Crawler during my daily commute, but at this time of day it soon delivered me to central Bristol, leaving just a short walk home to complete my trip to nowhere.
Thanks to those of you who stuck this rambling account through to the end! If you have tales of the Fokker 70, please do share them in the comments.
Last edited by TheFlyingDoctor; Nov 12, 2019 at 10:48 am
Reason: migrate off flickr / imgur