YXE to KBP and on to ORK on *A
Apr 18, 2010, 3:38 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
YXE to KBP and on to ORK on *A
Prologue:
Christmas is always a very travel-heavy affair, with both of us heading home to our respective hometowns but trying to spend as much time at both as possible. Usually this also means mileage runs at the end of the year, as I'll be travelling alone for a good portion of the holiday. This year, though, a convenient AC 20% off sale forced me to head home for the 15th, rather than the 21st, meaning that I could justify coming back early, before the fares all went up for New Years. What we planned, then, was to meet before New Years' and spend it together for the first time. Destinations were thrown about and in the end we decided to go with something new: Ukraine. The benefits were that it was nearby, we'd never been before, and it was cheaper to fly there and back to Ireland via LHR than to go direct with the Low-Class Carriers.
So with a destination in mind, the plan was to meet in Warsaw on the 29th and fly out the next afternoon for a week, before coming back to work only a day after the institute opened from the break. The only thing left unplanned was how I would get from YXE to WAW and still manage to maintain status. One option was to book via LAX on NZ, but the fare difference between what was advertised and what I'd have to book to earn miles was a bit too much. AC, however, had some fairly nice deals from YXE that allowed connections in YYZ and YUL, and got me into London with plenty of time to spare to make the evening flight to WAW. Counting up the miles would put me at just over the Elite threshold for the year, so I happily booked it. Just to add a bit of icing to the cake, AC had yet another upgrade sale where they extended the validity of the more restrictive upgrade certificatess, meaning I could confirm in J for all my domestic Christmas travel and for the first time ever use up all of my certificates for a year.
I'm not going to mention the trip out, since it was more or less the same as any other trip report but with an added Hoxton stay and an overnight in YYZ where I was almost killed by my cab driver pulling out in front of a semi. It sounds more eventful than it was, but the most important thing was that the Hoxton was excellent as usual. As far as the holiday itself, the travelling was particularly limited due to good planning on my part. I don't like spending my holiday time driving between the city and my parents' place, so as little as possible is better. I did, however, get to take part in a freight run on the local short-line railway, subsequently forgetting to put the pictures on any sort of removable drive.
No, this trip report is going to cover the trip from my parents' place to mine, via Poland and the Ukraine, on five carriers, four *A and one not. There are menus for most of the J segments, but I need to find where I e-mailed the scans to before I can put them up. As has become traditional, I'll break it down into segments:
Part 1: YXE-YYZ on AC J
Part 2: YYZ-YUL on AC J
Part 3: YUL-LHR on AC Y
Part 4: LHR-WAW on LO Y
Part 5: WAW-LWO on LO Y, operated by Eurolot
Part 6: L'viv-Dubno-Kyiv on Ukrainian Rail
Part 7: KBP-LHR on BD Y
Part 8: LHR-ORK on EI Y
Update: As you probably notice, this trip report is a few months late. Like so many other reports that I just never get around to, I eventually fell back into the groove of not working on trip reports so that I could concentrate on not working hard enough on my thesis. In the meantime, I ended up doing a mileage run to London and skiing in Andorra where I lost my camera on the hill, filled with all the London and Andorra pictures. This, as you may expect, was tragic. Amazingly, though, I went back the next day and found the camera on the side of a mountain, pulled off all the pictures that night, and vowed to actually finish this trip report. It still took a few weeks, but finally, after months of sitting on it, it's ready. And yes, the camera still works.
Christmas is always a very travel-heavy affair, with both of us heading home to our respective hometowns but trying to spend as much time at both as possible. Usually this also means mileage runs at the end of the year, as I'll be travelling alone for a good portion of the holiday. This year, though, a convenient AC 20% off sale forced me to head home for the 15th, rather than the 21st, meaning that I could justify coming back early, before the fares all went up for New Years. What we planned, then, was to meet before New Years' and spend it together for the first time. Destinations were thrown about and in the end we decided to go with something new: Ukraine. The benefits were that it was nearby, we'd never been before, and it was cheaper to fly there and back to Ireland via LHR than to go direct with the Low-Class Carriers.
So with a destination in mind, the plan was to meet in Warsaw on the 29th and fly out the next afternoon for a week, before coming back to work only a day after the institute opened from the break. The only thing left unplanned was how I would get from YXE to WAW and still manage to maintain status. One option was to book via LAX on NZ, but the fare difference between what was advertised and what I'd have to book to earn miles was a bit too much. AC, however, had some fairly nice deals from YXE that allowed connections in YYZ and YUL, and got me into London with plenty of time to spare to make the evening flight to WAW. Counting up the miles would put me at just over the Elite threshold for the year, so I happily booked it. Just to add a bit of icing to the cake, AC had yet another upgrade sale where they extended the validity of the more restrictive upgrade certificatess, meaning I could confirm in J for all my domestic Christmas travel and for the first time ever use up all of my certificates for a year.
I'm not going to mention the trip out, since it was more or less the same as any other trip report but with an added Hoxton stay and an overnight in YYZ where I was almost killed by my cab driver pulling out in front of a semi. It sounds more eventful than it was, but the most important thing was that the Hoxton was excellent as usual. As far as the holiday itself, the travelling was particularly limited due to good planning on my part. I don't like spending my holiday time driving between the city and my parents' place, so as little as possible is better. I did, however, get to take part in a freight run on the local short-line railway, subsequently forgetting to put the pictures on any sort of removable drive.
No, this trip report is going to cover the trip from my parents' place to mine, via Poland and the Ukraine, on five carriers, four *A and one not. There are menus for most of the J segments, but I need to find where I e-mailed the scans to before I can put them up. As has become traditional, I'll break it down into segments:
Part 1: YXE-YYZ on AC J
Part 2: YYZ-YUL on AC J
Part 3: YUL-LHR on AC Y
Part 4: LHR-WAW on LO Y
Part 5: WAW-LWO on LO Y, operated by Eurolot
Part 6: L'viv-Dubno-Kyiv on Ukrainian Rail
Part 7: KBP-LHR on BD Y
Part 8: LHR-ORK on EI Y
Update: As you probably notice, this trip report is a few months late. Like so many other reports that I just never get around to, I eventually fell back into the groove of not working on trip reports so that I could concentrate on not working hard enough on my thesis. In the meantime, I ended up doing a mileage run to London and skiing in Andorra where I lost my camera on the hill, filled with all the London and Andorra pictures. This, as you may expect, was tragic. Amazingly, though, I went back the next day and found the camera on the side of a mountain, pulled off all the pictures that night, and vowed to actually finish this trip report. It still took a few weeks, but finally, after months of sitting on it, it's ready. And yes, the camera still works.
Last edited by DJ Bitterbarn; Apr 18, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Apr 18, 2010, 3:41 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 1: YXE-YYZ on AC
Or: The one where I go directly east for a change
It’s been a few years since I’ve had to fly out of YXE in the morning, due to the long drive into the city from my parents’ house meaning we’d either have to get up at 1 in the morning or drive in the night before. Since my brother is back in the city, though, we had a place to stay and so travelling in the day before wasn’t such a big deal. So this convient situation found us pulling out of his driveway at just after 5:10 in the morning, an hour at which Saskatoon traffic was virtually nonexistent and we made it practically corner-to-corner across the city in barely 15 minutes.
It seemed, though, that everyone who would have been on the road was instead at the airport. The AC checkin desks were fully staffed and going all out to process everyone. I have to say that the agents at YXE are fantastic and even at 5:30 AM were smiles and Merry Christmases all around. Making our way past the bag drop line, I checked in at the Executive counter having secured my YXE-YYZ-YUL upgrade on Christmas morning. Checkin was a breeze, as usual, and even though I expected to have to check in the 24” LCD monitor (packed well for such an occasion) the agent said it would be no problem to carry on if I was in Executive. Unfortunately, as I had to mention, I was only in J until YUL and then it was back to Y for the rest of the way. Well the agent would have none of that and rather than checking it, instead placed me on the upgrade list for YUL-LHR! I did mention that I didn’t think the SWU would be valid for TATL on my fare but she refused to believe that argument. When it comes to upgrades, I’m only going to argue once! At this hour, I was first on the list with, as she mentioned, 7E/0SE on the flight. So with a Merry Christmas and much thanks, we headed out to get a coffee before boarding.
The last (and, in some ways, the best) of my 2009 certificates!
My parents and I are starting to agree that the AC that I fly is a totally different airline from the AC that everyone I grew up with knows.
All the way in, we were talking about the actual cutoff times for checkin vs the time that the airlines recommend you check in. Personally, I’m fine to cut it short in YXE, especially since there’s no lounge and I’d rather spend time with my parents anyway. But after the breeze of checking in, we headed to the real reason they recommend you get there an hour early: the Tim Horton’s line. As usual, it was three times longer than the security line and twice as long as the economy checkin line. You need to get up early to get a coffee. We did finally manage to get a drink, although from our seat didn’t notice the Timmy’s line move single-mindedly into the security line. When we realized this, it was a bit of a rush to get through security although I still managed to be upstairs by 5 minutes before boarding. No issues with the monitor, but CATSA did want a swab of it. At least they’re still the same relatively-pleasant YXE CATSA agents. Waving goodbye through the windows, I boarded at gate A2 after the Exec/StarGold call.
YXE-YYZ
AC1120
E-190 C-FZMU
Seat 2A
It was a light load today on the 190, with only 6/9 in J and seemingly not that many in Y. Or at least I assume this, not noticing many people boarding. The light load meant that there was plenty of overhead space, allowing me to bogart an entire bin for my very large monitor box and rollaboard.
Early, early morning flight to YYZ
As it is Saskatoon, and the magnitude of a Western Canadian winter really needs to be seen to be understood, we obviously pulled back for deicing before making our way out to runway 9 for takeoff. This took a while, so I killed the time by watching a few short movies on the IFE. This “gate-to-gate IFE” thing really makes a big difference, especially since both flights inside Canada would remember where I was in the original movie after the safety video. I’ve had situations before where it resets, leading to more ads and long fast forwarding, so when the IFE decides to not do that it's a big plus.
Half-full Exec cabin on the E-190
Since I had opted for the sake of my digestive system to skip the Timmy’s coffee this morning, I was anxious to start in on my fix, the quantity of which can triple when I’m travelling. Soon enough, though, the crew came around with menus and took drink orders.
Although I had expected to be relatively bored on the intra-Canada flights, having more or less exhausted the movie selection on the way in to YXE, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the IFE does rotate somewhat on the domestic flights, leading to a few movies showing up that I’d never seen before. In particular, Coopers’ Camera was inappropriately hilarious, but good for the morning flight where everyone else was asleep and less likely in that state to be offended by Dave Foley’s nether regions. This early morning sleep was especially fortuitous, since the movie controls on my IFE screen didn’t work once I had selected a show, and so once I decided on something, I was in it until the bitter end.
Breakfast on the flight consisted of an omelette which, despite some good sausages and oddly-cut hashbrowns, didn’t completely stand out. Bread, fruit, and yogurt rounded out the mix to an adequate meal. I kept at the coffee, though, as it would be necessary for the day ahead.
The crew kept up with the drink runs all the way to YYZ, with lots of water and coffee to balance each other out. Unfortunately, in a recurring theme to this trip, there was no grapefruit juice, the one thing that I really was looking forward to. But it’s not really like this is AC’s fault, no other carrier on the trip had it either.
Just before landing, while working on this report, I had a great discussion with one of the FAs about my netbook. She was looking for opinions and I can’t say enough great things about it, so we had a lot to talk about. Definitely a great, extremely friendly FA: the second recurring theme of the day.
We arrived in YYZ at 10:45, roughly a five minute delay to the gate, due to the lengthy deicing in YXE. In an interesting and appreciated turn of events, the gates for everyone’s connections were read out prior to landing, including the one person connecting through YYZ to YVR. A Flyertalker, possibly? There aren't many other groups who would willingly add 2600 miles and a stop in the opposite direction onto a trip that should only be 750 miles in the first place. Good luck, YVR pax. Luckily for them, there was maybe a five or so minute delay to the gate.
C-FMZU at gate 133 in YYZ, after arriving from YXE
Thoughts on the Flight:
If I haven’t said so before, I really appreciate the move to the E190s on the YXE-YYZ runs. They’re just orders of magnitude more comfortable than the CRJs and the added benefit of everyone’s luggage showing up is icing on the cake. But what really made this trip shine for me this time was the YXE staff. They were absolutely up to par with the LHR staff this time, friendly, and just incredibly positive. The checkin agent in particular was amazing, and whether or not she was right, made my flight perfect today. YXE staff, you have my admiration and thanks! As to the flight itself, the crew was again nonstop personable and great to deal with. Lots of coffee and a great chat makes a flight stand out, even in the day I was about to have.
It’s been a few years since I’ve had to fly out of YXE in the morning, due to the long drive into the city from my parents’ house meaning we’d either have to get up at 1 in the morning or drive in the night before. Since my brother is back in the city, though, we had a place to stay and so travelling in the day before wasn’t such a big deal. So this convient situation found us pulling out of his driveway at just after 5:10 in the morning, an hour at which Saskatoon traffic was virtually nonexistent and we made it practically corner-to-corner across the city in barely 15 minutes.
It seemed, though, that everyone who would have been on the road was instead at the airport. The AC checkin desks were fully staffed and going all out to process everyone. I have to say that the agents at YXE are fantastic and even at 5:30 AM were smiles and Merry Christmases all around. Making our way past the bag drop line, I checked in at the Executive counter having secured my YXE-YYZ-YUL upgrade on Christmas morning. Checkin was a breeze, as usual, and even though I expected to have to check in the 24” LCD monitor (packed well for such an occasion) the agent said it would be no problem to carry on if I was in Executive. Unfortunately, as I had to mention, I was only in J until YUL and then it was back to Y for the rest of the way. Well the agent would have none of that and rather than checking it, instead placed me on the upgrade list for YUL-LHR! I did mention that I didn’t think the SWU would be valid for TATL on my fare but she refused to believe that argument. When it comes to upgrades, I’m only going to argue once! At this hour, I was first on the list with, as she mentioned, 7E/0SE on the flight. So with a Merry Christmas and much thanks, we headed out to get a coffee before boarding.
The last (and, in some ways, the best) of my 2009 certificates!
My parents and I are starting to agree that the AC that I fly is a totally different airline from the AC that everyone I grew up with knows.
All the way in, we were talking about the actual cutoff times for checkin vs the time that the airlines recommend you check in. Personally, I’m fine to cut it short in YXE, especially since there’s no lounge and I’d rather spend time with my parents anyway. But after the breeze of checking in, we headed to the real reason they recommend you get there an hour early: the Tim Horton’s line. As usual, it was three times longer than the security line and twice as long as the economy checkin line. You need to get up early to get a coffee. We did finally manage to get a drink, although from our seat didn’t notice the Timmy’s line move single-mindedly into the security line. When we realized this, it was a bit of a rush to get through security although I still managed to be upstairs by 5 minutes before boarding. No issues with the monitor, but CATSA did want a swab of it. At least they’re still the same relatively-pleasant YXE CATSA agents. Waving goodbye through the windows, I boarded at gate A2 after the Exec/StarGold call.
YXE-YYZ
AC1120
E-190 C-FZMU
Seat 2A
It was a light load today on the 190, with only 6/9 in J and seemingly not that many in Y. Or at least I assume this, not noticing many people boarding. The light load meant that there was plenty of overhead space, allowing me to bogart an entire bin for my very large monitor box and rollaboard.
Early, early morning flight to YYZ
As it is Saskatoon, and the magnitude of a Western Canadian winter really needs to be seen to be understood, we obviously pulled back for deicing before making our way out to runway 9 for takeoff. This took a while, so I killed the time by watching a few short movies on the IFE. This “gate-to-gate IFE” thing really makes a big difference, especially since both flights inside Canada would remember where I was in the original movie after the safety video. I’ve had situations before where it resets, leading to more ads and long fast forwarding, so when the IFE decides to not do that it's a big plus.
Half-full Exec cabin on the E-190
Since I had opted for the sake of my digestive system to skip the Timmy’s coffee this morning, I was anxious to start in on my fix, the quantity of which can triple when I’m travelling. Soon enough, though, the crew came around with menus and took drink orders.
Although I had expected to be relatively bored on the intra-Canada flights, having more or less exhausted the movie selection on the way in to YXE, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the IFE does rotate somewhat on the domestic flights, leading to a few movies showing up that I’d never seen before. In particular, Coopers’ Camera was inappropriately hilarious, but good for the morning flight where everyone else was asleep and less likely in that state to be offended by Dave Foley’s nether regions. This early morning sleep was especially fortuitous, since the movie controls on my IFE screen didn’t work once I had selected a show, and so once I decided on something, I was in it until the bitter end.
Breakfast on the flight consisted of an omelette which, despite some good sausages and oddly-cut hashbrowns, didn’t completely stand out. Bread, fruit, and yogurt rounded out the mix to an adequate meal. I kept at the coffee, though, as it would be necessary for the day ahead.
The crew kept up with the drink runs all the way to YYZ, with lots of water and coffee to balance each other out. Unfortunately, in a recurring theme to this trip, there was no grapefruit juice, the one thing that I really was looking forward to. But it’s not really like this is AC’s fault, no other carrier on the trip had it either.
Just before landing, while working on this report, I had a great discussion with one of the FAs about my netbook. She was looking for opinions and I can’t say enough great things about it, so we had a lot to talk about. Definitely a great, extremely friendly FA: the second recurring theme of the day.
We arrived in YYZ at 10:45, roughly a five minute delay to the gate, due to the lengthy deicing in YXE. In an interesting and appreciated turn of events, the gates for everyone’s connections were read out prior to landing, including the one person connecting through YYZ to YVR. A Flyertalker, possibly? There aren't many other groups who would willingly add 2600 miles and a stop in the opposite direction onto a trip that should only be 750 miles in the first place. Good luck, YVR pax. Luckily for them, there was maybe a five or so minute delay to the gate.
C-FMZU at gate 133 in YYZ, after arriving from YXE
Thoughts on the Flight:
If I haven’t said so before, I really appreciate the move to the E190s on the YXE-YYZ runs. They’re just orders of magnitude more comfortable than the CRJs and the added benefit of everyone’s luggage showing up is icing on the cake. But what really made this trip shine for me this time was the YXE staff. They were absolutely up to par with the LHR staff this time, friendly, and just incredibly positive. The checkin agent in particular was amazing, and whether or not she was right, made my flight perfect today. YXE staff, you have my admiration and thanks! As to the flight itself, the crew was again nonstop personable and great to deal with. Lots of coffee and a great chat makes a flight stand out, even in the day I was about to have.
Last edited by DJ Bitterbarn; Apr 18, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Apr 18, 2010, 3:43 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 2: YYZ-YUL
Or: Simultaneously destroying stereotypes and French grammar
Now the part I love about YYZ, yet so very rarely get to experience, is the lack of necessary activity between flights. No security, no immigration, nothing. It’s not as nice a connecting airport as ZRH, for example, but at least at YYZ you have no security to go back to the gate if you're coming from domestic. It’s just off and on the next flight. Or, in this case, off and up to the lounge. As it was significantly busier than on the outbound trip, I decided to pay a visit to the much-less-visited business centre side of the lounge. While they somehow can’t serve alcohol near computers, at this hour I’m all about the caffeine anyway. We’ll save the Bailey’s lattes for YUL.
The other side of the domestic MLL in YYZ. It's not obvious to find, and not well stocked with food or drinks, but I do frequently find it less busy than the rest of the lounge.
After an hour or so of checking mail and surfing the web, it was time to head downstairs as I was definitely planning on making this flight and not spending New Years’ in the T1 MLL.
YYZ-YUL
AC410
A319-114 C-FYGJ
Seat: 3F
C-FYJG at gate 122 in YYZ, prepping for its rapidair flight to YUL
The flight this morning was just around the corner from the inbound YXE flight, at gate 122. When I arrived, they were just starting boarding so I had maybe only a few seconds to wait. Today, I was lined up in front of a future Flyertalker: a very young girl who was asking her mother why they had to wait and couldn’t go on the plane right now. She didn’t have long to wait, though, and they called general boarding just as I was handing over my card.
On board, I was fortunate enough to learn that my rollaboard would in fact fit under the seat. Score one more for J! As soon as I had settled on, the FA came around to do pre-departure drinks. “Hello, I’ll be your passenger with the ridiculously-sized carry-on, today”. Of course, I would also be the one today to mistake my row and have to move up a row. Oh well, at least it was before the ladies in 4D and F showed up. Thankfully, despite a full J cabin, nobody had an issue with the monitor.
Legroom at 3F in the Exec cabin on C-FYJG. Imagine my surprise when the rollaboard fit under the centre console!
As we were waiting for boarding and some deicing, there was time for a second drink run, with a second FA, who was easily as friendly as the first. More orange juice would have to do in lieu of grapefruit, though. Had a brief chat with my seatmate, a nonrev pilot, and settled in to watch a few documentaries before the safety briefing. This time, the screen worked to pause and stop movies, although it wasn’t really necessary. I was into the pizza documentary by the time we hit the runway, today heading out from 24R (I believe).
Our routing from YYZ to YUL.
Once we were up in the air, the crew started in quickly on the service for this Rapidair flight. After the breakfast on the way to YYZ, I wasn’t too concerned about what was on the menu. This was fortunate, since there was no choice. A cheese plate was what was on offer and that’s what I had. But before that I was still very interested in the coffee. So coffee and cheese were my accompaniment to YUL, with a few more documentaries on the IFE.
Shortly before we started our descent, the crew came around to do a last drink run. Now as a sidenote, everyone who knows AC should get a picture in your head of the stereotypical AC FA. For everyone who doesn’t, imagine the oldest, crankiest, nastiest FA you can. Now imagine the exact opposite of that, because that was the younger FA on our run. She was the exception to every stereotype, right down to exclaiming to the lady behind me “I love your shoes!” and then getting into a fairly thorough discussion about said footwear. Not a long one, mind, because we were starting our descent, but it made an impression.
Before long we were over Montreal, where the snow had taken a much stronger hold this year than in YXE. Our landing was smooth, however, and we were at the gate in barely a few minutes, taxiing past a satellite terminal that looked oddly familiar from a trip years ago. We were off the plane shortly thereafter, with another “Bonne Fete” from the crew. Apparently my French is more rusty than I thought, since I was under the impression that was a birthday thing. Maybe it’s a new year’s thing too?
A whole gang of Jazz Dash-8s at YUL
Thoughts on the flight:
Linguistic notes aside, this was a perfectly acceptable flight, although I can’t really compare it to the last Rapidair flight I was on in…. 2006? Yeah. That was it. Anyway, this was certainly less of a service than the YXE-YYZ flight, but for an hour and a bit it was more than sufficient. The crew was outstanding, however, and I really couldn’t complain about anything, so a more than satisfactory outing in my books. I may have to start routing through YUL more often.
Now the part I love about YYZ, yet so very rarely get to experience, is the lack of necessary activity between flights. No security, no immigration, nothing. It’s not as nice a connecting airport as ZRH, for example, but at least at YYZ you have no security to go back to the gate if you're coming from domestic. It’s just off and on the next flight. Or, in this case, off and up to the lounge. As it was significantly busier than on the outbound trip, I decided to pay a visit to the much-less-visited business centre side of the lounge. While they somehow can’t serve alcohol near computers, at this hour I’m all about the caffeine anyway. We’ll save the Bailey’s lattes for YUL.
The other side of the domestic MLL in YYZ. It's not obvious to find, and not well stocked with food or drinks, but I do frequently find it less busy than the rest of the lounge.
After an hour or so of checking mail and surfing the web, it was time to head downstairs as I was definitely planning on making this flight and not spending New Years’ in the T1 MLL.
YYZ-YUL
AC410
A319-114 C-FYGJ
Seat: 3F
C-FYJG at gate 122 in YYZ, prepping for its rapidair flight to YUL
The flight this morning was just around the corner from the inbound YXE flight, at gate 122. When I arrived, they were just starting boarding so I had maybe only a few seconds to wait. Today, I was lined up in front of a future Flyertalker: a very young girl who was asking her mother why they had to wait and couldn’t go on the plane right now. She didn’t have long to wait, though, and they called general boarding just as I was handing over my card.
On board, I was fortunate enough to learn that my rollaboard would in fact fit under the seat. Score one more for J! As soon as I had settled on, the FA came around to do pre-departure drinks. “Hello, I’ll be your passenger with the ridiculously-sized carry-on, today”. Of course, I would also be the one today to mistake my row and have to move up a row. Oh well, at least it was before the ladies in 4D and F showed up. Thankfully, despite a full J cabin, nobody had an issue with the monitor.
Legroom at 3F in the Exec cabin on C-FYJG. Imagine my surprise when the rollaboard fit under the centre console!
As we were waiting for boarding and some deicing, there was time for a second drink run, with a second FA, who was easily as friendly as the first. More orange juice would have to do in lieu of grapefruit, though. Had a brief chat with my seatmate, a nonrev pilot, and settled in to watch a few documentaries before the safety briefing. This time, the screen worked to pause and stop movies, although it wasn’t really necessary. I was into the pizza documentary by the time we hit the runway, today heading out from 24R (I believe).
Our routing from YYZ to YUL.
Once we were up in the air, the crew started in quickly on the service for this Rapidair flight. After the breakfast on the way to YYZ, I wasn’t too concerned about what was on the menu. This was fortunate, since there was no choice. A cheese plate was what was on offer and that’s what I had. But before that I was still very interested in the coffee. So coffee and cheese were my accompaniment to YUL, with a few more documentaries on the IFE.
Shortly before we started our descent, the crew came around to do a last drink run. Now as a sidenote, everyone who knows AC should get a picture in your head of the stereotypical AC FA. For everyone who doesn’t, imagine the oldest, crankiest, nastiest FA you can. Now imagine the exact opposite of that, because that was the younger FA on our run. She was the exception to every stereotype, right down to exclaiming to the lady behind me “I love your shoes!” and then getting into a fairly thorough discussion about said footwear. Not a long one, mind, because we were starting our descent, but it made an impression.
Before long we were over Montreal, where the snow had taken a much stronger hold this year than in YXE. Our landing was smooth, however, and we were at the gate in barely a few minutes, taxiing past a satellite terminal that looked oddly familiar from a trip years ago. We were off the plane shortly thereafter, with another “Bonne Fete” from the crew. Apparently my French is more rusty than I thought, since I was under the impression that was a birthday thing. Maybe it’s a new year’s thing too?
A whole gang of Jazz Dash-8s at YUL
Thoughts on the flight:
Linguistic notes aside, this was a perfectly acceptable flight, although I can’t really compare it to the last Rapidair flight I was on in…. 2006? Yeah. That was it. Anyway, this was certainly less of a service than the YXE-YYZ flight, but for an hour and a bit it was more than sufficient. The crew was outstanding, however, and I really couldn’t complain about anything, so a more than satisfactory outing in my books. I may have to start routing through YUL more often.
Apr 18, 2010, 3:46 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 3: YUL-LHR
Or: A Christmas Present from AC
Now my time in YUL was going to be the longest layover of the day where I had nothing planned. I could have gone into the city, but instead I was more than content to cruise the terminal for a few hours and then park myself in the MLL and ideally get some work done. Of course this would never happen, but I did accomplish more than I had originally intended. First, I made sure we wouldn’t run out of maple syrup for a few months. Then I found a few toys and presents for people in the Ukraine. Then I found more maple syrup for friends in England (forgetting that I had promised to do so and in the process saving my hide from a vengeful Scot). And in every case, the conversation went something along the lines of:
Staff: <French>
Me: <Bad French>
Staff: <English>
Me: <Continued bad French>
Staff (inner monologue): <Well, if this crazy anglo really wants to….>
Staff: <French>
I really need to improve my French.
An AC A330 at our gate in YUL, to a destination unknown. I didn't really see a boarding announcement, so maybe it was just around the corner
I spent about an hour wandering the terminal and checking out the international departures lounge, trying to figure out why a few fire trucks went flying past around the next pier. I never did manage to figure out why, though. Eventually I headed over to the MLL which had finally opened. The agent, again exceptionally friendly, assured me that while he didn't have any info on the upgrades he would, were he a betting man, "bet the farm". Not having a farm to bet, I thought land might be a good investment just for these occasions. So with a bit more upgrade certainty, I headed upstairs to the lounge. Being one of the first in meant I could pick some of the best seats in the house and settle in for a few hours. Now I should have realized that the window I chose was the only one that was fogged up but didn't. This of course meant that the lounge time was a bit chillier than normal, but a few Bailey's lattes would fix that up. As I wasn't quite sure what cabin I'd be in tonight, I took it easy on the food and stuck mostly to the green side of the MLL buffet. That does count for most of the MLL buffet, but I tried to cut back. In the worst case, I'd at least balance out the nonstop food that is an essential part of Christmas at home. A few hours before departure when they closed the flight, I went down to the desk and discovered, to my great gratitude, that they had in fact processed the upgrades and I had won the last (or so I thought) aerolotto of the year.
So closer to boarding time, after a few hours of internet and the body-clock-resetting combination of alcohol and caffeine, I meandered down to the gate only to find a bit of a wait. While I'm no stranger to waiting at the gate I am a bit of a stranger to being called up to the podium post-upgrade, but new things happen all the time. It turns out that my 8K, while fine at first, was going to be a problem now and instead I'd be moving back a row to 9K. On the 333, this is arguably one of the two best seats on the plane, the last row of the front J cabin, which means far more storage space (if you ignore the "don't put anything here" sign) and far more privacy (A and K are a bit offset from the centre aisle so the row 9 seat across the aisle is in fact across the aisle and up a bit). Score!
YUL-LHR
AC846
A330
Seat: 8K 9K
Boarding, while a few minutes late, was fast enough. I boarded just after assisted boarding and was greeted at the door by the J FAs. Being a widebody, there was plenty of space in one of the closets for the monitor, and one of the FAs was very helpful in getting it stowed. Top marks for expressing genuine desire to help out with it. While we waited for the door to close, drink runs were done and this time it was Champagne time (well, Cava, but it was close). During the boarding, the GA came on board to make sure that, since she hadn't personally done my seat reassignment, I found my seat and everything was fine. Today, though, everything was more than fine. I believe dinner orders were taken before takeoff, but it's been a while and I didn't take notes on the exact timing.
Gate-to-gate IFE in ExecFirst on the A330
Once the door had closed we headed off, although I don't know enough about the layout of YUL to have a reasonable guess as to what runway we were using. After the crew was up, there was a duty-free order taken in the J cabin before dinner started. For the first time in years, though, there was no choice of starter on the flight and, instead, four main courses. Now I don't do this trip frequently, but every other time I've flown it in J there has been two starters and three mains, one vegetarian option in each. The starter was quite good for smoked salmon and I didn't at all regret my choice (or lack thereof). There was something that looked like an olive without a pit that I found interesting, but can't figure out what it may be. This is too bad, since it was tasty and I'd like to get more.
Smoked Salmon with Dill Mustard Sauce, Field Greens, Grape Tomatoes, and Yellow Peppers
For the main, I went with the beef. Normally red meat has been good to me on AC, while chicken has been a bit iffy, so I stuck with what works. Plus, I was already working on a red wine. The beef wasn't rare, but it certainly wasn't overdone and was still tender. I was fairly impressed with the meat, while the beans stood out as a side.
Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Sauce, Yukon Gold Mash, Green Beans, and Heirloom Carrots
Dessert was a choice between ice cream and fruit, so I of course went with the ice cream and some port. No coffee this time, as I wanted to get a few hours sleep in before another day of travel. Throughout the flight, I had more or less exhausted the IFE options but did find a few more things to watch for this last flight. Specifically, there was a Russian comedy about football which wasn't too bad. It ended just in time, though, any longer and I couldn't stay awake. The cabin wasn't too hot like on a few other flights, so I didn't really need the blanket (or, in this case, duvet). The extra large pillows were a nice added touch. Certainly much better than I remember them.
Ice Cream
After two or so hours sleep I woke up just after the breakfast service, but the FA was right on it to see if I wanted anything. Knowing I'd be spending some time in the arrivals lounge and then going for food anyway, I stuck to a smoothie, which would be the closest I'd get to grapefruit juice yet. While working on that, I sorted out the landing card and fast-track passes the crew had left for me. Not only had they dropped off one, though, they had left two! So now sitting on a number of fast-track passes, I was in for a quick ride through immigration. First, though, we had to wait out a ten-minute hold over LHR before we could land. Unfortunately, the IFE crashed for me just as we started the hold, so I just sort of sat there and re-read EnRoute. The landing into LHR was relatively smooth on 27R, I believe, since I could see the lights on the M25 flickering off and on as we went over. I don't quite recall what gate we pulled into, being on the K side, but I suspect it was near 37 (having finally taken a picture of the map of the gates in T3 so I have a reference).
The front ExecFirst cabin as we approach LHR on AC846
Once the seatbelt sign was off I made a dash for my monitor in the closet so that I wouldn't have to fight upstream to get it. With everything then sorted, I made a new attempt at the LHR land-speed record and this time I think I came pretty close. It wasn't quite 5 minutes walk to immigration, where I noticed that the regular non-fast-track line was going to be significantly faster: there was nobody there. Ignoring the "fast" line, I was through in barely 5 minutes, only to find that my bags were on the first canister, which started coming out barely 2 minutes later! Priority baggage worked! So with my bags in tow, I found myself sitting in the arrivals lounge well under 20 minutes from deplaning. Apparently I also fly to a different LHR than most people, too.
Thoughts on the flight:
This was a brilliant trip with AC. The service for ExecFirst was the high standard I’ve become familiar with and the way that the crews accommodated my baggage situation was exemplary. It would be slightly above average, if not for the fact that I was really supposed to be in the back for the long-hauls. One agent in YXE started the ball rolling and it’s like that act of good service passed along through all the agents in the chain. Every single AC employee I’ve dealt with from YXE to LHR has been smiling, happy, and just fantastic. There were even a few jokes thrown around that ALMOST reached WS-cheesy (but thankfully still managed to be funny). In terms of the YUL-LHR segment specifically, it's certainly well up to standard. It's not the best segment ever, but that's some pretty tough competition. But this was an overall-excellent service from a great crew, and I'd be very happy to do it over again.
The total experience today, though, was so brilliant that I can’t help but feel a bit sad. AC can be a great carrier when it tries, and the AC I know deserves the “best in North America” award hands down. The vast majority of my flights have been virtually flawless. But there has to be a lack of consistency to generate so much hate. The stories people tell me sound as if they’ve been flying a totally different airline, just as I’m sure nobody at home believes mine. Sure, I’ve seen a few surly agents and admittedly had one standoff in YYZ with an agent (at the J checkin, nonetheless) who was stubbornly lacking in her international politics, but this is far from the norm. I’m pretty sure by now that this isn’t just luck but I just wish that more people, especially Canadians, could see the AC that I know. I also hope they can manage to deliver this level of service more reliably, because my AC is a credit to the country.
The new AC amenity kits. Silver, yes, but I prefer the old ones
What's in the box? This. And socks. Blue socks.
Now my time in YUL was going to be the longest layover of the day where I had nothing planned. I could have gone into the city, but instead I was more than content to cruise the terminal for a few hours and then park myself in the MLL and ideally get some work done. Of course this would never happen, but I did accomplish more than I had originally intended. First, I made sure we wouldn’t run out of maple syrup for a few months. Then I found a few toys and presents for people in the Ukraine. Then I found more maple syrup for friends in England (forgetting that I had promised to do so and in the process saving my hide from a vengeful Scot). And in every case, the conversation went something along the lines of:
Staff: <French>
Me: <Bad French>
Staff: <English>
Me: <Continued bad French>
Staff (inner monologue): <Well, if this crazy anglo really wants to….>
Staff: <French>
I really need to improve my French.
An AC A330 at our gate in YUL, to a destination unknown. I didn't really see a boarding announcement, so maybe it was just around the corner
I spent about an hour wandering the terminal and checking out the international departures lounge, trying to figure out why a few fire trucks went flying past around the next pier. I never did manage to figure out why, though. Eventually I headed over to the MLL which had finally opened. The agent, again exceptionally friendly, assured me that while he didn't have any info on the upgrades he would, were he a betting man, "bet the farm". Not having a farm to bet, I thought land might be a good investment just for these occasions. So with a bit more upgrade certainty, I headed upstairs to the lounge. Being one of the first in meant I could pick some of the best seats in the house and settle in for a few hours. Now I should have realized that the window I chose was the only one that was fogged up but didn't. This of course meant that the lounge time was a bit chillier than normal, but a few Bailey's lattes would fix that up. As I wasn't quite sure what cabin I'd be in tonight, I took it easy on the food and stuck mostly to the green side of the MLL buffet. That does count for most of the MLL buffet, but I tried to cut back. In the worst case, I'd at least balance out the nonstop food that is an essential part of Christmas at home. A few hours before departure when they closed the flight, I went down to the desk and discovered, to my great gratitude, that they had in fact processed the upgrades and I had won the last (or so I thought) aerolotto of the year.
So closer to boarding time, after a few hours of internet and the body-clock-resetting combination of alcohol and caffeine, I meandered down to the gate only to find a bit of a wait. While I'm no stranger to waiting at the gate I am a bit of a stranger to being called up to the podium post-upgrade, but new things happen all the time. It turns out that my 8K, while fine at first, was going to be a problem now and instead I'd be moving back a row to 9K. On the 333, this is arguably one of the two best seats on the plane, the last row of the front J cabin, which means far more storage space (if you ignore the "don't put anything here" sign) and far more privacy (A and K are a bit offset from the centre aisle so the row 9 seat across the aisle is in fact across the aisle and up a bit). Score!
YUL-LHR
AC846
A330
Seat: 8K 9K
Boarding, while a few minutes late, was fast enough. I boarded just after assisted boarding and was greeted at the door by the J FAs. Being a widebody, there was plenty of space in one of the closets for the monitor, and one of the FAs was very helpful in getting it stowed. Top marks for expressing genuine desire to help out with it. While we waited for the door to close, drink runs were done and this time it was Champagne time (well, Cava, but it was close). During the boarding, the GA came on board to make sure that, since she hadn't personally done my seat reassignment, I found my seat and everything was fine. Today, though, everything was more than fine. I believe dinner orders were taken before takeoff, but it's been a while and I didn't take notes on the exact timing.
Gate-to-gate IFE in ExecFirst on the A330
Once the door had closed we headed off, although I don't know enough about the layout of YUL to have a reasonable guess as to what runway we were using. After the crew was up, there was a duty-free order taken in the J cabin before dinner started. For the first time in years, though, there was no choice of starter on the flight and, instead, four main courses. Now I don't do this trip frequently, but every other time I've flown it in J there has been two starters and three mains, one vegetarian option in each. The starter was quite good for smoked salmon and I didn't at all regret my choice (or lack thereof). There was something that looked like an olive without a pit that I found interesting, but can't figure out what it may be. This is too bad, since it was tasty and I'd like to get more.
Smoked Salmon with Dill Mustard Sauce, Field Greens, Grape Tomatoes, and Yellow Peppers
For the main, I went with the beef. Normally red meat has been good to me on AC, while chicken has been a bit iffy, so I stuck with what works. Plus, I was already working on a red wine. The beef wasn't rare, but it certainly wasn't overdone and was still tender. I was fairly impressed with the meat, while the beans stood out as a side.
Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Sauce, Yukon Gold Mash, Green Beans, and Heirloom Carrots
Dessert was a choice between ice cream and fruit, so I of course went with the ice cream and some port. No coffee this time, as I wanted to get a few hours sleep in before another day of travel. Throughout the flight, I had more or less exhausted the IFE options but did find a few more things to watch for this last flight. Specifically, there was a Russian comedy about football which wasn't too bad. It ended just in time, though, any longer and I couldn't stay awake. The cabin wasn't too hot like on a few other flights, so I didn't really need the blanket (or, in this case, duvet). The extra large pillows were a nice added touch. Certainly much better than I remember them.
Ice Cream
After two or so hours sleep I woke up just after the breakfast service, but the FA was right on it to see if I wanted anything. Knowing I'd be spending some time in the arrivals lounge and then going for food anyway, I stuck to a smoothie, which would be the closest I'd get to grapefruit juice yet. While working on that, I sorted out the landing card and fast-track passes the crew had left for me. Not only had they dropped off one, though, they had left two! So now sitting on a number of fast-track passes, I was in for a quick ride through immigration. First, though, we had to wait out a ten-minute hold over LHR before we could land. Unfortunately, the IFE crashed for me just as we started the hold, so I just sort of sat there and re-read EnRoute. The landing into LHR was relatively smooth on 27R, I believe, since I could see the lights on the M25 flickering off and on as we went over. I don't quite recall what gate we pulled into, being on the K side, but I suspect it was near 37 (having finally taken a picture of the map of the gates in T3 so I have a reference).
The front ExecFirst cabin as we approach LHR on AC846
Once the seatbelt sign was off I made a dash for my monitor in the closet so that I wouldn't have to fight upstream to get it. With everything then sorted, I made a new attempt at the LHR land-speed record and this time I think I came pretty close. It wasn't quite 5 minutes walk to immigration, where I noticed that the regular non-fast-track line was going to be significantly faster: there was nobody there. Ignoring the "fast" line, I was through in barely 5 minutes, only to find that my bags were on the first canister, which started coming out barely 2 minutes later! Priority baggage worked! So with my bags in tow, I found myself sitting in the arrivals lounge well under 20 minutes from deplaning. Apparently I also fly to a different LHR than most people, too.
Thoughts on the flight:
This was a brilliant trip with AC. The service for ExecFirst was the high standard I’ve become familiar with and the way that the crews accommodated my baggage situation was exemplary. It would be slightly above average, if not for the fact that I was really supposed to be in the back for the long-hauls. One agent in YXE started the ball rolling and it’s like that act of good service passed along through all the agents in the chain. Every single AC employee I’ve dealt with from YXE to LHR has been smiling, happy, and just fantastic. There were even a few jokes thrown around that ALMOST reached WS-cheesy (but thankfully still managed to be funny). In terms of the YUL-LHR segment specifically, it's certainly well up to standard. It's not the best segment ever, but that's some pretty tough competition. But this was an overall-excellent service from a great crew, and I'd be very happy to do it over again.
The total experience today, though, was so brilliant that I can’t help but feel a bit sad. AC can be a great carrier when it tries, and the AC I know deserves the “best in North America” award hands down. The vast majority of my flights have been virtually flawless. But there has to be a lack of consistency to generate so much hate. The stories people tell me sound as if they’ve been flying a totally different airline, just as I’m sure nobody at home believes mine. Sure, I’ve seen a few surly agents and admittedly had one standoff in YYZ with an agent (at the J checkin, nonetheless) who was stubbornly lacking in her international politics, but this is far from the norm. I’m pretty sure by now that this isn’t just luck but I just wish that more people, especially Canadians, could see the AC that I know. I also hope they can manage to deliver this level of service more reliably, because my AC is a credit to the country.
The new AC amenity kits. Silver, yes, but I prefer the old ones
What's in the box? This. And socks. Blue socks.
Apr 18, 2010, 3:49 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 4: LHR-WAW on LO
Or: Dance Dance Pictish
Post-arrivals lounge, I ran through a bit of rain to the forecourt of T3 and met up with some friends for coffee at the usual hangout (driven by tradition, certainly not by the coffee) and then Dim Sum at London Hong Kong, for obvious reasons. With a few hours to kill after that, we hit up a nearby arcade for a few hours, not really having enough time to go anywhere too far. I cursed silently at the children monopolizing the MarioKart arcade machine, not having a chance to destroy them with my years of wasted spare time before it was back to T1 for my flight to WAW. At this hour, the terminal was rather quiet, especially the LH First section (which always gets me a bit, since I still can't think of a LH-group F product out of T1). Security was again smooth as anything, and being the former Area R, it was barely a walk to the *A Lounge.
Now while I can't complain too much about the *A lounge in T1, they really need to get their act together regarding power outlets. It's dismal. The samosas ARE good, but you can't power a laptop with them. Yet.
LHR-WAW
LO280
Boeing B737-400
Seat 9F
This time I was determined not to fall into the trap of heading to the gate way too early, as I always do in LHR. The one thing I didn't count on, though, was how quickly the flight status can change from “Go to Gate” to “Boarding” to “Closing”. This wouldn't have been a problem if LO was leaving from Gate 14 like they normally do, but it seems someone was on to my plan and decided to park the flight over at 5c... all the way across T1. I ended up almost running to 5c from the *A lounge, only to find I still wasn't the last on the plane. It's an improvement over waiting in the gate, but not much. Of course I wasn't the last one on, so had a few minutes to catch my breath before the door closed.
Legroom in Y on the LO 737-400. As a special added feature, my battle-hardened phone.
The flight today was fairly full, but not enough that we needed to seat three people to a row (and I haven't been on a LO LHR-WAW flight in a long time that has been that full). As usual, though, the seats were far more comfortable than most European carriers and I was having a hard time fighting jet lag to keep awake all the way to takeoff. I did make it up to "Dzien dobra panstwo" at least. Or at least I recall the safety demo starts like that. I didn't wake up until halfway to WAW, where the Lufthansandwich was waiting for me on the middle tray. Even in the face of cutbacks, LO still makes sure you get something to eat!
As all-too-often happens on LO for me, I slept most of the flight away and there wasn't much time left before we started our descent into WAW. I did play "let's see if I can recognize anything out there" but of course that was hardly an easy game in the dark over a relatively unfamiliar part of Poland. No, for the most part I just read a bit more of Kaleidoscope and looked at the scenery until we had landed and pulled into yet another bus gate. It's almost always a bus gate in WAW. Once again, though, I was able to use some FF skills and secure a place at the door of the bus, meaning I would be second through immigration today. With no luggage, it was no time before I was out to the taxi ranks and off to the city.
Arrival in WAW and the view of our plane from the bus. Embrace the bus.
Thoughts on the Flight:
I would still actively choose LO over most carriers to Poland, particularly given that the fares are good on one-way tickets and they almost all earn 100% status miles on AC (although the introduction of PromoLOT O fares has made it a bit trickier to book recently). The seats are still comfortable, the food is still free, and the experience is perfectly adequate for an intra-EU shorthaul. It's not AC J, by any stretch, but it's certainly equal in my experience to LX Y. And in the end, this flight put me JUST over the threshold to keep AC status in 2010, so it certainly served its purpose.
Transiting in WAW, additionally, is becomning more and more attractive to me. As a formerly-small airport that's undergone a lot of renovation recently, it's usually fairly quick for security and immigration. They're also pretty nice in that you can be through immigration and there's a dedicated connection lane for security that gets you back up to the main terminal in no time. Being so close to the city, additionally, means it's relatively inexpensive to get a taxi for an overnight, even if the touts are relatively persistent. This time, though, they gave up when they figured out where I was going, as it wasn't far enough? I guess I'm not a good enough of a mark. The legitimate drivers, though, have never strayed far from the arranged price (usually about Zl35 to the central station) and this time we got to talking about driving to the Ukraine from Poland and why I'd fly instead (he seemed relatively surprised at our €35 fares with LO).
Post-immigration in WAW T2.
Baggage carousels in WAW T2
Post-arrivals lounge, I ran through a bit of rain to the forecourt of T3 and met up with some friends for coffee at the usual hangout (driven by tradition, certainly not by the coffee) and then Dim Sum at London Hong Kong, for obvious reasons. With a few hours to kill after that, we hit up a nearby arcade for a few hours, not really having enough time to go anywhere too far. I cursed silently at the children monopolizing the MarioKart arcade machine, not having a chance to destroy them with my years of wasted spare time before it was back to T1 for my flight to WAW. At this hour, the terminal was rather quiet, especially the LH First section (which always gets me a bit, since I still can't think of a LH-group F product out of T1). Security was again smooth as anything, and being the former Area R, it was barely a walk to the *A Lounge.
Now while I can't complain too much about the *A lounge in T1, they really need to get their act together regarding power outlets. It's dismal. The samosas ARE good, but you can't power a laptop with them. Yet.
LHR-WAW
LO280
Boeing B737-400
Seat 9F
This time I was determined not to fall into the trap of heading to the gate way too early, as I always do in LHR. The one thing I didn't count on, though, was how quickly the flight status can change from “Go to Gate” to “Boarding” to “Closing”. This wouldn't have been a problem if LO was leaving from Gate 14 like they normally do, but it seems someone was on to my plan and decided to park the flight over at 5c... all the way across T1. I ended up almost running to 5c from the *A lounge, only to find I still wasn't the last on the plane. It's an improvement over waiting in the gate, but not much. Of course I wasn't the last one on, so had a few minutes to catch my breath before the door closed.
Legroom in Y on the LO 737-400. As a special added feature, my battle-hardened phone.
The flight today was fairly full, but not enough that we needed to seat three people to a row (and I haven't been on a LO LHR-WAW flight in a long time that has been that full). As usual, though, the seats were far more comfortable than most European carriers and I was having a hard time fighting jet lag to keep awake all the way to takeoff. I did make it up to "Dzien dobra panstwo" at least. Or at least I recall the safety demo starts like that. I didn't wake up until halfway to WAW, where the Lufthansandwich was waiting for me on the middle tray. Even in the face of cutbacks, LO still makes sure you get something to eat!
As all-too-often happens on LO for me, I slept most of the flight away and there wasn't much time left before we started our descent into WAW. I did play "let's see if I can recognize anything out there" but of course that was hardly an easy game in the dark over a relatively unfamiliar part of Poland. No, for the most part I just read a bit more of Kaleidoscope and looked at the scenery until we had landed and pulled into yet another bus gate. It's almost always a bus gate in WAW. Once again, though, I was able to use some FF skills and secure a place at the door of the bus, meaning I would be second through immigration today. With no luggage, it was no time before I was out to the taxi ranks and off to the city.
Arrival in WAW and the view of our plane from the bus. Embrace the bus.
Thoughts on the Flight:
I would still actively choose LO over most carriers to Poland, particularly given that the fares are good on one-way tickets and they almost all earn 100% status miles on AC (although the introduction of PromoLOT O fares has made it a bit trickier to book recently). The seats are still comfortable, the food is still free, and the experience is perfectly adequate for an intra-EU shorthaul. It's not AC J, by any stretch, but it's certainly equal in my experience to LX Y. And in the end, this flight put me JUST over the threshold to keep AC status in 2010, so it certainly served its purpose.
Transiting in WAW, additionally, is becomning more and more attractive to me. As a formerly-small airport that's undergone a lot of renovation recently, it's usually fairly quick for security and immigration. They're also pretty nice in that you can be through immigration and there's a dedicated connection lane for security that gets you back up to the main terminal in no time. Being so close to the city, additionally, means it's relatively inexpensive to get a taxi for an overnight, even if the touts are relatively persistent. This time, though, they gave up when they figured out where I was going, as it wasn't far enough? I guess I'm not a good enough of a mark. The legitimate drivers, though, have never strayed far from the arranged price (usually about Zl35 to the central station) and this time we got to talking about driving to the Ukraine from Poland and why I'd fly instead (he seemed relatively surprised at our €35 fares with LO).
Post-immigration in WAW T2.
Baggage carousels in WAW T2
Apr 18, 2010, 3:53 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 5: WAW-LWO with LO Y?
Or: More presents from StarAlliance
Reunited with my better half, we spent the night at the Kyriad Prestige, which for €30 was perfectly sufficient for our needs (actually, it really reminded me of Ibis styling). We had the morning to explore a small bit of Warsaw, but soon were on the way back to WAW for our afternoon flight to LWO. The taxi driver was just as chatty as the night before, probably this time due to a common language in the car. At least I was aware that the discussion was about skiing and knew the various places that came up. The fare at the airport was a bit more than the night before, but nothing out of the ordinary. Possibly it was due to a few extra bags?
As we were flying LO today, there was no issue checking in a bit early. We headed up to the empty business desks, courtesy once again of *G, and were through in minutes. Security was additionally quick and painless, as the crowds were light and the terminal fairly empty due to the mid-holiday lull. We picked up a few last-minute gifts for friends before heading through passport control and down to the Bolero lounge on the ground floor. Thankfully, the passport controllers are far less pedantic than in POZ, where I usually have to wait for them to go through my passport three or four times. Because it was still technically the holiday season, they were giving away Christmas ornaments for guests, which I've never experienced before at a lounge but did find a nice gesture. The Bolero lounge is itself interesting, due to its location under the main concourse and that every time I've been through it's been virtually empty, making it by far the best of the three lounges in WAW. That afternoon was no exception to the norm, as there was only really an AerLingus flight to DUB at the time which was boarding directly in front of the lounge windows. A few other flights eastward filled out the afternoon. Our turn came after about an hour of relaxing with coffee, vodka, and some pastry, and we bid farewell to the Bolero lounge and headed upstairs to a relatively long queue at the gate; our flight would be completely full today.
The Bolero lounge in WAW. This lounge handles non-schengen departures and is located at ground level, leading to some interesting views of aircraft using the airbridges. This particular area is one of only a few that doesn't have a tarmac view.
The majority of the Bolero lounge in WAW.
Pictures from a previous trip through WAW:
The tarmac-view seats in the Bolero lounge
WAW-LWO
LO763
ATR42-500
Seat 16 A,C
The first big surprise of the flight came as my girlfriend reached the podium. She handed over her boarding card and the agent reached over to a few cards on the table to replace hers with a new one. Not really much of an explanation, but it was clear what was going on. When mine was replaced, it was definiltely obvious: our flight was going to be packed and we were moving back to J. Yes, since it was an ATR, we'd be at the back of the cabin, in 16 A and C. I can't be sure, but I think it was due to *G upgrading procedures. To be honest, I didn't even know EuroLOT had a J, despite more than a few flights with them. Live and learn. So we boarded the bus to take us out the far end of the apron where our ATR was waiting.
No question where we are today.
Out at the ATR, we hung back a bit before making our way on to the flight. At the back the legroom wasn't much different than a row up in "Y", so the comfort advantage of J is lost there. About the only advantage of EuroLOT J is that you get a meal. But before that, we had to wait a bit for takeoff on Runway 11, passing the time with the new magazine which was conveniently out two days early. Once we were airborne, the crew started the very quick service starting with coffee and drinks before moving on to dinner. Even for a short flight, the cold plate featured Japanese-inspired salmon with a soya/ginger sauce and a bit of salad. Along with this was the more traditionally Polish paté and bread. While the meal itself was excellent for such a shorthaul (and the salmon particularly interesting; I'll have to try that at home some time) it was a bit rushed and there wasn't time for a drink afterward. I can't really complain, since it was an unexpected op-up, but it was a bit unfortunate.
Legroom in 16B (J ”cabin“) on the EuroLOT ATR72
Cold J meal for our flight to LWO. Japanese salmon, cold salad, and some kind of creamy paté.
As soon as the trays were collected, the crew was back to their seats for landing in L'viv. Although the sun had since gone down, the approach was far less interesting than the actual landing. L'viv seems to have a very long runway with a less-than-perfect snow-removal system, leading to a lot of snow flying around while we touched down. One long taxi to a stand later and we were ready to disembark onto the bus. Again, we watied patiently at the bus before boarding last, realizing there was no point in getting out to stand in the cold bus when we had perfectly fine seats here. The ride to immigration was negligable, almost short enough that we could have walked, and itself barely a fraction of the wait at immigration itself. Beyond filling out multiple forms with questionable instructions, we had to wait while everyone was processed individually. The upside to this is that our bags were well out by the time we were through, although the customs officer still wanted to scan them to make sure there was nothing contraband. Thankfully most people in Lviv (that we met) spoke Polish, so it was easy to find out he seemed to be more interested what kind of food we had in our bags than anything else.
The completely full ATR72 cabin on descent to LWO.
Thoughts on the Flight:
I'd never been aware of a business class on EuroLOT but, having experienced it on this shorthaul, I'd agree that it's a relatively nice product for an ATR business class, but certainly not worth the price I've seen charged for it. In that respect, it's not terribly surprising that we were op-upped on a full flight. The EuroLOT experience, however, is still good for a regional shorthaul, certainly comparable to RE or my brief experiences with LH Regional. For the PromoLOT fares, additionally, it continues to be excellent value for money.
Reunited with my better half, we spent the night at the Kyriad Prestige, which for €30 was perfectly sufficient for our needs (actually, it really reminded me of Ibis styling). We had the morning to explore a small bit of Warsaw, but soon were on the way back to WAW for our afternoon flight to LWO. The taxi driver was just as chatty as the night before, probably this time due to a common language in the car. At least I was aware that the discussion was about skiing and knew the various places that came up. The fare at the airport was a bit more than the night before, but nothing out of the ordinary. Possibly it was due to a few extra bags?
As we were flying LO today, there was no issue checking in a bit early. We headed up to the empty business desks, courtesy once again of *G, and were through in minutes. Security was additionally quick and painless, as the crowds were light and the terminal fairly empty due to the mid-holiday lull. We picked up a few last-minute gifts for friends before heading through passport control and down to the Bolero lounge on the ground floor. Thankfully, the passport controllers are far less pedantic than in POZ, where I usually have to wait for them to go through my passport three or four times. Because it was still technically the holiday season, they were giving away Christmas ornaments for guests, which I've never experienced before at a lounge but did find a nice gesture. The Bolero lounge is itself interesting, due to its location under the main concourse and that every time I've been through it's been virtually empty, making it by far the best of the three lounges in WAW. That afternoon was no exception to the norm, as there was only really an AerLingus flight to DUB at the time which was boarding directly in front of the lounge windows. A few other flights eastward filled out the afternoon. Our turn came after about an hour of relaxing with coffee, vodka, and some pastry, and we bid farewell to the Bolero lounge and headed upstairs to a relatively long queue at the gate; our flight would be completely full today.
The Bolero lounge in WAW. This lounge handles non-schengen departures and is located at ground level, leading to some interesting views of aircraft using the airbridges. This particular area is one of only a few that doesn't have a tarmac view.
The majority of the Bolero lounge in WAW.
Pictures from a previous trip through WAW:
The tarmac-view seats in the Bolero lounge
WAW-LWO
LO763
ATR42-500
Seat 16 A,C
The first big surprise of the flight came as my girlfriend reached the podium. She handed over her boarding card and the agent reached over to a few cards on the table to replace hers with a new one. Not really much of an explanation, but it was clear what was going on. When mine was replaced, it was definiltely obvious: our flight was going to be packed and we were moving back to J. Yes, since it was an ATR, we'd be at the back of the cabin, in 16 A and C. I can't be sure, but I think it was due to *G upgrading procedures. To be honest, I didn't even know EuroLOT had a J, despite more than a few flights with them. Live and learn. So we boarded the bus to take us out the far end of the apron where our ATR was waiting.
No question where we are today.
Out at the ATR, we hung back a bit before making our way on to the flight. At the back the legroom wasn't much different than a row up in "Y", so the comfort advantage of J is lost there. About the only advantage of EuroLOT J is that you get a meal. But before that, we had to wait a bit for takeoff on Runway 11, passing the time with the new magazine which was conveniently out two days early. Once we were airborne, the crew started the very quick service starting with coffee and drinks before moving on to dinner. Even for a short flight, the cold plate featured Japanese-inspired salmon with a soya/ginger sauce and a bit of salad. Along with this was the more traditionally Polish paté and bread. While the meal itself was excellent for such a shorthaul (and the salmon particularly interesting; I'll have to try that at home some time) it was a bit rushed and there wasn't time for a drink afterward. I can't really complain, since it was an unexpected op-up, but it was a bit unfortunate.
Legroom in 16B (J ”cabin“) on the EuroLOT ATR72
Cold J meal for our flight to LWO. Japanese salmon, cold salad, and some kind of creamy paté.
As soon as the trays were collected, the crew was back to their seats for landing in L'viv. Although the sun had since gone down, the approach was far less interesting than the actual landing. L'viv seems to have a very long runway with a less-than-perfect snow-removal system, leading to a lot of snow flying around while we touched down. One long taxi to a stand later and we were ready to disembark onto the bus. Again, we watied patiently at the bus before boarding last, realizing there was no point in getting out to stand in the cold bus when we had perfectly fine seats here. The ride to immigration was negligable, almost short enough that we could have walked, and itself barely a fraction of the wait at immigration itself. Beyond filling out multiple forms with questionable instructions, we had to wait while everyone was processed individually. The upside to this is that our bags were well out by the time we were through, although the customs officer still wanted to scan them to make sure there was nothing contraband. Thankfully most people in Lviv (that we met) spoke Polish, so it was easy to find out he seemed to be more interested what kind of food we had in our bags than anything else.
The completely full ATR72 cabin on descent to LWO.
Thoughts on the Flight:
I'd never been aware of a business class on EuroLOT but, having experienced it on this shorthaul, I'd agree that it's a relatively nice product for an ATR business class, but certainly not worth the price I've seen charged for it. In that respect, it's not terribly surprising that we were op-upped on a full flight. The EuroLOT experience, however, is still good for a regional shorthaul, certainly comparable to RE or my brief experiences with LH Regional. For the PromoLOT fares, additionally, it continues to be excellent value for money.
Apr 18, 2010, 3:55 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 6: L'viv-Dubno-Kyiv on Ukrainian Rail
Or: Travel in a style not at all what I expected
Due to some unexpected complications (note to self, confirm things) in our L'viv accommodation, we ended up just wandering down the street to the hotel next to the airport. Now before anyone else decides they want to try this, the "airport hotel" at L'viv has no aspirations of becoming a luxury property, nor has it seemingly ever in the past. For this honesty, I'm going to give it back most of the points that were taken away for its state. Considering the walk-up rate was also only about €25 per night, I'll give it points for that, too. Only once did we have issues with noise, wherein the people upstairs decided to throw an early new-years' party at 3am. Due to the lack of any sort of soundproofing, it became an obstacle to sleep and after a few minutes we headed downstairs to mention it to the night clerk (who was trying himself to sleep on the couch). Just like in one of those WB cartoons where the frog only dances for the construction guy, the music was gone when we got back to show him. And, again just like those cartoons, it started up 3 minutes after he left. At least this time when he came up it was still going on. But beyond the one incident, the hotel was absolutely satisfactory for what we wanted, and a taxi was never more than €3 from town.
Arriving in L'viv: a fascinating terminal if I've seen one before.
LWO by day
The city itself was fantastic! We spent two days wandering around the sights, seeing some markets, and eventually "splurging" on a supremely touristy restaurant in the city centre for.... maybe €20 per person? It could have been €30, but that included an entire bottle of champagne, multiple courses, drinks later, etc. etc. And when the only other polish couple in town (apparently) showed up, the staff decided to seat them with us because.... we'll have someone to talk to? Total strangers, but super nice. It was one of those things that I've rarely seen in the west, but it turned out to be great. And that sort of impromptu friendship was fairly common. Every single person we asked for directions didn't only show us the direction but actually walked us there. In one case, the girl took us down to the place and even called the people when it was closed. Just amazing, really.
When we tried to LEAVE, however, was when the shine came off a bit. To get to our train to Dubno, we decided to take a cab from the airport, in order to not have to cart bags around on the "bus". Good idea in principle, but we forgot to take into account the airport extortion factor. Most of the touts wanted €20+ to take us what should have been a €4 trip. Knowing what it should be, we decided that we'd find something else. After haggling a few minutes, we offered €8 and were rebuffed. When it looked like we were just going to wait for the next taxi, however, the airport police gave the driver one of those universal "oh go on" looks, and he agreed. So at double the going rate, we were out to the station. We got there in plenty of time to attempt to change the time of our tickets from Dubno to Kiev to no avail, the train we wanted was full. So with time to spare, we settled into the lounge to wait it out. For €1/person/hour, it was a good deal (for tourists) on a much more empty lounge than the regular waiting area, with internet access and a better bar.
Departing Lviv on the regional service to Dubno
On the train, we ended up with seats in the bar carriage, which was surprisingly well-maintained for what the stereotype of eastern rail service would be. And the heater was certainly well-maintained! So we sat down, had a few drinks, and did a bit of work for the few hours out, entertained by an odd selection of old Rock 'n Roll and new Ukrainian Dance music, while watching the snowy landscape roll past. It was like a perfect picture of what I'd expect the train ride to be like through Saskatchewan, right down to the smallest detail. It was amazing to see that level of similarity, and really gave me an idea of why it looks like it does where I grew up. The apartment blocks are really one of the few things that belies the difference in history.
A rural Ukrainian train station in the snow
We arrived in Dubno just before sunset and met up right on the platform with the people we were staying with, to have a great few days visiting a town that is truly off the tourist track.
Our train from L'viv to Dubno
After a few days of wandering around, shopping, eating, and generally being treated to some truly spectacular hospitality, we found ourselves standing out at the bus stop waiting to go to the train station. At this point, I need to make a few heavily-biased comments about the public transport in the Ukraine. Firstly, I actually like public transit when it's done in a way that makes it useable. Big buses for the sake of having a bus every half hour to shuttle you into downtown don't cut it (are you listening, Saskatoon?). Rather, the Ukraine has it much closer: small buses on a higher frequency lead to an impressively good utilization rate (even at night the buses were more than half full) for a small cost. Yeah, they're probably pouring money into it like it was a propped-up bank, but it was convenient and would certainly encourage me to not need a car. And for the transportationless tourist, they were fantastic.
Local bus service in Dubno. This was one of the nicer buses, so of course we wouldn't need to carry our luggage on this one
Okay, they weren't the best when you have any sort of quantity of luggage, but we made it.
Anyway, being at the train station in the evening was part of our plan for getting to Kyiv which failed to pan out like we had hoped. Initially, we were planning on taking the night train and arriving not-so-tired in the morning, before meeting our friends in the city. Instead, the booking service got us tickets on the evening train, where we'd arrive at 2am. Not ideal. But since the trains were absolutely packed in any class we'd feel comfortable sleeping in, we kept the original tickets and decided to roll with it. Thankfully the friend we were staying with was more than happy to meet us at 2am!
But first, we had a 7-hour train journey to negotiate.
Part of our 2nd-class cabin en-route to Kyiv. The new train was clean, comfortable, and great value
The corridor on Train #112 to Kyiv
Just like the trip out, the train to Kyiv was clean, modern, and well maintained. The unique green-and-yellow-with-the-odd-wheat-sheaf scheme even made it look more like Saskatchewan. It was also extremely comfortable, even if we ended up in a 4-berth cabin with another couple. But this wasn't to be a problem, since we were able to get by in Polish and ended up playing cards and working through a few litres of beer on the way out. No, this was another easy trip where the time actually slipped by rather than dragging on forever.
Arriving in Kyiv we were treated to some more of the same taxi touts, however we had a secret weapon: a local who prebooked a cab for us. Much cheaper, apparently, than hailing one on the street as our driver knew roughly where we were going and delivered us to the door for a pittance, fighting the snowbanks all the way. Finally, after some negotiating through the apartment blocks and a long journey from L'viv, we were in Kyiv. We spent a few days being toured around this beautiful city like minor nobles and have made a decision that we need to go back in the summer, for longer.
Kids enjoying the holidays in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
Snow removal in Kyiv
The Christmas Tree in Kyiv
Thoughts on the trip:
Ukrainian rail stepped up its game from what I expected and really delivered a great way to get around the country. I would have obviously preferred to be able to sleep on the long haul, but I can't say that what we found wasn't much more memorable. The carriages, though, are in fantastic condition and really destroy any stereotypes about the Ukraine that I may have had based on stories from others. No, it was a great service that I'd rank right up there with any other rail service in Europe that I've seen so far. The stations, too, were beautifully-designed and quite well-maintained. Top marks all around.
Due to some unexpected complications (note to self, confirm things) in our L'viv accommodation, we ended up just wandering down the street to the hotel next to the airport. Now before anyone else decides they want to try this, the "airport hotel" at L'viv has no aspirations of becoming a luxury property, nor has it seemingly ever in the past. For this honesty, I'm going to give it back most of the points that were taken away for its state. Considering the walk-up rate was also only about €25 per night, I'll give it points for that, too. Only once did we have issues with noise, wherein the people upstairs decided to throw an early new-years' party at 3am. Due to the lack of any sort of soundproofing, it became an obstacle to sleep and after a few minutes we headed downstairs to mention it to the night clerk (who was trying himself to sleep on the couch). Just like in one of those WB cartoons where the frog only dances for the construction guy, the music was gone when we got back to show him. And, again just like those cartoons, it started up 3 minutes after he left. At least this time when he came up it was still going on. But beyond the one incident, the hotel was absolutely satisfactory for what we wanted, and a taxi was never more than €3 from town.
Arriving in L'viv: a fascinating terminal if I've seen one before.
LWO by day
The city itself was fantastic! We spent two days wandering around the sights, seeing some markets, and eventually "splurging" on a supremely touristy restaurant in the city centre for.... maybe €20 per person? It could have been €30, but that included an entire bottle of champagne, multiple courses, drinks later, etc. etc. And when the only other polish couple in town (apparently) showed up, the staff decided to seat them with us because.... we'll have someone to talk to? Total strangers, but super nice. It was one of those things that I've rarely seen in the west, but it turned out to be great. And that sort of impromptu friendship was fairly common. Every single person we asked for directions didn't only show us the direction but actually walked us there. In one case, the girl took us down to the place and even called the people when it was closed. Just amazing, really.
When we tried to LEAVE, however, was when the shine came off a bit. To get to our train to Dubno, we decided to take a cab from the airport, in order to not have to cart bags around on the "bus". Good idea in principle, but we forgot to take into account the airport extortion factor. Most of the touts wanted €20+ to take us what should have been a €4 trip. Knowing what it should be, we decided that we'd find something else. After haggling a few minutes, we offered €8 and were rebuffed. When it looked like we were just going to wait for the next taxi, however, the airport police gave the driver one of those universal "oh go on" looks, and he agreed. So at double the going rate, we were out to the station. We got there in plenty of time to attempt to change the time of our tickets from Dubno to Kiev to no avail, the train we wanted was full. So with time to spare, we settled into the lounge to wait it out. For €1/person/hour, it was a good deal (for tourists) on a much more empty lounge than the regular waiting area, with internet access and a better bar.
Departing Lviv on the regional service to Dubno
On the train, we ended up with seats in the bar carriage, which was surprisingly well-maintained for what the stereotype of eastern rail service would be. And the heater was certainly well-maintained! So we sat down, had a few drinks, and did a bit of work for the few hours out, entertained by an odd selection of old Rock 'n Roll and new Ukrainian Dance music, while watching the snowy landscape roll past. It was like a perfect picture of what I'd expect the train ride to be like through Saskatchewan, right down to the smallest detail. It was amazing to see that level of similarity, and really gave me an idea of why it looks like it does where I grew up. The apartment blocks are really one of the few things that belies the difference in history.
A rural Ukrainian train station in the snow
We arrived in Dubno just before sunset and met up right on the platform with the people we were staying with, to have a great few days visiting a town that is truly off the tourist track.
Our train from L'viv to Dubno
After a few days of wandering around, shopping, eating, and generally being treated to some truly spectacular hospitality, we found ourselves standing out at the bus stop waiting to go to the train station. At this point, I need to make a few heavily-biased comments about the public transport in the Ukraine. Firstly, I actually like public transit when it's done in a way that makes it useable. Big buses for the sake of having a bus every half hour to shuttle you into downtown don't cut it (are you listening, Saskatoon?). Rather, the Ukraine has it much closer: small buses on a higher frequency lead to an impressively good utilization rate (even at night the buses were more than half full) for a small cost. Yeah, they're probably pouring money into it like it was a propped-up bank, but it was convenient and would certainly encourage me to not need a car. And for the transportationless tourist, they were fantastic.
Local bus service in Dubno. This was one of the nicer buses, so of course we wouldn't need to carry our luggage on this one
Okay, they weren't the best when you have any sort of quantity of luggage, but we made it.
Anyway, being at the train station in the evening was part of our plan for getting to Kyiv which failed to pan out like we had hoped. Initially, we were planning on taking the night train and arriving not-so-tired in the morning, before meeting our friends in the city. Instead, the booking service got us tickets on the evening train, where we'd arrive at 2am. Not ideal. But since the trains were absolutely packed in any class we'd feel comfortable sleeping in, we kept the original tickets and decided to roll with it. Thankfully the friend we were staying with was more than happy to meet us at 2am!
But first, we had a 7-hour train journey to negotiate.
Part of our 2nd-class cabin en-route to Kyiv. The new train was clean, comfortable, and great value
The corridor on Train #112 to Kyiv
Just like the trip out, the train to Kyiv was clean, modern, and well maintained. The unique green-and-yellow-with-the-odd-wheat-sheaf scheme even made it look more like Saskatchewan. It was also extremely comfortable, even if we ended up in a 4-berth cabin with another couple. But this wasn't to be a problem, since we were able to get by in Polish and ended up playing cards and working through a few litres of beer on the way out. No, this was another easy trip where the time actually slipped by rather than dragging on forever.
Arriving in Kyiv we were treated to some more of the same taxi touts, however we had a secret weapon: a local who prebooked a cab for us. Much cheaper, apparently, than hailing one on the street as our driver knew roughly where we were going and delivered us to the door for a pittance, fighting the snowbanks all the way. Finally, after some negotiating through the apartment blocks and a long journey from L'viv, we were in Kyiv. We spent a few days being toured around this beautiful city like minor nobles and have made a decision that we need to go back in the summer, for longer.
Kids enjoying the holidays in the Obolon district of Kyiv.
Snow removal in Kyiv
The Christmas Tree in Kyiv
Thoughts on the trip:
Ukrainian rail stepped up its game from what I expected and really delivered a great way to get around the country. I would have obviously preferred to be able to sleep on the long haul, but I can't say that what we found wasn't much more memorable. The carriages, though, are in fantastic condition and really destroy any stereotypes about the Ukraine that I may have had based on stories from others. No, it was a great service that I'd rank right up there with any other rail service in Europe that I've seen so far. The stations, too, were beautifully-designed and quite well-maintained. Top marks all around.
Last edited by DJ Bitterbarn; Apr 19, 2010 at 6:39 am Reason: Fixed a picture
Apr 18, 2010, 3:59 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part 7: KBP-LHR on BD
Or: why do I always learn about these things just as they're ending?
On the morning we were to leave, we hopped in the taxi for what turned out to be one of the longer taxi rides we've taken to an airport: to KBP. We left Obolon with plenty of time to spare, not sure what to make of the traffic, but were surprised to find that this "traffic" was virtually nonexistent. Just like the first segment of this journey, we sailed through the city in record time until we got to the airport and discovered where all the traffic was. So ten minutes after coming within sight of the airport, we finally made it to the door.
Now KBP itself resembles the traffic leading up to it: chaotic. People were milling around everywhere in terminal B where our flight was checking in, seemingly waiting for.... something. As it turns out, there was a security checkpoint preventing people from checking in until 2 hours before the flight. This check, though, seems to be more or less a formality, as people were freely wandering both ways in and out through the "check". Unfortunately, it meant we were stuck landside for a few minutes until our flight opened up. Thankfully we didn't have hours to wait, and in about fifteen minutes were heading up through security. As usual, the process was very quick and after a short wait at immigration we were airside to all of the amenities this offered: the lounge and a duty-free shop. KBP isn't a terribly large airport.
Executive lounge in KBP Terminal B
KBP doesn't have lounge dragons, but they have other guardians
After passing by most of the overpriced duty-free, we discovered the Ukrainian vodka shelf, where we went a bit overboard on lots of cheap, excellent vodka both for presents and for us, later. With nothing left to do, though, it was back to the lounge, located just past immigration. The business lounge was practically empty when we arrived so we had our choice of seats, and there were a lot of seats. This was a fairly large lounge with a full, tended bar along part of the wall. I was considering for a minute that we’d have to pay for drinks, but then realized that this still isn’t the US and the bartenders were there to dispense drinks and collect tips... which we certainly obliged. The lounge has reasonably good coffee but a really poor internet connection. When I asked for an internet card, the girl at the desk handed off the first card she could find, all of 10 minutes worth. Nine of those minutes were spent waiting for pages to load.
No tarmac views at the lounge in KBP, instead just a vew to the control tower and Terminal A
The business centre. This might be a better option, since the wifi is virtually nonexistant
Departure gates in KBP Terminal B.
KBP-LHR
BD852
Airbus A320-232 G-MEDH
Boarding was eventually called and as we headed into the newer part of the terminal we came across the touristy souvenir shop, although it was closed. Since we already had far more than we could carry on to ORK, we got in line for boarding only to discover it was a bus gate. As we were some of the last on, we stood on the cold bus for 10 minutes while waiting for the last pax to board. Eventually, the doors closed and we made our way to the stand, where we stood on the bus for a few more minutes while we waited for everyone to work their way up the steps. In the meantime, though, we were treated to some fantastic views of the gold LO 737 as it taxiied past.
Tarmac Action in KBP
SP-LLC taxiing past us as we wait to board our flight to LHR.
Finally, after some wait, we made it on board the BD mid-haul aircraft and trudged back to our seats which were unfortunately behind the curtain. Blankets and pillows were waiting for us, and the main screens were showing our location on the map. Legroom was better than on W6, which isn't terribly hard, but still not quite exit-row good. This time I gave up the window seat to my better half and settled in to the middle, with a seatmate in the aisle. It was going to be a full flight today on one of the last BD services to KBP.
J seats on G-MEDH. Maybe next time.
At least the map was working on this flight.
Legroom in Y on G-MEDH.
After some deicing and taxiing, we were once again airborne from what I believe was 36R. Headsets were distributed and, being the two-prong type, led me to use them rather than disturbing my seatmate in getting up for my adapter. Soon it was apparent we'd be fed on this flight, and the dinner service started just after the film. In both of these cases it was a bit surreal and a bit of deja-vu. It's been a few years since I've been on any sort of flight with IFE that wasn't on-demand that I'd forgotten a bit about what it's like. At the same time, I'm not really used to mid-haul food anymore and especially since status I've always managed to get my first choice of meal. This was still the case, but BD has a very strange definition of "chicken". In most places I've been, the meat on the tray would be classified as "pork". I do think the FA clearly said chicken, though.
Dinner on the KBP-LHR flight. BD has a strange definition of what makes up a chicken, though.
Dessert was.... plastic looking. Not plastic tasting, but nothing special enough to take a photo of.
After dinner, I passed the time by watching the rest of the movie, re-watching the Doctor Who episode after that, and doing my (rather bad) impression of a pillow. Not terribly eventful, but good for an intra-Europe. By the time we were just about bored, we were coming in over LHR, although I forget exactly what runway. I'd suspect 09L, though, as we parked at the end of T1 nearer the fire trainer and I don't remember that much taxiing. Unusually, this was the first time at LHR that I've used a bus gate and I'd prefer it to be the only time. Immigration was fast enough, although there was a bit of confusion that almost led to one of us going off to Flight Connections, but that disaster was averted at the last minute. We did get separated for a while, but managed to meet up again at the carousel, where most of our bags had already appeared!
Thoughts on the flight:
As I have said on record in the past, I like BD. Their hard product is nothing special and occasionally falls on the low side of average but to their credit they usually manage to be consistently so. The staff are, however, professional and friendly, and a pleasure to deal with almost all of the time. They run a decent service that has never disappointed me yet, and they do it as well as I expect them to. On this run, it was pretty much exactly what I expected, although I was pleasantly surprised to be on a mid-haul plane which was somewhat more comfortable than the short-haul fleet. The meal wasn't special, but it was edible and an added surprise. No, this was a solid offering that I'd be more than happy to fly again had they not stopped the route. I'll stick with BD in any situation where I can, though, even if it's getting harder and harder to do that.
For a four-hour layover in LHR, we didn't have time enough to go out to London Hong Kong, but instead went up to Wetherspoons for some decidedly less-than-healthy offerings and a great chat with the guys from London (and Scotland) who I saw on the way out. We also played "baggage exchange", wherein I picked up my big bag and dropped off some of the heavier items that we bought in the Ukraine, such as litres of Vodka. Satisfied that we were under 20kg..ish... we went upstairs to check in with the whole entourage in tow and, saying a temporary farewell to the gang from here, meandered through the relatively quiet security to meet up with friends coming back from YYZ on the same EI flight as we were taking...
On the morning we were to leave, we hopped in the taxi for what turned out to be one of the longer taxi rides we've taken to an airport: to KBP. We left Obolon with plenty of time to spare, not sure what to make of the traffic, but were surprised to find that this "traffic" was virtually nonexistent. Just like the first segment of this journey, we sailed through the city in record time until we got to the airport and discovered where all the traffic was. So ten minutes after coming within sight of the airport, we finally made it to the door.
Now KBP itself resembles the traffic leading up to it: chaotic. People were milling around everywhere in terminal B where our flight was checking in, seemingly waiting for.... something. As it turns out, there was a security checkpoint preventing people from checking in until 2 hours before the flight. This check, though, seems to be more or less a formality, as people were freely wandering both ways in and out through the "check". Unfortunately, it meant we were stuck landside for a few minutes until our flight opened up. Thankfully we didn't have hours to wait, and in about fifteen minutes were heading up through security. As usual, the process was very quick and after a short wait at immigration we were airside to all of the amenities this offered: the lounge and a duty-free shop. KBP isn't a terribly large airport.
Executive lounge in KBP Terminal B
KBP doesn't have lounge dragons, but they have other guardians
After passing by most of the overpriced duty-free, we discovered the Ukrainian vodka shelf, where we went a bit overboard on lots of cheap, excellent vodka both for presents and for us, later. With nothing left to do, though, it was back to the lounge, located just past immigration. The business lounge was practically empty when we arrived so we had our choice of seats, and there were a lot of seats. This was a fairly large lounge with a full, tended bar along part of the wall. I was considering for a minute that we’d have to pay for drinks, but then realized that this still isn’t the US and the bartenders were there to dispense drinks and collect tips... which we certainly obliged. The lounge has reasonably good coffee but a really poor internet connection. When I asked for an internet card, the girl at the desk handed off the first card she could find, all of 10 minutes worth. Nine of those minutes were spent waiting for pages to load.
No tarmac views at the lounge in KBP, instead just a vew to the control tower and Terminal A
The business centre. This might be a better option, since the wifi is virtually nonexistant
Departure gates in KBP Terminal B.
KBP-LHR
BD852
Airbus A320-232 G-MEDH
Boarding was eventually called and as we headed into the newer part of the terminal we came across the touristy souvenir shop, although it was closed. Since we already had far more than we could carry on to ORK, we got in line for boarding only to discover it was a bus gate. As we were some of the last on, we stood on the cold bus for 10 minutes while waiting for the last pax to board. Eventually, the doors closed and we made our way to the stand, where we stood on the bus for a few more minutes while we waited for everyone to work their way up the steps. In the meantime, though, we were treated to some fantastic views of the gold LO 737 as it taxiied past.
Tarmac Action in KBP
SP-LLC taxiing past us as we wait to board our flight to LHR.
Finally, after some wait, we made it on board the BD mid-haul aircraft and trudged back to our seats which were unfortunately behind the curtain. Blankets and pillows were waiting for us, and the main screens were showing our location on the map. Legroom was better than on W6, which isn't terribly hard, but still not quite exit-row good. This time I gave up the window seat to my better half and settled in to the middle, with a seatmate in the aisle. It was going to be a full flight today on one of the last BD services to KBP.
J seats on G-MEDH. Maybe next time.
At least the map was working on this flight.
Legroom in Y on G-MEDH.
After some deicing and taxiing, we were once again airborne from what I believe was 36R. Headsets were distributed and, being the two-prong type, led me to use them rather than disturbing my seatmate in getting up for my adapter. Soon it was apparent we'd be fed on this flight, and the dinner service started just after the film. In both of these cases it was a bit surreal and a bit of deja-vu. It's been a few years since I've been on any sort of flight with IFE that wasn't on-demand that I'd forgotten a bit about what it's like. At the same time, I'm not really used to mid-haul food anymore and especially since status I've always managed to get my first choice of meal. This was still the case, but BD has a very strange definition of "chicken". In most places I've been, the meat on the tray would be classified as "pork". I do think the FA clearly said chicken, though.
Dinner on the KBP-LHR flight. BD has a strange definition of what makes up a chicken, though.
Dessert was.... plastic looking. Not plastic tasting, but nothing special enough to take a photo of.
After dinner, I passed the time by watching the rest of the movie, re-watching the Doctor Who episode after that, and doing my (rather bad) impression of a pillow. Not terribly eventful, but good for an intra-Europe. By the time we were just about bored, we were coming in over LHR, although I forget exactly what runway. I'd suspect 09L, though, as we parked at the end of T1 nearer the fire trainer and I don't remember that much taxiing. Unusually, this was the first time at LHR that I've used a bus gate and I'd prefer it to be the only time. Immigration was fast enough, although there was a bit of confusion that almost led to one of us going off to Flight Connections, but that disaster was averted at the last minute. We did get separated for a while, but managed to meet up again at the carousel, where most of our bags had already appeared!
Thoughts on the flight:
As I have said on record in the past, I like BD. Their hard product is nothing special and occasionally falls on the low side of average but to their credit they usually manage to be consistently so. The staff are, however, professional and friendly, and a pleasure to deal with almost all of the time. They run a decent service that has never disappointed me yet, and they do it as well as I expect them to. On this run, it was pretty much exactly what I expected, although I was pleasantly surprised to be on a mid-haul plane which was somewhat more comfortable than the short-haul fleet. The meal wasn't special, but it was edible and an added surprise. No, this was a solid offering that I'd be more than happy to fly again had they not stopped the route. I'll stick with BD in any situation where I can, though, even if it's getting harder and harder to do that.
For a four-hour layover in LHR, we didn't have time enough to go out to London Hong Kong, but instead went up to Wetherspoons for some decidedly less-than-healthy offerings and a great chat with the guys from London (and Scotland) who I saw on the way out. We also played "baggage exchange", wherein I picked up my big bag and dropped off some of the heavier items that we bought in the Ukraine, such as litres of Vodka. Satisfied that we were under 20kg..ish... we went upstairs to check in with the whole entourage in tow and, saying a temporary farewell to the gang from here, meandered through the relatively quiet security to meet up with friends coming back from YYZ on the same EI flight as we were taking...
Last edited by DJ Bitterbarn; Apr 19, 2010 at 8:20 am
Apr 18, 2010, 4:02 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Part Eight: LHR-ORK on EI
Or: Why does this segment still get its own part?
LHR-ORK
EI725
A321
Seats: Yes.
After meeting up with our friends who were also heading to ORK, we sat and talked for a while then slowly meandered down the dirty green mile. I wish this segment was more interesting, but it wasn't. Everyone was so tired that we didn't even bother to swap seats to sit together once the plane had taken off and instead just decompressed on the way back instead. No pictures, either, since I was once again in the middle and by now you can just go back to any other TR I've written and take your pick of EI and ORK pictures. At this point the tube is more exciting.
Once we landed and made it through immigration, though, we waited until about mid-way through the baggage unloading before our bags showed up and split a cab into the city; for four people it's a bit cheaper than the bus and much less walking.
Thoughts on the flight:
None. We were all too wrecked to have coherent thoughts.
So as usual, thanks for taking the time to wade through the report or, at the very least, skim through the pictures. I'll leave you with an image from the first day back to work, where the contrast between winter in various cities was just too perfect!
Back in Cork to the coldest Irish winter in 40 years.
Until next time!
LHR-ORK
EI725
A321
Seats: Yes.
After meeting up with our friends who were also heading to ORK, we sat and talked for a while then slowly meandered down the dirty green mile. I wish this segment was more interesting, but it wasn't. Everyone was so tired that we didn't even bother to swap seats to sit together once the plane had taken off and instead just decompressed on the way back instead. No pictures, either, since I was once again in the middle and by now you can just go back to any other TR I've written and take your pick of EI and ORK pictures. At this point the tube is more exciting.
Once we landed and made it through immigration, though, we waited until about mid-way through the baggage unloading before our bags showed up and split a cab into the city; for four people it's a bit cheaper than the bus and much less walking.
Thoughts on the flight:
None. We were all too wrecked to have coherent thoughts.
So as usual, thanks for taking the time to wade through the report or, at the very least, skim through the pictures. I'll leave you with an image from the first day back to work, where the contrast between winter in various cities was just too perfect!
Back in Cork to the coldest Irish winter in 40 years.
Until next time!
Apr 18, 2010, 5:21 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,301
Apr 18, 2010, 6:08 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: *A
Posts: 1,390
Great TR. Enjoyed reading it, especially in the early hours of the morning...
Love the last pic! It's true in London as well.
Having done a similar trip (insofar as going to PL in the winter), the fact that it is cold there doesn't warm one up when one returns back home...
Love the last pic! It's true in London as well.
Having done a similar trip (insofar as going to PL in the winter), the fact that it is cold there doesn't warm one up when one returns back home...
Apr 19, 2010, 4:38 am
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: A3*G, AC, IHG Plat AMB
Posts: 1,604
Thanks for the thanks! It's good to be able to give back to a forum that's given me so much to read.
I should probably qualify that statement! I really like LO's intra-european service, but you're probably right: that shouldn't extend to the the TATL services. I'm almost always on AC for those, since I rarely go from Canada to Poland directly anway.
That first pic in the dark was actually taken from the landside seating area in YXE. Although small, it's a brilliant airport for watching tarmac action!
Although I'm pretty much immune to the cold here, having grown up north of YXE, it's certainly a different problem in a place that doesn't expect the mercury to drop that far. Thankfully our apartment in ORK is well-built!
Great TR. Enjoyed reading it, especially in the early hours of the morning...
Love the last pic! It's true in London as well.
Having done a similar trip (insofar as going to PL in the winter), the fact that it is cold there doesn't warm one up when one returns back home...
Love the last pic! It's true in London as well.
Having done a similar trip (insofar as going to PL in the winter), the fact that it is cold there doesn't warm one up when one returns back home...
Although I'm pretty much immune to the cold here, having grown up north of YXE, it's certainly a different problem in a place that doesn't expect the mercury to drop that far. Thankfully our apartment in ORK is well-built!