JetE

Hello good folks at FT Trip Reports,

Here is my 3rd intercontinental flight report, in Economy, as in the case of all my previous reports.

Previous Reports
--------------------------------------
Report I
Airlines: SK, MH
Routing: GOT-LHR-KUL-SIN-KUL-LHR-GOT

Report II
Airlines: Cityjet (AF), CO, KL
Routing: GOT-CDG-IAH-SAN-EWR-AMS-GOT
--------------------------------------

This current report describes my flights from GOT to DUR and back on a recent trip to participate in a conference, and is the first one complemented with pics. It will be uploaded in two parts.

Part I: GOT-CPH-ZRH-JNB-DUR
Part II: DUR-JNB-LHR-GOT

Here is Part I. Hope you enjoy it!

Airline: Scandinavian Airlines
Flight: SK1443 Gothenburg GOT – Copenhagen CPH
Sched: Dep 13.50 Arr 14.35 Date: Aug 31, 2002
Departure Gate: 20A Assigned Seat: 04E (ScandDir)
Equipment: MD-90-30 Registration: OY-KIM


Check-in and the surprise MD-90

The start of the journey was somewhat less auspicious as rain descended in buckets quite suddenly just before the airport bus arrived. I discovered that I rather mind being wet and sat, a wee bit irritated, quietly on the bus for the 20-minute ride to Landvetter airport. That was as long as the gloom persisted.

Check-in was relaxed if not particularly quick. I was travelling with colleagues in a group of 6. One of them was running late, so 5 of us checked-in together, assisted by a SAS staff of Asian origin (Thai, I guessed). It was just after the late morning peak and so we were the only ones in the area. There was a little discussion about the special meal (gluten-free) ordered for Eva, one of 2 ladies in our party. Apparently, she had been advised to make the request 12 hours (surprisingly short notice, I thought) before the SAS-operated segments and had followed the advice, i.e. done it no earlier than 12 hours before. Now the request did not show up on the computer but the check-in agent was eager to help. So there was a little tapping on the keyboard and phoning back and forth, while Eva was being nice and not at all pushy (she had prepared food just in case). A late request was finally made, with no guarantees, for a gluten-free meal to be boarded on the CPH-ZRH leg (no food was going to be served on GOT-CPH anyway). The agent advised her to bug the SAS staff at Copenhagen. I was impressed when the meal did turn up on the CPH-ZRH flight later.

Our departure gate was empty until 15 minutes before departure time when our aircraft taxied in. I grinned in silent jubilation at the sight of red V2500s and the pair of windows between the twin over-wing exits. The scheduled MD-80 (possibly gone mechanical... oh thank u m'lord) had been substituted with a recently repainted MD-90. It is such a rare aircraft nowadays and SAS operates but 8 of these.

Boarding was quick and we left the gate just 5 minutes after scheduled departure time. I have described my only previous MD-90 take-off in an earlier report (over 8 months ago) but I will write: seated way up front (seat 04E), the engine sounded like it belonged to another aircraft taking off. I was hearing the content of the conversations across the aisle during the take-off roll. The cabin noise begins when the air conditioning kicks in during climb-out and rather effectively drowns out everything else.

Skandinavian Direkt

The service was Scandinavian Direct. All seats had Scandinavian Direct headrest covers. Snack paper bags, containing a piece of wonderfully subtle crescent-shaped marzipan-filled chocolate (a whole 2 bites of it) and orange juice and wet wipe, were handed out and consumed very quickly. Within another 15 minutes, or the time it takes for a non-Swedish-speaker to say "sju sjungande sjösjuka sjömän sjöng på ett sjunkande skepp" (my version of a lip twister) at speed, we had touched down in jolly Kobenhavn. During descent it was announced that we would dock at B08 but it was finally nixed and we got to exit the MD-90 through its stjärt at a remote stand, next to another repainted MD-90 (LN-ROA) with airstairs sticking out of its stjärt. My good-natured colleague Anders complained good-naturedly about GOT passengers not getting any respect anymore, while colleague Stefan countered humorously that SAS was at least providing the bus ride to the terminal for now.


Airline: Scandinavian Airlines
Flight: SK609 Copenhagen CPH – Zürich ZRH
Sched: Dep 16.55 Arr 18.45 Date: Aug 31, 2002
Departure Gate: C28 Assigned Seat: 19B (Economy)
Equipment: Boeing 737-600 Registration: LN-RCU


The Not-So-Cute Baby Boeing

Time passes more quickly when one is not travelling alone. Two hours went by fairly quickly at CPH. When not yakking or staring out at the apron, I prayed for our scheduled chubby baby Boeing to go on strike or some place else. I had been assigned seat 19B (the dreaded last, read "contortionist", row with an estimated 30 inches of pitch) and regarded the prospect with very little enthusiasm.

Alas, the equipment was a –600, and it was a full flight. There was, however, a couple of empty seats near the back and the friendly Swedish male FA encouraged us to spread out with whatever little extra room we could get. I left my B seat vacant and moved to C by the aisle.

With mental preparation for the worst, the actual experience on this 1hr 30 min flight was quite alright. Cold (could have been gravlax) salmon was served over a refreshing bed of celery and pasta salad with typical SAS flair. I do not recall the rest of the contents on the tray as I was engaged in a stimulating discussion with colleague Jenny about the development of the Swedish palate, e.g. at what age Swedish kids learn to appreciate things like semi-raw salmon and pickled herring, two of the main pillars of SAS' Scandinavian World Cooking.

Our choppy descent (read somewhere that the –600's control laws are not exactly peachy and lovable when tested by turbulence) was rounded off surprisingly nicely when the pilots buttered the baby smoothly onto the runway (no idea which) at ZRH, in stark contrast to the slamming of another baby Boeing onto the AMS Zwanenburgbaan (19R) by their colleagues where I was visiting a little over a month ago (the captain apologised sheepishly during the taxi). It was raining medium heavy and I felt many a sigh as the aircraft pulled to a stop at a remote stand.


Airline: South African Airways
Flight: SA275 Zürich ZRH – Johannesburg JNB
Sched: Dep 20.25 Arr 06.35 +1 Date: Aug 31, 2002
Departure Gate: B33 Assigned Seat: 14C (Economy)
Equipment: Boeing 747-300 Registration: ZS-SAU


To the Upper Deck... and beyond!

ZRH Terminal B is drab. It was good that we did not have more than 1 hour to kill before boarding began. In that time, I made a quick run through duty free but decided to put off the planned purchase of Bushmills whisky until the return journey since I didn't think the bottle would appreciate the trip to South Africa and back... OK, I was too lazy to deal with more carry-ons. While others were talking out buying Toblerone chocolates, I found the Sprüngli boutique and bought two different types of dark chocolate.

Half an hour before scheduled departure time, a long line was snaking across the main passage, and around a little kiosk just outside gate B33. With two X-ray machines, the personnel (polite and smiling) processed the passengers quickly enough while passengers who had gone past security were already boarding the aircraft.

We had all received seat assignments when the tickets were issued. Seeing that we had seats from row 12 to row 15, I had tried to locate them on SAA's online seat map but not managed to resolve the row numbers due to poor image resolution. The gentleman at the entrance now pointed up the stairs. Yessss! I will probably never ride on the upper deck again as an economy traveller. This was it!

At the top of the stairs we were greeted by a native African male FA asking for our regular sized carry-ons. He was stowing them in the closet just beside the stairs. Standing on the upper deck felt like visiting an attic. I noticed the small overhead bins. Row 12 was an exit row and there was no row 13. I had been assigned 14C. Jenny had 15C but wanted mine so I settled into 15C beside two German-speaking young men. I looked behind me and saw that Anders was in 16C while 16A and B were not occupied. As soon as I heard "boarding completed", I leapt up, asked for and received permission (and a strange "you don't have to ask me" look) to switch to 16A. This was going to be great!

In 16A, I immediately recognised the additional storage bins mentioned many times by Flyertalkers flying Biz, except this bin beside me was shut tight. It did, however, prove useful later as a seat-side table. This was an older –300 jumbo, so no PTVs but I did not mind one bit, as legroom was quite excellent, the neighbouring seat was empty and a likeable colleague was sitting in C. The seats were the old-fashioned type but thick enough to be reasonably cushy although the seatbacks were rather short, reaching up to just behind my eyes, The pouch bulged with magazines, a small bottle of mineral water that I picked up from a cart parked near the top of the stairs and a grey overnight amenity kit (in a thin fabric pouch closed by drawing a string) that contained grey eyeshades, a tiny grey case containing a folding toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste, and a grey pair of socks. Stylish... I did not take it with me after we landed and regretted it later as no such kit was handed out during our return overnight flight in the main cabin. More about that later. They also handed out disposable earplugs. A blanket and a pillow, and audio phones had also been laid out on the seats before we boarded.

The bar is open... drink all you can.

The upper deck is a unique experience. One is high above the ground. One moves sideways when the aircraft turns on the ground. For the first time, I was able to see the numbers painted on the runway. Take off was from runway 16, long but quiet as it was the upper deck.

The experience was taking to yet another level by Sean, a merry wisecracking FA. It came through in some early announcements that he might be a purser of some sort. He looked the part, plus a little like a shorter Drew Carey. The show started with the drinks service soon after takeoff and he pulled it off brilliantly.

It was soon apparent that people were going to get a lot to drink. When he arrived at Anders, he was on a roll. What can I get you sir? Gin and tonic? In a flash, he whipped out two small bottles of gin and two small cans of Schweppes and a cup with a slice of lemon added. Anything else sir? Red wine for your meal. Oh... he had run out of the small bottles of wine. No problem sir... we'll fix that right away. He gestured towards the galley and received two regular bottles of red wine and proceeded to pour two plastic cups of red wine. Anything else you would like sir? A very entertained Anders declined. Up until now I had sworn off inflight alcohol but I was now in a festive mood and asked for a Bloody Mary. Ohh I'm so sorry we're out of vodka, but gin is good. And so I received two small bottles of gin and two cans of tomato juice plus a real glass with a short stem containing a plastic stirrer and packets of salt and pepper and two cups of ice with stirrers. Anything else sir? Mineral water? I got a small bottle. Nothing else sir? Are you sure? What about a little voodoo? (making little mischievous gestures above his crew-cut and bouncing on his feet)

Anders' drinks
My drinks

Dinner might have taken a while to arrive but I did not notice. I had consulted the menu (a long card with Dinner on one side and Breakfast on the other, printed in English with Dutch (Afrikaans) and French translations, appropriate since the flight originated in CDG).

******
No meal would be complete without a fine Cape wine. We invite you to enjoy one of our internationally acclaimed vintages, selected by a renowned panel of judges, exclusively for SAA's wine of the month. Your cabin crew will be happy to advise you on the selection of red and white wines available on this flight. Bon appetit.

Dinner

Starter: tomato vinaigrette salad

Main Course:
beef goulash
topped with crispy onions, served with risotto, baby carrots and spinach

or

penne in a pesto cream sauce
topped with a tomato and herb sauce

Dessert: peach melba

cheese and biscuits

coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea
and an after-dinner chocolate

******

I chose the goulash and was happy with the choice. It came with a cold bun, and while the portion looked a little small, I was well-fed after going through the block of camembert and wholemeal crackers. The tray design was a bit of a novelty --- a flat piece, with a displaced barrier on each of the four sides. The paper that lined it featured a textured sunflower design in different shades of blue --- beautiful. This pleasing set-up was let down only by the flimsy disposable container holding the main course and the plastic utensils. The after-dinner chocolate turned out to be a tiny bottle of Amarula (a creamy fruit liquor), which Sean dispensed with a jovial "Nightcap sir."

See: The meal
See: My private little stash to see me through the night

I Found the Holy Grail of Slumber in Long-Haul Economy

While Sean was naturally charming, his female colleague was reserved and a little uptight. Polite, but a little uptight. I could sense her fighting off a display of impatience when we had not filled in our duty-free order card. Perhaps she was in a hurry to finish up with the sales to allow passengers to turn in for the night. I wished she had given us a clearer signal than "I'll just come back to you then." twice.

My lights went out before those of the cabin did. Even though the seats lacked the enhanced comfort of the modern contoured ones, sleep crept in rapidly. I felt myself toss and turn in a mildly restless sleep but it was a good record-breaking six hours of shut-eye. What else could be the reason? I swear to treat myself to a reasonable dose of alcohol on my next longhaul flight. I glanced at the full bottles that still remained beside me and thanked my lucky stars for the space afforded by the side bins and the empty 16B tray table. I was tickled by how Sean unloaded all this alcohol on us but also appreciated that there could have been an ugly flipside, i.e. drunk passengers raising hell. When I woke up I learnt that Anders had hardly slept at all. Stefan, seated at the exit row but being a first-time longhaul flyer, had slept even less. I'm moving ahead, I thought. In fact, I'm pretty darn advanced.

Sunrise over Africa

Our wake-up service consisted of turning on the cabin lights, disposable wet towel and a paper cup of orange juice from a rather sour concentrate. Breakfast followed.

******
Breakfast

fruit juice

fresh fruit salad

fruit-flavoured yoghurt


Main Course:
scrambled egg
accompanied by a veal sausage, mushrooms, cherry tomato and potato croquette

or

a plate of cold meat and cheese

pastry
with butter and a preserve

coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tea

******

I chose scrambled egg. OK, nothing more to add. Wide awake after being fruited, egged, croissanted and caffeinated, I was happy to be seated in 16A as I was able to snap a shot of the sunrise by the port wing and the JT9Ds. People had begun freshening up for arrival. The airshow map was on the main screen but the faint projection could not be captured on my digital photo. I turned my attention to the view on approach and was mesmerised by the mist draped over the awakening landscape.

We were the first of a line of SAA jumbos to touch down on JNB's 03L, which meant shorter immigration lines for us. Ever in the habit of watching aircraft, my eyes searched the apron and locked quickly on to a single MAS B747-400 parked at the terminal. We parked to the port side of the jumbo with the familiar (to me) kite-on-the-tail and I was treated to a view of a row of SAA B737-800s. Look ma! Funky winglets!

Disembarkation went fairly quickly, even if there were a number of people needing to retrieve their carry-ons from the deep closet. Walking through the starboard side of the main cabin, I noted the older Biz and First class seats and longitudinally-arranged galley as I proceeded to the forward exit.

After a little wait for our bags, we filed through customs, where Stefan bade goodbye to his apple and two bananas but was held up no longer than a minute. Here starts the learning curve for this first-time intercontinental traveller.


Airline: South African Airways
Flight: SA535 Johannesburg JNB – Durban DUR
Sched: Dep 08.00 Arr 09.10 Date: Sep 1, 2002
Departure Gate: 55 Assigned Seat: 18D (Economy)
Equipment: Boeing 737-800 Registration: ZS-SJI


Winglet me, winglet me not

We had boarding passes from back in GOT but was brought by an agent of the conference organiser to the domestic check-in, a couple of hundred metres' trek (indoors) away. There was no baggage drop after customs and so we schlepped our bags to re-check them.

I rather relished the prospect of pointing out the cool winglets to my colleagues... except the bus took us to ZS-SJI, one that had yet to be fitted with the winglets. No, I could not complain after having been dealt the best cards on the previous segment. Take-off on 03L was swift. I saw that the kite tail was gone (off to CPT or back to KUL?) but in that corner now were many SAA tails, along with BA, SIA and KLM ones. It was nice to be a step ahead of the morning rush hour.

The B737 sported a pleasant interior with the new seat fabric. Seat pitch seemed like a fair 32 inches. The flight was slightly less full that I had expected it to be. Breakfast boxes (croissant stuffed with cheddar cheese and slaw, yoghurt, sweet muffin and juice) were distributed very efficiently and coffee / tea was also served, all on a 55-minute flight.

Our flight approached Durban hugging the coastline. After a slight turn, we glided onto runway 24 and rolled the length of the runway, the end of a very successful first outing with South African.

####### End of Part I #######

Due to lack of time at the moment, there might be a slight delay in Part II. Part II (with more pics) will be more concise but will describe key elements of the updated SAA Economy Class product(with AVOD etc.)

[This message has been edited by JetE (edited 09-21-2002).]

[This message has been edited by JetE (edited 09-21-2002).]

Sherman

Great report + pictures. Thanks very much.

The configuration on the upper deck of the 747 is 3+2?

LH738

I'm looking forward to read the next parts & see the pics. (I liked very much the sunrise pic. Very nice.) Thanks.

Bretteee

Thank you for your interesting report with pictures.

Tim2008

Thanks for this great report and the nice pics!

Tim

LLZ

Fantastic report and pictures. I'm jealous....don't get that kind of service in J on long-hauls to South America!

JetE

Thank you all for your kind feedback.

Sherman:
The upper deck is 3+3.

I'll get to work on the next part as soon as I can.

JetE

Jet'Dillo

I really liked your dawn pic of the JT9Ds Jet E. I've always found it both impressive and comforting to wake up in the morning after an overnight flight and look out the window to see the engines still thrumming away.
Sometimes I stay awake , sometimes I pass back out, although it's usually not for very long as
the inevitable clinking of the breakfast trolley making it's way down the aisle is never too far behind sunrise.

JD

777Brit

JetE, nice report thus far. I'm looking forward to reading more!

Jet'Dillo, what if you looked out, and there were no engines? Unless you're on a DC9/MD80 or 727, that'd be pretty spooky...!

I like looking into the engine nacelle on a Rolls Royce Trent 892, at the end of an eastbound transatlantic flight, just as the sun is rising. They look like they're spinning so slowly, you wonder how you're still flying!

JetE

As promised, here comes the second (remaining) part.

Part II
DUR-JNB-LHR-GOT

Airline: South African Airways
Flight: SA562 Durban DUR - Johannesburg JNB
Sched: Dep 14.50 Arr 16.00 Date: Sep 7, 2002
Departure Gate: 8 Assigned Seat: 20F (Economy)
Equipment: Boeing 737-200 Registration: ZS-SIW

DUR is a pleasant small airport; nothing terribly memorable, but pleasant. I can only imagine what it is like to catch a Singapore Airlines B747 from this airport. I did manage to catch a glimpse of one such jumbo climbing out of the airport and turning lazily towards the direction of JNB while sitting in the shuttle on the way from the hotel to the airport.

SAA has separate check-in areas for international and domestic at DUR, although they are right next to each other. I wondered for a second, while standing in line in the domestic check-in, if I should use the international area since I was connecting (and there were a number of passengers at the international counters)... but I stuck with the original decision. The lady at the counter advised me at first that I would have to pick up my bag at LHR to go through customs. I was puzzled but realised soon enough that she had believed Gothenburg to be in the U.K. After that, and one more minute of trying to figure out what the code for Sweden was, she checked my bag through. It was nice of her to notice that I had been assigned a middle seat on the JNB-LHR segment and ask me if I wanted to change it. I explained that I would be joined by colleagues on that flight, but did ask to change my aisle seat to a window on the DUR-JNB flight as I would be alone on this one. She was even able to issue a boarding pass for the final leg operated by SAS.

The flight itself was fine. I will let the pictures describe the experience.

Pic: The departure gates at DUR. Passengers walk right out onto the tarmac.

Pic: View of company Boeing 737-200 from the cabin of the same type.

Pic: Close-up of classic thrust reverser bucket after take-off from rwy 06 and having turned to head west-northwest.

Pic: View of rugged landscape (possibly the Drakensberg cliffs) just minutes after leaving DUR.

Pic: The meal box. Nice packaging.

Pic: The contents. Chicken sandwich (BBQ sauce), a packet of Indian-spiced crunchies and a chocolate candy bar. The sandwich (served cool) tasted pretty good, so did the crunchies, except I did not manage to finish them. I took the candy bar with me. I also had apple juice on the flight.

Pic: Classic thrust reverser deployment on landing at JNB. I will miss the –200s.


Airline: South African Airways
Flight: SA226 Johannesburg JNB – London LHR
Sched: Dep 20.45 Arr 06.55+1 Date: Sep 7, 2002
Departure Gate: 22 Assigned Seat: 48J (Economy)
Equipment: Boeing 747-400 Registration: ZS-SAY

JNB is a bit of a mess when it comes to domestic-international transfers. In a way, the confusion serves as an opportunity for local guides to earn a quick tip by persuading the innocent first-timer that he needs help finding his way. I was an easy target, having neglected to stow my camera in my carry-on before stepping out into landside. I would have found my way but simple-mindedly allowed a young African, who showed me his airport staff badge to convince me that he was the real thing, to guide me through the trek and up an escalator (I declined his suggestion to use the elevator) to the wide but crowded SAA international check-in area. It was clear that he was expecting a tip and a 10 rand tip he got because I had nothing smaller; too much, considering that he did not have to carry a single thing.

Mildly irritated with myself, I looked around for an entrance to the airside. It was actually behind the wall of check-in counters; I saw people disappearing into the passage behind that wall after being checked-in and wondered if they would force me to join the check-in queue even if I already had a boarding pass. I showed my boarding pass to a SAA ground staff who was directing passengers to various check-in lines. After examining briefly, he gestured towards a doorway beside a check-in counter and invited me to proceed. And so I did, bending under a series of belts strung between queuing posts, frowning disapprovingly at this arrangement.

Once I left the hassle of the landside transfer (and some curt personnel at security) behind, I found the airside international departure area quite a joy. There was plenty to see at the massive souvenir store, a nice selection of duty-free items (although I did not find the 10-year old Bushmills I had waited until now to buy; sigh) neatly displayed in a spacious area extending into one of the all-glass wedge-shaped constructions protruding out of the face of the terminal. It was a pleasure to see an Emirates A330-200 (with emirates.com printed on the fuselage; this URL thing is catching on, ain't it?) and Egyptair A340-200 (SU-GBN Cleo Express) parked up close at the terminal.

Come boarding time, I had used up my remaining rand buying souvenirs. Seeing the long line to the bus (yes, remote bay) at the gate, my colleagues and I decided to take a seat and be among the last to board. Checking the flight departures monitor, Anders marvelled at the fact that were 5 flights headed for London this same evening. Several busloads later, we were driven some distance to a majestic RR-powered ZS-SAY Vulindlela. Walking to my seat, I noted that the aircraft had new seats but not the extra room in Biz.

This time, we were seated on the main deck. The new economy seats featured very high seatbacks with a peculiar slight hump midway up the backrest. It was as though they had meant to install adjustable headrests. Had the headrests been there, they would have filled out the emptiness above the hump. Worst of all, legroom was now abysmal and felt every bit the 31 inches (seat pitch advertised as matching their competitors'; not surprising if one considers who those competitors are), and perhaps even worse thanks to the relatively thick seats. My 6-foot-1-plus colleagues had their knees touching the front seat even before the person in front reclined. I was smaller, so it was perhaps appropriate that I was the one having the IFE box under the seat in front.

Food and Service

Compared to the outbound, the service this time was unremarkable. No amenity kit, no bottled water, and the FA was just doing his job. Dinner (I chose chicken) was pretty average although I did enjoy a small 33 cl bottle of "Wind of Change", a fairly robust deep red blend of pinotage and cabernet sauvignon.

I am describing the menu from memory as they did collect the menus this time.

******
Avocado Terrine

Beef Bourguignon (with pasta) or Farmhouse Chicken (on rice with beans and carrots)

Cheese with wholemeal crackers.
Blueberry, black currant tart (more like a cake)
******

I was more satisfied with my choice (veg fritata) for breakfast.

******
Fruit Juice

Muesli, Pineapple Vanilla Yoghurt

Scrambled eggs with spring onions (beef sausage etc.) or Sweet Potato & Spinach Fritata with tomatoes

Croissant (wrapped) with butter and preserve
*******

The AVOD System

SAA is one of the few airlines having introduced AVOD features in Economy IFE. The PTV has a start button that starts the AVOD once pushed. The system then switches over completely from the non-AVOD setting; i.e. a totally different set of channels are accessible. Selection is made by moving the cursor through various menus (movies, music albums, games) on the PTV screen using the keys on a handset. The handset can be detached from the armrest.

I started Spider-man, and appreciated being able to pause and continue whenever I wanted to. The "forward" and "rewind" features were not very speedy. It was logical and fairly easy to learn the basics although I never became very good at it. I managed to restart my movie twice, which forced me to use the sluggish "forward" feature quite a bit. In any case, I finished watching Spider-man despite my mistakes and the very annoyingly unstable sound. I would lose sound in one ear, the other, or both, such that I had to fiddle with the contacts quite regularly.

I somehow managed to sleep quite a bit again, thanks to the wine, despite the lack of legroom, feeling the base of the front seat on my shins and not reclining much out of consideration for lanky colleague Gustaf who was seated behind me. For that reason, the AVOD IFE feature did not particularly enhance the whole experience. I would have been more than happy to trade a few lines of missed dialogue for more space. A basic IFE system (in cycles) would have sufficed. Even the absence of PTVs was acceptable.

By the way, the system froze as I was trying out the "compile your own jukebox from the album selection" feature. There was no way to restore it without intervention from the crew, and I did not bother as it happened not an hour out of London. Stefan, red-eyed and suffering from the cramped confines of his seat, mentioned dryly that his system threw in the towel many hours before as he was trying his hand at Blackjack.

Arrival at LHR

We landed a little early on 27L at LHR, and taxied past a Virgin A340-600 parked away from T3. The captain advised that we would be holding for a short while for a gate to be made available at T1 as we crossed to the north side of the airport. Among the tails I could see was a SAA tail, presumably the slightly earlier SA234 from JNB. After about 10 minutes of holding, still no gate was being freed up. We were finally assigned a remote bay near T3 and, after pulling to a stop there, waited another 15 minutes or so and listened twice to apologies from the flightdeck before the airstairs and busses arrived.


Airline: Scandinavian Airlines
Flight: SK524 London LHR – Gothenburg GOT
Sched: Dep 10.15 Arr 13.05 Date: Sep 08, 2002
Departure Gate: 6 Assigned Seat: 07E (Economy)
Equipment: MD-90-30 Registration: OY-KIL

My colleagues had not been issued boarding passes for this flight. I followed them to the SAS transfer counter once we had gone through the Flight Connections Centre and arrived at T3 by bus. The lady offered row 7 or 21; I had expected the flight to be on a MD-80 and thus advised that we should try to be seated as far forward as possible. And so I had my original seat assignment (24C) changed to 07E, though I later took Gustaf's starboard window seat.

Surprise surprise... today's flight was to be a MD-90 (I recognised the twin windows between the overwing exits) instead of the scheduled MD-80. Malaysian jumbo 9M-MPI was right next door. The SAS aircraft was a welcome change. The legroom was generous and the cabin colours were as vibrant as ever. The only disappointment was my window, which was marred by scratches (or they looked like chemical damage). So now I had to be content with blurry images of AA and UA triple 7s, photographed during pushback.

The flight turned out to be a brilliant one. The catering was typically Scandinavian, but at its best. We had a mixture of cold cuts (smoked ham, pepperoni, parma ham) on parsleyed potatoes, grilled zucchini and bell pepper salad. The bread was so fresh and warm that I could not help but bite into it before anything else. Ohh... heaven. And the cabin crew were excellent this time as well, though it sure did help that the cabin was less than half full.

I was in one of the aft lavatories when the pilots announced the start of descent. It was a little startling to sense the aircraft nose over. They had requested for early arrival and seemed now to be putting the aircraft in a semi-dive; there were moments that I felt my feet almost leave the cabin floor as I was walking back up the aisle. Approach was quick and direct as not much turning was required to align the aircraft with runway 03 for touchdown 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Couldn't be better!

######End of Report#######

Enjoy!
Thank you all for taking the time to read the reports.

JetE

9V-SMU

Excellent report!

However, the pics don't seem to be working.

------------------
9V-SMU
The 1000th 747
Currently operated by Singapore Airlines

pallensf

Ditto for me too on the pics...

I really am eager to view them...

Let me know when they are working again...

Peace & Aloha...

------------------
Patrick A. Inouye, LMT
volunteer trip reports moderator

JetE

Hi folks...

Just returned from holidays and was glad to see that this thread is "living" again. Yes, those individual links have long expired but you can still view the pictures by entering this page

http://photos.yahoo.com/jetter1177

and then clicking on the "Travel" folder followed by the "Flyg-SydAfr" folder.

Enjoy.

JetE

P.S. I hope to have the pictures from my most recent holiday up soon on this site. Will try to complete the trip report within a week.
GOT-SIN-KUL-LGK (Datai)-KUL-KCH-KUL-SIN-GOT
Airlines: Scandinavian, Singapore, Air Asia, SWISS

Seat 2A

Jet E

I don't normally read Economy Class Trip Reports, but yours I gladly make an exception for.

Thanks again for this fine report.

pccs

Very nice report ! I'm delighted at reading your next one.