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Norwegian Air 737 Max Delivery Flight BFI-OSL
I'm one of 12 who successfully bid via a Megado charity auction for Unicef who leaves on the delivery flight for Oslo Thursday morning from the Boeing delivery center. Call this a 12,000+ miles, mileage run as I return immediately 3 hours after landing. Stay tuned full trip report to follow. ^
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Originally Posted by JHIN
(Post 28498792)
I'm one of 12 who successfully bid via a Megado charity auction for Unicef who leaves on the delivery flight for Oslo Thursday morning from the Boeing delivery center. Call this a 12,000+ miles, mileage run as I return immediately 3 hours after landing. Stay tuned full trip report to follow. ^
Do you know if you get to do external an external walkaround before the flight? I highly doubt it, but that would be cool |
Originally Posted by eeflyer
(Post 28498915)
Congratulations! That sounds like a great opportunity and I look forward to seeing your report!
Do you know if you get to do external an external walkaround before the flight? I highly doubt it, but that would be cool |
737 Max Pick Up/Delivery
Time to pick up a new plane! Not often any of us can say that, especially when its a new 737 Max jet. It's exciting to get the keys to a new apartment, a home or a car but WOW a new plane & its bound for Europe!!
Today, Thursday, June 29th we will start at the Boeing Delivery Center here in Seattle with Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO, Bjørn Kjos as follows: 09.30 Welcome by Norwegian CEO, Bjørn Kjos and briefing 10.30 Ribbon cutting ceremony 10.45 Airplane access 11.15 Lunch 12.00 Security checks and boarding 13.00 Departure of EI-FYA for Oslo (rumor is its a catered party onboard :D) Friday June 30th 06.00 Arrival in Oslo 06.30 Tour of Norwegian’s hangar facility 09.30 Return 787-9 flight to LAX via Barcelona 23.40. Arrive Seattle That's 12,904 miles in about 36 hours! In other words pure man cave aviation geek bliss high in the sky! Cheers to all globe trotter mileage runners this ones for you! |
Wow! Such a unique possibility!
May I ask how much did you bid? |
Excellent! Looking forward to the review.
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I'm so envious! Can't wait to hear! Did they do the wing-wave on departure?
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Interested to read your report; hopefully some photos too!
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Originally Posted by superhelsinki
(Post 28500193)
Wow! Such a unique possibility!
May I ask how much did you bid? |
Originally Posted by adrouault
(Post 28502721)
I'm so envious! Can't wait to hear! Did they do the wing-wave on departure?
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Part - Boeing Delivery Center
This is a trip of a lifetime trip report as I was one of 12 winning bidders in a charity action for Unicef where winning bids received one economy class row of seats on the Norwegian Airlines 737 Max delivery flight from Boeing Field (BFI) to Oslo Norway (OSL), with a return journey in premium economy to any USA destination served by Norwegian.
Delivery Center Arrival It was a bright clear sunny Seattle the morning of Thursday June 29th for my arrival at the Boeing Delivery Center. The security guard was surprised to see me as I was the first to arrive, as if he wasn't expecting any of us. Upon review of all the name badges at the counter I pointed out mine in a clear package with the others and informed him 12 of us lucky winning bidders would soon be arriving. I placed a short call to Anders the communications director for Norwegian just to be certain I was in the right spot, which he confirmed. About 10 minutes later the others embarking on this grand, one if a kind adventure, began to arrive and once the majority did we then walked as a group inside the delivery center. I was so caught up in the excitement I had to double back and re-walk that short distance as I forgot to take any photos, to document the memories that were about to happen, with a few photos. Upon entering the delivery center it was obvious this was Norwegians big day as prominently displayed on a video monitor was their logo. Directly behind that wall with the video screen was a lounge with 180 degrees of windows looking straight out at the Norwegian 737 Max jets! Yes, plural!! To my surprise there were two 737 Max jet deliveries to Norwegian on this day. Had I not known better I would have thought there was a big mirror duplicating just one jets image outside as it was a bit surreal to see two, when we were expecting one. A Boeing rep later greeted us and gave us a cart to place our hand luggage on to store it so we could be more free to roam about the delivery center. We were then escorted upstairs to another lounge that over looked the planes and the airfield of all the other Boeing jetliners. This lounge included a beverage center where most of us ended up making each others acquaintances. It was there I met Ben who along with David (whom I met earlier) flew in on Norwegian from Europe Wednesday a day earlier, and this was their return journey. David is from Zurich ironically working as a Tier 2 supplier for my own fortune 500 big coffee company, and Ben was in his 2nd year of school as an American abroad. There was another gentleman from Bellevue with his son for this journey, which made them and me the only locals to be embarking on this grand adventure with. I later learned of a party of four from Phoenix, which was a social media software, service company would be on the flight as well. A retired asian woman from San Fran joined along with various aviation bloggers/reporters. It didn't seem long and we were being asked to the south side of the upper floor to a room where the festivities would kickoff in the form of a welcome & press conference/briefing by Norwegian CEO, Bjørn Kjos. There were six, but less than ten attending who were with the press, a few of which would actually being flying with us today. Eerily upon the CEO asking if there were any questions, it was complete silence from everyone, other than the clicking of the camera shutters. Ben, who was a winning bidder for this flight then broke the silence asked, "who would be featured on the tail of the Norwegian jet." It was obvious by looking outside the tail of both planes were blank and only painted in white. Bjorn, who is also the airlines founder then noted that Freddie Laker would be the featured face on this bird for his contribution to aviation. Ahhh yes, I was merely a kid back in the days of Laker Airways the low cost carrier across the Atlantic, shaking things up back then for air travel. We all hung out here for a while taking pictures, sharing our own indulgences with air travel, anticipating this trip together. Its then we found the large mural of the 737 Max where we all began taking selfies, just before we all took the stairs down to exit the building and walk onto the ramp outside to get up close and personal with each of these new birds. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-0997.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-6558.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-0999.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-6559.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-1008.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-1004.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-1012.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-1015.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-1021.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1019.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-1023.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-1054.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-1044.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-1031.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-6560.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-1029.jpg |
Part 2 - Ribbon Cutting
This is a trip of a lifetime trip report as I was one of 12 winning bidders in a charity action for Unicef where winning bids received one economy class row of seats on the Norwegian Airlines 737 Max delivery flight from Boeing Field (BFI) to Oslo Norway (OSL), with a return journey in premium economy to any USA destination served by Norwegian.
Ribbon Cutting Can you believe it, I'm actually touching the new 737 Max plane. I'm then standing in front of the CFM Leap engines. I could not be smiling any wider or was that because of the glare of the sun too? Hahahahah. I've touched a jet before, I've walked around 100's from being a pilot myself to attending numerous airshows across the globe, but today I was then hopping on board for its first flight! Aviation bliss! Suddenly there seemed to be a surge of people milling around everywhere amongst the planes and the ceremonial red carpet and ribbon cutting area. There were those in suits from Norwegian to Boeing and then others is street cloths from the press to the first passengers. We plenty of time to walk around each 737 Max for photos touching and investigating the planes. At one point I said I could perform my own walk around preflight of the exterior of the plane just like the pilot would. There was also a banner featuring the Norwegian 737 Max jet that everyone was signing for nostalgia sake. It was here we first met the crew of each plane. Our pilot also for the first time had his wife with him who would be a passenger on our plane too. In th midst of the fun chaos things seemed to settle down with comments by Boeing and the Norwegian CEO, all the while cameras were rolling and shutters snapping. A more official presentation of the $24,000 check was made to Norwegian for the Unicef queen organization. From there it was time for the golden scissors and the ribbon cutting. It was at this point someone from Boeing yelled out "be careful they are really sharp," which garnered some laughter to finally have those cutting get a bit gregarious for the subsequent lieu of their corporate serious faces. It then seemed to turn into a party & celebration with numerous photos on the red carpet for the crew as well as us first flyers. Those official photos will come later. Then the celebration continued with Boeing providing a catered lunch of roasted chicken followed by desserts back on the second floor over looking the airfield and planes. This part of the building also had an outdoor deck directly over looking the planes where we could stroll about taking in all the sites and sounds of Boeing Field, not to forget gazing at these two fine planes. While we dined the planes were moved to their respective jet bridges and prepared for boarding. It was at this time that we were each presented with gift bags from the Airline Reporter organization who helped organize this entire trip. The gift bag included: Boeing 737 Max lanyard, 737 Max sticker, 737 Max desktop model, Boeing notebook and pen, and a leather luggage tag with the Freddie Laker talk of the plane. My personal favorite is the one of a kind, only scored by me, flight plan signed by the pilots! I recall being on the Concorde in 2003 seeing this as a souvenir of the flight so whilst on the 737 Max flight to Oslo I asked if I could get their extra copied and the crew obliged my request for a very unique piece of memorabilia from the flight. Now, onward to boarding our flight! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1170.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-1135.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-1127.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-1121.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-1115.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-1113.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-1109.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-1103.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-1096.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-1094.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1090.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-6528.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-6529.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-6530.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-6531.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-6561.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-6562.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-6563.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-6584.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-6585.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-6587.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-6602.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-1562.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-1560.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-1561.jpg |
Part 3 - First Boarding
This is a trip of a lifetime trip report as I was one of 12 winning bidders in a charity action for Unicef where winning bids received one economy class row of seats on the Norwegian Airlines 737 Max delivery flight from Boeing Field (BFI) to Oslo Norway (OSL), with a return journey in premium economy to any USA destination served by Norwegian.
Boarding the 737 Max Other than flying my own airplane this had to be the least stressful boarding of a commercial airliner I've ever had. In fact there was no boarding announcement a.k.a cattle call it was at your leisure, and leisurely it was. There were no gate lice everyone was talking amongst themselves and those doing the screening were pretty docile and jovial. The guy in front of me wanted to bring what was left over drinks from our lunch and they said, "no problem"! It was like TSA PRE where we loaded our bags onto the conveyor belt and picked them up after the x-ray examination, and then it was walking down the jet bridge to board. Ahhh yes that new airplane smell. I was greeted by Anna one of four flight attendants for this trip. I later learned each were hand picked by Norwegian for this as well, quite an honor as I understood. Its a 737 so here are my observations that may be different that any other 737. The Sky interior ran the length of the 737 with a noticeable coved ceiling. At the entry way there were two smaller ones as well. This was an all economy plane and I immediately noted these are definitely the slimline seats. Now while Im grateful for the means to have been a high bidder on this trip getting one whole row of 3 seats to myself, I don't think my butt would survive well seated in a full plane for a 9+ hour flight. Ever glad I brought my own seat cushion as well. Luggage bins to me looked standard but I'm not certain they are like the bins where your luggage goes on its side to fit more. There are no windows or offset windows between rows 11-13 on this bird, so if your a window person those are the rows to avoid. The DEF bulkhead row of seats has the best legroom other than the exit rows. There is one lavatory in the front and two in the back. I thought the rear lavs layout made things rather easy and they felt slightly wider than most. An all glass cockpit but more on that later. CON: my con of this plane and really ANY new Boeing plane is I do NOT like the new style air vents. I find then hard to use and useless compared to the older kind. I like a steady stream of air when I fly and on a new plane like this, it was barely dripping. Again thankful I could have the whole row and open them all up just for me. And there is NO POWER at the WIFI is being outfitted in Oslo. All the arm rests went up which made for more space - A+ �� Seat storage was minimal however the netted area of the seat back did fit my bottle of water I was given on the flight and each seat had no intrusions for your bags or feet. Ready for takeoff! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-6534.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-1265.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-6542.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-6541.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-6540.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-6539.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-6538.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-6537.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-6536.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-6535.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-6533.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-6532.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-1266.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-1276.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-1288.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1433.jpg |
Part 4 - BFI-OSL Flight
This is a trip of a lifetime trip report as I was one of 12 winning bidders in a charity action for Unicef where winning bids received one economy class row of seats on the Norwegian Airlines 737 Max delivery flight from Boeing Field (BFI) to Oslo Norway (OSL), with a return journey in premium economy to any USA destination served by Norwegian.
The BFI-OSL First Flight After a leisurely boarding it was now time to fire up the new CFM Leap engines and head out into the blue skies. This is not your average flight but from the crew roles it was typical with safety announcements and a pre departure announcement by todays pilot. However, for weight and balance reasons we all sat in the rear of the plane, at least for departure. Once in cruise we were free to move about that cabin and that we did. The doors closed, we pushed back, and the right engine fired up to a puff of white smoke. Question was which direction would we depart? The subject of some banter amongst the bloggers and passengers. Even with a little wager that any clear video of the flight line would garner a prize! All morning flights had departed to the south with the right side of any plane getting a view of all the various new planes livery tails upon departure. We however would be the 2nd plane to depart to the north. Since I was sitting on the right side of the plane it meant a great view of Seattle and even a chance to see my house from the air as I often have done. The last time I took off from Boeing Field was when I was behind the controls of a Cessna 172 tooling around the Seattle airspace. On this day takeoff was as normal as they get except we were heavy with fuel and light on passengers for this nine hour twenty minute flight to Oslo. Todays route would be northerly overall. In fact I've never been so far north as to get a birds eye unobstructed view of Mount Baker. In fact today was so clear if you looked out your window after take off you also had a great view of Mount Rainier. If you live in Seattle its a rare day when it's clear and sunny to get a clear line of site view of all the famous mountain tops (Baker, Rainier, Hood event Mt. Saint Helens). Champagne anyone? Once in cruise and with the seat belt sign off we broke out the good stuff! Plenty of bubbly for all across multiple glasses if you so chose to indulge. It was smiles, cheers and toasts all around at this point with many of us standing in the aisle and seats. I guess the best description of the atmosphere was reminiscent of a bar scene where we were all actively engaged in connecting and story telling with each others inner aviation geek learning more about each other and our aviation passions. Two hours into the flight and dinner is served and a hush came over the crowd. The crew was great having to maneuver around all of us in the aisles, so when the dinner bell rang, we all sat so the carts could come through. The choice was really a first class meal, not anything standard for Norwegian economy class. Appetizer choices were a salmon salad OR a chilled seafood plate of crab, shrimp & salmon. I think we all chose the later. For the main course it was Salmon or Steak and there again I think many of us chose steak! Which as steak goes on an airplane was done well and tender I must say. The usual wine, champagne and other drinks ensued followed by dessert of either a fruit plate or cheesecake. That was a lot of food considering 2 hours ago we had just finished a sizable lunch at the Boeing Delivery Center. It was after dinner that we kinda disbanded as a group. Some continued to be engaged in discussion, while others cozied up in their row of 3 seats to sleep, read, watch a show on their apple devices or typed ferociously on their laptops to document all the details. Norwegians CEO took appointments one by one toward the front of the pane with each of the press onboard, which usually included many pictures. We had great views all over Canada including seeing the broken ice over Hudson Bay. As passengers were settled into the flight and more quiet now, we began another highlight of the journey with individual cockpit visits! Thats right, at mach .78 at 39,000 feet off the west coast of Greenland one by one, two by two we were invited for a cockpit tour, lights blinking, radios squawking, clouds below passing by. The only pause from this occasion was when the pilots had to make positioning calls to air traffic control, otherwise it was full access to the main control area of the 737 Max. In command (left seat) was the head training pilot, and his co-pilot was the chief pilot and check airman for Norwegian. He commented that while they fly the line once a month, this was truly a special flight to be piloting as the delivery of this jet. #agreed . We were about 100 miles into being over Greenland when I entered the cockpit taking a seat on the hard seat just behind the pilot. Sadly or should I say "as typical" Greenland was clouded over, so there was not much to see out the forward window. The only plane close was our sister ship, plane #2 which was 250 miles behind us. Our conversation was largely around the glass cockpit and its various screens and functions since that was the biggest difference I'd ever seen in the cockpit. As usual the time spent up front went by in an instant but it was great fun and a unique experience not had by most. This was thee fastest 9 hours and 20 minutes ever as it seemed shortly after the cockpit visit, the cabin crew were serving breakfast! Before that I tooled around the bulkhead seats on the DEF side and enjoyed the sights going by my window, and conversing with everyone coming up for their flight deck tours. Notably the sun never set! We were that far north. Oh it acted as if it would however that never happened. So I went from Thursday morning sunrise in Seattle to having no sunset until I arrived back in Los Angeles on Friday night, before my final leg back to Seattle. Just amazing! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-6604.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-6573.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-6571.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-6569.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-6565.png http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-6564.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-1292.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-1047.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-1269.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1317.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-1324.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-1348.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-1361.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-1350.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-1372.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-1374.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-1380.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-1388.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1429.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-1400.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...0-img-1409.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...1-img-1421.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...2-img-1411.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...3-img-1370.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...4-img-1433.jpg |
Part 5 - Oslo Arrival
This is a trip of a lifetime trip report as I was one of 12 winning bidders in a charity action for Unicef where winning bids received one economy class row of seats on the Norwegian Airlines 737 Max delivery flight from Boeing Field (BFI) to Oslo Norway (OSL), with a return journey in premium economy to any USA destination served by Norwegian.
Oslo Arrival Breakfast was taken back at my assigned seats of 25 DEF. it was a kings ransom, with a cheese omelette, sausage, hashbrown, croissants, muffins, meats, cheeses, fruit plate and yogurt! I couldn't finish it all in reality. No sooner did we finish and as they cleared breakfast we were on the decent into Oslo. Having never been to Oslo what a beautiful approach and decent to a very green piece of mother earth. It was very picturesque so much so I nearly forgot to take pictures as I gazed out my windows. My attention only broke from the scenery as the plane made its moaning and groaning with flaps being extended along with the landing gear. For the first time ever that I have experienced, upon landing we were honored with a water cannon salute and welcome home to the newest Norwegian jet. Which included a rainbow if you looked behind our plane upon receiving her salute. We said our fare wells, gathered our things and exited the plane via a set of stairs. I love leaving a plane like this versus a jet bridge, very nostalgic. At the end of the stairs was the media to capture the event who were then interviewing the CEO about the new planes arrival. We boarded a bus to enter the airport and it was here that I bid adieu to my fellow passengers as I was headed to my connection home. With a two hour layover that wisked by I was then aboard a 787-9 to Barcelona. A sold out flight where I got to experience Norwegians economy seating in the mini economy section just behind economy plus. With a 3 hour layover in Barcelona, due to a late arriving aircraft, I again boarded my final leg with Norwegian for a 787-8 flight to LAX. I purposefully slept for half this flight in a very comfy economy plus bulkhead seat 1J and had an uneventful, yet late arriving flight back to LAX. Norwegians economy plus to me is rememissant of the old style business class seats pre-lie flat that we've come to expect today. Thankfully I used mobile passport which sped me through the customs immigration line at LAX where I then schlep 3 terminals to Delta to make my 8:50pm connection home. Grateful to have had this 36 hour experience trip of a lifetime and Megado! note: all pics are a compilation of my own and those who were on the flight http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...5-img-1461.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...6-img-1465.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...7-img-6574.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...8-img-1479.jpg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...9-img-1486.jpg |
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