martinfoss

Hi all,

Decided to put up my first trip report on here. First, a little explanation:

Over at the norwegian messageboard forum.scanair.no, I always write when I'm travelling - yes, when I'm travelling. My reports are "kinda" famous over there, I must mention. So, here's my first try to even write one in english. Hope you'll enjoy it, as it will be the "Martin way", which normally includes lots of writing, maybe a few pics, and updated very often during the trip (Except that this trip is approximately a month ago)

The titles of my reports, are usually taken from a song, and usually have something to do with where I'm going, or what I'm gonna do there.. Should also mention, that all my travels are leisure travels.

The title on this report, is taken from a song called Paper Plane, by a british band called Status Quo (which some on here might have heard of?). The "pt. 2" mark, means that there was a part one, although I don't think that one will be translated and put onto here..

So, I'll hope you enjoy it:


So, as you all (doesn't) know, I'm sort of a fan of the british boogie rock band, Status Quo. That band is very famous for their repetitive set-list, and I must admit when I once saw what was my fourth gig, over a period of four years, I was kinda "tired" of seeing them.

However, in the summer of 2008, I was able to see them close to my small hometown, not too far from Oslo Airport, and it was a refreshing experience, making me wanna see them again, as they had now replaced several songs. After this gig, I also went to London, and saw them at Wembley Arena (that was part 1 of this report), and when they put up an irish tour, I found a good excuse to go to Dublin.

The planning of this trip, started out a few moths before, with booking the concert ticket. For getting there, there are direct flights on SAS, but I often find it too boring going direct. Plus, I had "fallen in love" with British Airways' Business Class (Club Europe, or CE for short), so my plan, was to fly them to London and back, and booking something else between Heathrow and Dublin. The options were either Aer Lingus, or BMI, and my plan, was to try them both, going one way on one, and back on the other. I had also planned to stay one night at a hotel at Hethrow, and was booked on the 17:10 departure from Oslo on a Saturday evening, to Dublin on the Sunday (gig-day), and then go "direct" home to Oslo on Monday.

However, after considereing the CE-experience, and the Tier Point I could get, I changed my plans, and booked Gatwick-Dublin on BA, going out Sunday (after spending the night at Sofitel at Gatwick), and back on Monday, and change airport, and on to Oslo fro Heathrow. That was at least the plan..


Now, the day arrived, and I jumped on the bus to the airport (takes me 30 minutes by bus, or 15 by car to get to the airport - going by car, adds another 5-10 minutes walk). Now since the bus-departures are every second hour on Saturdays, I decided to be there 30 minutes before check in opened, or some 2,5 hours before departure. The option was 30 minutes before departure, and since I have lounge access, that is too short.. (or just basically too short any way)

Went to the kiosk, printed my boarding pass, and sat down to just wait for check-in to open.. After some 30 minutes, I walked back, and there was now a loooong line for those in Euro Traveller (ET/Economy), while there was a couple checking in in the CE-counter. However, the lady that was supposed to check if you were allowed to enter the short (CE)-line, was away, organizing the longer line, by putting up poles, and attaching some ropes between them.. Finally, I was allowed to enter (I was in no hurry, BTW..), but now there were some guys that had entered from somewhere else, checking in lots of guitars..

However, the lady in the other counter (They have two counters there) waved aty me, and I was allowed to check in my small suitcase, and went off to security, where I "beeped" (stupid belt!), and was taken aside, for a manual scan, which usually incudes scanning entire you with a handheld scanner. Now however, this guy also felt for using his hands, also in the inside of my jeans. Now a little surprised right away, but I think it's procedure (although it was the first time I've experienced it at OSL).

Since I now wasn't dangerous, I was allowed to gather my stuff, and head for the lounge. The OSLlounge, is operated by the airport, and rents out space to Aeroflot, Air France, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, Finnair and KLM. It's rather small, but never full, and I seem to enjoy it quite a lot. This time I had some (cold) omelettes, and a beer.

As departure time was closing in (within 30 minutes), I decided to go to the gate. The non-Schengen gates are at the far end of the international pier at OSL, which means as far to walk as physically possible from both the lounge, and security. You should however be there within five minutes anyway, provided there's no lines in the passport control. No queues this day either, so straight through, after showing my passport, and replying "London" to the question about where I was going.

As soon as you're through, you're in a small area with four gates, all used for non-schengen departures (They do have some combi-gates as well, which can be switched between Schengen and non-Schengen by opening and closing some doors. Not sure how many, but not more than another four, I guess.)

As far as I can rembember, the only flights out there at the time, was my flight, BA767 to LHR; and a SK-flight bound for the same airport.

Now, departure time was approaching, and boarding time hadn't started yet. An announcement came on the PA, that they had a slight problem with the seat configuration, and they were expecting a small delay.. After about 15 minutes or so, we were allowed to go onboard, and I found my 4A, with a 4C (there's no 4B) that remained empty. Doors cloesed, and hot towels were handed out.

Now, things were gettinng interesting, and they will come in the next post.

(If anyone's reading, please hold your comments till I'm done)

martinfoss

We were now well past the departure time, by smoe 30 minutes, and the captain announced that there were a bit too much snow at OSL, and they had now closed the airport, while sweeping the runways, which should take another 20 minutes. During this time, the crew came through the cabin with water and juice, with pretzels, but obviously other drinks were available on request, as I heard the word "coke", and I even saw a champagne bottle in the seat in front of me.. More announcements came, moslty telling us that the runway had snowed down during the runway-sweeping, and they should try again..

(At this point, my live trip-report was getting kinda excited, as I was constantly updating it on my iphone, plus providing information in another thread about the situation at the airport).

Finally, at 19:00 (1h 50 after departure), we were told the the flight had been cancelled, and we should all leave the plane, go back through passport control, collect our luggage, and head to the BA-ticket counter for re-booking.

Now the funny part, is that what I was most nervous about, was to not make the transfer on the way back (7 hours, LGW-LHR), but now things were starting to look bad for my overnight connection. Flying out on any flight the next day, would still make my connection beetween LHR and LGW a bit too tight. And since I had booked two seperate bookings, I was now assuming that I would get to London next day, and be a no-show for my flight to Dublin.

Found the line, and even though I started ouy pretty close to the counter, things went slow. Those who were supposed to connect the same day, were given priority in a seperate line, so I moved a little closer. At a point, they were also starting to handing out the food that was supposed to be served in ET, so I had a little sandwich and an orange juive while I waited. Nice touch ^

Then, a young girl in a BA-uniform (all though all staff at OSL works for the agent, Menzies Aviation), were shouting out "BA Business"? Since I was in business, I replied with the exact same words, and she allowed me to move forward in the line (although not at the front).

Then, another girl were using the exact same words again, and I replied (again). She was then kinf enough to help me, although by speaking to a BA-agent on the phone. I told her everything about my flights, and that they were on two seperate bookings (I always believe in being an honest guy), but that was no problem at all. I was then rebooked to the first flight out in the morning (BA761), connecting on Aer Lingus from LHR to DUB, and I was now scheduled to be in DUB an hour before I planned The only "problem", was that Aer Lingus is "economy only", but that wasn't really a problem, since I was now just happy to get there, and I was still credited all Miles and Points for the flight I was originally booked on.

About 1,5 hours after deplaning, I was finished, and coul go, well.. home. There was still another 30 minutes till the next bus was about to depart, so lyckily, I didn't had to wait for long (As I said, it's every second hour on Saturdays), and I was home again, some 7,5 hours after leaving home, getting ready to get up next morning for the eaaaarly flight.

martinfoss

Now, me getting up anytime before 10:00 (AM), is quite rare.. Might be because I work 13:00 till 21:00.. However, I got up right after 5, and the procedure that morning, was straight to the car. (Since the first bus departs to late). Arrived at my workplace, which is maybe 300 meters from the terminal at OSL, and was supposed to park my car there - However, some snow had fallen during the night, and it was some 50 centimeters or so there.. Now, silly me, though I should be able to drive through it, but after trying, I realized that it would be mpossible.. Now, trying to get out again, I got stuck . I have to admit, that I was not where I wanted to be at this time on a sunday morning. Right by where I work, there is a secuity checkpoint for vehicles, and a lady (this is maybe slightly embarassing?) on her way to work, offered to help, after getting help from some colleagues.

At the same time, a man who works at a neigbouring company, was using his tractor to remove snow (why didn't I just wait in the first place?), and while the lady and a colleague came back, He had removed the snow in front of my car, so with three people pushing, I was able to move it forward, and drive it onto a parking spot. (Although, the one next to the main entrance, which I try to avoid when parking there for other reasons that going to work (which we're off course allowed to), but that's where he told me to park, and my usual "not-going-to-work-spot", was still covered in snow.


I got my baggage, and walked to the terminal. Went to the kiosk and tried to check in, it wouldn't let me (hadn't worked online either), so I explained that to the lady letting people in the line, and I was allowed to enter, leaving all the check-in work, to a young guy behind the counter (BA really wants you to do it on the kiosk before dropping your bag). I explained it to him and well, and he quivkly understood that I was supposed to have flown the evening before. He even turned to be a member on that beforementioned messageboard, and had been reading all bout me in my live trip-report the night before . He gave me my my boarding passes, and tagged my suitcase all the way to Dublin. Even though I wan't receiveing a seat assignement unitll less than two hours before departure (I always do OLCI right on the 24 hour mark), I was able to get a seat on the left side, in what used to be BA's 2-3 configuration. They have now, however, changed that to 2-2 in CE. I even got a two seater to myself again

After check-in, I proceeded to security (again). This time I even removed my belt, but still beeped. Now I know that you might get picked out for a random search, so it was probably that. This time, a nice girl was the "lucky one", buyt she kept her hands out of my jeans, and just used the handheld scanner..

A quick breakfast in the lounge, before heading of to the gate (same gate, same plane - all other flights had been cancelled, so the one that should have left at 17:10, was still there for the 07:50 departure the next day). Even found out, that the plane had been delivered right before Christmas, so it was almost brand new . Sat down at the gate, but as quickly as my a** settled on that chair, my friend from ceck-in grabbed the microphone, and announced that boarding was now starting. Even got a "good luck" from him, since he knew it was my second attempt


Found my seat, and it turned out to be quite a normal flight. A hot breakfast was served, and I must admit it's the worst meal I had on BA (although still quite good..). Now, I'm quite big, and the guy in front of me wanted to recline. Hooray Stil, me and the FA managed to get the tray onto my table, and I managed to eat.

Upon arriving at LHR, we ended up at a remote stand, and rather quickly, we proceeded to the bus. Entered T5, and I can't recall any delay. Went to Flight Connections, and found another bus, to take me to T1, where Aer Lingus departs from. After proceeding through diferent controls (passport, security, etc.), I was in the - what shall we call it? - Main shopping and dining area in T1, and an hour had now passed since my arrival, and it was still (at least) one hour til my next flight. I took a quick walk/look around, and decided to go and find my gate. Now, it only showed me an area of gates (77-86, or something like that), but there was still no problem to find my way to that area.. Through annother control (where they just deleted a picture thay had taken off me at an earlier point), and then off to find the gate.. I think I walked for 15 kilometers or so, and ended up in the most boring area I have ever been in, at an airport. Waited for quite a while, and the gate was announced, and waited a bit more there, before they would finally let us board.

Went off slightly delayed, but still no big deal to me.. Had seat 21C in an A321 (my first ), with an empty middle seat, and another guy by the window.. Seems like no middle seats were taken, but except from that, it seemed rather full.

An uneventfull flight, and I decided not to buy anything, and just relaxed with my iPod.

Arrived, was let in through passport control, and into Ireland. Found my suitcase, than a taxi, and went off the The Morgan Hotel, which had been chosen because it was rather close to the venue (Olympia Theatre).

More will come tomorrow.. Feel free to reply to what has been posted so far..

wrxmom

wow, an eventful part 2

DIRECT MERIT

All this for the Quo??!! "Whatever you want, de dum de dum..."

Tunde Baiyewu

I thought the Quo were arrogant and very rude to me and my mate, Paul Tucker, when we co-headlined the Crawley Festival of 1995. They think they're all it when they're not. They use the same three chords in every song, and even then, G is a very cliched chord. They nicked the bigger fridge backstage and my mate Paul Tucker had nowhere to store his Um Bongo.

martinfoss

I think I promised to finish this off tomorrow; That's about two weeks since, I believe

After checking in at the hotel, I was actually kinda tired, and did nothing other than rest in my room, till it was approximately two hours till the show was about to start. I headed out, and entered the Hard Rock Cafe, which was right next door, and had dinner (I always eat there, if I'm in a town where there is one that I haven't been to before). Had a burger, and beer, where one pint was complimentary, probably because the waiter thought I had waited too long for my food.

After finishing my meal, I headed towards the Olympia Theatre, thanks to the GPS on my iPhone. Headed inside, and found a nice spot, actually towards the back of the venue, closer to the sound mixing desk (the sound is supposed to be better closer to the ears of the guy who's controlling it). After not too long, a band called The North entered the stage, fronted by the daughter of Quo frontman Francis Rossi, Bernadette Gernon. Great band, and I must admit that I have a weakness for girls with guitars .

Actually, right between the support band and Quo, it was exatly 24 hours left till the departure of my LHR-OSL flight, so I managed to check in from my iPhone, although it didn't work untill some 30 minutes after the 24 hour mark. Did however still manage to grab a seat by the window on the left side (this was the old 2-3 configuration).

Quo went on, did a great show, and I was more than satisfied. Went to the hotel again, had a shower, and went to bed..


Next morning, got up. My flight was at 12:15, and my plan is always to arrive at an airport two hours before departure, especially if there's a lounge I have access to. Checked out from the hotel, after deciding to skip breakfast (was not included anyway), and eat in the lounge. Was also lucky enough to find a cab right outside the hotel, and 30 minutes later, I was at Dublin Airport, and had approximately 1:30 till my departure.

Found BA's check-in desk, which had one customer in front of me in line, but by the time I had printed out my boarding pass on the self check in machine, he was gone, and I could hand my suitcase to the lady, and she tagged it to Gatwick. She also gave me directions to the lounge, which actually wasn't too hard to find. The check in area used by BA, was right next to security, and right there, on the other side of the macina that ocassionally says "Beeeep!!", I found the Anna Livia lounge, used by BA and "a few" other airlines.. It was rather small, but there were still plenty of free seats..

Now, my plan had been to find some breakfast here, but there wasn't really much food to be found.. Ended up with just having a couple of Cokes, while trying to get online using my laptop, trying different networks, where obviously noone seemed to work..

As departure time came closer, I headed out. As mentioned, both BA's check in area and the lounge they use, were both situated close to each other, on different sides of the security control. However, the gate they use (or: used), was in the other end of the airport, it seemed. I even walked by another security control on my way there

Found the gate, where one of BA's 737-400's pulled up.. At the gate "next door", and Avro (or a Bae-146) from City Jet/Air France was parked. Due to a rugby game that obviously had taken place in Dublin the night before, there were a lot of french people in the are, and the small Avro was probably too small, since most people lining up for my flight, did also speak french..

Boarding started, and this was actually the first time I had boarded a 737 using the planes own stairs. Found my 3A, in a rather empty Business Class cabin; Me in 3A, two guy's in 2A and 2C, and two other gentlemen in 4A and C behind me. I think there five row in total, so there was one row per passenger.. The economy cabin seemes rather empty, and I believe most of the pax back there, were french people. A nice little touch of BA, was to play french announcements on the PA, to a big applause from the french pax in the back


We started taxiing, and I noticed that we went in a different direction than the other planes, as the runway direction was about to change. It resulted in a bit of waiting, but not for too long. I did also see a SAS 737 leave for Oslo.. One of the reasons I did not fly direct, was that the direct flight departed slightly earlier than what I felt was convenient for me. I was now on another flight, departing 5 minutes later (Off course, cheap business class tickets, and actually earning some miles/points was a couple of the other reasons).

Since there were so few pax in front, there was no need for the trolley, and all meals were carried out from the gally one by one, by the male FA. The meal looked like this:



Quite good, and about time, as I was rather hungry now.

Landed approximately on time, and parked at a gate that turned out to be an international gate, so they hade to transport us by bus (wait a minute: didn't I just arrive on a flight from another country? oh well..).

They also used only the rear door, meaning that the pax in biz were the last off the plane, ther last ones on the bus, and the first to get off the bus .

Then it was a 5 kilometer walk to the baggage claim area (at least it seemed like it), and after getting there, I had to wait a few more minutes, before my suitcase came out of the little hole in the wall among the two or three first from our flight .

Now it was time to find London: First a small train to get to the other terminal, where I found the Gatwick Express, that took me to Victoria station.. Took a quick look around, since I had never been there before, and headed for the tube. Found out which line that would take me to Paddington, and found the platform that it was supposed to leave from. Now this platform served two lines (don't remember the names, but it was the "yellow" and the "green" one..), and as I entered the platform, there was a train ready to leave, and I ran to get on it - Yes, it was the wrong one .

However, I found out that these two lines hade several "common" stations, so two stops later, I disembarked, and changed to another train, and finally made it to Paddington station..

I was told, that the tube direct to Heathrow from Victoria would have been quicker, but I like to take a "little detour" Also, next to Paddington, there's a small place called Garfunkle's, where I had plans to have lunch.



After finishing my chicken burger, I headed back to Paddington, and found the HEX, bought a ticket, and boarded the waiting train.

Arrived at Heathrow, and took the elevator up to departures level. Even though it's in thr other en of the terminal from the elevator, I still took the walk towards the Club check in zone, which is for Business Class passengers, as well as Silver Card holders.. Managed to print my boarding pass, and then handed my suitcase over to a nice lady, who tagged it, ans sent it off to Oslo for me.

And then there was security

I've been reading several stories on here about the security at LHR here on FT, but my experiences there, have been quite good - untill now.

With a ticket for business class, you have access to a seperate lane called "Fast Track", which is supposed to make you get through quicker. I ended up behinf a family of three, who carried almost everything they owned.. I think they used at least 5-6 of those boxes that you put your stuff in, plus the stroller for their kid.

Also, the dad had some kind of bottle containg some kind of fluid, that was too big to take through security. The security agent explained this to him, but for some reason, he still sent it through the scanner, resulting in mr. Dad having to do the same arguing again with the girl who worked on the other side of the scanner, resulting in all their boxes stacking up, with no room for my (single) box to make it out of the scanner, making me having to wait for him to first finish arguing, then gather his stuff, before I could even get access to my stuff.

And the best part? I managed to get a quick look at one of their boarding passes, and even though I don't remember the seat number right now, I did at the time check up the different seat maps on seatguru.com, and that seat did not belong in any business class cabin on any of BA's planes.. They didn't even have access to the Fast Track lane

Anyway, I made it through, and found my way to the lounge, where I did nohing but relax, had a little something to eat, and a couple of cokes.

Left the lounge, when it was getting close enough to departure for me to leave (I always try to be at the gate 30 minutes before departure - probably early according to someone..). Did notice that there still was no gate announced for my flight. They do put that info up quite late at LHR; but flights after my flight were already displaying that info.. However, after leaving the lounge, another screen told me that my flight would leave from gate A9.. Found the gate, and boarding started about when it was supposed to, and I found my seat.

About two minutes before departure, the pilots suddenly arrived!! It turned out that as they were flying the plane that we were originally suppoes do be on from FRA to LHR, it had become "unservicable". Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'll take a 30 minute delay, rather than flying on an unservicable plane any day.

(Funilly enough, after mentioning this over at the BA-forum, I found out that this crew had had something "wrong" happening on all of their flights that day - according to another FT'er who flies as a FA for BA; and flew with these pilots the next day - and by every flight, you can also include mine)


We departed some 30 minutes late, and we were lucky enough to get an earlier than originally supposed to, as we ere one of very few flights going in that direction (northbound), as the First Officer had found out..

After departure, there was first a drink service. My car was waiting for me, so I continued drinking coke. As for the meal, I had a chicken caserolle, and then another coke. At this point, the male FA who was now serving me my second coke, was wondering if I'd like a third one right away? Yes please It's just a coke, but that's one of the small extra things that makes you feeling even more satisfied as a customer .

Thr rest of the flight, was quite normal, and after a while, we started the descent towards Oslo Airport. I noticed that it was quite foggy, and even though I'm quite familiar in the area around the airport, I wasn't even able to figure out which direction we would be landing from..

However, we descended further, and soone we were on final approach, and I could ocassionally see the ground through the fog/clouds, knowing that touch down could be any second now.. now? now? now? and the, BAM!! Full thrust on the engines, and I was now experiencing my first Go-around .

It turned out, that we had been vectored to the runway that's closest to the non-schengen gates, however that runway was all covered in fog.. After flying around the airport, we lined up for another try, this time at the othe runway, which had no fog at all. We then taxied across the airport, and found our gate, and parked, "slightly delayed . Except that it was now approaching midnight, it didn't really matter to me, as I had just had a fun ride .

Got off the plane, and through the passport control. Had a quick stop in the duty-free store, before my suitcase showed up on the belt, and I could walk down to my car and drive home..

martinfoss

All right, hope someone actually enjoyed this TR. I get really great feedback for my norwegian ones, but not sure how it "translated" into english..

Hope you enjoyed it any way

Rickers

Wow, plenty of information !! If you ever witness a crime, I don't think the defense team will want you testifying, because if you do then the accused is going down ( down down, deeper and down ) ! ^

evelynm

I very much enjoyed the trip report. Hope to read more!

Thanks!