It is currently 5:47am in Madrid, Spain and I am sitting wide awake in front of my computer trying to find something to do. I have just had the idea of writing a brief trip recap of my travel across the Atlantic complete with pictures from the flights. Enjoy!
Trip Information:
This is the first part of my three and a half week trip to Spain and Italy. A few friends had been planning a trip through Europe as a graduation present and wanted to visit Spain and requested that I accompany them to Barcelona, to be their translator and guide. Never refusing an offer to travel to Spain I graciously agreed to join them. Adding on to my planned week in Barcelona I wanted to see friends in Madrid and then was invited by my roommate for next year at George Washington University, who is Italian and lives in Trieste, to come visit him in Italy and have a tour of the "lesser known cities."
After looking around for fares in the second week of July to the first week of August it was decided that I would spend three days in Madrid, a week in Barcelona, and then ten days in Italy. When it came down to the cheapest fares it was between Aer Lingus and Jet Airways... Having flown Aer Lingus last year and the return flight from Rome requiring an eleven-hour layover in Dublin and having heard such great things about Jet Airways, I decided to give Jet Airways a try. The itinerary for flights was set.
July 12th - Jet Airways JFK-BRU A330-200
July 13th - Brussels Airlines BRU-JFK AVRO-100
July 16th - Air Europa MAD-BCN 737-800
July 25th - Spanair BCN-VCE A320
August 5th - Brussels Airlines FCO-BRU 737-300, Jet Airways BRU-JFK A330-200
Jet Airways and Brussels Airlines JFK-BRU-MAD
Jet Airways does not have the option of reserving seats or online check-in for international flights so I decided to arrive at the airport four hours early. Catching a cab from 125th street, where I was staying at a friends house, I arrived at Terminal 8 around 2:30pm. I was not alone in arriving to the airport four hours early as I found a medium sized queue at the Jet Airways check-in. There was a very interesting mix of passengers in the queue for the flight. With the flight stopping first in Brussels and then continuing onto Chennai and Delhi there was a good number of passengers being checked-in for the whole three sectors, while others were transferring in Brussels. I saw very few bag tags terminating in Brussels.
Check-in took roughly 25 minutes and I asked for the emergency exit row, 25, and was happy to given the window seat in said row. Security moved fast and I headed over to the satellite concourse of Terminal 8 to grab something to eat. From inside the terminal I was noticing the growing queue for runway 22R, nothing short of the expected. Our flight would be leaving from gate 47, the gate commonly used for the Jet Airways flight and lacking a view of the aircraft. Boarding commenced at 5:30pm and was rather organized. I was very impressed to be met by a wooden floor and two friendly flight attendants dressed in brilliant yellow uniforms. I took my seat and marveled at the legroom and the seat pattern as well as the general bright ambiance of the cabin. The load of the flight was around 90% with a seat here and there unoccupied.
Push back was at 6:30pm, after having received an ATC hold which the captain was very apologetic for. I could see runway 13L had been closed for landings and was now being used as a taxiway. There was a large queue of aircraft now lining up for runway 22R. I finally caught my first glimpse of the pink Delta 767-400 and noticed the Sky Team -400 followed shortly after. The safety demonstration video was played in Hindi and then in English. A nice touch was the function of the IFE system while on the ground and during taxi. Unfortunately because I was seated in an emergency exit row my screen had to be stowed until in-flight. We eventually, an hour later, found ourselves at the threshold of runway 22R and departed at 7:30pm... An hour and ten minutes after the scheduled time of departure.
Once we leveled off at cruising altitude I reclined my seat, which was a very generous recline, and started to easily navigate my way through the entertainment system. The PTV screens are larger then I am used and are touch-screen operated and operated by a remote. The system offers a wide range of movies, including a Bollywood section, tv-shows, and other programing. I occupied myself with "Date Night" and continued to watch "The Full Monty" and "There's Something About Mary." The system also offered a live-news feature, which got me caught up on the happenings of the world. Complimentary refreshments, including alcoholic ones, and dinner service commenced thirty to forty-five minutes into the flight. There was a vegetarian option with vegetables and then a chicken dish. I chose the chicken, which was served with a side of potatoes and a mixture of mushrooms, peas, and black olives. The dish was actually very tasty and came with a nice curry salad and a slice of apple pie. I have to say I was expecting something a bit more exotic and had prepared myself the night before by eating very delicious Indian cuisine. Service finished with tea and coffee and tray collection. The lights were dimmed and very beautiful "mood lighting" was turned on and shortly turned off leaving the cabin in darkness. I was surprised to see very few reading lights in use.
The flight attendants continued to make their way around the cabin frequently. I noticed that they changed their jackets three times. They wore a yellow jacket for take off and landing, a black one with an apron for food service, and then a red one while walking around in-flight. The crew was very professional, always had a smile on, and were very courteous and attentive. While waiting to deplane the flight attendant who had been sitting in the jump seat in-front of me struck up a conversation about my trip and I learned some about her layovers and travel cycle, which was rather interesting.
The flight continued very smoothly and we landed in Brussels at 8:06am, 36 minutes after the scheduled time of arrival. My connection to Madrid left at 8:55am so I was facing a mad dash through the Brussels airport and a missed connection. Having watched a very helpful video on transferring at the airport, played shortly before landing, I had hope of making the connection as the transfer was rather direct and simple. We parked at concourse B, along with four other Jet Airways A330's and a few other international carries, and deplaned via stairs. I was surprised to have no guidance to the stairs of the jet way and was free to snap a few photos, although I was in a rush. A brisk walk brought me to passport control, which I breezed through, and I made my way down the long underground walkway connecting concourse B to concourse A. I was met at the end by multiple, very long security queues. It was now 8:35am and boarding for my flight was supposedly well underway. I decided to take a chance and went to the front of the queue, very graciously asking an American couple if they would not mind me cutting the queue as I had a flight due to leave in 15 minutes. They let me in and within a few minutes I was running to gate A55, albeit at first finding myself very confused as to how to get to gate A55. The first level after security has signs for A1-A40 and then the second level simply said A/T lounges. I went up a level, down a level, and back up before finally turning a corner and finding the rest of the gates. To my relief the flight to Madrid was still boarding. I joined the queue and was told by the ground staff that I was boarding the flight fully aware that my luggage would most likely not arrive in Madrid with me. I told them it was fine and boarded.
Finding my seat in the rather cramped Avro-100, a configuration of 2-3, I sat down and took a moment to breath. The legroom was very narrow and the leather seats rather hard. Because of the small over-head compartments I had to stow my backpack under the seat, severely limiting my legroom. I thought back to the transfer and was impressed with the Brussels airport. Concourse A is full of shops and has a rather nice design. I noted Air Force 2 taxiing past the terminal and the Belgium Air Force A330-300 parked across the runway. I also had my first sighting of a Brussels Airlines A330-300. The Avro-100 was 100% full and we pushed back, again after an 8 minute ATC delay. The view was rather limited with the wing overhead but we shortly made our way to the active runway and after a lengthy take off roll for such a small aircraft, were on our way to Madrid. Announcements during the flight were made in French, German, Spanish, and English so they lasted a while. There was no complimentary beverages or meal on the flight and I passed the 2.5 hour flight reading. Touching down in Madrid relatively on-time we made our way to the gate at Terminal 2, a new location for Brussels Airlines since joining Star Alliance. I sat at baggage claim for a while waiting for my luggage and not very much to my surprise the luggage did not make the connection. Handling the issue I was off and into the city at 1:30pm, two hours after landing but was happy to see EC-LEV, the A340-600 sporting the special "Campeones" titles lifting off after a long take off roll.
Photos:
Long take-off queue behind us, we were number 15 for take off at some point:
The mood lighting:
A new day:
Approaching Brussels:
The cabin:
A Belgian town on approach:
Brussels Airlines A330-300:
A nice set of tails:
Deplaning:
Paris from an Avro!
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