Airline/Airport/Travel questions and queries

JCX BXC

pepe the prawn wrote: »

Flying from Dublin to Toronto on EI129 on Wednesday 29th June, is this route serviced by one of the 757's? If so, what's the IFE like?

Coming home on EI108 on July 19th from JFK, is this a 757 or 330?

Thanks

EI129 is a 757
EI108 is an A330.

737max

I didn't fly through French airspace yesterday but my flight was delayed.
Was that because the airspace over Belgium was busier?

JCX BXC

What was your flight?

737max

lufthansa to Frankfurt am Main.
Pilot said no slot available.

Locker10a

Even though you may not have flown over or to/from France your aircraft may have been delayed by an air traffic regulation, these are put in place when there is a unprecedented high volume of air traffic as a result of disruption due to strike or bad weather. So imagine all the planes scheduled to fly over france are now flying elsewhere to avoid france, this creates an overload of flights in the airspaces around france, and this means ATC will only allow so many planes to take off at once, they have to regulate how much traffic can fly in one area at a time. This is why/how you get "slot restrictions" and planes get delayed.
Your aircraft may have been caught up in such a delay and was late getting to your destination to pick you up. These slot delays or restrictions often have a knock on affect.

notharrypotter

737max wrote: »

lufthansa to Frankfurt am Main.
Pilot said no slot available.

Most likely it is due to a restriction at the destination.
There are many reasons for slots and most have nothing to do with French strikes.

737max

Unlike with Aer Lingus or Ryanair which are more point to point(generalisation) the crew and passengers appeared to be worried about onward connections as

Locker10a

737max wrote: »

Unlike with Aer Lingus or Ryanair which are more point to point(generalisation) the crew and passengers appeared to be worried about onward connections as

Nothing is a certainty in aviation! Thankfully people who miss connections will have to be accommodated on next available flight provided its all booked on one itinerary , some people risk taking connections on non through tickets and delays like this spark disaster for them!

homerjay2005

737max wrote: »

I didn't fly through French airspace yesterday but my flight was delayed.
Was that because the airspace over Belgium was busier?

yes. if the pilot said no slot, why dont you believe him?

goingnowhere

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yes. if the pilot said no slot, why dont you believe him?

Dublin Frankfurt is roughly speaking

Dub - due East - North Wales coast - Across the UK, then turn for Amsterdam and direct to FRA

Never touches French air space, even on a good day pretty busy and Frankfurt is a very busy place

737max

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yes. if the pilot said no slot, why dont you believe him?

because we pushed back near enough on time so if the slot was in existence every day of the year we should have been able to slot in to it on the day in question.

naughtysmurf

American are coming in a couple hundred cheaper (exactly hitting our ideal flights budget) for flights for four indirect to MCO than United, United are grand have good IFE, have flown a couple of times with them, what are AA like compared to United, planes & IFE?
Thanks

SNNUS

naughtysmurf wrote: »

American are coming in a couple hundred cheaper (exactly hitting our ideal flights budget) for flights for four indirect to MCO than United, United are grand have good IFE, have flown a couple of times with them, what are AA like compared to United, planes & IFE?
Thanks

AA 757's out of SNN are very basic.. No individual IFE and less quality inflight service. But if you can do without a few frills the savings might be worth it!

naughtysmurf

What are Delta like, planes & IFE?, Ruled out AA, have to have good IFE

JCX BXC

naughtysmurf wrote: »

What are Delta like, planes & IFE?, Ruled out AA, have to have good IFE

From Shannon Delta fly the 767-300, so you're already at an advantage (comfort and space) over United and AA who fly the 757-200.

Delta usually get good reviews, usually good service, IFE and comfort. Considered better than Aer Lingus, although there's nothing as comforting as an Irish accent when your on such a long flight.

SNNUS

Delta is the best transatlantic airline out of Shannon! Good IFE and customer service. Plus your connecting flight will have IFE as well.

Pat Dunne

naughtysmurf wrote: »

What are Delta like, planes & IFE?, Ruled out AA, have to have good IFE

Is IFE actually relevant anymore, as the vast majority of PAX I see on flights have their own personal IFE's in the tables and smart phones?

JCX BXC

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Is IFE actually relevant anymore, as the vast majority of PAX I see on flights have their own personal IFE's in the tables and smart phones?

Without an active internet connection and no reasonable means of charging the device, I find smart phones can become rather useless.

Pat Dunne

Carnacalla wrote: »

Without an active internet connection and no reasonable means of charging the device, I find smart phones can become rather useless.

Why would you want active internet connection as you can pre load you own music, books, and film? You can also bring a back-up power source if your phone battery wont last 6/8 hours. Tablets will easily last that.

SNNUS

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Why would you want active internet connection as you can pre load you own music, books, and film? You can also bring a back-up power source if your phone battery wont last 6/8 hours. Tablets will easily last that.

Delta have USB ports for charging. IFE and good service is nice if the price in difference is not too much!

JCX BXC

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Why would you want active internet connection as you can pre load you own music, books, and film? You can also bring a back-up power source if your phone battery wont last 6/8 hours. Tablets will easily last that.

What legal source will allow you to download movie, books and music for free? Or even at a reasonable price? Many devices are also limited by space, and most phones will be dead after less than 4 hours of the screen being on constantly, especially the larger screens.

I also find its easier to watch an IFE screen, no battery consumption worries and you also don't have to hold your phone/tablet or look down.

Pat Dunne

Carnacalla wrote: »

What legal source will allow you to download movie, books and music for free? Or even at a reasonable price? Many devices are also limited by space, and most phones will be dead after less than 4 hours of the screen being on constantly, especially the larger screens.

I also find its easier to watch an IFE screen, no battery consumption worries and you also don't have to hold your phone/tablet or look down.

Sure each to their own.
I up loaded all my CD and DvD collection, years ago. Call me old fashioned but I have always bought music and films that I like.
There is also a sizeable number of free books available to up load such as the classics by Twain, Dickens, Conan-Doyle, Louis-Stevenson, etc. All read, listened and watched on my tablet.
Anyway enough of how I amuse myself in-flight, lets get back on topic.

uxiant

What's stopping airlines from implementing wifi on flights? I was on a Norwegian flight with wifi a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. They've had an internet connection for the last 5 years so what's stopping the likes of Aer Lingus and Ryanair? Surely it would be a big selling point over competitors especially for customers on business trips.

JCX BXC

uxiant wrote: »

What's stopping airlines from implementing wifi on flights? I was on a Norwegian flight with wifi a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. They've had an internet connection for the last 5 years so what's stopping the likes of Aer Lingus and Ryanair? Surely it would be a big selling point over competitors especially for customers on business trips.

Cost.

Tenger

uxiant wrote: »

What's stopping airlines from implementing wifi on flights? I was on a Norwegian flight with wifi a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. They've had an internet connection for the last 5 years so what's stopping the likes of Aer Lingus and Ryanair? Surely it would be a big selling point over competitors especially for customers on business trips.

EI have had wi-fi on their A330 for 3-4 years now. It is costly to install and has a fuel cost (due increased weight and drag) They offer it free for their Business Class passengers and the Economy passengers can pay to use it.
There was mention (under the previous CEO) of a trial fitting on an A320 "by end of 2015" but that never materialised and he left.

The US airlines mostly use ground based wi-fi networks which work for their domestic flights but not for international. The EI system is satellite connected so they can offer connectivity while travelling across the North Atlantic.

With FR, I guess they are thinking "why do we need wi-fi?" they already carry 100m pax per year and growing.

Personally I think in 2-3 years wi-fi networks will be fitted as standard on all new build aircraft.

uxiant

Cheers. Didn't realise it would be so costly to implement.

Irish Steve

WiFi would be relatively easy. Getting a WiFi connection from the internet to the aircraft that will support streaming for significant numbers of passengers, that's a very different story, and there's nothing worse than a slow connection that results in buffering and delays for the users.

Stovepipe

It takes two or three days downtime just to fit the WiFi antenna and associated wiring and computers,so it usually added into the hangar maintenance schedule for each A330 and it is very expensive to buy and support. It's probably easier to incorporate it in new aircraft as they are built......just bring a book, will ya??!!

naughtysmurf

Think I got a pretty good deal this morning, SNN-JFK, JFK-MCO 2HR layover, 3hr layover on the way back, booked with KLM, for three adults & an 11yr old, €2004.08, all Delta flights for the last two weeks in May 2017

JCX BXC

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Think I got a pretty good deal this morning, SNN-JFK, JFK-MCO 2HR layover, 3hr layover on the way back, booked with KLM, for three adults & an 11yr old, €2004.08, all Delta flights for the last two weeks in May 2017

That is a very good deal! €500 return from Orlando is hard to get, especially with good interary!