ENGLISH
I went on a weekend trip to Bordeaux in a weekend in early March. I have decided to split the story into two parts; with this post being the first one covering the part of the trip about the flights, haha…
First of all, unsurprisingly, I took an interesting routing on this trip. Here it was:
Getting to Bordeaux
The first leg of the trip was with a KLM’s Boeing 737-800 reg PH-BGB flight KL1263 to Nice. The flight was delayed by almost half an hour due to, apparently, a shortage of grounds baggage handlers today. I had quite a tight connection in Nice but half an hour wasn’t that much of a problem, as usually there was some buffer time already included in the schedule so there was some room for recovery.
Anyway, it was a pleasant KLM flight to Nice. Nice Cote D’Azur was one of my most favorite airports in the world mainly because of the beautiful scenery around it. On this flight, here was a view at one point just before landing:
Yep, the entire country of Monaco! Hahaha 😆 . Anyway, as I thought, we recovered from the departure delay and actually landed at Nice Cote D’Azur Airport on time.
The inconvenient thing about having a connection in France, other than Paris-Charles De Gaulle, was that I had to exit the terminal and cleared security again, which took some time. I had about 10 minutes in the terminal which I spent at the Infinity Lounge. Then I went to the gate to board my second flight.
My flight to Bordeaux was operated with a HOP! Regional’s Embraer ERJ190 reg F-HBLC. I was assigned seat 22C, which I initially wasn’t super happy about given it was an aisle seat AND at the back of the plane. But then, it turned out that somehow the entire rear cabin, from row 23 to 26, were literally empty, so I could move to whichever seat I would like! I found it quite strange though because all seats from row 1 to 22 were occupied! Anyway, so I moved to seat 23A.
Again, it was a pleasant short domestic flight with HOP!. I managed to sleep a little bit during the flight; and about one hour later we were flying above the city of Bordeaux and landed at runway 23.
Back to Amsterdam
The Air France Lounge at Bordeaux Airport turned out to be quite nice and comfortable, certainly much better than their lounge at Lyon Airport! And most appropriately, they served these as well:
Haha 😛
Anyway, my Air France’s AF5372 flight to Lyon turned out to be quite unique and interesting. It would be operated by Air Explore, a Slovakian airline wet-leased by Air France to operate some of their domestic routes for HOP!. Today, this flight would be operated by their Boeing 737-800 reg OM-GEX which looked like this:
Yeah, a very boring plain white livery, haha 😆 . But I guess it wasn’t that unreasonable given Air Explore’s business model in the wet-leasing market. As Air France wet-leased this plane, the flight was operated by Air Explore’s crews even though the service was as per HOP!’s standard.
We were delayed by about 50 minutes, though. The flight itself was pleasant even though we encountered minor turbulences along the way due to the weather. The crews were nice but I could see they were still not quite used to with HOP!’s service standard yet. Well, I checked that it appeared to be their third day operating for HOP! so it wasn’t surprising to be honest.
Anyway, we landed about 45 minutes at Lyon but this wasn’t a problem to me because I had a 3 hour transit, haha. But not for some other passengers though who had to run to try to catch their connections.
My last flight of this trip would be with a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGU to Amsterdam. Upon boarding, I was told by the gate agent that I had been upgraded to Europe Business Class, again! Haha 😆 . I was assigned an aisle seat, though.
After all passengers boarded, the captain announced that we were asked to remain on the ground for 30 minutes more due to poor weather condition at Schiphol which forced them to reduce the airport’s capacity. About 30 minutes later we were finally allow to depart, indeed the crew tried their best to make up the lost time as much as possible. The Boeing 737-700 didn’t need the entire runway length for take-off so we saved some time by taking off from about 1/3 into the 4,000 meter runway.
Anyway, after take-off, the dinner service was provided. The menu was quite “vegetarian” today where the main dish was a salad with beetroot burger. It was quite nice, though, and helped me fill my stomach as it was dinner time. I accompanied it with a bottle of sparkling wine (of course), haha 😀 .
After dinner, a warm drink service was provided and, as usual, I asked for a green tea. Not long after, we were approaching Schiphol and landed at runway 18C. We parked at Gate D2, and I took the train to go back to Amsterdam.
- A KLM’s Boeing 737-800 reg PH-BGB at Schiphol
- Charging my phone via the plug
- The complimentary snack service on board KLM flight KL1263 to Nice
- The view of the Alps never disappoints!
- Back in Nice!!
- Taking off from runway 04L of Nice Cote D’Azur Airport
- The complimentary snack service on board HOP! Regional flight AF4335 to Bordeaux
- A HOP! candy
- Hello, Bordeaux!
- Salon Air France at Bordeaux Airport
- Salon Air France at Bordeaux Airport
- Seat 3F on board Air Explore’s Boeing 737-800 OM-GEX
- Surprisingly good legroom on board Air Explore’s Boeing 737-800 OM-GEX
- Air Explore’s safety card
- Air Explore
- The snack service on board Air Explore’s flight for HOP! to Lyon
- My Europe Business Class seat.
- A warm tea service in Europe Business Class
BAHASA INDONESIA
Aku pergi dalam sebuah perjalanan akhir pekan ke Bordeaux di awal Maret. Aku putuskan untuk membagi ceritanya menjadi dua bagian; dengan posting ini adalah bagian yang pertama dimana aku fokus pada penerbangan-penerbangannya, haha…
Pertama-tama, tidak mengherankan, aku mengambil rute yang menarik untuk perjalanan ini. Berikut ini rutenya:
Berangkat ke Bordeaux
Bagian pertama dari perjalanan ini adalah dengan Boeing 737-800nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGB penerbangan KL1263 ke Nice. Penerbangannya terlambat sekitar setengah jam karena, ternyata, adanya kekurangan staf bagasi hari ini. Waktu transitku di Nice cukup ketat tetapi delay setengah jam tidak begitu masalah lah, apalagi kan di jadwal penerbangannya toh sudah dimasukkan buffer time sehingga penerbangannya masih bisa pulih dari delay ini.
Anyway, penerbangannya sendiri nyaman kok dengan KLM. Bandara Nice Cote D’Azur masih lah salah satu bandara terfavoritku di dunia karena pemandangan alam di sekitarnya yang kece banget. Di penerbangan ini, di satu waktu sebelum mendarat pemandangannya kayak gini loh:
Iya, satu negara Monako! Hahaha 😆 . Anyway, seperti yang kukira, kami beneran pulih dari keterlambatan tadi dan mendarat di Bandara Nice Cote D’Azur masih tepat waktu.
Nggak nyamannya dari transit di Prancis selain di Paris – Charles De Gaulle adalah aku harus keluar gedung terminalnya dan melewati pemeriksaan sekuriti lagi, yang mana tentu juga memakan waktu. Aku akhirnya hanya memiliki waktu 10an menit saja di terminalnya yang mana kuhabiskan di Infinity Lounge. Setelahnya aku langsung pergi ke gate untuk menaiki penerbangan lanjutanku.
Penerbanganku ke Bordeaux dioperasikan dengan Embraer ERJ190nya HOP! Regional dengan rego F-HBLC. Aku diberi kursi 22C, yang mana awalnya tidak begitu aku suka karena adalah kursi lorong dan lokasinya di bagian belakang pesawat. Tetapi ternyata malah bagian belakang kabinnya, dari baris 23 hingga 26, itu kosong melompong dong sehingga aku bisa pindah ke kursi mana pun yang kusuka! Rasanya aneh lho karena baris 1 hingga 22 di pesawatnya itu penuh! Anyway, jadilah aku memindahkan diri ke kursi 23A, haha.
Lagi, penerbangan ini adalah penerbangan domestik jarak pendek yang nyaman dengan HOP!. Aku tertidur sedikit di penerbangan ini; dan sekitar satu jam kemudian kami sudah terbang di atas kota Bordeaux dan kemudian mendarat di landasan pacu 23.
Kembali ke Amsterdam
Lounge Air France Lounge di Bandara Bordeaux ternyata cukup nyaman, dan jelas jauh lebih bagus daripada yang di Bandara Lyon! Dan selayaknya, mereka menyajikan ini juga:
Haha 😛 .
Anyway, penerbangan Air France AF5372ku ke Lyon hari ini unik dan menarik loh. Penerbangannya akan dioperasikan oleh Air Explore, sebuah maskapai Slowakia yang di-wet-lease Air France untuk mengoperasikan beberapa rute domestik mereka untuk HOP!. Hari ini, pesawat Boeing 737-800 rego OM-GEX mereka digunakan, yang mana penampakannya kayak gini:
Iya, livery pesawatnya putih polos yang mana boring abis ya, haha 😆 . Tapi aku rasa ini masuk akal juga sih mengingat model bisnisnya Air Explore yang memang bergerak di pasar wet-leasing pesawat. Karena Air France meng-wet-lease pesawat ini, penerbangannya juga dioperasikan oleh krunya Air Explore walaupun layanannya sih sesuai dengan standarnya HOP!. A
Penerbangannya terlambat sekitar 50 menit. Penerbangannya sendiri sih cukup nyaman walaupun penuh turbulensi kecil di sepanjang jalan karena alasan cuaca. Krunya sendiri oke tetapi bisa kulihat mereka masih belum terbiasa dengan standar layanannya HOP!. Yah, aku cek sepertinya memang hari itu baru lah hari ketiga mereka dengan HOP! sehingga nggak mengherankan sih ya.
Anyway, kami mendarat terlambat sekitar 45 menit di Lyon tetapi ini bukanlah masalah untukku karena waktu transitku 3 jam, haha. Tetapi tidak demikian bagi beberapa penumpang lain yang harus berlari mencoba mengejar penerbangan lanjutan mereka.
Penerbangan terakhirku di perjalanan ini adalah dengan Boeing 737-700nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGU ke Amsterdam. Ketika naik pesawat, aku diberi-tahu bahwa aku di-upgrade ke Kelas Bisnis Eropa lagi! haha 😆 . Tetapi sayangnya aku diberikan kursi lorong sih.
Setelah semua penumpang naik, kapten penerbangan memberi-tahu bahwa sayangnya kami telah diminta untuk tidak berangkat dulu selama 30 menit karena cuaca buruk di Schiphol yang memaksa mereka untuk mengurangi kapasitas bandara. Sekitar 30 menit kemudian ketika kami diizinkan berangkat, krunya kemudian berusaha untuk mengurangi waktu keterlambatan ini semaksimal mungkin. Boeing 737-700 tidak membutuhkan keseluruhan panjang landasan pacunya Bandara Lyon untuk lepas landas sehingga kami menghemat waktu dengan mulai lepas landas dari sekitar 1/3 dari ujung landasan pacu sepanjang 4.000 meter itu.
Anyway, setelah lepas landas, layanan makan malam disajikan. Menu kali ini agak “vegetarian” dimana makanan utamanya adalah salad dengan burger beetroot.Rasanya lumayan juga sih dan cukup mengganjal perut di waktu makan malam ini. Oh, dan jelas untuk minumnya aku meminta sparkling wine lah ya, haha 😆 .
Setelah makan malam, layanan minuman hangat dibagikan dan, seperti biasa, aku meminta teh hijau. Tak lama setelahnya, kami mulai turun menuju Schiphol dan mendarat di landasan pacu 18C. Pesawat diparkir di gerbang D2, dan kemudian aku menaiki kereta kembali ke Amsterdam.