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Posts in the 2017 Easter Long Weekend Trip series:
1. Introduction
2. The Transport
3. Zürich
My routing to get to/back from Zurich was quite interesting:
Yep, I flew Amsterdam – Paris CDG – Rome FCO – Amsterdam, haha 😆 .
Departure to Zurich
My KLM Amsterdam – Paris flight departed from an “unusual” gate at Schiphol. Usually, an Air France/KLM Amsterdam – Paris vv flight uses a gate in Pier C of Schiphol. This one, though, used gate D61, thus indicating (to me) that the plane was used from a non-Schengen route before my KL1233 flight to Paris.
Anyway, the flight was delayed today due to its late arrival from Birmingham (See, my guess was correct 😀 ). I wasn’t worried with my connection as the delay wasn’t that bad and I had enough transit time in Paris.
It was another full flight today with a Boeing 737-800 reg PH-BXE that was named “Havik”. It was a regular Amsterdam – Paris flight where we took off from Polderbaan and landed at runway 27R of Paris – Charles De Gaulle.
Obviously, I waited at a Salon Air France in Paris. During my latest AvGeek Weekend Trip, the lounge was closed for a renovation. So obviously I was quite excited to see the “new” lounge.
I was disappointed with the renovation result. The small alley connecting the two sides of the lounge was removed and I only noticed minor changes with the furniture. What disappointed me the most was, however, the food service. Only few things were served in the food area. Considering this was an Air France lounge in their main hub (Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport), this was sad.
My flight AF1814 to Zurich departed on time. It was operated with an Airbus A318 reg F-GUGK. We took off from runway 26R of Paris – CDG and then headed east towards Zurich. As before, I felt like the complimentary snack quality in Air France decreased this year. They served vegetarian sandwich in this flight. While it was bigger than KLM’s sandwich, it was much less tasty to me; which was a shame considering they were French 😦 .
Anyway, about one hour later, we landed at runway 28 of Zurich – Kloten Airport. Here is the landing video:
To my liking, we parked at a remote stand upon arrival, where the passengers were, then, brought by a bus to the terminal building, haha.
Back to the Netherlands
I was excited especially for my first flight because: (1) it would be operated with an airline I had never tried before (Alitalia CityLiner) and (2) it would be operated with an airplane type I had never tried before (Embraer ERJ175). Yeay!! 😀
I arrived at Zurich – Kloten Airport about two hours before the flight. After checking-in and passing security, I headed to a Dnata lounge. The lounge was nice enough for an “off airport” SkyTeam lounge (Zurich Airport was more of a Star Alliance Airport, given that it was the main hub of Swiss International Air Lines). I was still full with my complimentary breakfast at the hotel, though, so I was not really in the mood of eating anything in the lounge anyway.
Boarding went quite smoothly, where the 88-seater Alitalia CityLine Embraer ERJ175 reg EI-RDG was ready to take us to Rome – Fiumicino. It was a regular Alitalia flight, where a bag of mini chocolate biscuits was served with some limited selection of drinks. The weather in Rome was also nice today, as we were landing in runway 34R of Fiumicino Airport. Here is the landing video:
Again, I was happy that the plane parked at a remote stand today, haha 😛 .
My transit time was not very long today and I knew that Alitalia’s lounge was quite far away. So I decided to walk briskly there, had a quick lunch for 15 minutes, then went back to the departure area, haha 😛 . The food in the lounge was quite good, though, in my opinion. The lounge lady was also super friendly. Yeah, still pretty much the same impression of the last time 🙂 .
My AZ110 flight back to Amsterdam was operated with an Airbus A320-200 reg EI-DTA. Here is a timelapsed video of the departure from Rome-Fiumicino:
It was an uneventful flight with Alitalia. This flight made me realize that, indeed, Alitalia had cut “cost” big time with their services on board. When I asked the flight attendant what they served as drinks, it turned out that they only had water, tea, coffee, and cola. Yep, that was all. No juice, no beer/wine. For snacks, on the 2 hours and 15 minutes flight to Amsterdam, the choices were only biscuits or crackers. Given that Alitalia has been struggling financially, this might not be of a big surprise, though.
We landed at runway 36R of Schiphol Airport. This was a convenient runway where the taxi time to the terminal building was very short, haha. I got off the plane, and then took the train back to Amsterdam. Here, my short long weekend ended 🙂 .
BAHASA INDONESIA
Posting-posting dalam seri 2017 Easter Long Weekend Trip:
1. Introduction
2. The Transport
3. Zürich
Ruteku untuk pergi ke/kembali dari Zurich cukup menarik:
Yep, aku terbang Amsterdam – Paris CDG – Rome FCO – Amsterdam, haha 😆 .
Keberangkatan ke Zurich
Penerbangan KLM Amsterdam – Parisku berangkat dari gate yang agak “nggak biasa” di Schiphol. Biasanya, penerbangan Air France/KLM rute Amsterdam – Paris pp menggunakan sebuah gate di Pier C Schiphol. Kali ini, yang digunakan adalah gate D61, yang mana (untukku) mengindikasikan pesawatnya digunakan di rute non-Schengen di penerbangan sebelumnya.
Anyway, penerbangannya sedikit terlambat hari ini akibat pesawatnya terlambat tiba dari Birmingham (Nah kan, tebakanku benar 😀 ). Aku sih tidak khawatir dengan keterlambatan sebentar ini karena waktu transitku di Paris cukup panjang.
Penerbangan ini penuh dengan pesawat Boeing 737-800 dengan rego PH-BXE dan bernama “Havik”. Ini adalah penerbangan biasa di rute Amsterdam – Paris dimana kami lepas landas dari Polderbaan dan mendarat di landasan pacu 27R Bandara Paris – Charles De Gaulle.
Jelas, aku menunggu di Salon Air France di Paris. Nah, di waktu AvGeek Weekend Trip terakhirku, lounge-nya sedang ditutup akibat pekerjaan renovasi. Jelas dong kali ini aku penasaran dengan lounge “baru”-nya.
Aku sungguh kecewa dengan hasil renovasinya. Gang kecil yang menghubungkan dua sisi lounge-nya kini tidak ada lagi dan aku hanya melihat adanya sedikit perubahan saja dengan mebel-mebelnya. Yang paling mengecewakan adalah layanan makanannya. Hanya sedikit sekali yang disajikan hari itu. Dengan mempertimbangkan ini adalah lounge-nya Air France di bandara yang merupakan markas mereka sendiri (Paris – Charles De Gaulle), menurutku ini menyedihkan.
Penerbangan AF1814ku ke Zurich berangkat tepat waktu. Penerbangan ini dioperasikan dengan sebuah Airbus A318 dengan rego F-GUGK. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 26R Bandara Paris – CDG dan kemudian bergerak menuju arah timur. Seperti yang lalu, aku merasa layanan snack di penerbangannya Air France juga menurun kualitasnya. Mereka menyajikan sandwich vegetarian di penerbangan ini. Walaupun ukurannya lebih besar daripada sandwichnya KLM, rasanya lebih tidak enak untukku; yang mana sungguh disayangkan dengan mengingat mereka kan maskapai Prancis ya 😦 .
Anyway, sekitar satu jam kemudian, kami mendarat di landasan pacu 28 Bandara Zurich – Kloten. Berikut ini video pendaratannya:
Yang aku suka, kami parkir di sebuah tempat parkir remote loh, dimana penumpang dibawa dengan bus ke gedung terminal, haha.
Kembali ke Belanda
Aku merasa bersemangat terutama dengan penerbangan pertama hari ini karena (1) akan dioperasikan dengan maskapai yang belum pernah kunaiki sebelumnya (Alitalia CityLiner) dan (2) akan dioperasikan dengan tipe pesawat yang belum pernah kunaiki sebelumnya (Embraer ERJ175). Hore! 😀
Aku tiba di Bandara Zurich – Kloten sekitar dua jam sebelum keberangkatan. Setelah check-in dan melewati sekuriti, aku menuju ke Lounge Dnata. Lounge-nya cukup oke untuk ukuran lounge SkyTeam “airport luar” (Bandara Zurich adalah bandara Star Alliance karena merupakan markasnya Swiss International Air Lines). Aku masih kenyang sih dari sarapanku di hotel, sehingga aku sedang tidak ingin makan apa-apa di lounge-nya.
Boarding berlangsung lancar, dimana Embraer ERj175nya Alitalia CityLiner yang berkursi 88 buah itu siap mengantarkan kami ke Roma – Fiumicino. Ini adalah penerbangan reguler dengan Alitalia, dimana sebungkus biskuit coklat disajikan dengan pilihan minuman yang terbatas. Cuaca di Roma juga sedang baik hari ini, seperti yang nampak ketika mendarat di landasan pacu 34 Bandara Roma – Fiumicino seperti di video berikut:
Lagi, aku senang pesawatnya parkir di tempat parkir remote, haha 😛 .
Waktuku transit tidak terlalu lama sementara aku tahu lounge-nya Alitalia cukup jauh. Jadilah aku berjalan cepat kesana, makan siang cepat-cepat selama 15 menit, dan kembali ke area keberangkatan, haha 😛 . Makanan di lounge-nya lumayan oke, menurutku. Petugas lounge-nya juga ramah banget. Ya, impresi positifku masih seperti ketika terakhir kali aku ke sana 🙂 .
Penerbangan AZ110ku kembali ke Amsterdam dioperasikan dengan pesawat Airbus A320-200 dengan rego EI-DTA. Berikut ini video timelapse keberangkatan dari Roma-Fiumicino:
Ini adalah penerbangan uneventful dengan Alitalia. Di penerbangan ini, aku disadarkan dengan pemotongan “biaya” besar-besarannya Alitalia dengan layanan mereka di pesawat. Ketika aku bertanya ke salah seorang pramugara mengenai pilihan minuman, dijawab mereka hanya menyediakan air putih, teh, kopi, atau cola. Iya, itu doang. Nggak ada jus, nggak ada bir/anggur. Untuk snack, di penerbangan 2 jam 15 menit ke Amsterdam ini hanya diberikan pilihan biskuit atau crackers. Yah, dengan mempertimbangkan kesulitan finansialnya Alitalia, ini tidak lah begitu mengherankan sih ya.
Kami mendarat di landasan pacu 36R Bandara Schiphol. Landasan pacu yang nyaman banget dimana waktu taxiing-nya singkat, haha. Aku keluar dari pesawat, dan kemudian menaiki kereta kembali ke Amsterdam. Di sini, perjalanan singkat long weekend-ku berakhir 🙂 .
So me and Mr. Seat 31C co-used it as our extra space, lol 😆 . Once boarding completed, we departed and took off from runway 17L of Shanghai Pudong Airport. The weather condition had not changed that much since I landed three hours prior, where low-hanging cloud was still there.
