Background
As part of the curriculum in our third year we went to England for a couple of days. In terms of convenience, FlyBe and their Q400 was the best option, from Düsseldorf to Southampton. We were a little late with booking, however. All together, FlyBe would charge us around €3000, for 19 people, 17 students and 2 teachers. Ryanair, from Weeze to Stansted on the inbound, and STN to EIN on the return flight, only charged us around €2000. On a tight budget as we were, the extra €600 for a bus from STN to the Etap Hotel Portsmouth was not enough to justify FlyBe. Another downside of FR, aside from their equipment -I've flown the 737NG so many times already, I lost count-, is their inconvenient flight times. Weeze is only a 20 min drive from my home, but a flight time of 06.50LT still meant getting up at 04.00LT.

Inbound
We had to be at the airport no later than 05.30LT. My parents were a bit slow that morning , so I arrived at 05.28. Everyone was pretty much on time, and when we were complete, we proceeded to security. As always, security was a breeze. Those metal detectors tend to go off at the buttons of my trousers. Just after security, it turned out that one of my classmates had apparently lost his ID card. He opened his bag, and after a thorough search, he found it with his toiletries.

13-6-2011
Flight FR3259
All times are local.
STD 06.50
TOD- Pushback 06.47
TOD- Lift-off 06.55
STA 06.50
TOA- touchdown 07.00
TOA- gate 06.49
Registration EI-???
Seat 14A
Loadfactor 85%

Boarding went smoothly, and I got myself a window seat at the engine.

Until a few moments before door closure, it seemed like I would have the entire left row for myself. Then a German in his mid fifties took the aisle seat. The Dutch captain was hard to understand over the PA, but not as bad as the flight attendants. Engines were started and we taxied to runway 27. A rolling take-off followed, and soon we were up. After passing through a thick cloud layer, the view reminded me of why I love flying.






It was a pretty uneventful flight, cruising at FL300. I noticed that on this plane, there was no advertising on the overhead bins.

After our descent through another thick cloud layer, emerging from the clouds moments before touchdown, we were greeted by a light drizzle. We landed on runway 22, and taxied to gate 51L.


Stansted has large gates capable of accommodating heavies, and has some of those gates split up to accommodate 2 smaller planes. A friend of mine asked if she could have a look in the cockpit, something I forgot asking, wanting to write down the reg. She was behind me, and when I heard the captain agreeing, I quickly turned around. We had a quick chat, and then had to leave because the rest of the class was waiting on the ramp. The captain wanted to give us the weather, so we could practice a bit of weather reading, as we both want to become a pilot, but unfortunately he still needed it.

In the Arrivals lounge we got some free time, as the bus would pick us up at around 8.

Return
We had an easy morning, as we would leave the hotel at around 11.30LT. A long bus ride took us back to Stansted, where we arrived at around 15.00. While our teacher was explaining something about airports I already knew (I think that teacher learned more from me than I did from him that week), I spotted this FR sign:

So they don't charge extra for fuel, but do charge for just about everything else?

At security, my liquid bag was found too big, while it got through security at Weeze on the inbound. I only had a few items in it, and the bag wasn’t even half full, but still measured 20x25cm (capacity 1 litre), as opposed to the allowed 20x20 (max. cap. 1L). I held the bag at the top, which I hadn’t done at Weeze. If I had held the bag differently the BAA lady wouldn’t have noticed. Anyway, I got a new bag from one of the teachers, and on our way we were again.

At security, two of my classmates got picked out, and had their bag searched. I don’t know what the problem was, but obviously they hadn’t got a bomb in their bag (as has 99% of the people who get picked, safety meets paranoia). We then had lunch at Pret A Manger, at 16.30!

17-6-2011
Flight FR9273
All times are local.
STD 17.00
TOD- Pushback 17.02
TOD- Lift-off 17.10
STA 19.05
TOA- touchdown 18.47
TOA- gate 18.53
Registration EI-ENA
Seat 12F
Loadfactor 87.3% (had a look at the screen at the gate)


FIDS










The departure gate assigned was 47, but on the tarmac, the sign said 51L, the same gate we arrived at. Boarding went smoothly again, and I secured myself a window seat. Row 12 is not the best, but it was one of the last window seats available, and the last entirely free row. The middle and aisle seat got taken in the end, but I spent most of my time looking at the IFE (read: through the window).



I did notice that the advertising was back on the bins, so the plane on the inbound was a one-off?

Just before we took-off, I saw a private 767 coming in (I think it was a -200).

The picture sucks, but it was the best I could get. After take-off, we immediately dived into a thick cloud layer, to reach our cruising altitude of FL180. We arrived almost 20 minutes early. Ryanair seems to make their block times longer, so that they can say they arrive on time, does anyone have some more insight into this? On arrival at Eindhoven, I saw both KDC-10s at their stand, and when we arrived, we disembarked quickly.

I remained seated for a little while more, and watched the baggage handlers unload the aircraft. Several suitcases were saved just in time, before falling of the belt loader.

[b]Conclusion
As I didn't use FR’s BOB service, I can’t really comment on the service, the FAs on both flights seemed far from enthusiastic, and especially the safety demonstration was done uninterestingly. But, considering my budget, that of my school, and the convenience of Weeze, I’ll be flying FR more often. If KL, or LH, for that matter, start flights from Weeze, with competitive fares, I’ll be switching like lightning…

I hope you enjoyed my first trip report. I’m flying FR again on the 9th July, but I don’t think I’ll write a TR then.

Nick