[Trip report] Alicante-Brussels with Vueling, delayed by ATC

During my visit to Alicante, I received two SMS messages informing me that, due to ATC restrictions, my flight would be delayed by 1 hr 38 min, but that I should be at the airport on the normal check-in times as if the plane would be on-time. I wondered why, and I would get an answer later.

I knew beforehand (the BRU app) that the aircraft would be EC-LVO. Flightradar24 told me that this aircraft had landed on time in AMS after a flight from ALC, but departed from AMS with one and a half hour delay, probably due to the announced ATC restrictions.

I thus arrived at the airport around 15:30. Surprise: I checked the Vueling app and saw that the flight would be on-time (confirmed by SMS a few minutes later). I thought that I was lucky: Vueling probably found another plane. But no, first a new delay of 15 minutes was announced at Gate C45, and later the delay (and the gate) became undefined…

Eventually, EC-LVO arrived from Amsterdam at Gate C45 and another SMS (the fourth one) told me it would soon be ready for boarding. Thus, no other plane could be found, which is not surprising at a small airport like Alicante.

Flight: Vueling VY1332, codeshared with Iberia
Date: 05 SEP 2018
Aircraft: Airbus A320 reg. EC-LVO
From-To: Alicante – Brussels – Amsterdam (ALC-BRU)
Seat: 29F
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 17:10/18:33 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 19:45/20:52 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 2 hr 35 min/2 hr 19 min

Boarding by row was strictly enforced. The load factor was near 100%. My window seat in the back had less legroom than on my morning flight with AirExplore, but it was wider.

Departure with a delay close to 1 hr 30 min and take-off from Runway 10. Some very nice high-altitude clouds soon after take-off:

Here too I needed a meal. From the menu, I selected some nice tapas with a small bottle of Faustino VII rosé wine, served with a smile. Sorry, no pic: it came in a cardboard box.

On arrival (after landing on 25L with a strange approach), the delay could be reduced to approximately one hour. No big deal.

Thus, a rather nice flight, if it weren’t for a delay outside the control of Vueling and the insufficient legroom.

All pictures © André Orban

Appeared first @ https://www.aviation24.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=64334