For an internship I had to go to Hanoi this summer.
As a student I wanted to find the cheapest flights possible.
After browsing a lot of internet booking sites, trying different departure points (BRU, AMS, FRA, CDG) and comparing the costs of getting to those departure points (TGV, ICE, NMBS) I finally came up with this schedule:
Thursday 07/08/2008
Booked seperately TGV Brussel Midi 7h31 -> CDG 8h46
SU 0575 CDG 11h45 -> SVO 17h20
SU 0541 SVO 20h20 -> HAN (Hanoi Noi Bai) on friday 08/08/2008 at 9h00
Friday 19/09/08:
SU 0542 HAN 11h00 -> SVO 18h20
SU 0449 = AF2245 SVO 19h30 -> CDG 21h25
Pick-up by my parents at CDG to go to Brussels
I booked the flights on ebookers.fr in March for 884 eur (inclusive is the 30 eur for sending the tickets, because at that time no e-tickets were available for aeroflot flights, now it has changed), the TGV ticket I bought at the railway station as soon as it became available for 34 eur.
The trip
The TGV left Brussels 10 minutes late, but that was no problem because I had 3 hours to go through all the procedures in CDG. Terminal 2E is located very close to the TGV railway station and getting to the right check-in desk was easy and since I really was on time I didn't have to queue at all. My bag was 20.1 kg, so just okay (although apparently (see other topic about weight limits) sometimes you don't have to bother to much)
To get to gate E60 I had to take an automatic train for a short distance and then go through security, overall it took 30 minutes to go from check-in to the seats at the gate.
I sawx the arrival of the inbound flight and boarding started 20 minutes before scheduled departure.
I had seat 12A (window over the wing left side). We taxied to the other side of the airport (to the northern 2 runways (if someone can explain me this, since the other two runways, that are significantly closer, were also active)) and took off in western direction. As soon as the fasten seatbelt sign was turned off the couple seating next to me moved to the exit seats row. I guess the flight was 75% full. We got lunch with some fine chocolats and were served soft-drinks or juices 2 times (for alcoholic beverages you have to pay).
In SVO we were bussed to the terminal and there I got a new boarding card for the flight to HAN, that was announced on time. SVO terminal 2 is a relic from ancient times, but through the windows I could see construction work for a new terminal nearly finished (any news on the scheduled opening date?). Security controls are organised around +/- 3 gates everytime and once through security there are no toilets or shops, a bit strange...
The Ilyushin 96 (I was curious to fly with this one) was already at the gate and boarding began at 19:50, this flight was only 60% full. I was seated in 15D (aisle) and could use half of the seat next to me (since I had to share it with the passanger at 15F) for sleeping as comfortably as possible. We got dinner and breakfast, everything was decent. On this plane there is no entertainment at all (no audio, video or games). Only crying babies brought a bit of excitement. I slept in an infinite number of episodes and the sun came up way to soon. We arrived at the gate right on time and when I collected my bag, I must say I was happy with this smooth experience (without any luxury, just as I expected it to be) the Russians have given me.
I reconfirmed my flights one week before return date and immediately got a reply e-mail that everything was okay.
I arrived at the airport at 8u45 in HAN and had trouble finding the right check-in desk. As I had experienced in the 6 weeks in Vietnam, Vietnamese don't know much of queueing and so it was a bit chaotic to get to the check-in desk. As I expected my bag was overweight (=25 kg), but the check-in lady was not looking at the scale at all (She was doing everything she could (together with 5 others) to check in everybody on time).
In the end I arrived at the gate (number 2) at 10:10 and boarding started 10:25. This time my seat was 17G (aisle) and the plane was nearly 100% full. A lot of Vietnamese students going back to Europe for the new academic year and then a few Russians coming back from holidays. We were only pushed back at 11:25 and then didn't move for another 15 minutes. All this time the airconditioning was not working properly I guess, because it quickly became very hot inside and everybody started fanning using the safety-information sheet.
In my head I was more and more convinced that the little trick I wanted to use was going to work:
-Miss the flight to Paris
-Ask for the flight to Brussels (knowing the timetables is sometimes helpful: no flights to Paris after SU 449, but a flight to Brussels (SU 231 at 21:10) is still possible)
-Fly to Brussels and save my family an exhausting 6 hours drive to Paris and back. And at the same time save 300 eur because that was the difference in price if I booked the BRU-SVO-HAN-SVO-BRU in stead of the CDG alternative.
After getting 2 times lunch/dinner and some announcements in non-understandable English, we arrived at SVO at 18:50 and at the transfer desk it became clear that together with 2 other passangers we would have to sleep in the hotel and fly to Paris tomorrow. Then I launched my Brussels request. The lady first wanted to know what I wanted to do after I landed in Brussels, I said I would take care of myself, that it was alright for me to fly to Brussels only. (I had to write done this sentence on my ticket and sign) After making sure my bag would come with me, everything was arranged very quick (they return you your ticket with an 'involrerout' sticker) and I could bring the good news to the family. I could even pick a window-seat (22A). I even heard the lady ask at the other passangers if they wanted to go to Brussels... I have given her some ideas
The screen showed the flight on time even when it was already 40 minutes late. Then they change the info to announce boarding at 21:45, when the actual time is 21:40, interesting
After another 10 minutes boarding begins and finally we have a delay of 40 minutes when we arrive at the terminal in Brussels. My luggage is quickly on the conveyor and once again Aeroflot has done what I expected them to do (not what they promised, since I was in BRU and not in CDG). I would like to know if you think it would have been possible to even get a bit of cash out of this rerouting situation, at that moment I was very happy I could go to Brussels directly, but when I think about it now, I probably could have asked for more?
Anyway, I hope this was an interesting report, any questions please ask...
Wim
