Early wake-up call for a flight departing at 06:00. Travelling with hand baggage only and having downloaded my boarding pass on my phone, I proceeded immediately to the Baggage and body screening in the Connector. What a crowd at 05:00 am! But fortunately, it moved swiftly.
From the day before, I knew through the BRU app that the plane would be unusual: OM-HEX. I looked it up and realised that it is a 15-year old AirExplore Boeing 737-800, all white with a red TUI marking. And indeed, at gate A65:
Flight: TUI Airlines Belgium TB3357
Date: 05 SEP 2018
Aircraft: AirExplore Boeing 737-800 reg. OM-HEX
From-To: Brussels - Alicante (BRU-ALC)
Seat: 5F
Scheduled/Effective Time of Departure: 06:00/06:14 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Time of Arrival: 08:25/08:28 (GMT+2)
Scheduled/Effective Duration of the flight: 2 hr 25 min/2 hr 14 min
Nice window seat 5F, with sufficient legroom, booked in advance. The load factor was close to 100%. As it was a wet-leased flight, the cockpit was Slovakian, and the cabin crew consisted of two Slovakians and three Belgian flight attendants. And the safety card instructions were in Slovakian first.
Slightly delayed push-back and take-off from the usual 25R. Due to the early departure, I didn't have breakfast yet and I was happy to have pre-ordered a meal for 10€. It was served after half an hour and consisted of two (or more) bread rolls with butter, strawberry jam, camembert cheese, a yoghurt with fruit and a bowl of melon. With a drink: coffee for me. All served with a smile.
The flight was without problems and soon it was time to land at Alicante-Elche, an airport filled mainly with low-cost and charter airlines.
Landing on the single runway (10). On-time arrival and very soon I was out of the (rather small) airport.
All in all, a nice flight. Now a full day in Alicante...
Return flight
Brussels-Alicante on AirExplore 737-800 operating for TUIfly
Brussels-Alicante on AirExplore 737-800 operating for TUIfly
André
ex Sabena #26567
ex Sabena #26567
Re: Brussels-Alicante on AirExplore 787-800 operating for TUIfly
You may want to change the title for this thread: it is probably not a B787
And what a shame in 2018 to have a display with lower case acute characters rather than the uppercase version such as É
-éric
And what a shame in 2018 to have a display with lower case acute characters rather than the uppercase version such as É
-éric
Re: Brussels-Alicante on AirExplore 787-800 operating for TUIfly
Oops! Indeed. Corrected. (Ah, that sacred number 8 in the Asian world )
André
ex Sabena #26567
ex Sabena #26567
Re: Brussels-Alicante on AirExplore 737-800 operating for TUIfly
How much stars (0-5) would you rate this trip André ?
Re: Brussels-Alicante on AirExplore 737-800 operating for TUIfly
4.5 stars. Nice breakfast, sufficient legroom, on-time arrival. The plane is just a little old, and it shows somehow.
André
ex Sabena #26567
ex Sabena #26567