Manchester - London Heathrow - Brussels on BMI

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Sabena_690
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Joined: 20 Sep 2002, 00:00

Manchester - London Heathrow - Brussels on BMI

Post by Sabena_690 »

After a nice weekend at MAN (unfortunately, the weather really sucked), and after a second consecutive night without any sleep (sleeping is quite difficult when you stay in a small room with the runway just besides you where heavy charters keep on arriving/departing ;)), it was time to go back to BRU, via LHR.

During the morning, I had already checked in at the BMI self-service check-in counters. The process is very easy: you have to insert your FF-card or credit card, after which your itinerary appears. The only thing you have to do is press ‘OK’ a few times, and select your seat (very nice!).

At 1pm, 3 hours before departure, I said everyone goodbye, and went down to buy some food. After buying some overpriced sandwiches, I went through security. MAN is really using a nice system: at the passports control desk, they make a picture of you, and they put a barcode on your boarding pass. When you want to go to your specific gate for your flight, you have to pass a second control where they scan your boarding pass, and compare the picture taken at the previous security point with your face to see whether you are still the same one or not.

Interesting detail: not one time did they ask for my passport. I managed to enter the plane at MAN without showing my passport once. At LHR, I was also able to transfer without showing my passport. And if the gate agent at LHR hadn’t asked my passport before entering the plane, I would have been able to fly from MAN to BRU via LHR without a passport.

While eating my sandwiches, I stayed in the central area of T3 before going to my specific gate. I picked my favourite spot inside the terminal where I also spent several hours a year ago due to a 3h delayed BA flight.

After some nice spotting (interesting aircraft like LZ-HMI of Balkan Holidays and the B742 of Travelocitydirect.com passed only metres away), I went to my gate about 45 minutes before departure. At this point, it became clear that G-MIDZ, flying in the old British Midland colours but with BMI-titles, was going to operate my flight (the aircraft was already parked over there for quite some time).

Image
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/567827/L/

Aircraft type: Airbus A320-232
Registration: G-MIDZ
C/N: 934
Flightnr: BD589
Seat: 5F
Departure time Scheduled/Actual 16h10/16h21
Arrival time Scheduled/Actual 17h10/17h03


Boarding started on time, and, as on a lot of flights, passengers flying Business, disabled pax and pax with kids got priority. Afterwards, row 13-27 was called, followed by all other passengers. My seat was one of the first in economy, 5F, and even while my section was the last one called for boarding, only 20 people boarded in front of me.

I had the feeling that this was going to be a very empty flight. A few reasons played a role into this: first of all, when I checked CRS 2 days before, this flight was still totally open. All booking classes in CRS were still at 9. Besides that, I got sequence number one at check-in for this flight which is quite rare. Even more, the gate was almost empty (about 25 people were present) when boarding started.

Made my way to 5F, and a kind woman seated in 5E kindly let me pass into my seat. Than, a big surprise happened: airliners.net member Sulman was suddenly sitting in seat 5C! We didn’t know that we were on the same flight…

The flight attendants were very helpful (helping pax stowing their luggage), and the f/a at the door (greeting the passengers) was very kind. The f/a’s also had a very professional look, I really like their outfits with the hat.

A nice detail: at least 2 BA-staff people were on board of this flight!! This while after us, a BA A319 also left to LHR. Another nice thing: parked besides us was G-NVSB, the DHC8 of BA Citiexpress that flew me, Ivan (Apuneger) and Tom (Turbotrent) from MAN to EDI a year ago.

In the meantime, the audio-system played very nice music. Again a very nice touch.

At 16h12, the doors were closed, and the captain came on the PA with a very interesting announcement. He did not only carefully explain our routing, he also gave us hints how to make ourselves comfortable on board. He ended with: “just sit and relax, and thank you once again for flying BMI”.

This was followed with yet another welcome announcement of the purser, followed with the safety instructions (played on the screens above us).

We started taxiing after a PIA B743 in the new colours, an ERJ145 of BA and an XLA B752. From my window, I saw the impressive take off of the PIA B743. For info: PIA operated 5 flights into MAN from 7am till 1pm, very impressive. In total, 2 B772’s, 2 B742’s and one B743 of the airline visited MAN on that day.

At 16h31min18sec, we left MAN for a flight of 33min 24sec to LHR, after a take-off roll of 44 seconds.

Already after about 3 minutes, the flight attendants left their seats to start the service on this short afternoon-flight. Because this was not a mealtime flight, I had expected some pretzels. The surprise was big when the friendly flight attendants came back with a big tray full of sandwiches!

I took a ham sandwich, and it was very filling and tasty. No hot drinks were offered on this short flight, so I took a coke. The f/a kindly gave me a can of cold Pepsi-coke.

Being in the 2nd row of economy class was nice because we were served so early (only a few minutes after take off). It was funny to see how the f/a’s had to rush through the cabin to give everybody his/her food on time.

At 16.45, we had started our descent into LHR already. A few minutes later, the first officer again came on the PA with flight information (arrival time into LHR, again weather info, and again finished with ‘thank you for flying BMI’). The whole cabin + cockpit crew on this flight was just excellent!

At 16.54, the first officer came on the PA again with a short message for the f/a’s: “10 minutes to landing”. Of course, everything still had to be cleaned. So they started rushing through the cabin to collect the leavings. Amazing was that, at this point, some people asked for another drink (!). This while the first officer had told on the PA that we would be on the ground in 10 minutes, and while the f/a’s were hurrying to secure the cabin in time. Isn’t a sandwich service and a drink service enough on a 30 minutes flight?

The f/a’s finished their job just in time, and at 16.59, we heard the sound of the landing gear coming down. Amazing, really amazing was the approach we had above London. We flew almost above the Tower Bridge, had an excellent sight on some well known buildings and attractions visited a lot by tourists. A year ago, I had a similar approach above London, but during the night (arriving from EDI on a delayed flight (on G-CPEL, B752 of BA), with a lot of attractions being lighted up which was breathtaking to see).

At 17.03, we touched down at Europe’s best airport for spotting. After braking VERY hard, we vacated the runway, and taxied to our stand. Unfortunately, our stand was still occupied so we had to wait 10 minutes. No problem for me! I took my binoculars and started spotting. The most special aircraft in those 10 minutes was (at least for me) OH-LZF, an AY A321. This was their last A321 I needed to complete my log. Other aircraft (unfortunately no new ones) I saw were C-GFAF (AC A333), 9M-MPA (MH B744), B-2385 (CA A343), AP-BAK (PK B742),…

After 10 minutes, we taxied to our stand, and I started searching for a good spotting location. The search didn’t last too long: only after a few metres of walking, I found a window with 27R-09L (in use for landing) just in front of you. I also managed to see the departures from this spot, but read them off was impossible (which is no problem with the arrivals/departures logs of LHR being posted on the internet).

Some of the interesting aircraft I saw during my 1h45min stay: HS-TGY (TG B744), A7-ACB (QR A332), A6-EYC (EY A343), JA707J (JL B772), 5Y-KQX (KQ B763), A6-EMM (EK B773), 9G-ANE (GH DC10), B-16403 (BR B744), 9V-SPL (SQ B744), VH-OJL (QF B744), JA8077 (JL B744), 6Y-JMP (JM A343), ………. (too much to write down).

At this time (20 minutes before departure of my flight – I had moved to the International Departures area in T1 in the meantime), my flight was delayed for 1h. No problem, one hour more of spotting!

When my flight was called an hour later for boarding, I was quite annoyed to see that the gate was located quite far. To make it even more annoying: parked besides our full A320 of BMI was a delayed B744 of SA (and both aircraft were full). The people of both flights hurried to the gate, only to be welcomed with… a second security control. About 500 pax had to go through security again. At this point, some people became very annoyed and started discussing with the security officers. Because the queue was so long, they let at least 100 people pass the security area without having to go through security. Unfortunately, I was not in that group.

At the very full gate area, we greeted by very friendly BMI gate officers. Boarding was called, starting with disabled people, and people with children, followed by business class, the last rows of Y and all other rows of Y. They were very strict in this procedure: if you sat in row 15, while they were still boarding for row 17 till the end of the plane, you were sent back to the back of the row! Saw that several times. They also carried out the first (!!!) ID check I experienced on that day (nobody asked my ID in MAN, and my ID also wasn’t asked while going from the domestic side of T1 to international departures).
A very friendly cabin crew welcomed the passengers. The captain came at the PA, excused himself several times for the delay (caused by the fact that, for some reason, 3 more bags were loaded in CDG (from where the plane came)). When unloading those bags, the aircraft had missed its slot. Our departure in LHR was slightly delayed again (with 15 minutes) because a bag of a no-show passengers had to be unloaded.

This was followed by an announcement of the cabin crew, who wished us a nice flight, and thanked us for flying BMI. They also asked us to pay attention to the safety demo.

In the meantime, I was spotting from my window the arrivals at 27R. There was a lot of traffic (all the time 6 or 7 landing lights in a row), but I only made 2 new regs: F-OGQQ of Aeroflot (A310) and a KTHY A321.

A word about our aircraft: a dream became true! I really wanted to fly the old Star Alliance colours, before all aircraft would be repainted into the new ones. And guess which aircraft was operating LHR-BRU on this nice evening… G-MIDX, the A320 of BMI in the old Star Alliance colours!

Image
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/624264/L/

Aircraft type: Airbus A320-232
Registration: G-MIDX “Star Alliance”
C/N: 1177
Flightnr: BD157
Departure time Scheduled/Actual 20h15/21h39
Arrival time Scheduled/Actual 22h25/23h21


We made a quick taxi to the runway (27L this evening, this is why I had selected a window seat on the right side of the plane), passing the 2 BA B763’s that returned to LHR after spending quite some time in the desert (my BA B763 log is again complete now). Taxiing behind us were a LH AR8 and an AC B763. 2 QF B744’s were at the gate, together with an EY A332, PK B743 and a lot of other nice stuff.

After a 39 seconds take off-roll, I had a very good view at the construction works of T5 (at the beginning of 09L). Amazing to see how much progress they made in 1 year.

It became very dark at that time, so I put my pair of binoculars away, and relaxed while listening to an announcement of the captain with flight info.

The service on this flight was excellent again: we had a choice between a cheese sandwich and a chicken-maize sandwich. I opted for the chicken-maize sandwich and it was very tasty, even one of the best sandwiches I ever had in the air. The bar service: there was a big choice of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, all for free. I opted for a cup of tea.

The rest of the flight was very uneventful: the cabin crew was very nice and cared a lot about the pax. The cockpit regularly updated us on the progress of the flight. Outside, I enjoyed the sight of ‘Belgium by night’ once we had passed the Belgian coast.

We started our descend towards BRU, and I noticed something remarkable: almost 10 minutes before landing, the landing lights were already on. Anybody knows why they were switched on this fast?

We touched down at 23h21min08sec local time, at… runway 25R. This while we had to be at the other side of the airport. From where this decision? If we would have landed at 25L, we would have been able to taxi almost directly into our gate. Anyway, no problem for me as I managed to spot all parked traffic at BRU.

After quite a long taxi, the aircraft was connected to the gate, and an end had come to a very nice BMI flight-experience! My passport was checked by a very friendly security officer (why do people always complain about security officers at BRU? Never have I had an unfriendly one).

My dad was at the airport to pick me up, and after a 45 minutes drive, I was at home!



This was the end of a 2-day trip in the UK. Besides meeting a lot of new people (it’s always nice to see the faces behind the nicknames), it was also a successful spotters-weekend with quite a lot of new registrations, and 3 new flight experiences.

BMI exceeded my expectations. They were really excellent on both flights, and of course, I will fly them again.

Hope you all enjoyed this report. Comments/criticism/… is welcome as usual.

No pictures are included yet. Some problems with my webspace have to be solved first. Once they are solved, I’ll include the airlinemeals, and some inflight pictures.

Regards
Frederic

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AN124
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Post by AN124 »

Wow Fred,

That what I call a detailed flight report.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Best Regards,
Yvo

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Jumbolino
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Post by Jumbolino »

Hi Fred,

Thanks for this long report, nice that you could fly the "Star Alliance", I never had the faviour nor neither :(

CU Ju.

killerwhale65
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Re: Manchester - London Heathrow - Brussels on BMI

Post by killerwhale65 »

Sabena_690 wrote:I noticed something remarkable: almost 10 minutes before landing, the landing lights were already on. Anybody knows why they were switched on this fast?
As far as i know, landing lights are switched on under 10.000ft
Sabena_690 wrote: We touched down at 23h21min08sec local time, at… runway 25R. This while we had to be at the other side of the airport. From where this decision?
Maybe it had something to do with noise regulations (it was after 11pm already).
Question: did u use reverse thrust on landing? Cause when we came back from Paphos a few months ago, we didnt (to avoid noise), but that was at about 2am.
Matthias Thoen
MicroWings - Aviation Hobby Store

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

Interesting report, I've usually read nothing but praise about BMI. I now know what to expect at MAN security in a few weeks - do they do anything like that at Brussels? I will also keep an eye open for that "Star Alliance" Airbus, I bagged a couple of the "Star Alliance" BMI aircraft in MAN, but they were an ERJ145 and an A330. Not seen the A320 one yet.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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B744skipper
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Post by B744skipper »

Nice and interesting report to read. :D

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Sabena_690
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Joined: 20 Sep 2002, 00:00

Post by Sabena_690 »

Thanks all for your comments!

@Louise: at BRU, you have to show your passport at least 2 times before you can enter a plane (unless you are lucky).

@Matthias: yes: we used reverse thrust. Thanks, didn't know that landing lights must be on below 10000ft.

Frederic
Brussels Airlines - Flying Your Way

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

Sabena_690 wrote:Thanks all for your comments!

@Louise: at BRU, you have to show your passport at least 2 times before you can enter a plane (unless you are lucky).

Frederic
Thanks Frederic. The airports are altering their security systems quite quickly, it seems. There was nothing like that in March, either in BHX or BRU.
I will be interested to see if BHX have implemented that system when I am there in November.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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Sabena_690
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Post by Sabena_690 »

The airports are altering their security systems quite quickly, it seems. There was nothing like that in March, either in BHX or BRU.
If SN would have followed the rule they created a few weeks ago (i.e. that passports will be checked before entering the plane), they would have asked me 4 times to show it before I was able to board my SN-flight. Now it was 3 times.

Frederic
Brussels Airlines - Flying Your Way

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ATC
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Post by ATC »

Thank you Sabena_690 for the detailed report... :D

I liked reading it...
very intresting...

greetings,
ATC

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

Still on the topic of passposrt checks, at one time UK citizens could go to the Republic of Ireland without needing to show a passport. But when we landed in Dublin last June, we had to join a passport control queue from what, at one time, would have been classed as a domestic flight. Thankfully we always carry our passports on holiday just for ID purposes.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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sn26567
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Post by sn26567 »

Thanks for your very nice and detailed report, Frederic.

Especially the times expressed in seconds! Wow! Do you have a chrono watch?
André
ex Sabena #26567

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Sabena_690
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Post by Sabena_690 »

Thanks ATC and André!
Especially the times expressed in seconds! Wow! Do you have a chrono watch?
No, no chrono. When I fly, I write down 3 different hours:
1) when we start the take off-roll
2) when we rotate
3) when we touch down

Like this, you can easily calculate the flight time, and the time the aircraft needed to get in the air.

Frederic
Brussels Airlines - Flying Your Way

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Avro
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Post by Avro »

Thanks for this very nice and detailed trip report Frederic.
It was really nice to read it.

BMI seems to be a good airline !!

I'm looking forward to your next reports ;)

Chris

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