Yet I decided to re-book a flight to this destination and discover the nice Italian town.
On 10 Augustus I arrived at Charleroi Airport, could park my car in the underground parking facility and rushed to the check-in desk.
Altough I was there very early there was already a queue, due to the snail-like attitude of the staff… and many people with heavy luggage. When I got my boarding card I could notice the Belgian airport had changed its boarding card. They don't use a kind of home-made (or home-Xeroxed) pieces of paper with no name…
After the usual security screening performed by the dull and unattentive staff CRL-staff, I went to the waiting room and could spot a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 on the apron.
The CRL-based bird (EI-CTB) was already fully loaded and ready to depart to Rome. A Ford-van still sporting Sabena titles was parked close to the aircraft... Strange picture
larger pic
Thanks Mr Ryanair for the schedule-change! Last time this flight departed early in the morning… and I could not see its plane
At around eight o'clock, I could see EI-CSW arriving from Gerona. As some of its siblblings the Boeing sports special titles… promoting "Costa Brava - Pirineu de Gerona" next to its Irish registration. At the time the bird was based at the Gerona-hub and about to fly to that Spanish resort!
Note to Mr Ryanair: Why don't you dedicate a brand new 737-800 to Brussels South?
Five minutes later, EI-CSA landed "ahead of schedule"
, in Ryanair terminology. As a result the carrier's "oldest" 737NG was to fly me to Italy.Boarding was rather quick and the plane was in a better condition than expected. I remember flying twin EI-CSC and the interior was not as clean / fresh as this one.
We had to wait before taking off and could see the Boeing 737-200 of the Dublin flight landing.
Loadfactor was about 60-70% and I was surprised to notice some members of the cabin crew were smiling… and had a chat with the passengers.
Note to Mr Ryanair: This is a nice move from the crew. Please teach all of them to smile…
As usual I could get one of my beloved "emergency exit" seats…
Their colleague from the flightdeck were not as talkative: the captain gave his Italian-sounding name, wished us a good flight but did not provide us with useful information on the route.
Note to Mr Ryanair: All your pilots should copy the Irish or Belgian pilots who kindly give the itinerary, the names of the first officer and the flight attendants (but not their contact address yet
), the flying time, etc.
larger view
larger view
This picture does not really match with what I could see: the head-rest covers have indeed been replaced by a new type, featuring advertising for a famous chocolate candy-bar (see right pictures)
The flight was uneventful, I could see the snowy Alpes and we started our descent at least 35 minutes before the scheduled landing-time. Just after landing ("25 minutes ahead of schedule" as a purser proudly announced
). I could see some – stanger to me – planes: a grounded Gandalf Dornier 328, YR-SEE (?) a Carpatair Saab 2000 (the first of the type I've ever seen so far!), an unidentified SkyEurope Embraer and the usual DHL-freighter which was taking a rest before its night shift.Regards
BeN
Note: the pics are not mine but selected from a data base so that we can share what I saw. I took some pictures but I don't have a digital camera and I am still looking for a reliable slides-scanner.
