EMA is only about 20 minutes from our door so it makes a pleasant change from LHR.I was going to leave the car in the short stay in front of the terminal but on checking it would have cost 75 so medium stay was pre-booked at 20.50.The low cost carriers have made a huge difference to EMA's traffic and the car parks were absolutely jam packed. Still with a 10 minute walk to the terminal after a 10 minute hunt for a parking spot we were still checking in within 45 minutes of leaving home.
Check-in was swift and efficient the BP was colour printed on better paper stock than the black and white tat BA use. We only had a small carry-on each and nobody even asked to see them, I thought they would be pretty strict on size and weight. We wandered up to the security point no one else there at all, straight through and up to find the Priority pass lounge. On finding the lounge it was closed 'due to unforeseen circumstances I took that to mean weekends are slack so we can't be bothered to open.Oh well the bar is next door and we had that to ourselves as well. We watched a few aircraft coming and going over a pint or 2. Has anyone heard of British international, think it was a 767-200 going to Islamabad? The bar began to fill up there are 5 FR flights that leave late afternoon, looked like the neo Nazis were going to a meeting in Belfast 'I hate Illinois Nazis' popped into my head[:D]
The FR aircraft began to arrive all looked very tidy new 737-800 with the big winglets. Watching the aircraft turn rounds was interesting they took about 20 minutes, the fuel bowser hooking up as soon as the pax were off. Their charges must work in discouraging checked baggage as none of the aircraft seemed to carry more than half a bin of bags.
There was an announcement that the DUB flight would be 40 minutes late because of a delay to the incoming aircraft. Had a look around the duty free the airport has been completely refitted since my last visit about 10 years ago. We watched our plane arrive and within 5 minutes boarding was announced. The people who have paid to online check use a priority line once they were through the rest of us were allowed on. The aircraft have their own steps a lot of people bolted to the back set but we climbed up the front. The first 4 rows were blocked off maybe for trim reasons? Seats are 3&3 no numbers just plonk down where ever, we ended up in row 8 so in the 4th pax row so I wouldn't bother with paying for online check-in. The bins were quite full but everything went in fine. The seat is trimmed in blue leather/leatherette the safety card is stuck to the plastic seat headrest in front. Leg room is adequate and width more than so. Captain came on and apologized for the late departure due to his late arrival from Warsaw this morning, this had put his previous DUB flight behind schedule, how many flights a day do these guys fly? Fast push back as the safety demo was taking place and a fast flight time of 35 minutes announced.
Once in the air the drinks trolley was out within a couple of minutes I ordered 2 G&Ts it was 241 so we got 4 plastic sachets of some gin I had never heard of, a couple of cans of tonic and no ice, at least the cans were cold. I managed to feed the tray table some of my first sachet of gin. The crew served the drinks brought around a magazine sold lottery tickets and then collected the rubbish and the magazines before it became too bumpy and had to strap in, they earn their money. The captain said it was going to be a very bumpy decent and landing and it was. Lots of wing dips as we were coming in and a very hard hit crabbing down the runway, probably in the top couple of bad landing experiences. The Captain hoped we had enjoyed the landing as much as they had on the flight deck and wished us good evening. We were only now about 10 minutes late, quickly off into the porta cabin warren that is FRs part of DUB. After a long walk we were in a taxi heading for the Conrad within 15 minutes of wheels down.
I have to say I was impressed with the operation and would not hesitate to use FR in future.
