...arrived at STN for the outbound in reasonable time having used OLCI. Ryanair really annoy me with their carry on bag policy being smaller than the usual allowances so the nice case I have is too big but oh well...STN quite quiet for a Friday afternoon so breezed through secutiry and then headed to the bar (was on a stag do). When the time came had a short walk to the departure gate (no train this time) where we joined the scrum. Incoming flight late so we queued for a while before boarding, which was quite quick when it happened. 4 flights boarding at the same time in a space the size of about 1/4 the LHR CH was interesting!
Boarded from the back and my oh my those FR planes are yellow! They feel more like a bus with all that advertising. Leg room par for the course but the plane was very new. Seats dont recline and there are no seat back pockets. Even the emergency card is a sticker on the seat back.
Most of the cabin talked all the way through the safety checks (which you could barely hear anyway). English appeared to be the third language (at best) of all the CC. Take off and the rest of the flight uneventful. The beer was warm and the had run out of all food. Landing was possibly the hardest I've ever had - I'm surprised the tyres didn't burst [:0]
Retrun affair was fairly similar except that the CC contained 2 English people (possibly a rarity for FR?) and there was some minor turbulence. The landing was also worse than the outbound (are their pilots actually trained??) Harder and we only landed on the left side of the landing gear as the plane wobbled when it hit the ground.
STN passport control still a joke even with the new extension to the terminal open. Nearly an hour from plane to arrivals.
