V-Flyer

LN610
TIP-BEN
A319-111
36,000 ft cruising alt.

After spending a day in Tripoli and two days in the Nafusa Mountains taking photos and dodging the occasional land mine, it was time to head back to Bengahzi.

I took a taxi with my fixer/translator out to the airport. It took about 20 minutes with the driver going 160km/hr (100mph)! And no, I was not wearing seatbelt (dead giveaway you are a foreigner). There are two checkpoints as you go to the airport. One is about 5 minutes from the airport, and another is right at the entrance. Both are manned by soldiers who are fairly heavily armed. There isn't really a need to worry though - they are usually nice and just wave you through. The fare was 15LYD (about £7).

All the roads are blocked except for one heading to the parking lot. The only way to get to the terminal area is to either walk from the parking lot, or wind your way though until you reach the road.

I arrived at 19:15 for a 22:00 flight. My bags were x-rayed upon entry to the terminal and I walked through the metal detector, setting it off, but was waved through. I was asked what was in my carry on, told them it was cameras and a laptop and was told it was all ok.

There were already people waiting for the flight, but no one to check people in. I was told by another passenger that it is a free for all to get a boarding pass, and a ticket doesn't guarantee you a seat. This worried me quite a bit as I had a flight at 10:30AM the next day to Istanbul from Benghazi, and this was the last flight of the night.

After waiting and waiting, I found someone who worked for the airline, he checked my ticket and said I **should** be ok.

Checkin started around 20:15 and it was chaos just like in Benghazi! There was no queue and lots of confusion about which desk to go to. Finally, after a few minutes staff organised a queue, one for standby passengers, and the other for ones with tickets. I checked again with another staff member who said I was OK, and told me to wait in the confirmed queue. The queue was lonnnggggg. I didn't actually get my boarding pass untl 20:55, 40 minutes later. My passport was actually checked this time around, unlike last time when I just walked onto the flight with no ID check! My bag was weighed and tagged and I was handed my boarding pass. I looked at it, and guess what?? It was blank except for the flight number and SEQ number (54), which were hand written on it.



We were called to go through security at 21:22, and I was through at 21:35. My carryon and body armour were x-rayed (I didn't trust them to keep my bag safe, so I carried it on. Especially at £1,200, it's an expensive bit of safety equipment to lose!). I put my wallet, boarding pass, passport, Nokia, Blackberry, Iphone, and Satellite phone in the plastic bins which was passed over the top of the x-ray machine. They saw it was so much stuff though, they decided to put it through. I walked through the metal detector and set it off, getting a pat down (but so did everyone else). I didn't have to take my jacket, belt or shoes off, and I kept my envelope of cash in my pocket.

The guy behind me just had his bag x-rayed, his phone, wallet, and headphones were not, but he also got a pat down. We then waited a few minutes in a seating area and boarding was called at 21:40 and I was walking to the bus which would take us to the plane a few minutes later. I got to the bus, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. In fact, we stood there for almost an hour! It was hot, dirty, and there were flies buzzing about. The airline also didn't tell us why. One of the passengers I was talking to went and asked what was happening. He came back a few minutes later and told me we were waiting for the Prime Minister. I didn't believe it, and said I'll believe it when I see him.

But, sure enough, about 5 minutes later, he walked onto the bus! It was him and his security guards (only about 4 or 5 of them). They didn't appear to be armed, nor did they form a wall around him. He just stood on the bus with everyone else! I of course immediately took out my camera and began taking pictures. He stood there smiling and shaking hands, holding people's kids, and posing for photographs. By this point we were on our way to the plane. A few minutes later we arrived next to the plane, an Afriqiyah Airlines A319-111 (one of two in service. I jumped off the bus and got in front of everyone to keep taking pictures. He said hello to me, shook my hand, and asked how I was, and I spoke to him for a minute or two (in Engish, and his was near perfect). It took a few more minutes to board because everyone wanted a photo with him, but soon everyone was boarding. He was right behind me when I boarded, I turned to see, he smiled, gave me a pat on the back, and took seat 1D in Business Class. I continuted to the back and took 13B in Y.

The plane was supposed to be a Libyan Airlines A320, but it was an Afriqiyah Airlines A319-111. I don't know for sure, but I assumed it was changed because the Libyan Airlines A320 only has Y seating, whereas the Afriqiyah A319 has a small J section, which was taken up by a few passengers and the PM's enotourage.

There were nice big widescreen seatback screens, and USB ports for charging phones, etc. The seats were green leather (what do you expect on an Airline owned by Gaddafi?)

Pushback was at 22:56 - almost an hour late. The plane was abuzz with activity as people were very excited to be on the plane with the PM. Even as we were taxiing, people were calling friends to tell them about it.

The flight safety video was played in Arabic, English, and Sign Language. It must have been quite old, as the electronic devices it used as examples were an iPod Mini, and an original Game Boy!

Takeoff was at 23:06. There was moderate turbulance until we reached cruising altitude.

Drinks were served at 23:30. The choice was pear juice or water - nothing else. It was a notably poorer service compared to the Libyan Airlines flight I took a few days earlier. (See my previous TR).

Nothing was shown on the IFE screens the entire flight. They never changed from the "Welcome onboard Afriqiyah Airlines" message/logo.

We began our initial decent at 23:38.

Gear down on the dot at midnight, with landing at 3 minutes past.

The PM got off the plane and was driven to his car.

I was waiting at baggage reclaim at 00:15. The reclaim belt was twice the size of the one in the international area of the terminal, and the room was also about twice the size. Which crazy person designs a terminal so the international area smaller than the domestic area??!!

A few bags showed up but didn't even make it half way around when the belt stopped - it broke. They put the bags out on the tarmac and made an annoucnement to claim them there. More chaos ensued. The soldiers let about half the people claim there bags while the other half waited. Once you got your bag, you showed the soldier the other half the the receipt to prove it was yours, and off you went. I had my bag at 00:32.

I haggled over the price of a taxi. They wanted 15LYD to my hotel, but I know it should never cost more than 10LYD. I told them this and they realised I couldn't be fooled, so 10 it was. There were five checkpoints on the way to the hotel, plus one directly at the entrance. All were manned by heavily armed soldiers.

I arrived at my hotel (Ouzu Hotel, four star, 102LYD/night, £45) at 00:57, walked through the metal detector and put my bag through the x-ray machine. I checked in and was finally in bed at 01:20, except I had to wake up at 07:00 to catch my 10:35 flight to Istanbul the next morning. See my next TR for that flight, and the following one to LHR from IST.