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saneguy · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 23 Location: India

I traveled to Chennai on the fateful day of the strike of Jet Airways' Pilots. My flight was I believe one of the handful few flights of Jet that actually operated on that day.

The trip: It was a usual business trip for a day. I was booked on 9W 463 Jet Airways - Mumbai Chennai with a scheduled departure of 0645 and a scheduled arrival at 0835. I stay quite close to the airport and had already done a web check-in so I wasnt in real hurry to get to the airport. But the previous night I got an SMS from Jet saying the aircraft was parked in a remote bay and hence requested an early boarding to ensure we leave on time !

Nonetheless I reached the airport by 0600 hrs. It was a normal day like any other until of course I stepped in near the check-in counters through Departure Gate 2 at Mumbai Domestic Terminal. The scene was simply Shocked

Almost the whole terminal was packed with people stranded on trolleys and squatting on the floor. Honestly I never realized the strike or anything. It just did not occur at that moment. I did not have any check-in baggage so headed straight for security.

Got through with it quite quickly and was waiting for the departure announcement. Thats when on the screen I saw Jet Flights being canceled. Mumbai - Vadodara, Mumbai - Indore, Mumbai - Bangalore all canceled. Anyways for my flight they got a little late and finally the boarding announcement happened around 0630. We obviously were quite behind schedule.

Now the "trip" to the aircraft definitely needs its own paragraph. We got into the bus and the epic journey commenced with a full packed bus ! So we started moving towards the international terminal.

First you cross the domestic departure gates and then they have a make-shift roundabout which leads to farther situated parking bays. You still keep going and you are now parallel to the taxiway to Runway 09/27 and you go around it. (Sorry I couldnt take any pics). Now you have to actually cross a taxiway ! Our bus had to wait for 2 minutes for a Gulf Air Airbus to pass-by Very Happy

(Soon they'll have regular traffic signals there and a Havaldar asking a plane to wait for us to pass Very Happy

) I must say Gulf Air planes have one of the most vibrant paint jobs I've ever seen. Looks quite pretty and mighty from up close.

Finally after the beauty passed we passed and still went on and on passing all the smaller workshops of various airlines and still more parking bays. Finally we crossed over to the international terminal and our flight a Boeing 737-800W was waiting. It was parked right next to one of the aerobridges of the international terminal. I traveled from Andheri to Santacruz (For the unknowns the Mumbai Airport is spread between three suburbs starting North with Andheri and moving South through Vile Parle and ending at Santacruz. Unlike most airports which have common terminals separated by entry gates for domestic and international flights Mumbai has completely different set of terminals about 4-5 km away geographically. The international entrance is located at Andheri and the Domestic at Santcruz). As I was saying I traveled from Andheri to Santacruz and then back to Andheri to board the flight Very Happy

. The aircraft was not ready; another new for the day. They had not attached the airstair to the aircraft. Another 2 minutes gone waiting in the bus for that. Finally we boarded.

I had an Aisle seat on one of the emergency exits. There were just two seats in this row so it was even better. We finally taxied to runway 09/27. The pilots did announce a delay because of "aircraft being parked at remote bay". I'd say the "remotest bay" Mad

And we commenced the best part of the journey at 7.30 am (45 minutes behind schedule): the take-off. Still thrills me after all these years. The speed is awesome on the tarmac. Feels great. The take-off was nice albeit a little steep I'd say than normal or maybe I was just too dazed after the long drive to the aircraft Rolling Eyes

It climbed to 35,000 ft and we were cruising then. They gave us this magazine called The Week. Some newspapers were also there. I always make it a point to read "The Jet Wings" in-flight magazine of the Jet. I have usually found it to be quite good. The quality of some of the articles is quite good. They do some great reviews of hotels and destinations. Have always found some very interesting information in it. This time was no exception either.

Breakfast commenced around 20 mins into the flight. They started off with Juices: Lime Water and Orange. We had a choice to opt for South Indian or North Indian in Veg. I opted for the North Indian one knowing my lunch would surely be South Indian in Chennai Smile

. The spread was decent I'd say. One bun bread, butter and jam. A bowl of fruits. Two pieces of Aloo Paratha and Mutter Bhajji. Tea / Coffee of course. I heartily filled myself after the early morning wake-up !

We commenced our descent around 0840. There was some mild turbulence as we passed through some clouds and into the clear. The landing was good and we taxied off the runway to the parking bay.

At the airport outside as I was passing I read the headlines on one of the TVs about the Jet strike and realized how lucky I was to make it here. Not realizing then that my return flight 9W 470 was to be canceled ! ! ! !

Anyways I'll end here. The return journey is another story and deserves another post. I shall do that in a couple of days.

Sorry if this post is too long but I had to let it all out Smile

Karan69 · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1334

Good Descriptive report especially of the journey on the bus

Karan

Nimish · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:26 pm Post subject:

I wonder now if you were lucky to make it to MAA, or would it have been better if your flight had been cancelled ex-BOM itself Smile

Sounds like the a/c was just done with an international sector, and now being used on a domestic one. That's the only reason I can think of why they would park the a/c in the international terminal...
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Spiderguy252 · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:34 pm Post subject:

I disagree with that last comment there; NO Trip Report is too long! Very Happy

Nice report anyway. Was the GF a 343 or a 320?
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Yeah.

saneguy · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 23 Location: India

@Karan: Thanks !

@Nimish: My exact thoughts. Although Chennai is a great city being a n00b I didnt have much idea of what to do around. I was free by 6 pm with no flight to catch Very Happy

@spiderguy: Thanks for not agreeing I'd say Very Happy

. GF was a 320

saneguy · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 23 Location: India

Another odd thing which is where Nimesh you could be right. I have taken this same 9W463 to Chennai atleast 4-5 times in the past 3-4 months. Each time we had very good in-flight entertainment with a proper TV ! ! ! !

They have some amazing collection of movies and shows. But oddly enough in this case it was missing. They had the standard music with headphones. I didnt bother with that.

So you could be right this might be an international leg a/c. But if I am not wrong shouldnt it be the other way round? They'd surely keep the In-Flight videos for Int'l rather than domestic.

Either ways I think the chaos of the pilots is most likely to have had some impact on this a/c change against my normal a/c

rutvij · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 7:14 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

You could have buzzed the MAA Gang.

saneguy · Member Joined: 24 Apr 2009 Posts: 23 Location: India

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

hehe nice detail Smile

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