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yash777

Route: ORD-AUH
Flight no. EY 150
Equipment: A6-EHJ a340-600

Never before I have been so excited to go back home mainly because:
-> I was heading home...duh!
-> Dad booked Etihad back home..This was an airline I've always wanted to travel with, but wasn't not looking forward to their magazines having atleast 10 pages of Man City articles...sigh
-> Finally new equipment. I was getting bored with AF T7s and so this was a good opportunity to get a new a/c in my logbook!
-> United were close to getting the 19th title! Nothing like being at home or with fellow reds watching us at the top of the perch!
-> Was looking forward to wearing a United jersey inflight as well as Abu Dhabi :p
I was tracking A6-EHJ since almost 2 weeks before I flew but it rarely flew on an American route and it had been mostly doing CDG/LHR routes. ORD mostly got A6-EHH. In the end I left it to luck...it was the only option really.
Booked the flight 3 weeks before departure and it was 1200$ return and the cheapest at that time.
Departure day was here and I was busy partying with friends in a pub in Chicago. Got home at 5 am and started packing at 10 am :p
Left for the airport at around 4 pm, thanks to Bakka for the ride. We got some dense traffic throughout and it took us almost an hour to reach ORD. Check in had almost started with a Swissport employee warning everyone with a fat bag about a 50$ overweight charge. I was confident that I would have to shell out 50$ and I was right. After check in security was a breeze which is one of the most hated parts of travelling for me. I had booked seat 32A which was the emergency exit according to Seatguru which wasn't the case later on. Our gate was right in front of security and hence I could see it right in front of my eyes! A6-EHJ was at the gate and my prayers were answered!

Some shots from the airport from my previous trip:

A6-EHJ at the gate:

Boarding came 50 mins before departure as as I said earlier, 32A wasn't the emergency exit seat but a couple of rows before it.
Some pics from 32A:

Soon after boarding I started clicking everything around me. The IFE was looking good but the remote was out of its place when I took my seat. Some pictures:

IFE out of its place. (Don't fall into the authentic trap. I am NOT a Glazer fan)

Etihad's IFE was sleek as I expected and it had a plethora of options from Instant Khichdi to some popular American sitcoms and hundreds of movies to choose from!

They looked good until I put them on

A brush kit. Never seen anything like this on other airlines

Aaaarggghhhh! Hate seeing these two in City colours!

Good merchandise on the left and Scum merchandise on the right.

Soon it was departure time and we pushed back at 8.25 pm. We were assigned rwy 10 for take off for an East departure. Some shots after take off:

Leaving the Illinois Mainland area above Lake Michigan.

Soon after I started watching Band Bajaa Baraat on the IFE. Just another crap yashraj movie with a predictable story. Can't believe I watched the whole of it.
Thankfully the sun rose just as we were about to enter Europe before I started watching any other crap movie.

Somewhere above Dolomite/Alps.

I found my seat to be uncomfortable even though a346s are known to be a lot comfortable over other widebodies. The food was very mediocre and it consisted of a tastless vegetable mix with the usual bun and butter. But the good thing was the food kept flowing till the end and it improved over a course of time with the dessert being top notch stuff.

Just before starting our descent as the sun is about to set:

After landing I went to the wrong gate for the connecting flight as I was very lost in United stuffing Chelsea for the 19th!. Eventually I had to walk for 15 mins to reach the right gate at Terminal 1 which looked like a pathetic junkyard.

Route: AUH-BOM
Flight no. 9W 573
Equipment: VT-JBC 737-800

Nothing great about this flight except a few Gujju labourers next to me asking for Beer every 5 minutes which had the FA pissed off to quite an extent. We landed on 27 at BOM with some heavy reverse thrust and docked next to the AI hangars with an Air Philippines a340, a QR a346 giving us company. Immigration formalities were quick even though the queue is always long.

Looking forward to the return leg on EY. Luckily they are switching to the 77W on the AUH-ORD route just before I leave so another new a/c type for me. Very Happy

Thanks for reading!
Yash
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me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

nice TR Yash! Looking forward to an array of "Top Shots" on JP from your side, just like when you were here last time! Wink

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Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

Nimish · Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 4:58 pm Post subject:

"A brush kit. Never seen anything like this on other airlines "

SQ offers these on the long routes - have a bunch of them - the zippered bags are very useful for organizing cables, chargers, shaving stuff and so on Wink

Band-baaja-baarat - sorry that you did not like the movie - I absolutely loved it!

Looks like you had some great flights, pity that the food wasn't top notch. How was the service on board? Did you notice any difference in service levels between AF vs. EY? What was the pax mix like on EY - predominantly desis transiting via AUH or a lot of O&D traffic or transit to other countries?
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We miss you Nalini!

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 8:48 pm Post subject:

Stunning shots, thanks for posting!
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Yeah.

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

We may not like a Yashraj `picchur', but we certainly love YashRaj(gor) pictures! A real gem, studded with stunning pictures. Right from the second picture with a familiar coloured flag amidst a black-and-white background, the Air Italy 763, to the last two wing shots - it was a treat to the senses. Adding to the shine is the soft interspersed humour: `They looked good until I put them on', `Good merchandise and scum merchandise'...make a great read. I eagerly await the return leg TR - also hoping that you will give us a bagful of BOM pictures, as the starter you have served us raises expectations of a wonderful multi-course meal to follow! On a different note, I wonder if you can pen down some of your trips in the erstwhile Soviet Union.
Cheers, Sumantra.

yash777 · Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 9:24 am Post subject:

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Thanks for posting. The pictures have come out excellent.

Sri_Bom