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To the United States I go - Jet's red eye to Kolkata!

 
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:25 pm    Post subject: To the United States I go - Jet's red eye to Kolkata! Reply with quote

Hey all!
I will be doing a back to back with this one, just to hurry things up a little bit! Under 48 hours following this, I will put up the next part...just before I go on a trip.

To recap:
Leaving Sri Lanka was painful, I flew the best way out, on a SriLankan A330 to Chennai. This was followed by a quick Premiere class run on Jet to Mumbai. I met some lovely aviation enthusiasts on the way, that is always fun! Very Happy

The clock struck twelve. 30th July 2015. Two flights over the course of the day. There I was in Karan's house, gazing at his collection of die cast models... Stuff that I've only seen on the internet, for example: a Jet Airways A340, a few of the Kingfisher birds that don't exist anymore (or they never did..), and many many other exotics International beauties..let the pictures do the talking!





Dropped off Arnabh on the way, and it was time to head to Terminal 1B, the Jet Airways terminal. Perhaps the last time. I arrived at 0047 hours, and joined the check in. And to my surprise - the Jet Airways line was pretty long! There were flights to Kolkata, New Delhi, Goa, Ahmedabad, Chennai between 0200 and 0300 hours (and a Bengaluru departure at 0305). The number of people in the check in line was surely encouraging to see for Jet: these red eye flights are popular! And no, passengers transferring from international flights do not have to wait in the check in line, they head straight for security - us passengers in line simply opted for the oddly timed flights!



I learnt that some pilots from the Hong Kong - Mumbai flight were deadheading on another domestic flight. Delhi is what I thought, since that's the only other city from where Jet Airways wide bodies depart from. I waited a good fifteen minutes in the line. It was time to check my bags in. 16kgs is what both weighing scales showed, a 30kg limit on the international, and 40kg limit on the Premiere class flight. I only had a 15kg limit for this domestic economy class flight. 16kgs is what the scale showed, again.
'You have exceeded the baggage limit by one kilo. How many bags do you have sir..?' asked the lady at the check in counter
'Just these two..' I said
'Okay, I'll tag your bags through..'
And there we go! 16kgs in Economy for a super discounted ticket - this was awesome!


Security was pretty quick because there wasn't anyone in line of course. I headed for the Cafe Coffee Day but it was closed - however, the nice people there let me take a seat staring at the tarmac, not that it made a difference because it was 0130 in the morning and the rains had its effect with the droplets on the glass. I wasn't there for very long, trying to keep my sleep away.


According to the aircraft type shown on expedia, a Boeing 737-800 WINGLETS would operate my flight. From my tested theory, this means a B73H, or a high gross weight 737, usually the ones with inflight entertainment, or the Boeing Sky Interior. VT-JBM/N/P (the no-IFE, no BSI birds) were off to their respective South India - Gulf runs, I wrote these registrations off the list.


Bus to Kolkata...?

Being a silent airport, I walked out for a bit and saw that boarding for 9W484 to Kolkata was already underway. I decided to head for boarding. The bus was cold. And so was the weather (well, in relative terms). The bus drive was a bit long. We stopped close to one plane, and I found it tricky to see the registration. I stepped out, and there it said on the nosewheel: BC! VT-JBC, a HGW Boeing 737-800, with IFE! This was awesome, finally a new registration! Swissair and Lufthansa A330-300s made their arrivals..




I stepped on to the plane and I got a pretty warm welcome onboard! I walked into the cabin and noticed two things: first of all, the pilots were deadheading to Kolkata on my flight! And second, the business class seats were the ultimate shock of my life - they weren't the international leather seats! They no longer were - they're the old cloth seats! And that's when the second shock came, in economy class. The international economy class seats have a headrest and this wonderful thing called a personal TV screen. Nope. None of them. TVs were deadweight on the bulkhead divider, and a few seats here and there, but they mostly were the Konnect seats. I took my seat 14F. It then struck me that this plane was thrown into a domestic only rotation a few months ago (9W2363 PNQ-BLR-CCU-GAU-IMF/JRH and 9W2364 IMF/JRH-GAU-CCU-BLR-PNQ), and that's when I doubted things about JBC - why would they use a plane for international flights on a domestic rotation? The answer was clear.

What the heck is going on?!


Oh. My. God.

The plane filled up rather well actually! Not sure how many were actually BOM-CCU passengers since this flight was codeshared with Etihad, ANA, Alitalia, Air France and Virgin Atlantic. However, it wasn't full enough to ensure that I'd have an comfortable 2.5 hours - the middle seat was empty. One plane that saw nearly got me a tear in my eye.... UL141 from Colombo had arrived. Nope, not the bog standard A320, but instead, a beautiful A330-200 registered 4R-ALD!


We pushed back more or less on time, and a super quick taxi dash to Runway 27 followed, we took off into the dark skies over Mumbai and turned. The CFM56-7B24 engines sounded quieter than what I heard on VT-JGR: this plane was just less than a year younger than JGR and yet it sounded like such a huge leap in engine efficiency!

It was a pretty turbulent flight along the way. Food served was exactly the same as what I got on 9W626. And there I was expecting something else, darn it Sad





Lights went off, my tray table was mysteriously closed as I fell asleep. I only woke up once to see an Ethiopian Airlines 767 fly back to Addis Ababa from Hong Kong - pretty epic sight for the time of day er night!

And then next time I woke up, the cabin was being prepared for arrival. It was about 0358 when we began what was a pretty roller coaster of a descent! Clouds caused a load of bumps, so much so that the engines were applied full throttle for about half a second before being pulled back - it sounded pretty scary! Rainwater splashed onto the windows and disappeared, before returning again. This was some treacherous weather we were dealing with!





It wasn't long before we touched down on Runway 01R, and a pretty hard one at that. We were about four minutes late (9W484 has a block time of 2hr25min, as opposed to the other flights during the more sane hours, which have a block time between 2hr45min and 3hrs, so reaching before time is unlikely with this flight, while still reaching a few minutes late..) Kolkata airport was unsurprisingly dead at the hour. A shower had just passed by, judging by the lakes created on the tarmac. VT-JGT had arrived from New Delhi, she'd head to Port Blair. VT-JBC would now head to Delhi as 9W2315. Amazing isn't it? Rather than parking a plane in one airport, fly it as a red eye to another, before having an early morning service to a third airport...and these are all trunk routes! Kudos to Jet for utilizing the planes well.


Mysterious QR 77W!




An announcement was made for all Silchar bound passengers to stay back on the plane. The sun started to rise as I headed down the stairs into the last bus waiting. Seeing the deadweight TVs once again got me sadness. The ground agent seemed a bit flustered because only three of the four passengers to Silchar actually were on the bus, leading to a potential delay of the ATR's departure (VT-JCR). We stopped right by JCR, dropped the passengers off as I saw people get off VT-JGT, again, parked at a remote stand because that blue airline decided to waste aerobridge space by parking their planes there overnight. There was VT-JFW parked at the aerobridge, which headed back to Mumbai as 9W618.





JCR to Silchar


Again, soon to be gone!

The sun started rising rapidly. Entering the terminal, it was quite a long walk to our luggage belt. And we had the passengers of 9W2263 from Delhi along with us at the same belt. That did lead to a bit of a crowd, but not too much because both flights were about 60-70% full. Bags took quite some time to arrive! I spent a good hour from landing to getting bags…says a lot, right? Come on Rolling Eyes




pre-booked a non-ac cab to Triangular Park, where my uncle lives, and of course, they were preparing for just another day, not knowing I flew in to Kolkata and would fly to San Francisco from Kolkata! I can’t remember, it was either Rs.250 or Rs.350, but I had just enough in my wallet to cover that: college student issues and there I was not even in college yet. Razz
Because I was so nearly broke, I couldn’t pay for tip to the person who put my bags into the boot of the taxi. So I had to argue my self out - I could have put the bags into the taxi, and I didn't have cash. That lasted a while before the penny dropped - the driver didn't know where Triangular Park was. Here I was, in Kolkata, a city where I've gotten lost countless number of times. The driver (who really wasn't more than 22 years of age..) took some long-ish route but it got me home, just about. The wobbly cabbie nearly exchanged paint with about 5 or 6 cars, it was that scary. To top it off, I gave the guy Rs. 20 which he grabbed off my hand and just opened the boot and stood there. Not going to get my bags out? That's totally cool. Smile Compare this taxi experience in Kolkata to the one I had in Mumbai not too long ago. Says a lot, right?

I headed up the stairs. Rang the bell. It was almost 6 in the morning. The door opens. Its my cousin sister. 'What the f*&k?!?!' was the reaction I got.. And no surprises, I guess Razz
That's when my granny walked in. She was, strangely, angry! So we told them that someone will come and pick up the other suitcase I was packing in my Kolkata trip (13th July to 17th July, thanks to Emirates' very generous luggage allowance!), and that someone was me. It was the 30th of July, and we were to head for San Francisco on the 31st. Stress for her as no one came yet... And then I showed up.
Also, she felt I was going to back to Colombo on the same day, and hence 'wasting money for my useless aviation wants'. Ouch Granny Sad My uncle missed his SG CCU-IXB flight the previous day because of the storm around. I could see reasons why she was unhappy. I asked her to at least let me in... I cheekily headed for the bed even before she asked me any questions! She was still puzzled as to what was going on, until I woke up, just four hours later.....

PS - notice no obligatory winglet shot? Sad
There will be none in the next two parts to follow

Regards
Jish
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, I get the pole position again!
Thanks for a lovely TR, which is awash (pun unintended) with emotions, and we can feel your tiredness as well, with the incessant travelling. You have described it all so well! Indeed, JBC looks in bad shape from the inside, with the seat assortment, though it looks very neat and clean otherwise, in the usual Jet way. What a collection Karan-ji has!
Karan-ji: the die is cast, now we need a TR from you, very soon. Please cover your much-vaulted (pun unintended, again) quickly!
Strangely, CCU has never been able to be prompt with checked-in luggage. This is possibly the only crib I have about the new terminal. I guess many things changed, including habits of the same people around, but...I wonder if Dr. B. P. Sharma, the efficient and savvy Director of the airport when T2 came about, had not erred in not having an automated baggage handling system.
And those were some naughty tricks with Granny Smile
And yes, need we add that we look forward to your next TR, which you have promised in the next 48 hours?
Cheers, Sumantra.
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Karan69
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice read Jishnu

Jet at its best with the mix and match of the seats, they should have put mood lighting in one section of the aircraft to conclude all various shades of 737 in their fleet

Sumantra Ji as usual with his best puns

Karan
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sabya99
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 6:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

@Jishnu, you at last survived Kolkata cabbies! I never take taxi from the airport to my home at night, rather I will wait for sunrise. Once they dropped in the middle of a slum in east Kolkata for bad gearbox.
It seems Kolkata airport is using both ends of both runways evenly. Perhaps this is to avoid runway damage to one side of runway only and to disperse the traffic load evenly. Did you notice any construction activity near the mosque? I heard AAI working on extension of taxiway F all the way to north. Any activity you noticed?
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Spiderguy252
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2015 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A nice read, Jishnu. We don't get many on the red-eyes out here. Wink

Quote:
Dropped off Arnabh on the way, and it was time to head to Terminal 1B, the Jet Airways terminal. Perhaps the last time. I arrived at 0047 hours, and joined the check in. And to my surprise - the Jet Airways line was pretty long! There were flights to Kolkata, New Delhi, Goa, Ahmedabad, Chennai between 0200 and 0300 hours (and a Bengaluru departure at 0305). The number of people in the check in line was surely encouraging to see for Jet: these red eye flights are popular! And no, passengers transferring from international flights do not have to wait in the check in line, they head straight for security - us passengers in line simply opted for the oddly timed flights!


Good to see these flights do well. There's another oddball red-eye on MAA-CCU that leaves at around half-past two in the morning out of MAA, I wonder if that shares the same success as well.

Quote:


Ah, VT-JBC, the 'Virat Kohli' plane. #Sumantra Twisted Evil

Quote:
And second, the business class seats were the ultimate shock of my life - they weren't the international leather seats! They no longer were - they're the old cloth seats! And that's when the second shock came, in economy class. The international economy class seats have a headrest and this wonderful thing called a personal TV screen. Nope. None of them. TVs were deadweight on the bulkhead divider, and a few seats here and there, but they mostly were the Konnect seats.


Why is this? Were the interiors always like this, or has the aircraft been 'demoted'?

Quote:
The plane filled up rather well actually! Not sure how many were actually BOM-CCU passengers since this flight was codeshared with Etihad, ANA, Alitalia, Air France and Virgin Atlantic. However, it wasn't full enough to ensure that I'd have an comfortable 2.5 hours - the middle seat was empty.


Yep, always love this. I've been lucky with the middle-seat myself through 2015. It's especially fun if you want to stealthily click a snap here or there too.

Quote:


UL usually operates the A321 into BOM; so I take it that this was a sub?

Quote:
VT-JGT had arrived from New Delhi, she'd head to Port Blair. VT-JBC would now head to Delhi as 9W2315. Amazing isn't it? Rather than parking a plane in one airport, fly it as a red eye to another, before having an early morning service to a third airport...and these are all trunk routes! Kudos to Jet for utilizing the planes well.


Note that this is an airline that hasn't received a new 737 since VT-JTB over a year ago; so it is indeed encouraging to see their utilization heading north in spite of it. Well done.

Quote:
An announcement was made for all Silchar bound passengers to stay back on the plane. The sun started to rise as I headed down the stairs into the last bus waiting. Seeing the deadweight TVs once again got me sadness. The ground agent seemed a bit flustered because only three of the four passengers to Silchar actually were on the bus, leading to a potential delay of the ATR's departure (VT-JCR). We stopped right by JCR, dropped the passengers off as I saw people get off VT-JGT, again, parked at a remote stand because that blue airline decided to waste aerobridge space by parking their planes there overnight. There was VT-JFW parked at the aerobridge, which headed back to Mumbai as 9W618.


What's with the Silchar thing? Wasn't the aircraft heading to DEL? Did the 4 pax share the bus with you?

----

Other notes:

* In all the reports I've seen and read, CCU comes across as a more aesthetically pleasing terminal than MAA. Do you find this to be the case as well?

* Taxis - why not Ola/Uber? You can avoid the wobbly old Amby's that way. Smile

Cheers,
Varun
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey all, thanks for your replies and detailed reads! Very Happy

Sumantra sir,
I faced the same problem a few days ago in relation to luggage delivery after a full B787 flight, which is in itself a reason for the delays. The T2 in Kolkata is reasonable and not too bad compared to the one in Chennai, at least!

Karan,
Hahaha! Mood lighting in one part - would there be newer Konnect seats there too? Twisted Evil
Thanks for reading and thanks for a wonderful time out at BOM!

Sabya sir,
That sounds very scary! Lucky for me, the sun was out just when I stepped out. And the driver did seem a bit intoxicated at the time, that was shown in his driving and attitude. I surely wouldn't recommend this service in the night, as you rightly said!
True about the runway usage. Is it because of sound restrictions at night? Or just simply used evenly? I couldn't notice any activity around the mosque Sad It was too dark and / or my eyes were shut!

Varun,
I guess I've covered quite a few red eyes...most of them on BOM-CMB, the great 9W256 Razz

It will be interesting to find out how the MAA-CCU-MAA flight is doing! It is Jet's only service on the route and some very strange timings. Hopefully connecting passengers?

LOL VK plane Razz

JBC had personal TV screens, so this was has in fact been demoted.

UL's A330 was a sub during that day

The aircraft was heading to DEL, but the passengers had to be sent to the aircraft (VT-JCR) on a bus, so to avoid confusion, they had to be on board for a while before they could be sent to the other aircraft.

CCU did look reasonable in my opinion, I can't complain.
And I had no internet connectivity, hence Uber/Ola was not a choice.

Regards
Wish
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jbalonso777
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi guys, as always, here are the videos of the flight:

Start up & pushback: https://youtu.be/EWjVvHK4OAM
Take off: https://youtu.be/F41-B0QkCMg
Landing: https://youtu.be/grRdAqdV1SY

And as always, the trip report: https://youtu.be/i2MisneGaqc

Jish
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