Airliners-India.com

[jbalonso777]

INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone!
And welcome.
To the year: two thousand and fourteen! (okay, few days to go) The year which sees a massive change to Formula One regulations. Now before I begin with that, I must stop immediately.
Straight to the point: I do apologize for not being very active on the forum. Class 11 (grade 12 as they call it here) or quite simply: the Advanced Subsidiary level (AS) exam preparations are in full swing, so really its time I start prioritizing things. But that isn't going to stop me from writing this trip report! I did try to fill in the gap between the Jaffna trip report and this one a brainstorm 2010 trip report, featuring a CRJ-200. I think I did a good job, but then again, I'm biased.

THE CLICHE: GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS..
Well.
That had to be there. Anyways. I'll begin with the bad news. And that is: I'll have to balance photography responsibilities between my phone and the big camera. What's worse is, that will be in both this TR and the next TR, which will soon follow. I'm a bit pessimistic about the next TR about ANY pictures being taken at all. So at least, there would be some pictures here, while possibly nothing in the next. And as you might have guessed, the good news is indeed that there will be another trip report straight after this one

FINE. NO PICTURES. GREAT. MOVING ON. EXPLAIN THE UN-PUNNY TOPIC!
Yeah.
I do apologize for the dip in quality ( ) in the two trip reports, however, do take note that those will apply to these 2 TRs only, I'll be back on pace later. Anyways, the topic, yeah.
A, B and C.
2 A's refer to the aircraft I'll be flying twice on this trip: the Airbus A320 (A320).
A refers to another aircraft I'll be flying once on this trip: the ATR 72-500/212A (ATR).
Beloved Bangalore referes to Bangalore (BLR) obviously, a place where I have fond memories of spending 6 years in my childhood.
And of course, cheery Chennai refers to my plans in Chennai (MAA), meeting a close friend of mine, and to share good memories of recent old times.

SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS THE PLAN LIKE?
Confusing.
Tickets for this trip were bought before I even left for my Dreamy Diversion to Delhi. And since early planning does not work most of the time that well, it back fired on us, too. Our initial plan was to attend a wedding in BLR, visit Coorg and the Nagerhole National Park, head off to Tirupati and then depart from MAA, as it is closer than BLR. Since the trip was during Christmas and New Year, we completely underestimated the crowds and difficulty in going to Tirupati. Anyways, with that cancelled, we had to find a way to get to Chennai. Car? Train? Flight? We had plenty of options.
Cars are boring on long distances. Unless its a Ferrari La Ferrari obviously, but I should stop dreaming.
Trains were the next option. Specifically, AC First Class. Since there is a limited amount of time before booking tickets, we had to wait. Varun, aka Spiderguy252, sent pictures on the WhatsApp group, featuring the double decker train service between BLR and MAA. And of course, the Shatabdi Express intercity train. A wide range of options. And yet, I suggested the third and final option.
Flights. 'The Joy of Flying' (...or is it anymore?). With a close friend of ours flying into Bangalore, we decided to find out the flights. And specifically, unique aircraft. The only unique aircraft on this route were SpiceJet's (SG) Q400 and JetKonnect's (Jet Airways/9W) ATR flights. SG were marginally expensive than 9W, and we also had miles to burn with 9W. Hence, the option was obvious. And no, it isn't me being a fanboy, as the majority of you would think. Wrong assumptions are never nice.
Anyways, we decided to take the second to last 9W flight out of BLR, operated on an ATR, also, the colleagues flight back to BOM would depart just 5 minutes prior to ours. Overall, the flight was marginally cheaper than the train, although it cost us some miles. But meh

The itinerary would look like:
UL171 26DEC 1845 2005 A320
9W2758 01JAN 2100 2205 AT75
UL124 02JAN 2055 2215 A320
Yeah. I know. No point in taking pictures, but I'll still try!

COOL PLAN. SO ANY PERSONAL STATISTICS?
Obviously.
As many of you might have figured, this is the first time I would be flying SriLankan Airlines. After many near misses, the inevitable would finally happen. SriLankan Airlines. Sounds exotic!
Also, in a way, JetKonnect would be another new airline added. Thanks to many brand confusions, 2 new airlines in one trip! Why is this my first time with 9W-K?
2011 Nagpur - Jetlite
2011 Bhubaneshwar - Jet Airways Konnect
2012 Kolkata/Bagdogra/Chennai - 3 possible 9W-K flights pulled up to be full service flights. Not that it was much of a difference, it just saved my pocket money.
And with ATRs only operating 9W-K flights, this is inevitable
Thirdly, I'm biased to only one major aircraft manufacturer. So the fact I'm flying on at least one Airbus plane (specifically, A320. I like A330s, and A340s. I'd fly them over B767s) every year since 2010, is quite something, for me.
2010: VT-INR ( 6E A320), VT-JWJ (A330-200)
2011: VT-KFD ( IT A320)
2012: VT-IGY (6E A320)
2013: UL A320
2014: UL A320
And last but not least: ATR.
The last time I flew on a plane with PW propellers was just a few months ago (August 2013) on the Xian MA60 to and from Jaffna.
The last time I flew on an ATR bird was in December 2006: VT-ABD flew me from GAU to CCU on Boxing Day. What a memorable flight :')
The last time I flew on an ATR 72-500/212A was more than 11 years ago!
And as you'd expect, it was a Jet Airways flight. Yes. Jet Airways full service, since Konnect never existed back in 2002. It was a rather peculiar HYD-MAA-BLR flight. Like I said before, I stayed in BLR for a long time in my childhood, so I was heading home. I remember getting off at MAA to re check in and all.
So yeah, my last AT72 sector was MAA-BLR, and the next one is BLR-MAA. Coincidence much?
That flight was operated by ATRs registered between VT-JCA and VT-JCH. One of them. Now that none of those birds are in the 9W fleet, I will surely have a new ATR72 registration logged in. A huge thank you to TAG4E, aka 'theairplaneguy4ever' for his brilliant south India flight video trip reports, featuring 9W-K's ATR flights. These really gave me an insight into what to expect from the flights!
Anyways, back to the ATR. A popular little bird. In fact, it is awesome to have one of its pilots (and Kimi Raikkonen supporter, I had to write that ), 'Optimus.Prime' on this forum! This video really fascinated me.. See it, and maybe you'll realize why.

YOU SAY YOU AREN'T A JET FANBOY. BUT DOES SRILANKAN HAVE A LESS ANNOYING WEBSITE?
Nope.
In fact, SriLankan Airlines' (UL) website has been one of the most most annoying for me to use.
Lets take a look at that by steps, shall we?
So you go to the homepage, put your details and all. (1)
You are redirected to another page where you need to re-enter your details (2), before finally being taken to the page where all the multiple dates and all are mentioned (3).
And finally, the options of flights and timings and all are given. (4)
A 4 stage process, could've easily been two.
Anyways, once the tickets were mailed to us, we found that the departure from MAA was 2050, instead of the listed 2115 hours.
AND EVEN BETTER: an Airbus A330-200 equipment instead of the A320!

Quickly, I decided to reserve our seats on the two flights. For UL171, I decided to sit on seat 16F, because I wanted to, hell knows why
As for the big Airbus A330-200, I selected seat 59K for myself. Again, hell knows why
But remember, good things have to come to an end. And this when UL's website started becoming even more and more annoying.
A random check on the manage my booking suggested that while our seats on the A332 were safe, there was an equipment downgrade to.. (its obvious. UL does not have a variety ). So seat 59K on an A320. Hell Yeah!

Unrealistic dreams could only become nightmares. And that happened when in the middle of reselecting seats for the downgraded flight. Fine, UL allows seat selection (or maybe, EVEN JET DOES TOO!), but when it leads to errors, obviously, there are unhappy customers. Me, for example.


And then, the nightmare got worse, when SriLankan decided to upgrade their systems to the renowned AMADEUS system. Good for them, as the UI looks a wee bit better. However, the first time passenger is still having issues because:

Well well well. Looks like Jet isn't the only airline out there with issues.

THAT WAS A VERY JET FANBOY PARA. SHOW THAT YOU AREN'T ONE..
Here goes.
Since there are a few people who wrongly assume I am a Jet fanboy, here's to you: I'm not. Simple
Things like that have indeed led to some spats between a few members and I on this forum, but I'm not going back there again.
Anyways.
Jet Jet Jet. Airways.
An airline with many issues.
First of all, apparently, there is 'no meal service' on this flight. And yet, Dad has managed to reserve a non veg hot meal for the flight. Oh wow. Big big blunder in the making? Perhaps. Time will tell.
Anyways, this picture will show what I'm talking about:

So then. There is no meal service, but there is a buy-onboard option. What could this possibly mean? A JetFail, that's for sure.
Oh and more JetFailures, thanks to the still ongoing brand confusion:

Oh dear. Jet Lite. An airline which apparently never existed, effective 25th March 2012.


SRILANKAN HAS IFE ON ITS A320. OR DOES IT?
Half.
SriLankan Airlines has 8 A320s in its fleet. These can be classified into 2 groups, each with 4 planes: before 2011 & 2011 and beyond..
The before 2011 birds are registered as 4R-ABG/J/K/L. The youngest bird from this set is a modest 7.3 years old. These have 12 J class seats. They mostly fly on routes to India (except DEL) and MLE.
The 2011 and beyond birds are registered as 4R-ABM/N/O/P. The oldest bird from this set is a crisp 2.7 years old. These have 20J class seats, while the seats are fitted with personal IFE screens. They mostly fly the routes which last slightly over 3 hours (i.e. KUL, SIN, KHI, DEL, and few middle eastern flights, and of course, the odd flight to South India.

FLIGHT #1: SRILANKAN AIRLINES FLIGHT UL171 COLOMBO-BENGALURU 26TH DECEMBER 2013
WEB CHECK IN AND ETCETERA
The moment of truth had arrived. Will UL allow me to web check in? After a heavy Christmas lunch, and the joy of a class getting cancelled, it was time for the web check in.
I went to the web check in part of the UL website.

That upgrade has been going on for 3 weeks now.
Thanks to the eticket number option, I was successful in reaching the passenger list page! *pops champagne*
Although, it took quite long, so really, the heart rate was quite high


Okay then. Here goes!


Fill in the APIS.


Here is the thing: in the first original seat allocation, I selected seat 10D/F for Mum (M) and Dad (D). That was an emergency exit seat on the new UL A320. And now, clearly, its been changed. Downgraded to one of the old A320s. Oh well. That can also be deduced from the 3 J class rows.
And I also decided to sit with M & D, since it was looking mostly full.


The final confirmation.


The final of final confirmations.


Online boarding pass. The PNR changed from a 3 numeric/3 alpha numeric digit code to a 6 alpha numeric code. The system change, as I have mentioned (far) above.

A prompt and quick email verification was sent...something Cathay took forever with, and Jet doesn't even have an option.


Overall OLCI experience was quite satisfactory, I must say.
It felt more like Cathay's OLCI experience, except, with the unnecessary that silly airline had to give me -_-
Updating APIS, was 9W-esque, because I had previously filled in the details. Oh well.
And the seat map, of course. The impression of EK still remains...on the seat map at least

The following day started slow due to a simple reason: I couldn’t sleep the whole night! Well, that’s just how it is I guess. All I had to during the night was wait. Wait for dawn. Wait to find something productive. Oh well.

IS IT MORNING YET?
Hell yeah.
I checked the surprisingly reliable airport.lk site, which gave a schedule of the flights arriving and departing. And to my surprise, all planes, which I hoped to see, were spotted by me. Read on! While being extremely distracted on WhatsApp, chatting with many of the Airliners-India group members, I left packing late.

AND WE’RE OFF, HELLO KATUNAYKE!
Rush hour.
Absolute madness on the roads. It felt as though all drivers/riders had a crazy mode activated. Tyre screeching. Tuk tuks changing lanes like there's no tomorrow. People honking like it could be their last. Oh well, fighting through the traffic, we made it to the new Colombo-Katunayke expressway. My first time on this road. It is quite an amazing road and saves a lot of time.



At the end of the road, I saw a Mihin Lanka A321 land. 4R-MRC flying MJ502 from Dhaka came in on time.
Quickly followed a mysterious bird. I had just about enough time to get my main camera out. I assume it is a Russian bird.



FINALLY THE AIRPORT!
Oh yeah!
It was rather overwhelming to see a large crowd in the airport. Of course, the UL bank flight was checking in (flights to DOH, MAA, MLE, DXB, BLR, AUH, DOH) so I guess it was obvious, the amount of people.


Christmas decorations

The UL baggage check.
It was really annoying to have people push us. Try to go through. Imagining as though we were invisible. People were running out of patience. Oh well.

People. Calm down please. There is 3 hours to go.

We walked into the check in line. The online baggage drop check in.

....only to be moved to the FlySmiles Gold and Silver members' line.


Immigration was...slightly dramatic. I joined line, only to be rudely shooed away by Mr. Rude Immigration Man. There was no sign of that specific line was actually for VIP, Crew or Wheelchair assisted passengers. Oh well, that didn't take too long, once I joined the proper line.

WHERE ARE THE PLANES?
Finally.
The planes. All of which I hoped to see, one by one.
Do take note this section has a large amount of pictures, please skip if you want to.
After 2 quick snaps with the phone to send it to the WhatsApp group, I finally kept my bags and started clicking a hell lot of pictures!

A beauty was parked. A wide one.
But that was soon going to be covered by the arrival of A7-ADT an A321 of Qatar Airways from Doha. This plane would now wait for a rather long time before flying back to Doha.


But what is that beauty I'm taking about?
Its a special livery AirAsiaX Airbus A330-300 9M-XXF to Male and Kuala Lumpur.

Photo bomb - the QR nose!


And she'll dock.

There were two wide beauties parked at the remote bay. One of course, a UL A332, the other was an A332 to as well....

Turkish Airlines Airbus A330-200 TC-JNO which will leave much later (2120!) to Istanbul via MLE.

Later to Narita..


The Russian whom we saw land.


The three wise Airbii?





Coffee! In a cup which can only found in UL's J class. And of course, Palm Strips restaurant.


A general look. From Dad's point of view.

A quick search on the airport website suggested that the Air India flight from Chennai would be slightly delayed. This meant I had some time to buy some coffee from the snack bar. While waiting, I noticed a small plane with floats coming in to land. 'Cinnamon Air Amphibian!' I said to myself. She landed and taxied quite slowly, so by the time I got the coffee, it was a race between me getting hold of the camera and the Caravan disappearing from vision. Sadly, science beats man most of the times, and I lost. I had to wait for a long time just to show you all what it actually is. Oh well
I started having a sandwich just when, VT-PPO decided to land.


4R-ABJ with a CHOGM sign followed suit, as it came in from Trichy.

Someone's trying to awkwardly trying to fit in

I took a look at the AirAsiaX bird. No trucks or vehicles around it. Departure was imminent. However, this took some time.


Because...


That awkward moment when even the most awesome things look quite out of place
On a serious note though, what bird is that?

Unfortunately, she didn't take off. That would've been a treat! But we had another treat, and that, was the departure of the AirAisaX A333.


Perspective.



Its only when I wanted to be at the centre, I could imagine the sheer size of the Airbus A330. Despite going to the absolute corner, almost into the premium lounge it felt, I still couldn't get a centre enough picture. The best, is just above.




Flaps down, ready to roll!

I missed the rudder. That looked brilliant

Beautiful. In my opinion, the Airbus A330 is the best looking aircraft out there today.

The failure tale: I thought the three tails aligned like this would look good. Dad laughed at my silliness.

Very nosy.


4R-ABK has come in from Chennai....


...just when the Cinnamon Air Amphibian passes by!



Amphibian is waiting to cross the runway to head towards its pit gara...er..hangar


4R-ABL from Cochin. I was surprised to see this bird with IAE engines!


...and finally, AirAsiaX departs!



4R-ABL also has the CHOGM colors.




I quickly checked the schedule of the flights. EK655 was the next departure, back to Dubai, obviously. As you can see from the pictures, not a single Boeing was seen. At least, the Emirates plane would be a Boeing 777! Or was it?

Yet another Airbus!
A6-EKQ was operating this sector.

Finally! The tale of 3 Airbus!

As EKQ held short, another Airbus (rather, another A330!) came in. This time, she had a blue body. The Korean Air Airbus A330-300 HL7585 from Seoul via Male came in.



And yet another A330 also from MLE landed. 4R-ALD an Airbus A330-200 of SriLankan Airlines operating flight UL116 made a rather hard landing (that is what it looked like)




Like I haven't seen too much of A330s, the KE A333 taxied in took the place where another A333 was parked.





A6-EKQ departed. An array A330s, right here:


What honestly surprised me was the fact that: EKQ rotated really really soon. Light loads on the A330? Either way, it was a very very short take off roll.


Early rotation!




By now, the sun was setting rapidly. VT-PPO taxied towards the runway for its flight back to MAA.



FLUKE! - panning! A mistake which got me a brilliant shot

CAN WE GO NOW?
Finally.
After seeing all the planes I hoped to (not a single Boeing, though ), we decided to head for boarding. Light was disappearing really soon. Oh and also, the boarding gate changed from Gate 6 to Gate B5. That's a first for me
But before that...duty free. Of course.


'Would you like to go to the smoking room? There are good spotting opportunities there..'
Uh..no

Gate B5 is a bus gate. Again, my first time boarding a plane in CMB on the tarmac! Well then. There was a long line because of security checks at the holding area. Both gates B5 and B6 were in use. So of course, there was a long long line.

That's the Indian flag.

Still on the stairs, entering a place which looked like a dungeon.

Convenient


Security and air side.


RISE UP: THE MIDDLE FINGER!
Something.
Something just had to ruin what seemed to be a perfect day.
After security, boarding was announced zone wise. Zones D and C first, followed by zones B and A. We stood in line. There was some lady in front. While she was being marked 'boarded' by the computer, Dad just went a little bit in front to pick up immigration forms. What did that Aunty have to do?
'BEHAVE!' she yelled at Dad.
While we were being marked 'boarded' by the lady at the counter, that Aunty turned back, lifted her middle finger up, looking at Dad with her big red eyes (drunk much? ). I gave her a look. She looked at me too. Just before getting up into the bus, I asked Dad to come close, I raised my voice and said 'Its very ironic when someone raises his or her middle finger up in public, just after asking someone to behave..'
She gave a smirk and get out of line.
Okay, very strange

HEY, HEY! IDIOTS EXIST, BUT IT IS A SMALL WORLD!
Dad told me, 'Idiots exist, nothing can be done to control children like her..'. We boarded the bus. Once we accelerated away, Mum looked at someone in surprise, while Dad too, was rather shocked to see someone.
It was a couple. A couple whom we last met in our stint in BLR. 12 years later, we meet them in a bus before boarding a plane! Here's the better part: they were part of a group who were going to the same wedding as us!
20 other people, the two of them, and three of us, so 25 people heading for the same wedding onboard UL171!
Anyways, I was one of the first ones to get off the bus.

Wait a second.

I didn't tell you all what the aircraft is! It is an ex-China Southern, 9.1 year old Airbus A320, fitted with 2 IAEV2500 engines. It also has that CHOGM logo, making it my second 'special livery' flight, after VT-JGV which had an ad of shirts.

I was one of the first to get off the bus, but the rush to get onto the stairs meant that I was the 11th or 12th passenger from this set to actually get on to the plane.

Purser Ajith was welcoming passengers onboard, with the namaskar hand position, however, in this case, its 'Ayubowan' rather than 'Namaskar'
For a 9 year old, this plane was quite well kept. Or so it looked like that. 3 rows of beige J class seats were succeeded by the rows of light blue Y class seats, with orange pillows kept on them. One of the FAs were serving pre-departure drinks to the J class passengers, while in Y, we were greeted with a friendly smile. Being in the festive season, the bird had a few Christmas decorations in the cabin. A nice touch
I took my seat 10F, and immediately noticed the leg room, was quite less. The UL website says that the seat pitch on this configuration A320 is between 29" and 32". This was surely 29". I put my bags and started noticing activities in the cabin one by one.

Christmas decorations


View out of the window


Instructions..

A water run was conducted while passengers were still boarding. This consisted of water being served in glasses, rather than bottles. Mum had asked for a blanket, a request which was greeted with a smile. However, since this was a short sector flight, blankets are not loaded. This was rather strange, but maybe its a cost cutting measure?
First Officer Fonseka came over the PA system and gave us details of the flight. We would be flying at an altitude of 36000 feet, and flying in 'typical Christmas weather'. Conditions in Bangalore were welcoming, and he wished us 'a happy new year' before going off.
4R-ALJ was being pushed back for its flight to Doha, quickly followed by 4R-ABJ to Chennai. A head count was taken thrice, with the clicking machine. Meanwhile, purser Ajith gave a rather short and not-so-informative guide on how to operate the exit doors in case of an emergency. Doors were armed at 1848 hours and almost instantaneously we were pushed back for departure. Soon, both IAEV2500 engines were brought into life as the manual safety demo was being done. Slightly delayed, although not much, we were soon taxiing towards runway 4 for take off, another first for me..

AND WE'RE OFF!

HL7585 preparing for its flight back (via MLE, of course)


The pre-take off preparations were done. One of the FAs asked a passenger to keep his laptop inside. Quickly, I opened my bag to see if my laptop was there in my, just in case I didn't leave it at security.



A pre-take off announcement was started as we were holding short. This was interrupted by the Captain, asking all crew members to be seated for departure. The pre-take off announcement obviously had an abrupt end to it, since it was a bit too late.

Soon, 4R-ABL was thundering down the runway and was taken into the night skies of Katunayke. After a few left-right banks, we were on course to BLR.

Click while it lasts! Since the lights were on for a bit, I took the opportunity to get a few pictures of the engine cowlings..


Hmm.


The Christmas spirit in full swing!


The safety card....
...is not in good shape..



SERVICE BEGINS!
Food.
What would it be?
At 1906 hours, just 6 minutes or so after take off, an empty looking trolley was pulled up. There was another one, right at the rear. The FAs took their time. Sadly, there were no options of food. Just one option.
It is interesting to note that: since there was only a vegetarian option, Mum didn't receive a pre-oredered Indian Hindu Meal.
An okay looking tray was presented to me. Passable.


However, the food was a massive massive let down. While I was really hungry, I finished it. Dad on the other hand, had a spoon and left it. Yup. Unacceptable in my opinion. It was vegetarian buriyani with a potato curry. It tasted horrible, absolutely terrible. Like I said, I was hungry, so I finished it.

And come on, Highland Yoghurt? Yoghurt which costs LKR25 being served on an airline which is a soon-to-be oneworld member? Nope, its a tough road ahead.

Plastic cutlery. Something I haven't seen on Jet for a long long time. I'm just saying: there are plenty of other airlines with issues.

A few cauliflower pieces were hidden at the surface of the container. They were worse than the rice itself.
3 drink runs were conducted. Tea, followed by beer and then coffee. Dad asked for a tea. Mum went for the coffee.

DIY coffee in progress.

DIY beverage kit.

I pushed my luck by asking for a soft drink. Once again, the FA greeted this with a smile and asked me what I'd like. 'Coke?' I asked. 'Sure, I'll just get it in a bit..' she said.
At 1924 hours, just 18 minutes after service, 2 FAs rolled trolleys up the aisles, wearing gloves, to take the meal trays away.

False hope of IFE. There were IFE boxes under the middle seats, too.


Once the trolley reached my row, I asked the FA about my drink. She apologized to me, as she had forgotten. She told me, 'I'll get it in a bit. I'm really sorry.'
And while she was clearing the trays, the captain came over the PA to announce that we'd be on the ground in 25 minutes time. I gave up hopes of the Coke, only to hear from the FA that she'll get it, even if we've started descent. This was brilliant! Full marks for SriLankan's crew!
And just as I had expected, a can of Coke and a plastic glass were given to me in no time. And this can, was much larger than what we're given in Emirates. And I'm not even going mention Cathay, since they give only half a glass



Well. 9.1 years old.

Seatbelt signs came on at 1936 hours, just when the purser came out to chat with a passengers. (And those passengers were on the leg room seats, i.e. bulkhead and exit rows). He talked about flying in from KUL and then doing the CMB-BLR-CMB flight before finally going home.

HELLO BANGALORE!
And soon enough, the familiar sound of air brakes slowing the plane down grew louder, while the familiar mechanical sounds of the flaps being deployed grew louder as well. Bangalore was getting closer and closer.

Lights on! We're almost there!

Lights dimmed..


Bangalore!


Slats completely lowered..

And soon, a rather smooth landing was followed by hard braking. I saw a rather depressing sight of a Kingfisher Airlines ATR 72-500 parked. But then again, there was a FedEx MD 11F, and many more Boeing planes (okay, just 2. VT-JFD of Jet, and another SpiceJet plane). VT-ABC was parked there. I guess that had come in from COK.




A GoAir bird followed in..


Hmm - unlawful behavior, what could it be? Wait and watch - the suspense!
I waited for all passengers to get off, just to get a cabin picture..


He hugged the FA after I took this picture. Never seen that on a plane before

So, lets see.
I've seen all the planes I wanted to.
I got a can of Coke after pushing my luck.
Could I be third time lucky?

I decided to push my luck, and I asked the FA just before exiting if I could take a picture of the cockpit.
And this was greeted with another smile!
6 years of trying, and I finally get to click a picture!


Just before I turned away, I saw a few foiled containers of food. Much larger portions. A few had reddish brown markings, while the others had green markings. Yup, proper meals were in those containers
Anyways, my first flight with SriLankan Airlines had come to an end, and I was left reasonably satisfied with how everything went, right from check in (OLCI). Food was a let down, while the manage my booking system needs a few amendments, in my opinion.

Immigration lines.
I was quite impressed by the immigration officer. Never has one been so courteous, or having a smile. In India, at least. He wished me a Merry Christmas!



The terminal looked dark. That was most likely because of systems gone wrong due to the new extension part of the terminal still being un-utilized, as you can see from the above picture.


Duty free


Last bag indeed! Our bags came one after the other, so we had rather short windows to get the bags. Rush rush!


TAXI RIP OFF?
We decided to take a cab home, rather than the bus, since we had a considerable amount of luggage.

Haunted extension!


It has a diesel engine..

A taxi to Domlur would cost us INR2130. Quite a lot in my opinion! Walking out of the terminal, I kew I had made a big big miscalculation - it was cold! It was colder outside than the inside of the terminal! And I didn't have enough woolens to survive this. Oh well, a lengthy walk later, it felt great to sit in a Toyota Innova car, after being driven crazy by the Toyota Hilux's in Sri Lanka.
We drove out, where I saw an IndiGo A320 arrive.
At the toll gate, we were told that we need to pay INR30 extra, as it was not included in the invoice.
What?!
Indeed, the invoice said INR2100, while we were charged INR2130. We didn't have a chance to see the invoice, since that was given to the driver itself. What a bunch of cheats!
Just for the record - the firm was Carzonrent. Avoid them. My advice.



BANGALORE..
Bangalore had changed a lot ever since my last visit in the 2008. While there were a lot of new buildings, the roads were terrible! From Yelahanka onwards, things were bad!
Anyways, we reached home at around 2210 hours, and our holiday had begun.....

Further parts coming up!

Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

[sumantra]

Jishnu, that was interesting, and well worth the wait. Interesting because of the fresh new writing style, and format, with the reader also feeling a rush of adrenaline. Nice descriptions and pictures, as usual, along with the trademark JB brand of humour. I liked the detailed descriptions and screenfulls, followed by a delectable collection of pictures. You have become an expert at low-light photography, with a rather steady hand. I wish I could take pictures as nice as that. Your questions regarding the two planes: this was easy
The first four-holer is an Antonov An-12, with the smokey AI-20 engines.
The second is the Chinese-Pakistani Karakoram trainer. the K-8. An interesting good-looking plane.
Now my question: will we have your Papa also sending in his part of the report? That would be a double bonanza for us, eager readers. Just as these delightful secrets are surfacing, I am really eager to know if your Mummy writes as well. There will be nothing better than a family trip report!
Thanks once again for sharing this lovely report with us. I'm waiting for more!
Cheers, Sumantra.

[shivendrashukla]

Nice TR there as usual Jishnu. I will be in BLR during Feb. Enjoy your holidays and looking fr more TR's of the remaining trips frm you.

Cheers
Shivendra

[me111993]

lovely TR Jishnu! Wonderful pics too, and ofcourse, noting like being updated with flights as you fly them!
_________________
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

[abhigopal]

Nice report.

A taxi to Domlur should cost you 800 - 900 by radio cab (Meru, Easy cab) etc... I just took one this morning.

[ameya]

As I identified the two birds, I was sure Sumantra Sir would have identified them too and already posted them here and I was not wrong !

Thanks Jishnu for the wonderful TR. Previously you have taken 9W flights and with them being at night, the joy of flying took away the joy of photography and hence this new timing of flying comes with some really nice clicks

Enjoy your India stay and have a good and safe flight late today

[jbalonso777]

Hello everyone!
I wish everyone here a very happy new year and a prosperous 2014 ahead.
Thank you all for your replies, and I hope I haven't delayed it too much since I have a lot of things to present over the coming days.

Starting off with Sumantra sir -

[jbalonso777]

BANGALORE!



The next morning, it was 'happy late realization' for me as the weather was really too cold and I wasn't prepared for this. Waking up at 0830, which is rather early for me, considering the fact that I usually wake up after 1030 during the holidays, meant that I could eat breakfast at a time when people actually eat breakfast. To start off, we went to the Cafe Srinidhi, where we indulged in some proper South Indian food. I prefer dosa over idli and/or vada. Therefore, I had an open dosa. Also, a personal favorite of mine is the kesari bath. Oh, that is divine! I made a wrong call in having a extra-strong filter coffee, as it was, well, too strong for me. I'm generally not a tea or coffee person, but Japanese tea and filter coffee are notable exceptions.






Jalebi's in progress


A TYPICAL DAY ON INDIAN ROADS...
I missed that.
And I forgot how it was, how it is.
We hired a car for the day. A rather not-so-nicely kept Tata Indica. The driver was quite rash at times, going through the largest of potholes, which wasn't good for my back, keeping a slight gap between his car and others, increasing the risk of a nudge, etc. Also, his fuel was always at a rather low level.

Anyways, we went to a close friends' place.
Here's the thing about going to a close friends' place in a city where you spend a majority of your childhood: so many embarrassing stories! One of which, was calling people by names. I should stop even before I publicly humiliate myself.

A HEAVY METAL SINGER...
Interestingly, the family whom we met..is actually the family of the lead vocalist for the Bangalore Metal Band 'Inner Sanctum'. I'm sure many of you would've heard of them. Looking at how he, or for that matter, ANY heavy metal singer perform on stage, we are under the impression that he (or quite rarely she) is always a bad person. That is not quite the case. Gaurav, is a really nice person. We had a long chat about how life is being one of them, and he seemed calm about it. He says, 'along with screaming, there are various other things I am involved. Screaming is not enough to life live for me..'. Just to let you know who they are, Inner Sanctum is the band which opened for Metallica before their 2011 Palace Ground Performance. To be honest, I wasn't expecting the conversation we had. I thought he'd be very reserved or mean and all, but to be honest, he spoke good Bengali! Looking at where Gaurav was when I was child (the old BLR days, that is), its remarkable what Gaurav has gone through and achieved. Once a complete creepo (I told him that ), he is now on the verge of becoming one of India's most recognized band member. And cheers to him for this!
Speaking of which, he made a salad for lunch.

He had no specific name for it. I suggested it to be called 'The Sanctum Salad'. The Sanctum Salad will have a lot of variations to it, depending on the ingredients around. In this version of The Sanctum Salad, we have bacon, ham and chicken sausage tossed in bell pepper, tomatoes and coriander, with a lot of 'secret cheese' over it.
Post lunch, it was time to get back home..

ROADS AGAIN!
And this is where the inevitable happened. A rickshaw, trying to avoid the big pothole, changed its lane coming into our way, which meant that our car hit the rickshaw. This caused some slight tamasha and delayed us a bit. We got further delayed when the car ran out of fuel.
'Gimme fuel,
Gimme fire,
Gimme that which I desire!'
We desired fuel the most now, and indeed, fuel came by really soon. We stopped right in front of the closed TGIF Restaurant, and we only learned a few days later what happened.
Once back home, I set about writing the first part of this TR.

For the evening, it was the Sangeet of the wedding at Novotel. Again, taking a shorter route, we took a road which was initially along the boundary of HAL Airport, until eventually there was no road. It looked like we evaded the traffic and saved about 25 minutes of time. At the hotel, the food was amazing! Possibly some of the finest wedding food I have ever had.



Yellow roses. The signature of a once premium airline, now just a lost cause between an LCC and FSC.



Its very rare we see a Santa Claus of this skin color! What a move by Novotel!

I SCREW UP. AGAIN!
Since the evening began, I started to feel a bit cold. But little did I know, that would be quite influential during the course of the trip. During the wedding, I was shivering quite a lot. My back started hurting, no matter if I stood or sat. Clearly, I was getting weaker and weaker. Back home, I started shivering non stop. Typing on the phone seemed very difficult, and all I could do, was type gibberish. I tried to sleep. I didn't. Just like a few nights ago, I couldn't sleep at all. But this was a genuine reason. I was either shivering, or feeling really warm. Somehow, thanks to technology, I could pass the time. No, it wasn't internet, it was downloaded games. Somehow, I managed to pull my self in what felt like 72 hours, into the dawn. Mum touched my forehead and it was burning hot apparently. A check on thermometer suggested that my body temperature rose up to a whooping 102F!
It made me feel even worse since I was supposed to meet fellow forum member and moderator Varun, aka, Spiderguy252. It was his birthday the next day, and I felt I may have been messing up his plans too.
Come the next morning, I conveyed my regrets to Varun to hoped I'd get better soon....
...and indeed I did!
I took a 'magic medicine'. The instructions for me were to have a tablet and sleep. In less than 2 hours, I'd feel like Superman.
And it worked. Just 1.5 hours later, a sickened me disappeared, and normal me was back in no time! Quickly, I called back Varun and asked where to meet him. We decided to meet at the 1MG Mall. A mini AI.net meet was on the cards!

After 3.5 small glasses of filter coffee that morning, I felt absolutely normal. No further issues. So then I headed off for the 1MG Mall. Before the meet, I decided to buy clothes of a personal favorite F1 team and a personal favorite band. Now obviously, it will not be difficult to for you to guess the names of the same!
Clock 1400, and then came Varun, spot on time! We had an hour long chat about many things, from the obvious aviation to the different lifestyles in...Kuwait and Sri Lanka, since we knew stuff about those places. It was a good hour, and I thank Varun for making it there, especially on a special day for him! It was nice to have finally met someone from this forum!
The following evening, dinner was at the ITC Gardenia, but in my opinion, Novotel edged just ahead by a bit. It was close..

COORG AND ALL...
Since a 102F fever wasn't enough, more (mental) pain was in store for me.
The next morning, we departed at 0703 hours for our approx. 6 hours drive to Coorg, in the hope of seeing some stuff in the Nagarahole National Park. The last hour was a drive on terrible roads in the national park. Sadly, all we saw is a few spotted deer (cheetal as it is locally known).

That is NOT the wild. That is the very traditional way of separating rice from the husk. Or one of the processes at least...

One of many deer which we saw.



The place we were staying, 'Vansukh' close to the Kutta village, Coorg.
Unfortunately, these are the only pictures I have, read on...

DAY OF DISASTERS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS
1. Internet
In this day and age, not having internet is an issue. A rather big one. It was impossible to talk to people about plans for when I come back to Colombo. It was difficult to know how people were. It was difficult to know what was going on with Arvind Kejiriwal and his reforms. Difficult to know the other ongoings in the world. With the last few units of the pre-paid internet hotspot used up, it was time to face a lonely disconnected few hours ahead.

2. Nagarahole displeasure.
If I hear the word, 'Nagarahole', there are only a few things which come into my mind: an Asian Elephant, bison, deer, and the moment when I saw a tiger. Expecting those things were wrong, as I didn't expect the unexpected.
Early the next morning, wearing 4 () layers of clothes, we went to the Nagarahole National Park. That was no less dramatic though, as we went 15 kms off the road, onto a wrong one, and still managed to get into a safari bus.
Yes, bus.
A ruddy old Mahindra bus. This would be absolutely unideal for photography. This bus was configured in a 2J23Y configuration, since the 2 seats in front of the door were more comfortable
The driver was erm..drunk-ish.
When asked what were the recent sightings of wild animals other than deer, he pointed lazily to a sign typed out which read: 'Sighting of animals depends on customers' luck. Please do not blame the staff if no animals are seen.'
What!
From the offset it was known that the driver wasn't going to engage in conversation. There was no guide as well.
So we set off into the unknown, I was quite pessimistic about our chances of seeing...anything.


Deer and a peacock to start off the day.

A bit along the way, a rather young unenthusiastically told the driver to stop because he 'swear he saw a tiger'. Immediately I knew this was a hoax since well, the tension wasn't there. The birds gave no warning calls, the deer close by peacefully ate its grass. And well, the human adrenaline rush of about to see a big cat wasn't there either. Even the driver took his time in reversing and/or braking. Clearly something was up with him.



All of a sudden, the pathway which ran all over the forest were the most amusing thing to photograph.





Deer oh deer!
Where are the other animals?!


We found a vulture flying past after feasting on the remains of what looked like a bison.




The langoors.
...and that was it. A 2 hour safari completed in 1hr33min

We went back home, and....
3. Michael Schumacher.
Since there was no proper internet, just about connecting type internet, I went to my usual set of websites (Facebook, AI.net, autosport) one by one. Once I reached Autosport, I was horrified to see a headline read 'Michael Schumacher in critical condition.' Worriedly, I checked what was going on, and to my horror I learnt that it was damage to his brain after a skiing accident.
I wasn't into F1 when Michael was in his prime. I started following in 2008, and with all due respect, I feel his comeback was, although sensational, a failure. Just one third place over a period of 58 races is not the Michael Schumacher we know of. However, seeing his drives and overtakes, and hearing the sound of his 3.0L V10 Ferrari engine is absolutely spine tingling!
Here's to you Michael, get well soon!

(Source - Info Rally)
The fact Niki Lauda's miraculous story is well portrayed in Ron Howard's movie 'Rush' makes me believe Michael can make it to his 92nd victory.

Following breakfast, we headed off for a visit to the coffee plantation. This was very interesting, especially when I was made aware of the fact that elephants can actually climb rather steep slopes to get to their jackfruit or betel nut trees. Various facts of the coffee growing practices were learnt, too.


Things didn't go well at all after this..

4. SD card issues!
While taking pictures, I always save them in both my memory cards, thanks to the dual SD card slot feature. However, when I clicked pictures of the house in Coorg, I somehow forgot. A mistake which proved to be very costly, since that meant that the pictures from the house are now gone forever. However, the rest of them are still there, and you are seeing them in this TR! Well, this is when I realized the pain Sumantra sir must've gone through when his hard disk crashed. Anyways, since I was so demotivated, I decided to go off to sleep for a long long time.

I still have a few pictures from the house, one of which will seem very inappropriate..




5. Fever returns!
...and because of this I guess, fever returned. However, this time it was slightly lower, but enough to cause panic among my parents. Oh wow this was screwed up! I went off to sleep, only for the fever to stay and not go away. 31st December was approaching, and I hoped for half a good year end..

RANGANATHITTU REDEMPTION!
After a pretty downbeat day the previous day, I suggested a visited to the Pakshi Kashi of Karnataka, which was warmly received. We made a detour enroute to Bengaluru to see of the birds, branded other than Boeing and Airbus.




Quite a variety, all of which will be seen individually in a bit..


Spoon bill


Pelican in flight


Common cormorants..


Mugger Crocodile..


TBC


Painted stork..


Cormorant in flight


Open billed stork..


Left - spoon bill
Right - open billed stork


Greater cormorant in flight


Pelican takes off!


TBC


Left - common cormorant
Right - greater cormorant


TBC


Pied Kingfisher


Not so good picture of an oriental thick knee..


Swallow nests


Brahminy kite


Indian shag, or the cormorant, picking up a twig for its nest.




More of the mugger!

START TO A NEW YEAR ISN'T VERY NEW..
We were booked to celebrate new year's eve at the Bangalore Club. However, their strict dress code suggested that we could not go, since it was formal only clothes. Spending new year's eve with my family has been a tradition since...10..9..2007. Yup. I haven't even been to any sort of parties, something which I hope to finally go to here in 2014. Oh well, since nothing was going my way, I knew it would be a so-so start to the year. We headed off for a Japanese restaurant for dinner...and this turned out to be very good!

We went to search for suits at the UB City mall. I should've listened to Varun, rather than turning away at the shops..









Bangalore Club...
What might've been..


There is a foot bridge over the road, and no one seems to notice it, therefore no one uses it. Looks like time is more precious than life!


Delicious sushi!



Basa fish

Come the year 2014, I was up till 0400 in the morning. Obviously, web check in was conducted before this, but I think it'll be more fitting to post that in the next part.
I hope you enjoyed whatever less picture I have to present to you. The next part will feature my flight to Chennai with JetKonnect. How will that go? Stay tuned!

Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

[sumantra]

Yet another lovely wholesome part, Sir!
The food pictures were awesome, right from the ravA-based kesarI bAth, to the Sanctum salad: vivid colours, and crisp sharpness. And you also visit Kodagu/Coorg, which is prime coffee country! Have you visited Baba Budan's tomb, the sufi saint who is supposed to have brought coffee to India? He is said to have brought back 7 beans, planted them in Chikmagalur, and the rest, as they say, is history of the divinely unique South Indian fliter coffee.
What lovely wildlife pictures! The deer jumping at Nagarhole, the langur just getting up, numerous birds at Ranganathittu - that was a treat. On our 2009 trip to Bengaluru-Mysore-Belur-Halebidu, this was one point we missed for lack of time. Now I know what we missed! That of course includes your immense photography skills, which I wish I had. The high speed fly-pasts of the pelican, cormorant, Brahminy kite, the pelican take-off, the hop-skip-and-jump of the cormorant skimming the water surface-all were a treat for the senses. In the last one especially, the sense of motion is awesome, at least for a complete photography lay-person as me.
It is wonderful that you and Varun could meet up. Such meetings bring out the sheer joy we all share for aviation on this forum, and have us looking forward to more!
Keep it up, Sir - we are eagerly looking forward to the next part.
Cheers, Sumantra.

[sri_bom]

Thank you for posting the report. There is so much diverse content in your report from rare airplanes, to exotic food, to birds and animals I enjoyed reading it.

I liked the term "Sanctum Salad" interesting mix and I guess we all need a bit of sacntum in our busy lives.

Enjoy your stay in India.

[jbalonso777]

[jbalonso777]

FLIGHT #2: JETKONNECT FLIGHT 9W2758 BENGALURU-CHENNAI 1ST JANUARY 2014
Since there really wasn't much to do on the eve of new years, I just had web check in to finish. First of all, I decided to do Mum's friend's OLCI. Since the ticket was booked on the JetKonnect website, I decided to do it there. However, since it was a full service flight, I couldn't actually do the web check in. Very Jet-esque.


However, when it was 24 hours before my flight, I went ahead with the OLCI. And it worked, since the ticket was booked on www.jetairways.com and it was a non-S2 JetKonnect flight. So much of confusion..


Ameya sir had sent in pictures from his 9W ATR flight (TR) on the WhatsApp group, and I quite liked the seat he was in, i.e., 2A. I decided to take seat 3A and 3C for Mum and myself.

And that's a not-so-annoying OLCI done!

Running on hotspot, the internet was obviously really too slow. I waited till early next morning to do Dad's OLCI.

He was only SEQ 4. 2 and 3 were Mum and I.
It was now a battle to find out, who was SEQ 1.


I love how accurate Google have become, with the help of Flightstats.

I also decided to try my luck with Tele-Check in for Mum's friend. It worked! Despite being a Blue Plus member, tele check in was done with no hassle, as we already know, most forum members are quite hassled after calling the 9W center up. None of that sort of issue for me. Yet. A window seat on the emergency exit row was given to her in no time.

I checked the 9W flights out of BLR, and as it was for the past few days, one of the BLR-MAA flights were cancelled. On one occasion, 9W2758 was cancelled, too. However, tonight, I fly an ATR after 7 years
It got me wondering - if that flight was cancelled, would the passengers be re-accommodated onto our flight, making the ATR nicely filled? Only time would tell.

Later that day, we went around meeting people, hearing more embarrassing stories of my childhood.
At least, I got to meet a pair of female dogs..


And later I remembered - I would be meeting my friends' dog Woody in a bit! God that puppy must've grown up a lot by now!

Anyways, as we drove along to the airport, I was quite surprised to see most of the cars going on the flyovers. Apparently, that stretch of the the flyover opened on the first of January itself!
So then a long terrible drive on bad roads was instead just a 25 minutes fly past on good roads. Looks like the solution for the long drive has finally been found.

PRE-BOARDING STUFF
We stepped out into the cold for one last time. After the CISF ticket check, we headed off for the 9W check in lines. It looked moderately filled, the check in area.

The new terminal extension. Looks scary as hell!

The entrance to the check in area

Check in

Yup. That's us. No, not the phone..the airline

Check in was a slow moving affair. Most of the passengers took quite a lot of time to get their baggage through. When it was our turn, we were told that our luggage was 6 kgs overweight! However, the cheerful lady gave us some time to reshuffle stuff in our luggage. Being cheery as ever, with a smile, she let our 44.2 kgs of luggage pass. Being happy to help kind is good, but when they take a lot of time, the overall experience is indeed a slight turn off. Once this was done, we looked at the gates for our flight. Aunty's 9W442 to BOM would leave from Gate 8, while our 9W2758 to MAA would leave from Gate 8A. Couldn't be better.


Check in area

The flights.
Note the annoying UL172 to Colombo.

Security.
Hearing experiences from this forum, I warned everyone of a stingy set of CISF people. With that in mind, I headed off for my check. And it was..normal. Nothing beyond the ordinary at all. We found ourselves seats, and counted down time towards our departure, the first to BOM at 2030 then to MAA at 2100.


My first JetKonnect boarding pass, not that I care too much about it



Waiting area.

Once I connected to the internet, it was suggested that the incoming flight 9W483 from BOM would be delayed by 15 minutes. However, there was no change in the flight schedule for departure. VT-JFF, a Sky Interior plane was operating this flight. I saw 2 9W ATR's taxiing in to the bays. One of them was coming in as 9W2646, the plane which flew in from TRZ and COK. This would go back to its base, Chennai, as 9W2758, our flight. The IndiGo flight to DEL was boarding from Gate 8A, just before ours.
Dad gave a lecture of how brilliant the Sky Interior plane is.
In Hindi of course, he went on..
'The Sky Interior Boeing is amazing. I've been on those quite a few times. They do not look like planes. They look like a small tube with missiles all over. They first go to the moon and then to your destination. In fact, it is so quick that you can't tell if you went to the moon before reaching your destination.'
Uh, what?
Okay Dad, thanks.

Signaling an insignificant delay, 9W442 was being filled up soon. Loads were looking neat for this flight. We bid aunty goodbye, and waited for our flight to depart.


9W442 people lining up even before boarding starts!

9W442 is gone, now we wait...

WE'RE AIRPORT CELEBRITIES!
Once aunty had left, we were finding things to do. Dad went away for a drink, while Mum asked if there would be any sort of food available onboard. I said that, 'I honestly do not know. The website said that there would be no meal served but Dad bought a hot meal on the website while booking..'
'And you had to select such a flight which wouldn't have food at all!' she said angrily, and walked away, to buy food for herself. I couldn't feel miserable about myself anymore
At around 2018 hours, boarding was announced. Dad was busy sipping his drink, while Mum was in the line to buy some food stuff. I counted 9 passengers walking in. Soon, there was an announcement. An announcement which I hoped that would never happen to me.
'Passengers Mr. Jishnu ***, Mrs. M**** ****, Mr. Ashok **** and Mr. ****** traveling on JetKonnect flight 9W2758, please board the aircraft from Gate 8A' was the announcement being made. I tried gesturing to Mum, she couldn't see me.
Dad was invisible to me, I couldn't see him.
Again,
'Passengers Mr. Jishnu ***, Mrs. M**** ****, Mr. Ashok **** and Mr. ****** traveling on JetKonnect flight 9W2758, please board the aircraft from Gate 8A'
Since I had the cabin luggage to attend to, I asked a person behind me...
'My flight is boarding, my parents are in the restaurant, and my bags are here. Could you please look at them for a bit, I'll quickly get them..'
'Sure..' he said, and actually bothered changing his seat to keep an eye on them! Some things in India, are surprising.
Like a madman, I rushed towards them, telling, 'We're VIPS in the airport! They've called our name not once, but twice! Hurry up, lets go!'
'So soon? When did boarding start?' asked Dad.
'It just started. And once we board, boarding will be over. There aren't too many passengers as we guessed!' I said.
I thanked the person who looked after the luggage. What a nice man!
Before the agent made his fourth announcement, I ran towards him, only to realize my confounded boarding pass wasn't with me! However, I ran towards the gate for a reason. I told him, 'We're here. My boarding pass is with them. *pointing towards Mum and Dad.*

THE LIGHTEST AND SHORTEST FLIGHT BEGINS...
Our luggage tags checked, we were wished a nice flight and a happy new year, and guided downstairs to where a bus was waiting for us. Mistakingly, I headed for an IndiGo bus, only to be diverted away to the correct Jet bus. Once again, it wasn't a jaw rattler, but in fact a decent AC bus. VT-JFF was very much looking like a Boeing 737-800 with a nice blue Sky Interior mood lighting on. God, that explanation was woeful!
There were only 2 ATR 72s in the vicinity. One of them was at a remote bay, while another was more close, right next to the aerobridge gate, where a SpiceJet bird to DEL was parked. The one closer turned out to be our bird, a recently turned 6 year old bird VT-JCK will be the ATR 72-500 taking me on of the shortest hops in India from BLR to MAA.


The Sky Interior lecture has surely had an effect on VT-JCK: the cabin looks a bit too blue for my liking, especially on the ATR.


SG to DEL


Yup, that is WAY too much blue in a cabin for my liking!

Ramp photography seemed to be no issue at all, as you can see. This is quite obviously, a nice positive sign
Walking up into JCK, the lead FA was doing her job, while her assistant was welcoming passengers onboard, greeting us with a smile. She took the oversized suitcase (for the ATR) onto the baggage rack after seats 16D/F. With this sorted out, I figured something out.
It was too quiet to be boarding an aircraft!
Passengers were quiet, yes, but the silence was too loud. Something similar to what I had experienced on the Xian MA60 a few months ago. Once I took my seat 3A, I looked up, and I was quite horrified to once again see the overhead panels to be the exact same as the Xian MA60!
Same buttons, same lights, same interior, same sound, and to some extent, same propellers. It got me wondering, why did the Chinese have to build something almost exactly the same in every aspect to the more well established EU built ATR?


Cabin from my view point..

VT-JFF, still looking like a Boeing 737, departed just 8 minutes later than its scheduled time.

View out of my window..

It was now I realized that the concoction of hunger and anger is not a very good recipe. Mum was hungry since I didn't let her finish the food, and angry because she felt I was joking about the fact of food not being served..both of which were out of my hands..
I requested her to move aside, so that I could take a picture of the birds on the other side. She let me go, but told me not to come back to my seat.
Okay then. Since this is a very lightly loaded flight, taking seat 3F was no issue.


And if I thought I wouldn't see a non-winglet Jet Airways Boeing 737 in 2014, I'm clearly wrong, since what we have here is a old Boeing 737-700, VT-JNH on the 1st of January 2014.

The FA came about distributing the onboard shop stuff..



That was my seat...
Was..

At 2045 hours, doors were armed, while we started pushback at 2048 hours. Lead FA Jeetu introduced herself, and her assistant Mona. Captain Ankit Sharma was in command of the flight, with first officer Prashant alongside him. Before the usual announcements, we were wished a happy and prosperous new year. Obviously.
Both the 6 bladed PW127F were brought into life by the pilots, in a way I didn't know of, which obviously prompted a question in my head.

HD: JetKonnect ATR72-500 start up at Bengaluru
You'll notice VT-JFF taking off, still looking like a Boeing 737...

After the start up, pre-departure checks were being made, and I was clicking pictures like there's no tomorrow. FA Mona dragged out her seat at the front of the cabin.


Slightly delayed flight to Kochi..I guess?

Everything is too blue!



Oh the UL plane.

And soon, a very hurried taxi down towards Rwy 9 for a full length departure followed. A take off lasting only 11 seconds was next, followed by a nice view of the Kempegowda International Airport. In fact, the aircraft was so light that the propellers were turned down as we flew past the terminal. Wow!
All of this, which you will see in the video.
Also, there is a part of the flap which comes down...I hope you notice that in the video!
HD: JetKonnect ATR 72-500 take off from Bengaluru



The last lights of BLR!



The passengers that never were...

Soon, the lights were turned on. 4 dings followed to shut off the seatbelt sign, one after the other. An announcement was made, which was quite obviously, music to my ears. Once in Hindi, twice in English.
The announcement suggested that SkyCafe, the inflight buy on board service would commence shortly.
I turned back and saw both the FAs getting their aprons on. Well, that's the first doubt cleared then: there is buy-on-board food served onboard!





Seat pocket contents. As you can see, that JetPrivilege ad is WAY to big for any plane, let alone an ATR.

And soon enough, the small trolley was rolled down towards the front, for the 3 passengers. Us, that is.
I remember exchanging emails with Sumantra sir, about how he ordered a hot meal for his ATR flight. That question, would be no doubt answered in his TR. But, I guess I can partially answer the question of getting a hot meal on the ATR right here: lead FA Jeetu had a tray on her hand, which was indeed, a hot meal! My attempts of getting a hot meal on board were finally paid off with this. I was extremely excited to see what was in there! The FAs stood around with their trolley a wee too long, as Mum and Dad's transaction were being completed. They ordered a veg sandwich for themselves, and that jaljeera thing.
I saw the tray, and was quite impressed to see the small pack of pickle, something which was shooed away ever since the cost cutting measures were in place.

The meal!
I opened the foil a bit. Jet did nothing to it.
It made perfect sense not to give a salad, since on a short flight like this, I would've taken forever to finish the meal.
As is always is onboard Jet, there are 2 layers of foil. In between the 2, there is a parantha, split into two..

Unfortunately, as is always is with the current trend, the parantha had no taste in it.


I was a bit surprised to see only 2 contents in the main box. Usually there is a bit of dal on the extreme left.
The rice tasted like what felt to be some sort of biriyani rice, with a clove or 2 hidden away for the flavors, while there were about 5-6 pieces (one massive piece!) of chicken cooked perfectly in what felt like a butter chicken preparation. Temperature of the same was slightly on the high side, so I gave it some time to cool down.
However, in my opinion, the lack of dal had its effect - the parantha was a bit dry as there was no gravy as such to finish it off with.

A note to Cathay Pacific and SriLankan Airlines - a LCC gives steel cutlery onboard!

At 2015 hours, the Captain came over the PA, giving us short details of this short flight: we were cursing at 16000 feet and we would be descending down in about 25-30 minutes. Way before our arrival time!
The FA got a tray too meanwhile, to clear away the waste. And I was still eating...

Freshener. Something which I haven't got on mainline Jet in a long long time!

And as you would expect, Jet still remains a master in desserts. Here is a vermicelli kheer - just the right temperature of the sweetened milk and quite a generous amount of vermicelli in it. It was sweetened to perfection too!

An absolute beauty of a LCC meal in my opinion!
And soon, descent started, and my tray got cleared away. However, this didn't stop me from going to the loo, and clicking a few pictures there

Rather old looking sink!

Oh dear Lord!


No soap and all, unfortunately..

The door and stairs!

As I stepped out, FA Jeetu was having her meal - a vegetarian hot meal. This is something which has been discussed to a large extent to Ameya sir's trip report from a few days ago. I asked her if a visit to the cockpit after the flight was possible ( I'm going a bit too far now, aren't I? ). She first of all wiped of something of her lips as she was eating, apologized for me about it, and then told me she'll get in touch with him after landing. Things were looking good! I decided to have yet another seat change, this time to seat 9F, to get a few shots on landing. Preparations for the same were already underway, and hence I buckled up for landing. 13 were the number of passengers. 17 were the number of souls onboard. Wow. Now that IS light!


The cabin from 9F.

6 years of aging..

Respectable leg room..

Flaps aren't down yet!

Somehow, these felt much less cramped than the B737 seats. I'm sure many of you will obviously agree...
And just a few seconds after that, lights went out, and it was almost landing time in Chennai!

6 bladed prop!


Chennai!

In case of an emergency, follow them.

It felt as if the ATR was being literally pulled back a huge elastic string while the flaps were being deployed, in stages. When the flaps were set to 30, it felt as though JCK was still in the air, with no movement. The pilots then put JCK into its iconic ATR-esque nose dive, and we slowly inched towards the landside runway of the Chennai International Airport.

30 degrees!



Ever closer to Chennai!

Captain Sharma made a beautiful landing into Chennai at 2143 hours, a video which will take a bit of time upload, sadly
I finally got to see one thing which is quite talked about in this forum - an Air Costa bird. VT-LBR was parked in first of the remote parking bays opposite to the domestic terminal. Along with that, there was nothing too much out of the ordinary, and we taxied towards the parking day right next to the fire station...or whatever that structure is! Of course, in pure ATR style, the port side propeller was turned off and we taxied around a bit with just a single propeller on.

That was an entertaining flight. Could it get any better?


Back to 3F!

We slowly got our stuff and made our way to the back of the aircraft..

Hmm - would it be possible for me to go through this door? Time'll tell!

Cabin.. note how many overhead bins were opened!


Storage for oversized cabin luggage. A thoughtful gesture to remove 2 seats just for this!

As Mum and Dad left JCK for the bus awaiting the passengers, the lead FA asked me wait. She contacted the Captain, and voila! I was about to see the cockpit of an ATR bird too now!
The other FA asked me to keep my bag on the seat and head off for cockpit, following her. It is obviously interesting, beyond the door which I pictured, is the compartment where the luggage is stored. This is separated from the path to the cockpit by a massive green net.
The cockpit door was opened, and I was greeted with a shake hand by both the pilots! We had a quick enthusiastic conversation about the ATR. When asked to take a picture, the Captain said 'Go ahead!' just before there was something which looked like a power outage in the aircraft.
All the lights went away. The captain warned me to be quick since the next round of power would only be available for 3-4s before heading for a permanent blackout until a GPU is attached. Oh well WOW!
With a perfect timing, I got my second cockpit shot of the trip!

And once again, the power went off. Pilots shook hands with me once again, as I bid farewell to them, and they wished me a happy new year once again.
I walked back down the aisle, only to realize how I'd get back to the terminal!
Lucky for me though, the bus was standing right there, with the doors closed. I wished the FAs goodbye, and walked out, to the doors opening for me, after being told by an agent.
Since I had made the bus wait for a bit, Dad told me, 'I don't know who you are. Who even makes all the passengers wait just to see the cockpit?'
'Oh I'm sorry.' I said, 'but wouldn't you think its a safety risk to let a bus go by where there is an aircraft having its engines started?'
We shared a laugh, of course.
But I do not want to know what might have been if there wasn't that Go Air A320 starting up close by! I would've got so many hateful stares! Okay, just 10 of them.


I love how 'ATR' is stylized!



Power outage in the front!
JCK would be there overnight, before it wakes up early next morning for its flight 9W2729 to Kochi.
We went past the Air Costa bird, which was being comprehensively serviced. Our bus finally stopped in front of the arrivals gate and we got off, finishing a flight which we treated as our own chattered flight
Belt 4 was the place where whatever few bags were being revolved around..






The rose doesn't exist anymore


And after a short wait, I was picked up by my friend, and I went home, only to quickly crash onto the bed.
How do things shape up in Chennai?
How was the last and final flight of the trip?
What aircraft was it?

Stay tuned for more!
Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

[Theairplaneguy4ever]

I seem to have been last to check-in to yet another wonderful TR from you Jishnu. Blame it on flying during the hols, where unlike you I've been extremely lazy not to post a TR about the flights.But, if you were wondering what's coming : http://youtu.be/cSV0K1-SCe4

I'll have to admit it, this is one of the most amazing TRs you have written and I'll join Sumantra sir in complementing you on the new style you have adopted. Wonderful!

[sumantra]

[sumantra]

[jbalonso777]

TAG4E and Sumantra, thank you so much for your replies!

It gives me great encouragement to go through your replies!

[Spiderguy252]

Terrific read, loved the ATR hop especially.

Thanks for the share - and good of you to meet!
_________________
Yeah.

[jbalonso777]

[jbalonso777]

People, here is the bonus part I have planned to share with you all: photographs from Dad! Since he does not have the time to post a TR, he took a few pictures from the ATR flight instead, to share it with you all.
I'm sure you might've noticed the camera clicks in the videos, too!






























I also have for you, the videos from the flights:
1. UL171 CMB-BLR
HD: SriLankan Airlines start up at Colombo
HD: SriLankan Airlines take off from Colombo
HD: SriLankan Airlines landing in Bengaluru

2. 9W2758 BLR-MAA
HD: JetKonnect ATR 72-500 start up at Bengaluru
HD: JetKonnect ATR 72-500 take off from Bengaluru
HD: JetKonnect ATR 72-500 landing and arrival into Chennai

3. UL124 MAA-CMB
HD: SriLankan Airlines take off from Chennai
HD: SriLankan Airlines start up at Chennai
HD: SriLankan Airlines landing in Colombo

And of course, like I promised, the final part of this will be posted by Friday the 10th, since from that day, I have something really exciting happening, more which will be announced in the final part.

I hop you enjoy the videos!

Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

[PAL@YWG]

Jish, excellent TR with great details and nice pictures to go with that!
By now I know quite a bit about CMB and Sri Lanka. You kept the curiosity (to know what next) going at each segment.

Now quickly write (in details) rest of the trip and get back to study
_________________
Tally Sheet:
41 Countries ||55 Aircraft types ||60 Airlines ||75 Airports

[jbalonso777]

[jbalonso777]

CHENNAI!
One of the first things that struck me hard was the weather in Chennai. As you'd expect, it was much much warmer than what I had seen Bangalore, i.e., a welcome change for me! Of course, I'm only used to coastal climates (since, I have stayed along the coast for 9 years), so Bangalore was a minor hiccup for me. Oh well, with that done, I had to wait for my friend to arrive.
And indeed he did.
At 2205, the arrival time of my flight, I was inside the Suzuki Gypsy car and I was on my way to his house. After a quick race with Mum and Dad, I was soon at my friend's house.
The main door gradually opened - and out came Woody! By now, Woody was almost fully grown. Just a bit more and he'll start getting only a little fatter, something which I have seen with His Highness Sir Dobby, The Original. My friend had sent me a text while I was in BLR - he requested me not to have dinner on the plane, and I replied in the affirmative. However, with the surprise which you just read through, I used my excuse of being sick causing a loss of appetite, to have just a little bit of some fantastic spicy chicken curry and a chapati. Dinner done, it was time to head for bed.

I woke the next morning at 0700 hours. We had planned the previous night to walk up to the 'P Hill', where there is a fantastic view of the airport! 'P Hill.' P stands for 'Punishment' for the cadets being trained, as they are supposed to run quite a large number of times up and down the hill, while P also stood for "pleasure', where the others could have their leisure time, (people in the armed forces, of course!). We decided to take Woody along, wherein I was offered to take him for a round, as I have 7+ years of experience with His Highness Sir Dobby, The Original. On our way to the hill, I saw many planes take off, course. However, there was only one exotic bird, and that was an Oman Air B737-800W flying back to Muscat. I instantly remembered that a really very close friend of mine would be flying Oman Air DXB-MCT-BOM in just a few hours!
Going up the slope of P Hill, I knew I would die if I was part of that punishment . Indeed, I must start looking after my health.

Once at the top of the 'summit', my friend introduced the cadet training areas one by one to me, before letting me enjoy the spectacular sight of the Chennai International Airport. The usual Indian birds for there, only one exotic bird. It was both, a Wide Aircraft and a Wide Body, but I'm not sure what exactly it was. Indeed, most of you reader's would've surely read our very own Sumantra sir's trip reports, wherein he includes names of almost all Air India birds! This, what I was seeing, was an Air India A330-200 at a remote stand, patiently waiting for its flight to Singapore later in the day. Enough with the talking, more with the pictures! In a rather depressing sight, you'll notice that the spectacular sight of the airport has been ruined by the unspectacular mood of the camera, wherein pictures were being clicked in some terrible quality.

Mandatory in MAA: Blue Dart bird with the IT ATRS.

G8 A320 departs

The AI A330

Knowing that it would be a waste to be at the top of the P Hill, and looking at Woody feel slightly uncomfortable due to the steep hillside, we decided to head back home and get ready for the day. Walking through this Army compound, it was reminiscent of my times in the Army Area in Mumbai. They both looked scarily similar - short buildings, white walls, lanes with cars parked in the middle. Its really indescribable from my point, but really, it got me back some memories. If only I had the rest of the gang with me, and we were all in Mumbai, this would've been some sweet get together!
However, we were in Chennai.

Once back home, I knew the time being spent there was being a waste (in terms of plane spotting, only!) Since the other runway was being used for landings, the view of planes taking off weren't as good. Also, with advise from Mum being to rest it out as much as possible, I decided to keep plane spotting to a minimum, which is quite a shame, since I promised you all with so much!
Oh well, I still got a few shots though!
The name of the game was to keep an eye on the monitor screen, specifically FR24, and the Chennai Airport. The minute I opened that for the first time, I saw a big plane holding short for departure. Quickly, I ran out of the house to take a picture of it. A few seconds later, the grand sounding Rolls Royce Trent engines graciously took a Saudia plane (to RUH) up into the sky for its flight back. What a magnificent sight that was!


An attempted web check in failed. It only reached the select passengers page

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything interesting going on inside the house to write about. Our chit chatter was being interrupted by the frequent plane which would take off every few bits. I could easily differentiate between an Airbus and a Boeing, and My God there were so many more Airbus planes taking off, rather than the Boeing ones!
As far as I can remember, there were only 3 more loud take offs. 2 of them were the same, since they were the AI A330 flight to BOM, followed by the AI A330 flight to SIN, later in the day. The sound which clearly stole the day was the Rolls Trent 892 engine blasting its way into the to skies, taking along an Emirates Boeing 777-300. I'm not making it up, but I wouldn't rule another source of it, however, as the EK bird take off, the spoons of the plates shook for a bit, thanks to the sounds! The day went a tad too slow, I used my time (un)wisely to see a few ‘The Day That Shook the World’ documentaries. Specifically, the ones with Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Hindenburg, and the Kitty Hawk.


Woody's wicket trick!

I never knew it would be so early, but its happened. I've spotted an Air Costa bird!

6E with Sharklets..

More Woody tricks!

VT-PPO.
We meet again.
And she's off to Colombo again!

No people, nothing wrong with the snap.
Just to show you that I bent backwards for this picture.
Unique indeed.
Lucky that didn't affect my back as much, however, I should be careful more often, no doubt!

9W-K to Cochin, most likely.

The day was coming to an end, so was my stay in Chennai. Coordinating with Mum and Dad, I decided to leave the airport with a bit of time in hand. Knowing there wouldn’t be much light to click any pictures of the tarmac activity, I wasn’t getting my hopes for…anything. I was prepared to get quite bored, if indeed everything was done quite early. However, little did I know, time would be passed quite soon, because of the consequences which unfold.

We left for the airport. Its just a 10 minute drive, so I knew I needed to meet my parents as soon as possible, or else be prepared to get bored. On the final turn before turning into the airport, the Suzuki Gypsy nudged its right rear bumper on the front left bumper of a Suzuki Swift. Well, of course, a fight followed. I just calmly stood outside the car, looking at what was happening. By the looks of it, the guy looked like a businessman, a rude rowdy one. Yep, all he did was swear at the driver. Well, I’m not taking any sides, but the words used were a bit too much, for something which was invisible on both the cars. The police came in, and by the looks it, he was on the other guy's side.
Uh, what?
It was funny when the cop told my friend to 'Cool, calm down, man..', only to converse with him in Tamil, just a little later. Oh well.


Not a very happy ending to the trip.

While stuff gets sorted out, I head out to click a few photographs...

With that sorted, we made our way to the terminal. A rather unfortunate way to kill time, but that was done.

FLIGHT #3: SRILANKAN AIRLINES FLIGHT UL124 CHENNAI-COLOMBO 2ND JANUARY 2014
PRE-DEPARTURE STUFF



Just a short 5 minutes wait later, Mum and Dad arrived. I bid a hearty farewell to my friend, regrouped with my parents, and headed off into the terminal. Of course, there was a CISF check, something which I honestly believe should be done away with, ASAP. We headed off for the check in lines, and quite strangely, there wasn't a security check for the checked in luggage! Anyways, we waited in the check in line..



NOT our line, sadly.
Thanks to the faults in UL system.
Grrr.

Check was quite a long affair. I waited in the line just to see the last of the sunlight go down, eliminating even the most remote hope of any tarmac photography. Everyone was being serviced for a very long time. Our process too, took a good 10 minutes. Since the system automatically selected seats 16D/E/F, I asked if there were any other seats available. 9A/B/C were available, we chose those seats, even if it meant sitting in front of/next to the engines again. Oh well. Bags tagged away, we headed off for the next set of long lines: immigration!


They've shifted the old immigration writing desks from the old terminal into the new one. Quite a contrast if you ask me...

Immigration amassed a total of 40 minutes! Absolutely crazy, but I had to remember which country I was in: a country where sadly things like this are not uncommon. Standing in the lines of the next terminal, I noticed a hole in the floor, covered conveniently with a correctly shaped and sized tile. I believe it was some electrical thing cover, but really, they should rectify things like this in a new terminal. This was just a foreshadow of what a, unfortunately, shabby job has been done in building the terminal.
What followed was a surprisingly quick security check. Obviously, since only 1 passenger left the immigration line for every 3 passengers who entered the line, this was an unsurprisingly quick affair. A stark contrast, to what I just mentioned
Being horrendously bored, I noticed the FIDS:

I chuckled as I read screen.
Reason?
Well, notice how my favorite Cathay Pacific Airways flight has been excluded from the previous batch of International flights, all of which have reasonable gaps in between them. Just, Cathay have been ignored.

Nearly 2 hours after I entered the terminal, I was at the holding area. Our gate was unannounced. However, the Emirates flight, which was scheduled to leave 45 minutes after ours, had its passengers assembling at the gate, prepping up for departure.
Of course, Mum and Dad still managed to duty free around, despite the small size of the terminal, while I was left there.
I couldn't see much. The only thing I could find that was extremely exotic, was a KLM MD-11 Freighter. And my God what a gorgeous beauty she was! Soon, she thundered down the runway to fly out of Chennai.


After buying their stuff, we went up to the restaurant (which..whose name I've unfortunately forgotten. Well, its the only restaurant in the MAA international terminal. Port..Lounge?) On the way there, Mum warned me that if my health didn't improve over the next few days, I wouldn't be allowed to go on the trip in a few days. Would I sacrifice the chance to write another TR?
Never

Once in the restaurant, we had something. Nothing too exceptional..



For the elders.
Not for me!

The food.
Loss of appetite, clearly showing.

HORRIFIC NEW TERMINAL?
Indeed.
I decided to take a walk to the washroom. Actually, it was getting really too cold inside the restaurant, a clear sign that I wasn't 100% fit. Oh well, fit enough to fly!
I walked in to the washroom through the...well, there wasn't a door. It was just a massive old opening.
I was (unkindly) greeted by this sight:

Notice how the cleaning stuff have just been kept there. And of course, the shoddy paint job.

How about - covering that?

Small passengers would unfortunately have to hold on
And of course, the paint job.

Well, no hand wash was available. Obviously. I decided to walk down a bit more towards the end of the deserted terminal, and I was baffled to see an upcoming restaurant or lounge, just abandoned there, like nothing's going to happen to it. Ever!

Wow!

Lucky this isn't on the streets, or else that TV would no longer be there!

THE BOTTLE MYSTERY..
Back in the chilly restaurant, I ordered a bottle of Sprite.
And that was in a standard 500 ml bottle. That got me wondering: airlines permit only a maximum of 250 ml bottle of liquid (or lesser, I presume?). The restaurant here has given me a 500 ml bottle which is mine, and I could take it away. I have passed security, and no one is there to check the contents in my bag anymore. Isn't this then a safety breach then?
Anyways, since I had nothing to do with it, I sipped on that only half way, and inevitably took it into my bag, just to see what happens, knowing nothing would happen!


AI907 to MCT. A double-bogey beauty.

While waiting there, I did a quick check on FR24, since we had access to wi fi.
UL123 was being operated by 4R-ABO, a 2.2 year old A320, delivered directly from Airbus with IFE! Of course, some sort of redemption as compared to the A330-200 downgrade! I also checked about the EK bird which didn't arrive it. It was delayed by a whooping 44 minutes! I gave up any hope on seeing the aircraft. Swapped between an A332 and a B772, A6-EME (B772) was still quite a fair distance away from India at that moment. Come 1959 hours, 4R-ABO came and docked at the gate recently vacated by the AI bird, i.e., Gate 17.

DIS-ORGANIZED BOARDING!


That's us!
With no gate yet.
And nothing else.
Also, note how with 11 minutes to spare, 'boarding' for AI907 hasn't begun, according to the screen. Nope, there was no delay.

We headed back down, to finally board the flight back to Colombo. I noticed something quite strange - SriLankan Airlines have started to name their aircraft!

'City of Yalpanam' is the bird taking me back home (?) tonight.
All pictures here on are from my phone camera! Apologies for the inevitable dip in quality!

'Yalpanam?' you might ask.
Yalpanam is nothing but the city I covered in my previous TR: Jaffna. Yalpanam, according to Wikipedia is the Tamil name given to the capital of the Northern Province in Sri Lanka, i.e., Jaffna.
Quite fascinating, I learnt something new!

A quick message about the same on the WhatsApp group, Shivendra sir suggested that if UL have run out of names to give to its aircraft, they should probably start using Indian names, starting off with 'Sakinaka'. Another minor chuckle later, I noticed that boarding for all passengers started together. So obviously, ALL of the passengers made their way down the ramps towards the aerobridge. In just one single file, all passengers, were waiting to board the plane.
And as you'd expect, the aircraft wasn't prepared for boarding yet! A long 10 minute wait (considering the weight of the stuff I was carrying, it felt more like an hour), we still were waiting to board, since the line would only have 5-7 people move before the next set could. And despite the gap between the sets, which they believed would make a difference, the line was still bunched up while we got closer to the aircraft. Wow. Just wow.
Despite all the wait and hassles (no baggage tag check, by the way), we finally made our way towards ABO.


Once again, we were welcomed with the traditional 'Ayubowan' (i.e., Namaskar position) position. That was with a smile. However, sadly, that is as good as the crew gets. They were a massive let down later. It was quite refreshing to see more than 3 rows of premium seating. Of course, I saw 28 J class seats just a few months ago on the 9W B739, but this felt refreshing, once again. Also, the christmas decorations, just like the inbound, were there.


On close observation, I noticed that row 9 was an emergency exit row seat! So again, this meant another first for me: first time a flight on the emergency exit row! This was the first of 2 (as is always is on the A320) emergency exit row seats. And of course, the PTVs were almost the same as what 9W uses on its B737s. Well, I say 'uses', I meant, partially use it.

Very unique 'seat pocket'

Seat back and the IFE.

View out of the window. Wait, where is the B777 of EK!

The new overhead panels on this A320.

The cabin was filling up rapidly, and the crew tried their level best to find space for the passengers to store their hand luggages in. It was a daunting task for them, by the looks it. Of course, I knew the fate of my camera bag, which would unfortunately have to be stored in the overhead bins
It just about got squeezed in, so I used my phone to click the pictures. Anyways, it was getting closer and closer to departure time, but passengers were still trying to figure out how to put their bags in.

IFE 'touch' screen. More like hammer screen.
It didn't work properly at all. The IFE selection was decent, enough for the long flights to KHI/DXB/KUL/SIN, but unfortunately, nothing nice for me. Hey, I survived a nightmare on Cathay (i.e., no IFE), how can I not survive a 3.5 encounter on a UL A320 (if I ever fly on it..that is). However, Dad's screen never even responded to his touch, or rather, finger punches. Of course, headphones weren't there, which was not a surprise. However, it must be noted that rivals on this route do give headphones on their flights. 9W, even if its a shared TV plane, the headphones are given, while we are all well aware of Air India's IFE on the A321s.

A new thing on planes these days: USB ports!
A new thing on this USB port: a crack!


Content

Just some good stuff to keep me (personally) entertained

Well. You do not get that in India, anymore!


Main menu

THE FLIGHT BEGINS...

Come 2054 hours, ABO was pushed back for its flight back home, taking me back 'home'.

Pushback began promptly, and the two CFM56-5B4/3 were brought into life, in succession. Welcome announcements were being made. What particularly impressed me was the way the captain welcomed us onboard..
'Good evening ladies and gentlemen
Welcome, Ayubowan, Namaskar, Vannakkam..'
Brilliant! In all 4 relevant languages concerning our route!
He informed us of a flight lasting 1hr05min, at 36000 feet wherein the first officer would be flying us, up until landing, where the Captain would take over. Interesting.

HD: SriLankan Airlines start up at Chennai

The purser made his announcements too, while the engines were warming up. By now, the EK bird had finally arrived.



(We are, not the EK bird yet) All set to go!

And soon enough, we were taxiing down towards the runway for departure. As compared to the flight to BLR, there was lesser chit chatter going on inside the cabin. Everyone was tired, which is obviously good for the video

At 2107 hours, we were rolling down the runway for the flight back to Colombo.HD: SriLankan Airlines take off from Chennai

....and if you remember correctly, I was on my first flight sitting in the emergency exit. No one, NONE OF THE FA's came to brief me about operating the exit door. I was expecting to hear what exactly is said, but none of it happened. Like I mentioned in the inbound flight too, although there was an explanation given, it was very brief. Not brief, it wasn't completed. This, is clearly a breach in the aviation safety regulations?


Christmas decorated cabin, again.


Engine!


Upside down window shade, the by default armrest..


SO!
What's in this!


Ah, its these things.
In my opinion, all of these wouldn't really count as unlawful, to be honest
Its just...general stuff I guess..

A look through the duty free magazine:

I WANT(ed)!

The January 2014 magazine..

Soon, an announcement was made about the meal service.
Yay, but no yay, as I found out just after a bit.
That requested passengers to be seated since the service was going to be starting soon. Okay.
A trolley was pulled to the front with two FA's handling it. Soon, the cabin was filled with what unmistakably smelt like sambhar. Well, since that is South Indian/Sri Lankan, we were partially.
While the FA's distributed the meals, I decided to check out the Flight Info feature there, the only thing I could be satisfied with.
We were still on UL123.
We were flying further away from our destination, MAA. (it was showing in kms, too!)
The time to destination was increasing, too!
WHAT!!!!

Soon, a tray was placed in front of me.
It had a sorry looking container cover on it with two letters 'KO' written over it.
Did it suggest 'knockout' ? Perhaps, it did.

Marks on the cover, making it a massive turn off.

On opening, it turned out to be vermicelli, while the sambol was glued to the cover of the container, only to be grossly sliding down when I opened it.

Vermicelli was tasteless.
There were pieces of chhole (chickpea) and some soya beans, hidden underneath the vermicelli, with some sort of taste.
Uh...okay. That's a weird combination!
The sambol and the stuff underneath had some taste to it. So that was passable. However, once that ran out. I just left the vermicelli. This..was some unfortunately terrible food served onboard.


Hindi!

Once I finished my yogurt, Mum informed me that she hadn't received her's on the tray!
And soon, Dad was at it.
He asked the FA clearing our trays to get a cup of yogurt.
She informed that she'd get it in a bit.


Grime marks.

Massive leg room!
But yet, the annoying IFE box remains.
Shouldn't be much of a hinderance on this row though!

Once again, Dad called the FA for the yogurt, but this was left unanswered once again. Finally, on the third attempt, When Dad said that the yogurt wasn't there on the tray itself, the FA (another one) said 'but I'm sure it was there, it fell down. Check underneath your seat.....'
WOW! WOW! What?!
This just clearly shows the lack of communication among the FAs. Anyways, no one showed up until descent, and when the yogurt did arrive when descent started. That too, without any apology. Oh well, that was bad of the crew.

Through approach, descent, landing and taxiing, I was drifting in and out of sleep, mostly falling asleep, obviously. I still have the video from landing, but you'll see half the video filled with the window frame.
It was a brilliant touchdown made by the first officer. However, we descended quite steeply, and the effects were constantly being felt. Ears kept going pop pop. Pop.
We touched down promptly at 2204 hours, and parked at a remote stand. We had made it just before the flight from BLR, so I knew immigration would not be too long, hopefully. 4R-ABO would now wait for a bit over 2 hours, and head off to KUL.


Approach begins!




Sri Lanka!


Colombo..outskirts, rather.

HD: SriLankan Airlines landing in Colombo




As usual, everyone was in a rush to get off. Thank God, my camera bag didn't fall off while everyone opened the overhead bins!
We had to wait for a bit a bus, too. And the bus..well, closed. The AC had no AC working, and it was WARM, STUFFY. Really uncomfortable.




Well! Its too warm!


A tuk tuk in the airport!
Now that's interesting!

Immigration was unsurprisngly quick. We had to get our own immigration cards, since it wasn't provided by the airline. Oh well.
However, I must note an unfortunate incident.
2 lines were completely empty. We were rudely shown to move to the other slightly longer lines (just 4-5 passengers in each). But. We were moved to the other lines, from the empty lines. Those 2 officials then started to cater to, with a smile, to only foreigners. And yes, I do mean white-skined people.
Racism right here?
Who knows.
But this was absolutely unfair on us.
I've got nothing else to comment.
The board also had nothing special written on it, so I really do question the decision to push the brown skin people away to the other lines.

Bags were taken soon, and as you'd unsurprisingly expect, I was stopped by the customs official
Here's the thing.
CMB has a green channel. However, EVERYONE is directed to the red channel. What is the point of a green channel then?!
Anyways, by the body language of the customs official, I knew from the offset that he was going stop me. And indeed he did.
Why, just why me?
Oh okay, I'm just too unique.

We got a cab and headed home, where a eager tail happy His Highness Dobby, The Original was waiting to greet.

After that, it was deep sleep till about 1400 hours the next day.

That's it for the third part, a summary is coming up!

Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

[jbalonso777]

And now, for the summary.
As a whole, I must say in all honesty, I didn't quite like how the trip went.
I ruined it for myself by falling sick, the camera saga, new year's party getting cancelled, Michael Schumacher, Nagarahole's no show, and of course, the two flights with SriLankan Airlines.
Oh well, there is a brighter side, too! Rangathitttu was brilliant, and of course, the ATR flight, and the time in Chennai. Surely, I can take the good memories and cherish for long and forever, while looking ahead to the next trip!

OVER TO YOU!
Reader's, this is where I hand over to you. I hope you take a look at some things I have pointed out below, and take just a bit of time to think about it!

1. How did you like my TR as a whole? Would you suggest any changes or suggest any new approach to my writing?
2. How were the pictures? Especially the ones from the last flight, since they were all from my mobile phone?
3. Did you learn anything new, if so, please do share them with us!
4. Did you notice the difference in sounds between the IAEV2500 engines on ABL, and the CFM56 engines on ABO?
5. Did you notice how the peacock was missing from the inner cowling of ABO, as compared to that of ABL, which has the peacock?
6. Speaking of peacocks, how do you look at the UL logo?
(From my photo collections - circa Hong Kong 2010)


I look at it the first way, but I believe it actually is the second one.
Its a matter of perspective, I suppose!

NEXT TRIP!! ENOUGH WITH THE WAIT, GET ON WITH IT!
I've mentioned it so many times through out.
Now I guess, I've kept you waiting enough. Just after this trip, a foreshadow for the destination came in one very popular gaming app - Subway Surfer's. It was even more fitting that the app update for the game was just after I came back in Colombo!
And, the city is.......

Yup!
Mumbai it is!
As I conclude this Trip Report, I'm preparing for my flight tonight.
Yes, you've guessed it.
I will be flying on SriLankan Airlines, on a set of routes I've only flown on Jet so far. Hopefully SriLankan will redeem themselves here!
Here are my flight details:

UL141 2345 0210 10JAN14 A320
UL142 0310 0540 15JAN14 A320

Yes, the TR for that was written side by side to this.
Another TR coming up, so stay tuned!
This is Jishnu, signing off from my first TR of 2014.

Regards
Jishnu
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

[sumantra]

[jbalonso777]

Sumantra sir, once again it was a pleasure reading your reply to my trip report, and I thank you for that!

[sumantra]

[jbalonso777]

[Optimus.Prime]

[jbalonso777]

[stealthpilot]

Took me 2 days to read this so apologies for the lack of comments Great detail + background info, makes the TR more interesting.
Nice ramp photos
AFAIK the airport toll in BLR isn't included in the taxi fare. They should tell people before ..... although I don't know why the trip cost over 2000 rupees The taxi system at BIAL is organised just take a meru cab, metered and everything.

Didnt 9W used to have something like 6x 737s a day between BLR-MAA? What's it now?

[avbuff]

a hundred wows for all the pictures ... CMB, BLR, MAA!

[jbalonso777]