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You are here: Articles > Flight stories > Flughafen #4
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Article overview For the first time, this teenager flies home to Montreal... on Business Class. Perhaps not as impressive as on other airlines, but still enjoyable. Originally published in September 2000. |
 even hours of transit await me this time. They are spent now in a much better way since I have plenty of batteries for my walkman, good music, and both my checked and hand luggage are in the locker. Also, I found a far better restaurant to have a light dinner at. So, to make this trip back home even more pleasant, I decide to try out something special...
 May I help you?I proceed to the Air Transat check-in counter and immediately, a young woman asks me: "Where are you going today, Sir?". I say "Montreal" and the lady says the counter for flight TS441 is not open yet. It is 7:00 PM and the counter, in theory, should already be open, even for a domestic flight. I come back at 7:30 PM... Still not open. 8:00 PM. Not open! It is 8:20 PM when I come back and she tells me that, at last, the check-in is open! 
I show to the counter and say: "I have a ticket on Economy Class, but I would like to upgrade to Business Class, to Club Transat". Oops! I waited so long when in fact I could have done that earlier. I have to go to the Air Transat Holidays counter, right at front, to have my ticket changed. It is the same counter used for passengers wishing to purchase their tickets.
After 20 minutes of waiting for a lady who was already busy helping a previous customer, and making a very long phone call (business or personal, I don't know), another man comes and helps me, very quickly. I ask him about the advantages of flying Club Transat, or as he calls it, "J-class" (Actually it's not J but C!). He tells me that they are very present, even on a short flight. Special check-in counter, priority on boarding and deplaning, baggage offloaded among the first, alcoholic drinks for free, and of course, wider seats and more legroom. The only advantages I would be missing for this kind of flight would be a more gastronomic meal served on real dishes and with silverware, and free headphones for the inflight movie. And a better seat to sleep in. So, for only 22 CAD, my ticket is now stamped "CLUB TRANSAT". 22 CAD is an incredibly low price to get a wider seat and a few other advantages. This is, however, a standby fare, taking advantage of the fact that there are still a few seats in Club Transat left. A reservation on Club Transat would be, of course, more expensive. Club Transat!It is 8:45 PM and technically, I am a little bit late for check-in, but hey! I'm a Club Transat passenger now! While the last economy passengers checking in for my flight, I proceed, with no problem, to a nearly empty Club Transat counter. My luggage is apposed a label with the "Club Transat" logotype, and I get a window seat. 3K. That's one little bummer. I wish I could have had a seat on the left hand side of the aircraft so I could see Montreal Downtown during the approach to, most likely, runway 24R in Dorval (later renamed Trudeau). Boarding timeI proceed to the restricted area at approximately 9 PM and sit down near gate C27, patiently waiting for boarding. Oh. Our aircraft is not at the gate yet. I ask the gate agent if there would be any delay, and she says the aircraft is arriving from Vancouver and the Toronto-Montreal leg is a continuation. Finally, at around 9:30 PM, our Lockheed L-1011-385-1, docks at the gate, and at least 100 passengers deplane, among them two UMs. At that moment, the first call is for passengers with stand-by tickets. At 9:50 PM, it is already boarding time. As always, passengers with small children, disabled, senior citizens, etc., are asked to "pre-board". There are three agents. Two at the counter, and one by the gate. Surprisingly, when one of the agents finished making the announcement, the other, at the gate, replied to her colleague: "Okay, pre-boading's over!". And so the announcement for passengers seated in the aft section, and Club Transat passengers is made. Boarding pass in hand, I get on the aircraft.
The first thing I immediately notice is the very wide aisle and seat. I also notice that with a total time of only 10 minutes between the moment the last passenger left the aircraft and the first one got onboard, no one had the time to even clean up the aircraft. Near my seat I find two newspapers, one on the floor, one near my seat, and the wrapper of one of the now "free" kits (with headphones, socks...) on the floor.
Unlike the previous times I flew in Economy, boarding is a pleasure this time. No passengers to disturb, no struggle to get my bag in the overhead compartment. The seat is comfortable, a tad wider than an Economy seat, and I have plenty of room for my legs. However, I notice that this MIGHT be comfortable, but it is NOTHING compared to the Business Class on other airlines. There is no private inflight entertainment screen, and the seat does recline as much. As for the foot rest, it is not very extendable. I notice that there are three Air Transat L-1011 flight crew members in the seats near me. They are probably off-duty and flying for free, thus able to choose among any available seat in the cabin, including Club Transat. I ask one of them what is the registry of this aircraft. At first, he doesn't understand what I mean by that, since I said it in French, and I didn't know exactly what was the word for that. I think I even said the French equivalent of "booking code" or "airline designator"! Anyway, he understood, and he said: "C-GTSX". I ask one of them if I could take a look at the flight deck later on. They say that they will see, but most likely, it's a "yes". The venerable TristarAfter research in Lockheed's production lists, available on many websites on the WWW, I found out that the aircraft I would be flying on is one of the oldest in Air Transat's fleet, with the venerable age of 26 years. It was built in October 1974, and delivered to British Airways, thus the 193N msn (manufacturer serial number) prefix. It was later sold to Cathay Pacific and re-registered VR-HMW. The aircraft served for Dragonair during a few years and when Cathay disposed of its L-1011 fleet, it was sold to Air Transat in 1995. Now knowing its age, I understand better why this aircraft is still bearing the old color scheme. It's probably a few years, maybe even months, from retirement. Air Transat also flies "newer" L-1011-500s. But even if this aircraft is "old", I feel somehow very safe inside, knowing it was very advanced for its time. Late departure
At 10:14 PM, the Chief Flight Attendant, who is one of the two flight attendants for Club Transat, announces the departure of our flight, and the aircraft starts its pushback. We are already behind schedule, since the aircraft was supposed to leave at 10 PM. After pushback, we stand perfectly still until 10:26 PM (enough time to view the safety video), and only at that moment, we start rolling towards runway 6R, as mentioned by our Captain. We taxi into position and hold at 10:44 PM, and a few seconds later, we take-off smoothly.
Great service on a short flightAfter the seat belt sign turns off, which is done only a few minutes after take-off in this beautiful weather with only scattered light clouds, the announcement is made that there are five lavatories on this aircraft, and they are all located at the back of the plane. Of course, that announcement is exclusive to Economy passengers, since we, Club Transat passengers, have a lavatory all for ourselves... or is it two? The two flight attendants pass around the cabin, taking drink orders. The flight attendant approaches me and asks: "Would you like to have something to drink?". Even if I know alcoholic drinks are for free, and even if I'm now of legal age to drink in Canada, I don't know what to choose, especially since I have no chart. I simply ask for an orange juice. The flight attendant comes back with my drink, placed on a silver dish, and gives me a small bag of pretzel sticks. In the row in front of me, where two crew members are seated, one just ordered an alcoholic drink and the flight attendant tells him: "Just tell me if it's not strong enough!" After I finished my orange juice, one of the crew members off-duty approaches me and says: "You were the one who asked for a flight deck visit, huh? Come with me." And so I follow him all the way to the spacious L-1011 flight deck, the only one on Air Transat still employing a flight engineer. Flight deckI present myself as an aviation enthusiast, visiting the L-1011 flight deck for the first time. This reminds me of the Flight in the Cockpit video. The one I saw was about the Royal Airlines L-1011 (which was, since then, retired). I recognize immediately the TCAS, located at the left hand side of the Captain's seat. An aircraft is climbing almost at the same rate than us, but we can't see him. Even if I present myself as an aviation enthusiast, the off-duty Captain explains the instruments briefly. I am, as always, impressed by the amount of buttons to control. The off-duty Captain asks me if I fly. I reply: "Only on the computer!". He says: "This is just like the flight simulators, the real ones". The sky looks more beautiful from the flight deck, and I can see something that, amazingly, I couldn't see from my seat: the lights of the ground. We are flying somewhere near Ottawa, and should be descending in approximately 10 minutes. I ask which runway we will use for landing, and I get the expected answer: "most likely the standard runway for landing in Montreal: 24R". I ask if the crew is using the flight stabilisers. The off-duty Captain replies: "Sure! All the time!". He briefly comments that these stabilisers ensure a smoother flight, and were a feature that made the L-1011 a plane far advanced for its time. He adds that for many years, this was the only plane certified for Category III landings. I briefly discuss about the fact that I am very interested in aviation, yet I am going for a career in journalism. This does not exclude the possibility of becoming a columnist in aviation. I could stay here forever, but I am just a passenger and the seat belt sign will turn on any minute now. So I ask for a picture of the flight crew, and another of me and the flight deck. For just a few moments, the flight deck lights are turned on, and after making sure that the flash is turned on, the Captain takes a picture! Cheese! I shake hands with the three flight crew members (including a woman in the right hand seat), and leave the flight deck, just in time to fasten my seat belt, and see the seat belt sign turn on. A flight attendant announces that we have already started our descent into the Montreal area, only 32 minutes into the flight! I hear something interesting. One of the two flight attendants on Club Transat is talking with one of the off-duty flight crew members, asking if this L-1011 will do a ferry flight to the Air Transat base at Mirabel. (The ferry flights are the only Air Transat flights bearing two digits. The rest all bear three digits). Apparently, no. Too bad! They will have to drive home, from Dorval, all the way to the Laurentians, in the North Shore, near Mirabel Airport, supposing they live there. Welcome home!
The descent takes us over the North Shore of Montreal (Laval), then southbound over Northern Montreal for the base leg. During our base leg, I clearly see Dorval Airport and runway 24R. My visibility is increased by the fact that I am at the front of the plane. Even during the descent, one of the economy passenger walks forward, with a baby, and uses one of the two lavatories (or was there only one?) reserved to Club Transat passengers.
We touch down smoothly on runway 24R at 11:29 PM, EDT. About five minutes later, we taxi to the Aeroquay. I clearly see the marshallers guiding our aircraft to gate 33 of the Aeroquay. The Chief Flight Attendant announces that deplaning will be made from exit L2. Of course, he won't say THAT to the passengers. He will say instead the second gate on the left hand side of the aircraft. Oops, just as I am about to walk to the back, I notice the telescopic jetway is moving towards exit L1. A flight attendant behind me comments: "Uh-oh. This gate at the Aeroquay does not reach the other exit". He immediately takes the phone receiver and makes the announcement to correct that we will now deplane from the forward left exit. And so I leave the L-1011, pass through unused gates in the dark, and use the very interesting moving sidewalk. Surprise! By going to the baggage claim area, I already find my parents and my sister! I was expecting to see them AFTER I pick up my luggage but I somehow forgot that I'm on a domestic flight. I'm home. Extremely tired after staying awake for nearly 24 hours, but at the same time happy to be home, and extremely sad to have left a country I got used to. | ||||||
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This concludes "Flughafen: Flight to Düsseldorf". We invite you to read its sequel, called Flight to Berlin: Flughafen 2.
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L-1011 holding short, climbing: by Sergio Ortega, captured and modified from Microsoft Flight Simulator 98. L-1011 on final: source unknown, modified by Sergio Ortega. © 1998-2008, airodyssey.net. All rights reserved. Disclaimer, trademarks, privacy policy. |
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