V-Flyer

Well we were off to Florida for ou 7 week break so rather than face Monday morning on the M56 we stayed overnight at the Radisson Blu. Up and off to check in with no problems and through security pretty quickly. As we were PE we settled by the gate to await boarding Beauty Queen. I had hoped for an aircraft we hadn't been on but it wasn't to be.

Boarding commenced about 9.35am and was well organised with Upper and PE in 1 queue and Economy in another. We were all on board by 10am which boded well for an on time departure. Big mistake!!

About 10.15am a ground crew arrived and commenced loading 2 pallets of freight into the front hold. Then the de-icing man turned up so we pushed back about 10.30am. Not too bad. We then sat for 15 minutes before the Captain announced a mis-match in the paperwork and we were overload and had to return to stand. Ground crew then turned up and removed 1 of the pallets they had just loaded!

11.05 we pushed back again and commenced taxiing. As take off was north towards Manchester we taxied down towards Concorde stopping by the Air Livery hangar where we sat for about 15 minutes. Crept forward a couple of times and the I could see why. The taxiway to the end of the runway is closed as it is dug up and being worked on. Aircraft were having to wait and the taxi down the runway to turn around at the end. This meant they would send 2 aircraft down to turn await incoming aircraft then take off before they could repeat the procedure. Maybe somebody could explain why they didn't use the newer 2nd runway and how much aviation fuel is being wasted never mind the extra pollution.

We eventually took off at 11.45am with a full 9 hour flight time so that we would be an hour late into Atlanta. The flight itself was fine and we both enjoyed the cottage pie recommended by a Vflyer. Arrival in Atlanta was 65 minutes late but with a short taxi we were on stand at 4pm. We were off quickly and into the chaos, sorry Immigration. It wasn't too bad only 45 minutes of being moved from 1 queue to another before we could collect and drop off our bags pass through security and catch the train to terminal A for our flight down to Fort Myers. Our 3.25 hour layover meant we managed to arrive at our gate 45 minutes before departure which was better than many others who had missed their connections.

Delta were well organised and we pushed back 10 minutes early arriving in Fort Myers a whole 25 minutes early. We were off quick collected our luggage and car and were in our hotel in Naples by 8.30pm and ready for some sun tomorrow.

Our return at end of March could be interesting as we will be sampling Upper Air Berlin style!

Sorry this has posted as VS110 instead of VS109

Thank you for the TR. You must have been getting a little hot under the collar about your connection with all the delays on take off. Glad you made it !

Thank you for your TR. I've picked up a couple of delays too on the MAN-ATL recently for different reasons and it seems your situation was something pretty unique.

I do know though that feeling of arriving into ATL dashing in my case to get through immigration to catch a connection. Last week a long 9hrs35mins to ATL had me arriving rather late, thankfully immigration was very quiet and I was on the air-train to catch my connecting flight in 15mins after leaving the aircraft (having picked up the case and headed through security again) - though it was touch and go, I made the connection with minutes to spare (having been rebooked on the later flight just in case...which wasn't needed in the end...)

Jon

Not at all envious of 7 weeks in the Florida sun!

Thanks for the TR. Glad to hear you made your connection at ATL despite the delays at MAN.

With regards to not using the second runway, that only opens for selected hours and it’s open for less hours in the winter months than the summer. Additionally, it doesn’t have a parallel taxiway running down it, so aircraft have to “backtrack” even further than the main runway if taking off in the north easterly direction, though there is a holding area at the 05R end for about 2 or 3 aircraft. I agree though it may have sped things up if the second runway was at least open for landings like it normally is during dual runway ops when takeoffs and landings take place in a north easterly direction.

Enjoy your extended holiday in Florida!