Route: London Gatwick to Funchal International Airport (Madeira Island)
Departure date and time of flight: 13:00pm on the 4th of August 2009 Flight Number: TP349 Flight duration: 3h 45m Class: BUSINESS CLASS Aircraft type: Airbus A320-200 Punctuality of the flight: The flight departed on time from a rather unusually quite Gatwick Airport, and arrived around 10 minutes early into the normally very quite Funchal Airport! Any baggage issues: No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. Comments on the check-in staff and any issues: I usually find it much easier to check-in at Gatwick without any hassle at all. There was no queue. The staff were very polite and professional. I was upgraded to Business Class on this sector of the flight. Comments regarding the pre-meal service: Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or Coca Cola), and wine. Champagne was also offered. Comments regarding the first meal: For lunch it was a penne pasta with broccoli and sautéed mushrooms. The sauce was slightly sticky, but that would be expected since this is airline food. You are eating at 37,000 feet and not in a 5* restaurant! To accompany the main dish the air hostess brought along a basket with a selection of breads- I went for the sunflower seed decorated roasted bun. There was a small dish of fresh fruit, and to my surprise this was indeed fresh. Normally fruit in airline food is not really fresh, but rather been in the fridge for some time. But you could tell from the juices in the melons and the kiwi that the food was fresh. To top it all up was a lovely Danish pastry for desert- again very fresh and delicious. Comments regarding the drinks service: A second round of drinks were offered after the meal- this also consisted of wine and Champagne. Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): Though a short flight, passengers in Business Class were open to go to the galley and choose from a selection of fine cheese slices, roasted bread and a selection of drinks. Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None Comments on the in-flight system (if any): None Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew: The cabin crew were very professional and polite. Despite the flight being full, there was a certain calm in the cabin- no noise, no complaints. Just a normal flight, without any incidents. Improvements that could be made: This was a great flight, and on such a short flight, it is difficult to find any faults. Everything was just fine. Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): The A320 has a standard 3-3 configuration for Economy Class, and a 2-2 seat layout for Business Class. TAP Air Portugal has a clean and fresh looking interior. The airlines colours of lime green and red are portrayed on the design of the seats. The seats are very comfortable, with a recline enough to stretch the legs during the short haul flight (although it can be sometimes classed as Medium Haul because it approach almost 4 hours) Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10 Route: Funchal International Airport (Madeira Island) to London Gatwick
Departure date and time of flight: 16:00pm on the 4th of August 2009 Flight Number: TP0348 Flight duration: 3h 45m Class: Economy Class Aircraft type: Airbus A320-200 Punctuality of the flight: The flight departed from a very quite Funchal Airport on time, and landed at Gatwick without any delays. Any baggage issues: No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. Comments on the check-in staff and any issues: Checking in at Funchal seemed very straight forward. The airport is not that busy- with the majority of the flights being intended within Europe. The majority of the flights are charter flights for tour operators, and not scheduled flights as one would expect from an international airport. Comments regarding the pre-meal service: Choice of drinks (tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or Coca Cola), and wine. Champagne was also offered. Comments regarding the first meal: Lunch was served around 35 minutes after departure. The meal seemed to be fresh because the flight departed from its home base. For starters there was a fabulous penne pasta salad (blended in with black pepper and some boiled vegetables), and a soft bread roll served with a small amount of Portuguese butter. The main dish contained fish with boiled rice and a dish consisting of a Spanish omelette. The beautiful thing about this meal was that it was not messy. What I mean by this is that a passenger that is eating this meal would be able to eat the contents without spilling the all over the place (as it usually happens on a flight!). The fish was delicious- neatly dressed in a thick tomato and herb sauce. To polish off the meal, a lovely thick cubed shaped rich fruit cake was served. All that was missing was a hot custard or chocolate sauce to top the cake. Comments regarding the drinks service: A second round of drinks were offered after the meal- this also consisted of wine and Champagne. Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): None Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None Comments on the in-flight system (if any): Only the overhead PVT screens were in place. Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew: The cabin crew were very professional and polite. Despite the flight being full, there was certain calm in the cabin- no noise, no complaints. Just a normal flight, without any incidents. Improvements that could be made: This was a great flight, and on such a short flight, it is difficult to find any faults. Everything was just fine. Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): The A320 has a standard 3-3 configuration for Economy Class and 2-2 for Business Class. TAP Air Portugal has a clean and fresh looking interior. The airlines colours of lime green and red are portrayed on the design of the seats. The seats are very comfortable, with a recline enough to stretch the legs during the short haul flight (although it can be sometimes classed as Medium Haul because it approach almost 4 hours) Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10 |
About Airline PRThis is a special section on Airline Branding, and Airline Public Relations written by me on all the flights I have been fortunate enough to have been on. These are not records taken from somewhere else, but are actual flights I have been on. Most of the flight trips are officially sponsored by the airline companies in order to promote their certain routes, and aircraft. Airline promotion and PR related work in the aviation industry is one of my expertise. Watch exclusive videos below taken in the cockpit of a Boeing 777-300ER in-flight over Chinese Airspace.
Special thanks goes to Turkish Airlines B777-300ER Cockpit Video 1B777-300ER Cockpit Video 2Archives
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