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Air Transat Flies 7600km Airbus A321LR Transatlantic Flight
On Monday morning, Air Transat Flight TS690 landed in Athens, Greece, having flown all the way from Montreal, Canada. The one-time service was operated by a narrowbody Airbus A321LR and covered over 7,600 km. (simpleflying.com) More...
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Give me the seat pitch and width and the ability to walk up and down a few times and it's no problem. I've flown the Perth to London flight and it was fine (but only because I was in the Premium Economy!).
The article fails to say how many passengers with their baggage and crew were on board. it does say number of seats on the aircraft. it had tailwinds so it arrived 45 min ahead of schedule, that can't be the norm. What if headwinds? Knowing Air Transat unless you were in the first 12 seats, it would be extremely cramped. the other test flight with the heated dummies, also fails to mention if it had full baggage for weight purposes. People save for a long time for a holiday, only to save a few bucks and start their dream vacation on a cramped low cost airline! And finish it that way too. Oh for a return to the days when there was the likes of Wardair or economy was comfortable.
passengers were met by physical therapists, massage therapists and other health workers to make for a speedy recovery from the rigors of that long a flight in those crowded conditions. The passengers were not smiling as they exited the aircraft, some walking stiffly, some shuffling slowly, but the airline accountants were very pleased by the performance of the airbus. Some passengers were heard to mention"never again", and "that was terrible"....
What's the difference between a narrow body and a 10 abreast economy cabin on Emirates? Still packed like sardines.
Premium airlines consider a flight longer than 4 hours is a long-haul one. Cabin crew has a lot of extra duties during long-haul flights compared to short-hauls and completing those tasks they need an aisle.
If passengers are encouraged to stand up and walk as many times as possible (to avoid DVT), plus they need to use lavatories, crew is just unable to do the job.
I have a terrible experience with one of the Middle Eastern airlines when I took a 6 hour long route on board an A-320 to BUD. A couple hours after take-off some of the crew members were literally yelling at passengers when they lined up at the lavatories because they were stuck at the back of the plane. It happened quite a few times during that flight. Sending them a formal complaint, I then stopped using their service until they upgraded to A-330-300...
I have heard friends complaining a lot when they took the SIN-PER 6 hour long route on board a QF B-737-800.
When I took the same route in early 2010, QF operated 747-400ERs, few years later they downgraded to A-330-200 and before COVID-times it was the 737.
Money talks, passengers suffer...
If passengers are encouraged to stand up and walk as many times as possible (to avoid DVT), plus they need to use lavatories, crew is just unable to do the job.
I have a terrible experience with one of the Middle Eastern airlines when I took a 6 hour long route on board an A-320 to BUD. A couple hours after take-off some of the crew members were literally yelling at passengers when they lined up at the lavatories because they were stuck at the back of the plane. It happened quite a few times during that flight. Sending them a formal complaint, I then stopped using their service until they upgraded to A-330-300...
I have heard friends complaining a lot when they took the SIN-PER 6 hour long route on board a QF B-737-800.
When I took the same route in early 2010, QF operated 747-400ERs, few years later they downgraded to A-330-200 and before COVID-times it was the 737.
Money talks, passengers suffer...
Trust me if they could make a fully loaded CRJ or Embraer fly this distance, they would lol.
LoL, I think the answer is to develop a lightweight, fully articulating passenger seat that not only the seat back moves but the seat bottom moves as well. Something where you are not jammed upright in a fixed position for hours on end but where you not quite lying flat but angled with legroom under the seat in front. Just might be a more relaxing a flight, now if only the seats vibrated when you put in a quarter? .
