BRISTOL - 4

[WATABENCH]

Monarch visiting BRS tonight, unfortunatly its a rescue flight for XLA but thought spotters might be intrested as we dont see them very often. I/B from RHO I believe.

[flyerboy]

Monarch callsign and flight number but aircraft is actually 757 of Euroatlantic that has been doing a couple of flights for Thomas Cook

[Cloud1]

I have not seen any Monarch flight numbers in so how is it possible to have Monarch using their flight numbers to have operated a couple of TCX flights??? I think it is more a rescue flight for XLA as previously advised - this would fit in with the wording on their website:
MON 605 RHODES 2155 Repatriation
and tomorrow:

FCA 7685 LAS PALMAS 0555
MON 631 KOS 0620 Repatriation
TCX 713 LAS PALMAS 0655

EZY 444 BELFAST INTL 0805

[flyerboy]

I never stated it was doing a flight for Thomas Cook tonight.If you were in or around BRS, which surprisingly most Bristol spotters are, you would know that Euroatlantic have done a few sub charters for Thomas Cook whilst their A320s have been tech. It is doing repatriation flights all with MON callsigns and XLA flight numbers until 22nd September. Hope this is clearer

[danielhobbs]

The 757 was CS-TFK. Here are some pictures i took of it departing yesterday afternoon.









And the grounded XL aircraft

[Cloud1]

YOU stated that the B757 had been doing flights for Thomas Cook using Monarch flight numbers. I stated that this had not been noted by me and I am very much a Bristol Airport 'enthusiast' (prefer that to 'spotter') I am not getting into an argument......it was a simple comment (no need for sarcasm either thank you.)

On a separate note why are TCX having so many probs with their A320s. Delays have been ranging between 2 and 6 hours lately......a Titan 757 was subbed in a couple of weeks back to and from Palma.

[WATABENCH]

I see by these pics that BIA has put a vehicle infront and behind of the XLA aircraft, "anything BAA do" whats the point? seriously? get over yourselves, its not like anybody withan XL pass or any other pass is going to go airside, grab some steps, open up the aircraft, start it up, taxi out and take off!! Its just ridiculous over kill in the circumstances

[Centre cities]

Blocked in

Wasnt a dodgy 707 stolen from Bristol once whilst impounded.

Seem to remember something about it from the dim past, or was it just made up.

The blocking in may be something required in civil law to lay claim. Just guess but i am sure somebody can tell me why.


Centre cities

[WATABENCH]

That would explain it CC, however have seen some at certain airports blocked in and others not. Be intresting to see somebody try to nick the XL, maybe the CAA will insist on Clifford thatchem approved alarms being fitted in the future
Best wishes to all at XL BRS base, I'm sure I speak for everyone at BRS both handling agents and airlines when saying, it's a nasty situation and I hope you all can find work as soon as possible, our thoughts are with you all

[Suzeman]

Wasnt a dodgy 707 stolen from Bristol once whilst impounded.

I think you are correct and I think it was in the late 70s. Seem vaguely to remember that it hit the peri fence and / or took some approach lights when it went out.

It is quite common practice for airports to block aircraft in when they have been impounded to prevent aircraft departing without money being paid.

Suzeman

[Invicta DC4]

If I recall correctly, the 707 that was "stolen" had a PPL in the right hand seat.

[hostiegirl]

Thanks Watabench! We had a lovely little base lots of our crew went to Cyprus for summer as we had a base out there, been no mention of this in media you'd only think we had 2 bases at Lgw and Man the way they talk!!. Well they have been stranded fingers crossed they have managed to get home today!.
Good luck to all xl crew in getting new jobs! Not going to be easy an awful time to be looking for other airlines! but fingers crossed.

Just like to say a massive thanks to all Brs staff from Servisair to alpha, ambilift guys, engineers, bus drivers, cleaners etc etc been up at Bristol for 10 years
Flying colours/Jmc/Go-fly/Easyjet and finally Xl been great
So sad it's over for now!

[Bristol_Traveller]

I've noticed that LH seem to have put a bunch of FRA-BRS flights back into the schedule, after the dramatic pruning earlier in the month. (Unfortunately, not soon enough for me to have avoided having to come back to LON on weekend. Grrr). It's back to 3x on Weekdays, 2x on Weekends.

Ah - no they haven't. Their "mobile" timetable is wrong. The main timetable still shows virtually nothing from Friday til Sunday again. Grrr

However, the £39 fares (in E class) don't appear to feature any more. I'm honestly not too upset about that. It wasn't an ideal strategy to out-price EZ and FR to Europe ex-BRS. I'm quite happy to pay more for a ex-BRS service that means I can avoid LHR, rather than expect LOCO type pricing. I've got a good load of flights ex-BRS this month, and while it's definitely not 99p fares, they represent fair pricing in my opinion. Is anyone still getting stupid pricing TO Bristol?

Last night's LH4964 FRA-BRS was well loaded (60-70 people?). Ｉthink I spotted a few XL crew bags???

[hostiegirl]

BT yes those crew bags would have belonged to the Bristol crew who were based in Larnaca for the summer to get home they had to go lca-ath-fra-brs to FINALLY get home to no job! Expect to see those crew bags very soon on ebay to pay some bills!!!

[Bristol_Traveller]

Ah, that figures. They had Aegean BPs, and I was wondering what on earth routing they'd been on to get those. Then I saw the bag tags.

They seemed pretty cheery, considering. (Whereas I was in a grumpy slump, following a "challenging" weekend in AMS).

[andy_smith89uk]

> However, the £39 fares (in E class) don't appear to feature any more. Are the £48.52 fares (inc charges/taxes) not just the £39 fares but with increased fuel costs 'tho? Base fare is shown as £12, rest = taxes and charges.

[Bristol_Traveller]

Yes, the E fares are still loaded (at £11 rtn - EKOMBI11) - and that would have been the lowest fare (formerly £78 rtn, inc taxes and charges - now about £83, because they "discount" the YQ on the lowest fares).

However, from what I can see, virtually all availability in E has been zeroed out on all flights, and there's very little T / L avails. Obviously, this affects all the other E/T/LKOMBI- fares around Europe, so far fewer people will be using the very lowest fare class to fly into/out of Bristol (it would appear).

Ex-BHX, E is also virtually zero, T is very tight, and L similarly so - so maybe we're not being unduly picked on?

This means the cheapest widely available fare will be £165 (TKOMBI11) and quite a few people will end up on WKOMBI11 at £215.

[birdscarer]

The BBC has reported that Mac are (predictably) one of the interested parties in LGW.
Will be interesting to see if BRS would be a sister company to LGW, or if they would sell it from the portfolio to satisfy Comp Comm.

[Bristol_Traveller]

I'd be flabbergasted if the CC considered there to be any competitive issue between LGW and BRS.

Whether Mac are in a position to purchase - that's another question.

[bristolflyer]

I agree the CC had no problem with BAA owning Southampton. It was the London and Scottish monopoly they had problems with. Perhaps Bristol could have the old monorail from the satelite at Gatwick instead of a covered walkway!!