Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
May 2007 : Flight Log : CE664
CE664 Port Elizabeth (PLZ) - Cape Town (CPT)
When planning
our PLZ-CPT flight, we had a choice between a one-class SAA Canadair
Regional Jet and two-class service on an elderly 737-200 with
Nationwide Airlines. We decided to forego our Star Alliance miles in
the interests of trying out a new carrier and, being slightly
precious frequent flyers
, avoiding being stuck in Y on a tiny RJ
Interestingly, a fully-flexible J ticket on Nationwide cost
approximately the same as the cheapest available Y ticket on SAA.
The dedicated Business Class cabin
consisted of two rows of chunky seats in 2+2 format, more
reminiscent of Domestic First in the USA than any intra-European
business class product. We marvelled at the 'retro' fittings on the
elderly aircraft - a real nostalgia trip! Bruce was tempted to pick
at one of the Nationwide stickers to see whose logo lurked
underneath, but a disapproving look from Yours Truly made him think
better of it
The doors were closed at 1620, but five minutes elapsed before we pushed back. A further six minutes had us airborne and thinking of the noise we must be making for those on the ground! I noticed that Nationwide seem to make a selling point of offering service in both English and Afrikaans. There was a hot towels service soon after take-off, from a nice metal tray.
I was amazed by the size of the in-flight meal - another retro feature! It consisted of a large salad, chicken curry main course, a bread roll, small dessert and crackers & cheese. I washed all this down with some white wine.
Later on in the flight, it became
quite bumpy and the seat belt signs were switched on early. There
were some good views on our approach into CPT. We touched down at
1732 and were parked within five minutes. Almost unbelievably, a car
was provided to ferry the four Business Class passengers the short
distance to the Terminal Building, while everyone else had to slum
it in the bus
A very positive experience with this not-so-well-known carrier!
Date:
Fri 25 May 2007
Aircraft : B737-200
Scheduled dep : 1620
Actual departure : 1625
Scheduled arrival : 1735
Actual arrival : 1737
Cabin : Business Class
Seat : 2A