Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 6 : DJ1152

Sydney (SYD) - Launceston (LST)

Virgin Blue established its credentials as a low-cost carrier early on in our relationship with the airline - we booked it because it was so cheap! It reinforced those credentials by demonstrating how to turn round an aircraft efficiently at a busy airport like Sydney. One manifestation of this was the fact that boarding of Tassie Tigress was by both the front door (using a conventional jetty) and the rear door (by a set of steps on the tarmac). We took the scenic route via the tarmac and quickly installed ourselves in 18C and D. (At check-in, we'd reckoned that in the inevitably cramped conditions, sitting across the aisle would make for optimum personal space.) Boarding was completed remarkably quickly and the reward was that we managed to get away four minutes early. I was relieved to see that there was a full-service ethos when it came to safety, with the cabin crew making a commendably thorough job of completing their checks. We had a long taxi out towards the sea and took off towards the city just after 1pm, with a lovely Boeing roar!

The estimated flight time was given as 1hr 20mins. Video entertainment shown on seat-back screens, which had been free on boarding, required a credit card swipe for continued viewing. I decided not to bother, instead buying a diet coke when the trolley came by, to accompany the sandwich and crisps that I'd brought aboard with me.

Eating certainly passed the time for a bit, as did scanning through the in-flight magazine. However the bottom line is that the seat pitch was terrible and, to make matters worse, I had a typically restless and fidgety male behind me. I definitely wouldn't be keen to do a longer flight in similar conditions.

We landed in LST at 1424, returned down the runway, and were parked up just before the half-hour. Once again, both doors were used.

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