Hello everybody, this is my first report so it will be quite short
After staying in France for two weeks, it was time to go back to Lebanon. It was my first time flying on Middle East Airlines, the national flag carrier airline of Lebanon. The flight, ME212, was operated by OD-MED, an a330-243 which is 8 years old. Mea uses terminal 2E in CDG which is quite new. Here's the plane pictured at gate L53
I was seated on seat 33K, which is on an exit row, offering a lot of legroom which is fortunate since a I'm tall. Blankets and pillows were distributed to each passenger
Ife screens on exit rows are bigger than the others
During taxi, the overhead was emitting creaking sounds and weird noises could be heard (I've never heard them on any 330)
Tear and wear everywhere, every single seat was like this :
Shortly after takeoff, cold peanuts were served as well as drinks
Since I was seated near the door, the screen was located in the armrest, however it was impossible to get it at an angle where you could actually see whats on the screen, i had to open the tray table and stuff a blanket under it
Moreover, the controller wasn't working and the sound was coming from one side of the earphones, the problem came from the plug.
After 30 mins of ads (yes 30 minutes), food came with a second drink service :
It was either roast chicken with pasta or shrimps with rice. Both were served with salmon salad and lemon meringue pie as well as bread and cheese
I chose the second option
The salmon salad :
The main course :
And finally the pie :
Everything was delicious except the bread which was dull
MEA uses silverware, unlike many airlines :
After the meal, a third drink service was carried out.
Here's a picture of the cabin :
Before landing, FA distributed water in silver plates, nice touch
However I noticed a strange thing, the captain made absolutely no announcement to passengers, he only said ten words : PNC prepare for takeoff, Crew prepare for landing and disarm L4
In addition to that, the remove before flight signs were hanging on the door the whole flight.
This review is coming to an end, I would like to thank you for flying with me today and don't forget to leave comments !
Many thanks for this interesting report. It might be shorter than the average, as you say, but it sure is an enjoyable read, with detailed, relevant information.
It's great that MEA wants to stay "old never, young forever." Too bad the aircraft if clearly ageing, though.
The cattering looks great for cattle class!
Looking forward to a new report from you! :)
Thank you :)
Very nice report with detailed pics. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked it :)
Thanks for this FR.
Too bad the cabin looked so worn out and the IFE did not work, because otherwise, the meal and the use of a long haul aircraft makes for an above average experience.
How was the crew?
Thank you for your comment :)
The IFE was working but only partially. Crew was friendly but careless about safety measures : The remove before flight signs remained hanging on the door the whole flight. No announcements were made from the flight deck.