from mercurey to margaux
As part of my job, I have been travelling to Bordeaux a lot of times in the past year, up to a weekly basis at some point. This was the first time I experienced a "regular" flying experience, where even some crew member might recognise and greet me!
I know this is just a small domestic flight, and it is hard to make it interesting but I'll try my best!
Flight routing
- 1Air France Hop LYS - BOD
- 2
Flying blue Miles earned with this flight: 318
Status earned: 2 XP
Air France doubling the XP status in 2020: 2 additional XPs
Fortunately, my job let us choose the airline we want to fly with, and so as a Flying blue frequent flyer I did not choose the orange plane over Air France..
I chose my seat 30 hours before departure, as all HOP flights, you can't choose your seats before this point.
AT LYON - SAINT EXUPERY AIRPORT
I arrived with a taxi as usual, and went through security really fast:
- during covid times there was barely anyone at the airport at 6pm during a weekday
- I was travelling light as usual, with just my cabin suitcase.
A few hops and a dutch embraer friend…
A good thing to know when you flight onboard the CRJs is that, even if you only have a cabin luggage, it will have to be dropped at the plane door and to be placed in the small hull under the cabin.
I arrived at the bit of the terminal dedicated to HOP, and as usual my flight was leaving from the U gates.
It seems as if U are for domestic, S for international flights - where my previous flight to Rome was scheduled from.
onboard the crj700
Aircraft: Mitsubitchi CRJ702
Registration: F-GRZH
Engines: 2x CFM34
Age: 18 Years
Layout: Y70
Observation: Entered service with Brit Air; still part of AF fleet, but not for long!
We were called to board on time; with the Skypriority respected, premium passengers were called first.
The crew recognized me from the previous week flight, as you will see later, that gave me two small "benefits":
- a long chat with them on the future of Hop (I was warned that the network will shrink to a barely viable airline)
- a madeleine snack that I wasn't supposed to received in these covid times in economy !
I like these old seats, they are so comfy.. Shame the sausages are leaving the fleet…
The Safety card… Soon to be history!
We started taxiing shortly after and took off from runway 35L as usual; after the safety briefing by the crew as usual.
and take off!
Rotate
Last views of Lyon and here the Rhone river
And the service started..
Here is the free snack ;-)
Since the first lock down, Air France stopped printing its magazine, and so it is digitally that you can discover it:
At the time, there was still 11 CRJ700s in the fleet, nowadays there are just 6 remaining… It will soon become very rare to fly onboard one!
AT BORDEAUX MERIGNAC AIRPORT
We arrived at the terminal B, where Air France operates
