Hello everyone, been out for a while, but now I'm back with the second part of a retro-trip to Ft. Lauderdale.
FLL greets us with a huge parking building. It's also the car-rental centre.
Terminal 4, the only international capable at FLL thus, AV's place there.
Seating space and a pair of shops and restaurants.
Spirit's check in row
The opposite side is occupied by AV and other carriers, and that's practically it with the landside at T4.
Check in done with and lots of time to waste (and not able to be wasted at the terminal)…it's spotting time!
NK hub in action, silverjets to all of the Caribbean.
JetBlue at Terminal 3
Memories from time past…NW and Deltaflot
Also BahamasAir 732 and US classy black livery
I noticed boarding time was nearing, so I moved back to T4 to clear security and to the gate.
The return trip would have a surprise for me. FLL usually saw a type replacement because demand tends to be significant. So.. sometimes the flight would be operated by 757s, but this time there was no A320 nor a 757 waiting at the gate, what I saw was the Colombia es Pasión 767-200. I had never flied on any of AV's 767s so I was very excited, even when it meant not flying with the Airbus' PTV on the way back.
Seats were old school but fairly confortable, pretty decent for the long hauls it was used on (sorry about the blur)
Pitch was decent
The cabin was so 80s-ish AV had a LCD screen installed…but it sucked at its job.
The deserted terminal.
NK's new livery sucks so much compared to its former.
For contrasting purposes: a sleek A321
An US 737 taking off with Ft.Lauderdale's skyline behind
Interstate 95 is so close to RWY 10L's threshold
A NK A319 before us and we're good to go
Another NK jet will depart after us
Take off allowed for a photo tour of FLL
Terminal 3
Terminal 2
Terminal 1
Terminal 4 and US 1
I was amazed by the 762s takeoff power, it was a full plane and it rotated by the middle of the runway
Leaving South Florida behind…
And now into the Bahamas.
By that time it was time for lunch/dinner… a bit early in my opinion.
I chose beef
I asked for a beer to wash it down. Now here something curious happened, my mum asked for one too. She got a Club Colombia the expensive beer and I got an Aguila, the cheap beer, don't know if this was on purpose or not. I felt somewhat discriminated.
Proposed IFE…one of the lame Twilight movies, fortunately it didn't work so no IFE for the day.
So the actual IFE ended up being the sunset:
Then, two hours of book reading, sleeping and boredom. The crew made itself scarce after dinner was cleared. Overall an uneventful right, if not for the nice 762 sub.
Thanks for this FR.
I didn't even know AV used to operate 767 aircrafts.
Flying on a rare aircraft does compensate for a lower level of confort.
From your different reports, I have the impression that AV crews are never really friendly but just get their job done efficiently.
Well, recently I flew Copa and I've come to the conclusion that I take the way AV crew treats you for granted (1 in every 3 flights I do is with them)...maybe their problem is not friendliness but they don't seem to give the extra mile for you.
AV operated 767s from the early 90s 'till about 2010, 5 762s and 2 763 (most of the time 4 and 1 respectively) mainly to Europe, JFK, EZE, GRU, SCL, CCS, LAX and MIA
Happy to read a blast from the past report about the oldest airline in the Americas. Those were the good old days in Ft. Lauderdale. Before the beach was covered with high rises, gated communities and congested at every hour roads. The city is a mecca for shopping. Getting all kind of luxury items for a fraction of the cost. It is also known as Fort Liquordale, having the most bars with the highest sales of libations in the South.
I am not sure the term boredom should be used when travelling next to mami ;) . I dedicate to her Denisse de Kalafe song Senora, senora. Please do keep sharing! Very refreshing point of view.
Great report and nice to see that you flew on a 767. I still remember that AV used to have 747's and it was one of the few Latin American carriers that had this big plane besides RG and AR. I believe that VA also had them in the early 70's.
Gracias.