Review of Transavia flight from Wrocław to Paris in Economy

Introduction

This is the report of the return leg of a round trip to Wrocław with Transavia, which had just opened this line:

Journey to WRO, WRO landside

After a busy week in Lower Silesia and Wrocław itself, it was time to head home. Bus 106 to the airport passes near the Old Town and - like all buses and trams in Wrocław - is free for passengers aged 65 and over. (Thanks to our local friend for her research !)

For those under 65, the ticket costs 4.60 PLN, or just over one euro. That corresponds 12 minutes of the local net minimum wage—roughly the same (using the same measure) as the €2.05 minimum fare for the ORY connection… if you know how to avoid the €14 surcharge on Metro line 14.

It is an ordinary city bus, therefore not adapted to passengers with luggage; however, the passengers are heading to an airport served mainly by low-cost carriers, so they have only luggage suitable for storage in the overhead bins or under the seat . No doubt about it when seeing this passenger: this is definitely the bus to the airport!

Trouble-free arrival at the terminal's entrance…

…where one of the city's countless bronze dwarf statues - the local mascots - stands guard.

"Paris loves us" (though it doesn't always show it), but at WRO, it’s the passengers who love the airport (or not).

One of the landside flight information screens, showing our flight as on time. As is often the case, this is a promise that should be taken with a grain of salt

An escalator leads to an observation deck

… there it is

It is very disappointing, as it overlooks the airside area and set well back from the tarmac-facing façade, resulting in numerous window mullions obstructing the view.

There was for instance no way to take a decent photo of HB-AZF -a Helvetic Airways Embraer E190-E2

The main point of this picture is to show that most of the seats were occupied

The car rental counters, in the background

There is a prayer room on the lower level; I liked it better than those at many other airports.

Need I mention that Poland is overwhelmingly Catholic? This poster, visible from the ground floor, catches the eye (and the eye of the faithful):

The translations are a bit loose: the Polish *Szczęśliwego lotu* ("Have a good flight") becomes a "blessed flight" in English, and then a "Christian flight" in French, Spanish, and Italian. I prefer the original!

WRO airside

Getting through security was uneventful, apart from the staff insisting that female passengers remove their shoes if they triggered the metal detector, actually because of another item of clothing they were not going to remove in public.

Whether landside at the mediocre observation deck or airside waiting for boarding, WRO is not a very spotter-friendly airport. This is the best shot I could get of OK-SWI, a Smartwings 737 MAX 8; the view was largely blocked by a deplaning corridor that prevented access to the outer windows.

This is by far the biggest dwarf we saw in Wrocław!

At 6.90 PLN (plus a 0.50 deposit) for a 500 ml bottle, this airside shop prices the cubic meter at around 1,700 EUR.

Mind you, that’s cheaper than the €3 charged by Transavia’s buy-on-board service, which works out to €6,000 per cubic meter!

You can avoid this expense, but you need to be patient—whether you go to the only airside water fountain,

or to the ladies' restroom.

The only good point of this terminal—where the seating capacity is barely adequate for the traffic—is that there is a power outlet (only one!) under each block of seats.

Our flight was displayed on time…

…because WRO hadn’t received this email yet:
(Fun fact: Transavia didn’t register that I’m male during online check-in. However, when I bought my next ticket, TO asked if they could address me by my first name… without giving me the option to say no. I didn’t like that forced familiarity.)

But twenty minutes later, WRO was showing a delay of 1 hour 50 minutes (and I hadn’t received an email).

For those who hadn’t guessed that "Odlot" means "delayed" in Polish. At the neighboring gate, a classic scene of the hard low-cost theater is playing out: this flight is displayed in "Final Call" even though the plane has just landed and hasn't even reached its parking stand yet.

The hand-luggage sizers serve as a reminder that Ryanair is ruthless with regaards to cabin luggage dimensions—allowing a thickness of only 20 cm (compared to 25 cm on Transavia)—prompting several passengers to double-check that their bags would fit. (There was no baggage sizer at our Transavia flight's gate.)

Speaking of Transavia, this is our plane landing, and she's late.

Two passengers known on this website were expecting her.

Tha Transavia 737 was followed by SP-EXI, an Enter Air 737 MAX 8.

Guided by a follow-me car,

… our plane reached the gate

And stopped at the gate

Ryanair has 9 aircraft based at WRO, and it shows

Boarding: the cabin of an older Transavia 737

A (fairly short) wait at the front of the line in the jet bridge

Multilingual welcome message

Door shot—opening a full 180 degrees, a characteristic feature of the 737.
It's a shame to be required to blur out such a smiling welcome at the door!

A cabin which was as empty as it was green

One detail caught my eye as I arrive at my seat: these so vintage audio channel selection knobs, dating back to the days when airlines provided headsets to their passengers.

Headsets that were powered by this box located in the passenger foot space, beneath the seat in front. The system was deactivated long ago but hasn't been removed.

A post-flight check reveals that F-GZHA had just celebrated her19th birthday—a respectable age for an airliner.
There was obsolete, deactivated electronic equipment and - of course - no USB port, but on the plus side, the legroom was very generous, at least in the forward section of the cabin: 26 cm, compared to 22.5 cm at the same row (Row 6) on the outbound flight. (I measure the distance between the edge of the seat cushion and the back of the seat in front)

The seatback also reclined much less: only 4° (compared to 8° on the newer aircraft used for the outbound flight), which was a plus in my view, as it reduced the extent to which the passenger in front encroaches on your personal space if he reclines his seat (though in this case, they didn’t).

Regardless of her age, a 737 always has the same cabin width—and therefore the same width between armrests—which is 2 cm less than in an Airbus A32x.

The safety card, which is espacially minimalist

In case Mrs. Marathon had been traveling with a stowaway baby, Transavia had tucked this leaflet into her seat pocket

No "Sky Interior" mood lighting in this old 737, though that had no impact on our comfort visual.

Unlike the Air France fleet (and many Western airlines), Transavia has a ROw 13 in their aircrafts.

For BOB aficionados, this is the menu:

The goodies are not particularly interesting: the prices for a luggage scale of this type start from 7-10 € on online platforms.

Waiting and spotting on the ground

The captain announced that the flight delay iwa due to bad weather in Central Europe. We had evidently lost our landing slot at ORY, of which where there is a short supply on a Sunday evening. Time dragged on, accompanied by background music. I could have happily done without it , but it was no worse than waiting at the gate. Meanwhile, an E175 in LOT retro-livery pushed back from the adjacent gate.

9H-WAX, a Wizz Air Malta A321neo

The built-in airstairs of a Ryanair 737-800

Built-in airstairs or not, the joys of a remote stand—saving the fee for an airbridge.

SP-RZA, a Buzz 737-8 MAX 200 (a Polish subsidiary of Ryanair, which likes this high-density aircraft)

Arrival of EI-FPF, a CityJet CRJ-900LR

The taxiway was under repair, requiring taxxing up the runway, just like in small airports. Along the way, a Saab 340 belonging to Sprint Air - a local airline that now only carries freight. (The photo is a bit blurry due to our plane's speed and the fading light.)

Lined up for Runway 29 at 7:10 pm

Takeoff and climb

Ryanair's hangars

The countryside near the airport

It was soon obscured by clouds

Cabin crew announcement:
Ladies and gentlemen, we are still in cruise, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.
Hmm, cruising or climbing? The "fasten seatbelt" sign was indeed still on.

A very distant air-to-air shot. According to Flightradar24 (thanks!), this was Dan Air flight DN507 from OTP to DUB, operated by an A320.

Even though the ground wasn't visible, the late-afternoon sun and the clouds created some beautiful lighting effects—without any image enhancing!

A break in the cloud cover: this is Château-Thierry.

The Château-Thierry American Monument, located in the top-left quadrant of the previous photo.

Another interesting lighting moment at the start of the descent.

Charly-sur-Marne, and—in the bottom-right quadrant—Saulchery, a typical linear village along D969 road.

The meanders of the Marne River, starting from Crouttes-sur-Marne (in the bottom right quadrant)

La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, in the center, and Jouarre, to the left

Coulommiers-Voisins Airfield (LFPK), a former airbase dating back to 1938

The Studios 77 – TSF buildings, located in one of the two "daisies" : as the name suggests, these are film and TV series production studios.

Center Parcs at Bailly-Romainvilliers

In the background, the perimeter outlined by a circular road of Eurodisney

Bussy-Saint-Georges

Lognes-Émerainville Airfield

Roissy-en-Brie, with Pontault-Combault in the background

The Montparnasse Tower, the Eiffel Tower, and the skyscrapers of La Défense stood out against the shadows

In the center of the photo, the Tour Triangle, under construction at the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center

The same buildings, aligned in the opposite order a minute later

Villeneuve-Saint-Georges' marshalling yard

The plane is now low enough for the silhouettes to stand out against the horizon

Entering the ORY perimeter

Touchdown at 8:53 PM

Always an Air Caraïbes A350-900 parked here, next to the taxiway between the terminals and runway 07/25

SP-LVT, a LOT 737 MAX 8, in front of an  A320neo belonging to KM Malta Airlines which replaced of Air Malta afterit went out of business in 2024

F-HIXD, an ASL Airlines 737-800

F-HXSH, a Transavia A320neo

No airbridge: due to a lack of staff caused by the delay, or a cost-cutting measure?

Passengers who took photos while on the tarmac were reprimanded by ground staff, but I took mine from the stair landing, out of their sight and/or reach.

But to take this last photo, I had to ignore the gate staff (for the departing flight) haranguing passengers not to linger in the corridor that the next flight's passengers were about to use… even though there were still passengers on the tarmac, and possibly even in the rear of the cabin. That said, would deplaning have been faster if TO had paid for a jet bridge? Not necessarily, as all passengers might have then deplaned through the front door instead of simultaneously through the front and rear doors. Then again… I have seen deplaning using a jet bridge in the front and stairs in the rear.

Passing through passport contron booths that the Schengen Area has made obosolete.

Heading down to the baggage claim area: the exit to the landside was straight ahead.

Reaching Paris by public transport? Passengers are directed toward the Line 14 station

…but from Terminal 3, there are no signs indicating the stop for bus 183, even though it takes less than two minutes to reach it

And on the very brief route map at this stop, the Thiais-Orly stop displays the RER (regional train) Line C icon, carefully omitting the fact that it is also the Line 14 station preceding the airport stop

This is the station. This short bus ride allows you to avoid the "airport surcharge," bringing the fare down from €14 to €2.50 (or even €2.05 with a Liberté+ pass).

The station is brand new, contrasting with the surrounding area, which is still somewhat of a construction site.

And it is particularly deep.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch: as on previous trips, the door-to-door journey took half an hour longer than if we had taken Line 14 directly from the airport. It’s up to each traveller to decide what his time is worth!

Thanks for reading me!