Avis du vol entre Tbilisi et Athens en classe Economique avec Aegean Airlines

Introduction

This is the report of the first leg flying home after a trip to Georgia and Armenia, which was made difficult by the fact that:
- the initial plan was to also go to Azerbaijan
- the relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan are difficult
- the relationship between France and Azerbaijan had suddenly become difficult
It was necessary, at the last minute, to buy a return ticket from TBS and no longer from GYD: the direct flight with AF was outrageously expensive, which left TK and A3, the latter offering a more acceptable schedule.

A3 is much less aggressive pushing options than FlyOne Armenia (and its parent company FlyOne), both when buying and checking in. At most, A3 offers fast track access and the option to purchase an additional checked bag, but in a friendly manner, without being heavy-handed about it.

A3 asked to complete our passport details, etc. – quite common for entering the Schengen area – but, in a variation of the Y2K bug, the drop-down menu for stating your birth year did not go beyond 1924. Aegean, do you know that there are some 600,000 centenarians in Europe, and that Greece has a particularly flattering ratio of centenarians in its population?

(I pointedly stress that only my professional experience with faulty human-machine interfaces made me check how far this drop-down menu dropped: Mrs. Marathon was born after 1943, decades later according to some observers ^^)

Arrival at TBS, landside

Bolt ride to TBS: the dashboard was decorated with a rather un-Georgian plastic Eiffel Tower, and our ride was protected by a Georgian cross (behind the smartphone) and an icon, a careful precaution given the creativity of the Georgians when it comes to driving.

I never managed to take a decent picture of this column which decorates the interchange with the airport access road

The TBS terminal, backlit

This is the parking lot of the car rental companies, seen from the end of the terminal once airside

… where I went to take a daytime picture of 4L-TBA, to be discovered in detail in this FR (in French)

Check-in started shortly after we had arrived in the Departures hall: there were already quite a few PAX and the line was moving rather slowly. The staff also took a long time to set up a Business / Elite counter (which did not apply to us).

It was indeed the flight to ATH, but do not worry, the display alternated between Georgian and English.

It took us a full 49 minutes from our arrival at the end of the line to our reaching the counter. Our luggage had gained another kilo since the previous flight, this time because for this trip back home, we had only the essentials in our hand luggage: it would be much less penalizing if our suitcase did not make it to CDG with us. I’ll have time to develop the point later!

We received a BP for the two successive flights

Up to the Departures level: a smiling employee checked the passport and the BP at the access to the security checked, where the female staff had a most unpleasant look on her; she gave me the impression that her job was a plan B after failing the local prison wardens exam.
TBS is one of those airports where you must remove your belt to go through the metal detector portal, even if it is 100% plastic.

Plane spotting at TBS airside

Anyway, only ten minutes after this photo had been taken from the escalator, having gone through the security check, the immigration and the duty-free shops, I was behind the windows for some plane spotting.

Let's start with the aircraft registered in Georgia:

4L-CMA, a CAMEX Airlines 737-800

4L-MWC, a MyWay Airlines 737-500

4L-TGI, a Georgian Airways 737-500

Did I mention that there has been not one, but two FRs posted about this Tbilisi Airways 737-300? The second one is there, not to be missed ^^

4L-TIG, a Georgian Airlines 737-800 in white livery

Besides the Georgians, there are the Russians:
RA-89179, an Azimuth Airlines Sukhoi Superjet 100

RA-89145, a Red Wings Sukhoi Superjet 100

… and finally Gulf countries birds:
A6-AQF, an Air Arabia A320ceo

Arrival of A7-LAC, a Qatar Airways A320ceo

This children's play area was as empty in daytime as it was at night

Note though that it is located at the equally empty end of the terminal

The plane from ATH is parked away from the terminal: she is SX-DVM, an A320ceo

And unsurprisingly, an email from A3 informed me that the gate had changed

Boarding: the cabin of an Aegean A320ceo

Boarding was started promptly. Beautiful lighting on the Aegean A320

View from the PAXbus on the aircraft parked at the terminal,

… and away form it, respectively

Arrival next to the plane

Door shot

Fuselage shot

An abandoned maintenance hangar –, I didn’t manage to take a decent picture of the rear side during the PAXbus ride – it was in a sorry condition.

Three rows of business seats, with the middle seat neutralized

Economy class

Arriving at our seats – unlike the previous flights, we could choose them at no extra charge

The seat pitch (from the edge of the seat to the seat belt) is decent, period

The seat backs tilt about 8°

… which is bad news for anyone who wants to use their laptop in flight behind a passenger who wants to sleep, but I was going to be lucky, because that would be the case for the passenger in the window seat of the previous row.
Both the safety cards and the flight magazines didn’t fit well in their respective pockets, but I deny any responsibility for the disappearance of the latter!

The width between armrests is that of an A32x

… but once again, Mrs. Marathon was going lose the armrest battle, to the benefit of a PAX who clearly has some kilos to lose, and was going keep a mask on her face during two hours, before finally removing it and putting it in a special case – I didn’t event know that this existed !

Another aircraft from the Gulf area: HZ-NS78, a Flynas A320neo

A tall cabin crew member optimized the filling of the luggage bins

Arrival of the checked luggage trolley

The Marathon suitcase, impossible to miss with its two perpendicular straps, was on top of the pile

… and was indisputably loaded on board

The last piece of checked baggage was a cage probably containing an unidentified pet.

Plan spotting while taxiing

We pushed back, which allows us to have a better view of 4L-MLG, one of the two Georgian Airlines 767-300s

LY-SLX, a Sun d'Or International Airlines 737-800

The 737-300 Tbilisi Airways was still there, and you already know where to click to learn more about her ^^

Here is the other 767-300 Georgian Airways. To find out all about the on-board experience, go to this FR (in French) from a specialist in rare planes from improbable companies!

All these Georgian planes parked distantly could actually belong to that category

The Flynas A320neo goes home

The wind was well aligned with the runway

Take off would be from runway 31L – runway 31R is actually disused

In flight

Takeoff

The typical Soviet style terminal building, dated 1952: it is now used as the VIP reception building.

Overall view of the western half of TBS

The military zone at the far end of the perimeter, with Mil Mi-24 helicopters and two Antonov An-28 twin-turboprops

The interchange between the highway and the access road to the airport

Bad luck, clouds on the way up hid Mskheta. This is the general view…

… and a zoom on Ksani, further west.

Screens were deployed from the ceiling

They displayed a somewhat basic moving map

The service was provided by cabin crew who are just as cheerful as they were when greeting the boarding passengers

The offering was less cheerful, with the choice between a sandwich with ham

Or with cheese, together by two very thin sesame pancakes.

All that came with water, tea, coffee, or standard soft drinks
For me, it would be a coffee – I filled this bottle of Georgian water airside at TBS; it was unrelated to A3’s offering.

Turkish landscapes

The moving map showed us the approach of the Sea of Marmara, with Istanbul on the right – the ground was hidden by the cloud cover until then

The southern coast of the Black Sea, on the side of Bağırganlı

Bottom right: SAW (Sabiha Gökçen International Airport), Istanbul's secondary airport

In the center of this picture:

… Samandıra Air Base (LTBX)

The Anatolian part of Istanbul

Zoom on the skyscrapers near the interchange between the O4 and O2 highways in Istanbul

General view of the Bosphorus Strait

Zoom on the Bosphorus Bridge

Clouds obscured much of the view of Istanbul. Much further west, the West Istanbul Marina, and to the left, Büyükçekmece Lake

The jagged shape of Paşalimanı Island in the Sea of Marmara

Right next to it, Avşa Island

The eastern outlet of the Dardanelles Strait

The eastern end of the Dardanelles Strait is just under the wing

Zoom in on the Bakacak Dam Lake, appearing in the center of the photo above

The Dardanelles Bridge holds the span world record, at 2,023 m.

The Turkish coast, top right, and in the center of the picture, part of the Greek island of Lesbos with the Gulf of Kalloni at the bottom left.

Descent on ATH

Bad luck, the cloud cover was low

… and cleared only thanks to the descent of the aircraft: this is the coast with Porto Rafti in the center of the picture

First glimpse of ATH

The agglomeration of Athens, with in the center right, the still bare surface of the old airport

Turn offshore

And alignment on Runway 31R

Landing at ATH

Spotting at ATH

SX-DNH, an Aegean A321ceo

Parking near SX-DVW, an Aegean A320ceo

I could not check that our luggage would be unloaded

… because we deplaned

The PAXbus was parked in front of an Aegean A321neo

As always, we were too close to the plane to photograph it in full

Sky Express ATR 72-600

SX-NEP, an Aegean A320neo

A nice bunch of ATR 72s

Some Aegean A320 and A321

SX-OBT, an Olympic Air ATR72-600

SX-DVO, an Aegean A320ceo in Star Alliance livery

The PAXbus followed this luggage truck; our suitcase was not there: these were the luggage of another flight

SX-NAO, an Aegean A321neo

Arrival at the terminal, with several aircraft at the gates: Swiss A320ceo

Volotea A320ceo

The entrance to the terminal was under the non-Schengen area, which provided a view on some long haul aircraft:
Emirates 777-300ER

9V-OFH, a Scoot Airlines 787-8 called ''Scooti-mite''

And finally LN-FND, a Norse Atlantic Airways 787-9 called "Dartmoor"

Connecting was not very simple, because in addition to taking longish corridors, we eventually arrived landside and had to go through the general security check after the Schengen Area immigration check. The waiting time at the security check was limited though, and exactly 16 minutes after the above picture, we went through the umpteenth post-security check shopping mall in our career…

… then a corridor parallel to the boarding gates (beyond view on the right) towards the lounges.

The connection time was comfortable: we had more than an hour to kill until boarding. We didn’t have any status with Star Alliance, but our travel companion did, and I suggested she should invite Mrs. Marathon to the lounge.

Quiz:
Will Mrs. Marathon be admitted in this lounge?

Shall I wait for her comfortably seated on these seats, while recharging my laptop?

Will our suitcase be there at CDG?

The answers will be in the FR of the ATH-CDG flight, to be published!

Bonus: Tbilisi

I offer you a bonus on the capital of Georgia