Flying from Algiers to Tunis to Marseille on two unmarked, wet-leased Airbus A320s operated by Avion Express and Fly2Sky, with zero disclosure at booking.
Wow…those seats on the Avion flight look so luxuriously comfy. It really goes to show how much my expectations for economy seats have tanked over the last 20 years. It’s almost like looking at a domestic first class seat from the 50s!!
Ben's Whitetail Adventures
Lucky, are you trying to get banned from every country in North Africa? You're getting close to 3/5 now. Maybe next go fly Afriqiyah and Libyan Airways to get 4/5. Maybe Morocco will be nicer 🙂
Morocco IS nicer. RAM is part of Oneworld, has pleasant FAs, a real Business Class except on ATR42, and the soft product is quite good. They are also a totally decent transatlantic carrier. The only sometimes rough spot is Moroccan airports.
@ Yoshi, Royal Air Maroc already made the list of the worst business class seats. So the only country left is Libya 🙂
@ SBS: I'll take AT over AF, LH and BA in Business Class 8 days a week (as Ben says) on flights between Morocco and Europe
Thanks again for 'taking one for the team'... "as one does." I'm just glad you're out of Algeria...
Well, my advice was to refund the TUN-MRS and rebook to TUN-NCE, which is operated by TU itself, featuring business class ...
Anyhow, in terms wetleases, I think LH Group is not much better. Yes, they announce it wetleases on their booking page, but they do NOT notify you if there are any changes after booking - and almost certainly there will be such changes on short haul routes. In that sense, TU at least notified you about the plane swap.
True, but booking EW and flying Air Baltic is actually an upgrade, so one shouldn't complain...
Yes, the LH group does actually inform you of aircraft changes in the App/E-Mail. I've always got information on aircraft changes a day or 2 before departure.
Same with Air France. I've had notifications that my original seating had changed due to an aircraft swap. Never been downgraded though.
Generally speaking, a wet lease agreement leads to a reduction in quality unless you can avoid Lufthansa and your flight is operated by Air Baltic
That's a cushy, old-school Economy cabin.
You are lucky you got old Indigo planes and not the current ones where the seat is basically a thin cover over hard plastic on the A320neo planes
Re, your bread + croissant gate:
In French culture, which this breakfast tray seemed inspired by, bread is definitely not interchangeable with a croissant or a pain au chocolat. You don't eat butter or cheese with a croissant, you may eat jam with it and pain au chocolat is enjoyed alone.
Your tray had fresh cheese, butter and honey, which are all traditional bread accompaniments for breakfast and wouln't feel "right" with viennoiseries.
Actually, in french culture viennoiseries have nothing to do with bread, it's almost like saying I was offered pasta, even though I already had cake. The only common thing is that both contain wheat. It stops here.
That's why you'll usually find you are served both bread and vienoisserie for any respectable french breakfast.
at least they serve you something. AA does not serve you anything for its blocked 2.15 mins flight from Belize to Miami. And don't get me started on its continental breakfast from Barbados to Miami.
That livery is really something. More "shadow fleet" than "wet lease". Not a single marking, was there even a tail number??
Finnair uses wetleases for several Regional European routes. I had originally booked 3hr 20min HEL-DUB on Finnair metal but they Notified me by email of a change to Jettime A/s operated aircraft and offered me the option to change.
My only wet leased flight was on a Privilege Style from TLV to EWR when EL AL didn't have enough 777s in 2016. It was a reverse red-eye and I slept incredibly well in a window seat the comfortable 34 inch pinch 3x3x3 seats originally installed by an Asian Airline in 90s with looping tape IFE.
I remember my seat mate being mad about the lack of power outlets (the regular less comfortable EL AL 777 I flew to Isreal had them) and the Spanish Crew members with their little casquete (pillbox/cap-style) hats felt so out of place for the Israeli Airline of musical chairs for the ultra-orthodox (your supposed to switch so men sit next to men and women next to women if your ultra orthodox).
EL AL communicated with me about the change before departure, which made me excited when I read about the comfort of the plane.
Wet lease at El Al is unusual, but other Israeli airlines do more wet lease than they fly their own metal.
I recently flew from Israel to Czechia with Tus (Cyprus) on a wet lease from flyLili (Romania) and the crew mistakenly greeted is aboard BlueBird airlines (Greece). They didn't even know who's flight they're operating...
@Lucky
Thanks for the blog on your experience. It answered a question that long piqued my interest. As a long time resident and still frequent traveler ( mostly LH), we often spend time in the La Vallete lounge at the Malta airport. Virtually ever time we are there, we see that plane either taking off or landing.
I'll stick with LH. At least during December we can get roast goose.😀
I am sure you must have known they were using wet leased aircraft like so many european/african carriers atmo so stop moaning.For an experienced traveller sometimes your comments are just non sensical.What did you expect flying on these carriers.
The only wet lease flight I have ever taken was last year on an Aeroflot route from Vladivostok to Moscow. The website clearly indicated that it was operated by iFly (former charter airline that now does almost exclusively wet-lease flights), and the fare was cheaper than the mainline operated flights. I only took it because I had a last minute emergency and needed to be in Moscow by a certain time to make a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. The aircraft and service were definitely below usual Aeroflot standards.
Flew my first wet lease in Vietnam with 1 or two Bamboo crew in addition to the 4 FlyOne (Romania) crew... Too bad it wasn't bamboo metal.... And now I don't have a chance
Did you happen to get any pictures of the famous Tunis airport cats?