You’re welcome. I think there isn’t that much to plan, but the site lets you avoid really bad seats.
Ha! Famous last words!
I did another courier flight to Gudalajara (I love this type of assignment, more below). At the office the procedure is as follows: I look up shcedules online and then tell the boss’ secretary which flight combo to purchase. I then look over her shoulder in order to get the seat assignments right.
This time I neglected that aprt because I had to rush somewhere to get some VIPs (very improtant papers, of course). And guess how the seating worked out? Middle seats on both flights! <insert Howard Dean like scream here> So I made sure to get to the airport early and have them changed. Fortunately both fligths had some room to spare and I was able to get window seats.
I flew Interjet this time but from Mexico City’s airport. The outgoing flight had the take-off/landing camera feature (I found out the camera is stuck outside the nose in its own polycarbonate fairing). There was little new, except for the sunrise approach. The camera has a low-light mode, which makes a strikign contrast from seeing the ground mostly dark through the window and bright almost as day on the monitor. The return flight lacked the feature, but I got to seat on the wing just behind the emergency exit rows. I had a grand view of the A-320’s main flight control systems (they’re partly hydraulic and parrtly mechanical).
So, as I was saying, I love this kind of assignment. On the one hand I get to do something I love, fly, and on the other hand I get to bitch about it at the office. They don’t believe me whan I say I like getting up at 4:30 am to catch a flight (what’s wrong with these people?), so I get to complain and obtain a few breaks along the way.
So why do I like getting up before dawn to catch a flight? Back in the 70s when I went on vacation to Houston and Florida with my parents, we would usually take the earliest flights out, in order to take full advantage of the day. I dind’t appreciate this until I flew on my own to Orlando four years ago leaving late in the morning. I wound up reaching my hotel past 5pm, hungry and tired, with no desire to do anything.
So getting up that early now, even for a courier flight, does still feel the way it did back then, and I like it.
I forgot to mention a couple of odd sightings (yah, like someone eveb reads these posts!):
The Guadalajara airport is rather small and compact. When taxing from gate to runway you see the entire airport. Usually there’s a Fed-Ex 757 (judging by size and wing shape) parked in the open on the mats next to the passenger terminal, and a UPS 757 on the mats in front. This time there they were, plus a Fed-Ex DC-10. I hadn’t seena DC-10 in years!
On arrival the plane stopped betwen the runway and terminal to let an Air France Cargo 747 through. I had no idea Air France flew cargo to Guadalajara (I know it was cargo because the livery said “Air France Cargo;” airlines do that to differentiate between regular and cargo planes). It was a “baby” 747, too. It has a propper model number, but it’s known as the Baby Jumbo. The wingspan is nearly the same, but it’s noticeably shorter.
El-Al used to offer limited, bargain-basement seats on cargo 747s (I know this from a cousin who works at El-Al). The tickets were cheap because the accomodations were terrible: a small cramped space aft of the cockpit on the upper deck, without in-flight entertainment or even much in the way of service, plus a lavatory. You may recall an El-Al 747 that crashed in Amsterdam shortly after take-off. It was a cargo plane. it tried to turn around to Schipol for an emergency landing, but crashed into an apartment building instead. Most deaths occurred on the ground.
Lastly, Interjet plays a flight location/info throughout the flight. There are three maps to different scales showing the plane’s position, plus two info screens showing altitude, ground speed, outside air temp, local time (over current location) and ETA to landing. Usually the crew turns it off shortly before touchdown. This time they left it on until the plane stopped at the gate.
So finally I have an answer to “How fast do planes taxi?” Turns out the speed ranged from a low of 18 kilometers per hour (around 11 mph) to a maximum of 55 kph (about 35 mph). I’d ahve sworn it was much slower than that, Of course I’ve no idea how the ground speed measurement is arrived at (air speed is measured through a pitot tube somehwre on the fuselage), or whether it’s still accurate once the plane is on the ground (ironaically enough). I wished I timed it. At Mex City’s airport, the Interjet gates are at the precise other end of the runway. Time it, look up the runways lenght, and I could check the speed. Maybe next time.
I’m sorry to say Interjet’s gone a bit downhill since last year.
This time I flew from Mex City to Monterrey. It’s about a 65-75 minute flight. Considering the lousy weather (vold, overcast, rainy, low ceilings) at both cities, take-offs and landings were flawless. The flight attendants dind’t wake me for the snack service in the mornign flight, which is considerate of them.
However, the flight info screen is gone. Now they put on a 60 minute very bland video. Normally I’d just ignore it. But on Interjet you can’t do that because they don’t issue headphones. Many of their planes don’t even ahve headphone jacks in the armrests. So you have to listen to it on the PA system. It sucks. Fortunately I had earplugs and they filtered the worse of it (it was too loud). I couldn’t sleep on the way back, but I could read or watch the solid white non-view out the window.
I hate the communal entertainment played on the PA. Many bus companies do the same thing, too. Once I had to endure a 5+ hour bus trip from Jalapa with movie after bad movie played so loud even with earplugs it was too loud. The driver said he couldn’t control the volume. I decided then I woulnd’t travel on any bus line not offering headphones unless the trip was short. I’m mulling something similar for airlines, too.
I expect I’ll write Interjet, and I expect they’ll ignore me.
According to their inflight magazine audio entertainment is available, with headphones, on trips lasting more than 2 hours. given their route map, that would mean only on 3 or four routes (Mex to Cancun, Mex to Tijauana, Monterrey to Cancun and possibly Guadalajara to Tijuana).
Given what passes for inflight entertainment these days, though, I’d just as soon do without. I always carry books or magazines with me anyway.