Sunday 9th September.
Early start in the morning for the taxi to the airport.
Arrive to be met with a busy day at Brisbane Airport. Even though we arrive at 0815 for a 0930 flight, the line through Customs is really slow. As I am flying business class I have a special pass to use the lane for aircraft crew.
This is not helped by the security screening which is right behind the fast track Customs desks. This slows down the process as the queues going through the xray are really slow, they also back onto the Customs lane so even if you are processed through Customs you cannot advance. The brainstrust that designed this process also decided to let Airport workers use the same security checkpoint as the Aircrew and the "special" business and first class passengers, the results of this is that it is the same speed as the other lines.
Once through the security screening it is straight through the shops as it is unclear whether or not we will be able to carry on duty free, you know the stuff in bottles of more than 100ml? As it turns out we are, but no one told us.
We race down to the departure gate as our boarding time is here. Naturally, we are leaving from the last gate at the far end of the building. Not only is it the furtherest gate, it is the one without a covered walkway, we walk down the steps and over the tarmac to the aircraft parked 100 metres away.
The plane is a surprise, an OzJet 737. No Solomon Airlines plane, some problem with the lease apparently.
We finally get to board the aircraft. We then proceed to wait. The forward toilet is not working and an engineer is trying to fix it. No luck after 45 minutes and we (well the Captain anyway) decides to undertake the dangerous 3 hour 30 minute flight with only 2 working toilets. And you thought we were soft!
Away we go only 90 minutes late. Thereafter the flight to Honiara was uneventful and we arrive 31/2 hours and 40 years behind. The OzJet is obviously a time machine. As we step out onto the tarmac the local time is 1530 and the temperature is 30 Deg Celsius with 90% humidity.
For some unknown reason we double over and run in case a squadron of Zeros or Betsys decite to attack the stranded aircraft on the tarmac. We make it safely into the terminal.
The terminal. Well, I think it was the same one McArthur walked into during WW2. AN historic building complete with the most advanced cooling fans in the world, not.
Still, all is well and we made it.
Early start in the morning for the taxi to the airport.
Arrive to be met with a busy day at Brisbane Airport. Even though we arrive at 0815 for a 0930 flight, the line through Customs is really slow. As I am flying business class I have a special pass to use the lane for aircraft crew.
This is not helped by the security screening which is right behind the fast track Customs desks. This slows down the process as the queues going through the xray are really slow, they also back onto the Customs lane so even if you are processed through Customs you cannot advance. The brainstrust that designed this process also decided to let Airport workers use the same security checkpoint as the Aircrew and the "special" business and first class passengers, the results of this is that it is the same speed as the other lines.
Once through the security screening it is straight through the shops as it is unclear whether or not we will be able to carry on duty free, you know the stuff in bottles of more than 100ml? As it turns out we are, but no one told us.
We race down to the departure gate as our boarding time is here. Naturally, we are leaving from the last gate at the far end of the building. Not only is it the furtherest gate, it is the one without a covered walkway, we walk down the steps and over the tarmac to the aircraft parked 100 metres away.
The plane is a surprise, an OzJet 737. No Solomon Airlines plane, some problem with the lease apparently.
We finally get to board the aircraft. We then proceed to wait. The forward toilet is not working and an engineer is trying to fix it. No luck after 45 minutes and we (well the Captain anyway) decides to undertake the dangerous 3 hour 30 minute flight with only 2 working toilets. And you thought we were soft!
Away we go only 90 minutes late. Thereafter the flight to Honiara was uneventful and we arrive 31/2 hours and 40 years behind. The OzJet is obviously a time machine. As we step out onto the tarmac the local time is 1530 and the temperature is 30 Deg Celsius with 90% humidity.
For some unknown reason we double over and run in case a squadron of Zeros or Betsys decite to attack the stranded aircraft on the tarmac. We make it safely into the terminal.
The terminal. Well, I think it was the same one McArthur walked into during WW2. AN historic building complete with the most advanced cooling fans in the world, not.
Still, all is well and we made it.
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