I woke up to a 1h55 delay for our flight to Bangkok. ETD had shifted from 1440 to 1635. Modern technology on the internet meant that I could find out that the aircraft was late by 2h coming from Fort Lauderdale but was doing a 4h turnaround; quite strange when they could normally shorten that turn.
Anyway, we allowed ourselves an extra hour to get ready but didn’t want to delay our departure from the hostel by the full duration of the flight delay. We left at 1030 using the metro/train/bus combo which took 1h15. The Arlanda Express is very quick at 20 minutes but also very pricey at SEK280 (about NZD50) whereas a normal train would require an exit fee of SEK100 to get off at the airport (similar scheme to Sydney).
After Kim had sorted out his VAT claimed, we did our bagdrop and were airside by 1230 since security was nearly deserted. We had a choice of three lounges but only two were available to us since one was located in one of several non-Schengen areas that weren’t contiguous. Fortunately we didn’t go into our non-Schengen area too early as there were nearly no facilities inside and it would have left us loungeless. I think the airport layout is a little dysfunctional with its non-contiguous non-Schengen areas as it would mean some international to international transfers wouldn’t work.
Anyway, we made ourselves a few sandwiches from the bread/ryvita, cheese and cold cuts in the lounge and had plenty of sparkling water. I could see that our aircraft’s port engine was open, so I reckon there must have been some scheduled maintenance. I was leased to see the cowling back in place about 2h20 prior to departure (a little before the original scheduled time).
Boarding the Norwegian 787, we noticed that the crew were all Thai. Kim’s row of three seats had two adults and two infants plus Kim himself. While Kim was in the loo, I asked the cabin crew how many oxygen masks there were per row. She immediately knew that there weren’t enough and shifted one of the parent/infant. That gave Kim one less screaming baby to contend with for the 11h flight.
We departed a little before our rescheduled time. The pilot apologised for the delay citing scheduled maintenance. Goodbye Europe, after over a month of its largelly glorious summer!
Inflight, the hot meal was good with beer/wine or soft drinks then coffee/tea. There was also a pasta appetiser and a cake. Before landing, we were given a bag of sandwich, cookie and juice. All quite OK for a budget airline. In fact the ala carte pricing for food was normal inflated European airline pricing which meant it was very reasonable by Norwegian/Scandinavian standards.
This 787 (like some others) had toilet doors that are pivoted on an offset about one-fifth along theh width. When it opens, it only allows a skinny person to pass through but on the other side it allows a cat to pass through at the same time. Not sure what the designers were thinking. And the toilet seats on some don’t stay up any more. So gentleman have the choice of holding it up, sitting down or sprinkling on the seat (and hopefully wiping after).
I spoke to some of the Thai crew. They work from Bangkok to Europe then to USA as well on duties as long as 15 days but they get long stretches of days off once in Bangkok. And does Norwegian pay them better than say AirAsia? One said “I think so” but another said “I don’t know”. The aircraft seemed to be equipped with crew rest overhead (judging from the fake unopenable overhead lockers in the rear of the plane), so working conditions are better than AirAsia X.
I took a sleeping pill about 6 hours prior to landing and caught 3 hours sleep followed by another hour of dozing. The 2h delay made the fight more conducive for sleeping and also made for a better arrival time (0845 instead of 0655 which is bad for hotel check-in) .