Guided by the Stars (Alliance)

[Scarlett]

MS749 CAI-ATH
B737-800 SU-GDZ
Dep: sched 1635 / actual 1648
Arr: sched 1835 / actual 1833

Boarding was via a bus gate, which meant a slower than normal process, but a little tour of the tarmac out to our aircraft.





There are plenty of negatives about MS, but one of them can’t be about their livery: I think it looks great.

We drove past these forlorn looking MS ERJs, covered in dust. Whilst taxiing we passed another regional jet graveyard. I guess domestic tourism has really stagnated during and post-pandemic.






Nacelles but no engines.

Our B737 had seen better days, but the J seats were proper recliners which reminded me of QF international J in the 80s/90s timeframe. No eurobusiness cheapskatery here. Plenty of leg room too, as I was in row two and the guy in front of me in row one was reclined when I boarded (and remained that way throughout - either the seat was broken or the crew didn’t care) but I could get in fine.



A full meal was served with two main choices: beef or fish, I had the former and it was a little tough on some pieces but tasty enough. Two bottles of water were already in the seat pocket in front. There was also an individual entertainment screen on the seat back in front but on mine it had a permanent distortion line through the image and the screen size was the same as when Virgin Blue were offering live TV early in their existence. Same credit card swipe slot on the bottom too. I think some modern phones have bigger screen real estate! Seats looked like they had lived a long life.


Crossing the Egyptian Mediterranean coast at Alexandria. This is the sort of land work the Singaporeans would be proud of.


This is why I like the window seat. This looks like an air mass in the style of a river, with two distinct riverbanks of cloud on either side. Was quite distinct seeing it real.


Anyone an expert at naming Greek islands? Our routing took us close enough that you could see plenty of the Greek islands and Türkiye in the background.

A bit of a circuitous routing to landing at ATH and then a short taxi and onto the gate a couple of minutes early. Pleasant flight and service.

 

[Scarlett]

The first question I had transferring at ATH was whether I needed to collect bags, even though they’d been tagged through to LIS. Wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to collect them to go through customs when first entering the EU. I checked with one customs staff member but even though I tried asking the question three times and emphasised the part about entering the EU, once she’d heard me say ‘collect bags’ as part of the question, she just kept telling me to go to the airline baggage agent.

Agent confirmed I collect them at LIS, so I followed the ‘connecting flights’ signs and that just took me to baggage claim, past check in and back through security with everyone else departing. Another walk though a shopping centre masquerading as an airport and I found the A3 Schengen area lounge: functional, but small and busy on a late afternoon weekday. I’d previously been in the non-Schengen lounge at this, A3’s home port, and found it excellent. I guess you could consider that one as their ‘international lounge’ and the one I was in for this trip as their ‘domestic lounge’ or standard QP. Pity the LH lounge next door wasn’t open as that may have been better.
Found a seat relatively easily, had some food and snacks and waited for my connecting A3 flight to LIS. This was the seventh lounge visited as part of this outbound trip, actually eighth as I visited two at BKK.

 

[Scarlett]

A3722 ATH-LIS
A321-200neo SX-NAA
Dep: sched 2115 / actual 2136
Arr: sched 2345 / actual 2335

Flight time 4 hours. The flight was completely full. There were four guys waiting around the gate clearly on standby and the agent was joking around with them and keeping them updated on their chances of getting on the flight. Other pax in the boarding line must have been from the same group and there was some banter in Greek going on. No J / status boarding or separate line, just join the back of the queues. I did see at least one of the standby group boarding, but not all of them.

Eurobusiness seating is the standard at A3 and on this aircraft they had the little table fitted onto the middle seat for use by aisle and window pax. Legroom was barely adequate and it did not feel in any way like a business class seat. PDB offered.

A hot meal was offered in J with two choices indicated on a menu. I had a chicken meal brought out to me, first in the J cabin, as I had apparently pre-ordered it. I don’t remember doing it when booking the ticket but must have.

The seat and lack of room to move about it in became annoying at the two hour mark and remained uncomfortable until arrival in LIS.


This is what the heel of the boot of Italy looks like at night.


Crossing overhead Barcelona.

Bags took far too long to come out at LIS (over 40 minutes) and again, the Star Alliance Priority tagged ones came out in the last 25%. My golf clubs took even longer to appear on the oversize baggage belt. So long in fact that I just made the last Metro at 0100, to get into the city and the hotel which Mrs and Mstr Scarlett had checked in to earlier in the afternoon.

 

[Flyfrequently]

A3722 ATH-LIS
A321-200neo SX-NAA
Dep: sched 2115 / actual 2136
Arr: sched 2345 / actual 2335


View attachment 409212
Crossing overhead Barcelona.

Great photo of Barcelona @Scarlett

 

[Scarlett]

Today and then in 6 days will be some domestic Portuguese flights with SATA Azores (S4). Today we’re going LIS-PDL out to the main island in the Azores, São Miguel and the city of Ponta Delgada.

I paid a small amount extra (ISTR €15 pp) to choose better seats, maybe in row 1, so we’ll see what that looks like. I think the deal is that they may sell effectively Y+ seating used on longer range flights (to US?) for a cheaper price on these domestic Portuguese flights, but sold as Y. I just checked FR24 and sure enough, after the LIS-PDL sector the same aircraft continues on to JFK so will be interesting to see.

 

[Scarlett]

My summary of *A activity thus far:

SQ - dependably consistent quality. Y+ okay but I don’t think I’d pay for it again over whY. SQ lounge MEL is a bit of a small dungeon and the KrisFlyer Gold lounge SIN T2 remains mediocre. 8/10

ET - fine for overnight flights even with what by modern standards might be an inferior 2-2-2 J product on many or their long haul fleet. ET directed me to the Miracle Lounge at BKK and I’d consider it ordinary. ET’s own lounge at their home port of Addis can be very busy during banked flight departures. 6/10

MS - only a sample size of one but I found them okay. The B737-800 was noticeably old and shabby but they still have J recliners. MS lounge at CAI T2 was small but adequate. Weird design with pax for another lounge required to walk through the MS lounge. 6/10

A3 - new A321neo aircraft but with quite tight eurobusiness product. Relatively uncomfortable for a 4 hour flight. A3 intra-Schengen lounge also busy, seemed overly small and felt a bit cafeteria like. 5/10

Pleasingly, all flights have been on time and all luggage has arrived with me (even if it takes too long to be delivered at the arrival airport).

 

[Scarlett]

The family Scarlett reunited in Lisbon after our separate and circuitous routings. Interestingly, zero delays, missed connections or baggage troubles anywhere along the routes we took. I’m going to say it’s because we’re match fit! (and a great dose of luck!)

We spent the day strolling around the city with only one or two planned stops. The idea was head from our hotel near Saldanha in the direction of the water.








These two guys had sculpted various African animals into the little sand bar.



After many hours walking we caught the metro back to the hotel had a shower and got changed and wandered out to find some dinner. Most local places were packed with fans watching a soccer game and the ebb and flow of the match was pretty much audible everywhere with ohs and ahhs. Someone obviously finally scored as the streets erupted in noise.

The following morning we had a late breakfast in the hotel, packed and then hopped back on the metro to the airport.

 

[Scarlett]

S4125 LIS-PDL
A321-200neo CS-TSG
Dep: sched 1410 / actual 1432
Arr: sched 1540 / actual 1531

SATA Azores was our airline of choice, although cheaper options were available with FR / U2 and TP also flies the route. I’m pretty certain I had booked whY tickets but then paid to select seating and had been able to select seating in row three which instead of the standard short haul 3-3 layout, was displayed as 2-2. I think I assumed eurobusiness style layout but at least with guaranteed free seat in the middle.



As the flight was only two hours, I think I only paid maybe €15 pp to select the seats. S4 does have a Comfort Plus and Comfort Light option to access a more J like product: maybe I did purchase comfort light? I’ll have to back onto the bookings page and see what path I took. Neither the booking confirmation email nor boarding passes had any indication of anything but a standard whY ticket.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find this as our cabin:


…a modern short haul Y+ cabin of 4 rows then bulkheads and curtain to whY. There was no special catering or anything beyond the better seats and their location. Pitch was generous, maybe 86cm. Seat had usb and universal power outlet. Was comfortable for the two hours and the cabin still felt new and clean.

Being located in the middle of the Atlantic, I’d read that sometimes conditions at PDL made landings an interesting proposition and that with poor weather, flights are regularly canceled. Today it was fine and only a little jumping about due to the surface winds just before landing.



A couple of other S4 aircraft were already at PDL. The terminal is small with only a couple of gates and three baggage belts, although does have separate domestic and international arrival areas. Bags arrived quickly and after a short wait we had our Ilha Verde booked manual hire car. Keep right, keep right, keep right…

 

[Scarlett]

Each S4 jet has a marketing word along the fuselage, designed to reflect elements of their home. We flew on Wonder. In the photo of the PDL ramp above you can see Nature and Pure. They also have aircraft with Magical, Inspire, Breathe and Peaceful on their fleet.

I think it works with their livery.