Tassie for a day or Fours flights and a cranky FA...

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IainF

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May 2, 2007
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Had to do a quick overnighter to Burnie in Tasmania to train up one of our new clients. This was a 6 hour training session, but which took me far longer than that for the actual trip.

As it was reasonably short notice and also school holidays in Tasmania some of my options were a bit limited.

I took the last flight from BNE to MEL on Friday night getting me in just after 10pm. Not especially memourable except that as a one world emerald I was preallocated 24c... As I was not overly happy with this, the BNE QP ladies sorted me into 4a....much better.
I walked straight over to the Holiday Inn and in a matter of minutes I was in my room. No upgrade or anything really in recognition of my Plat status, but no real loss, as I was checking out at 6am.

I went straight to Rex checkin at the gate for the short hop to Burnie. Just a 50 minute flight and only 6 people on the plane excluding crew.
Whacked the Shures in the ears, turned the Ipod on and read a junky airport novel.

Arrived at Burnie airport about 10 mins early due to the tailwind and got of the plane to a very chilly 5c. Not what I really like as a born & bred BNE boy but I managed to cope.:D

I had a bit of a wait for the Hertz lady to arrive. Again, no prob and managed to get a quick coffee in me.

It took me about 10 mins to drive to the surgery I was working at and had a pretty good session with the Docs, so managed to get out about 30 mins early than my deadline.

Now comes the less than fun bit... I had not managed to get a return flight from Burnie to MEL, so had to drive the 160kms to get a flight from Launceston.
The drive was a pretty nice one, with views varying from coastal to mountain along the way. The only complaint was that Tassie drivers were not really happy driving at the speed limit. In fact, they were most comfortable at about 25 k/hr BELOW the limit.
Nice to see people who don't feel rushed like I do.

Got to the Lonnie airport, grabbed the exit row 4d for the Old Dash 8 and had a coke from one of the smaller QPs in tthe QF network.

Got the call for boarding and here is where things got interesting.

Went through security with my rollaboard (exactly the same one I had been 2 previous security check in the previous 18 hours) and had the security lady grab my bag and call me aside.
WTF ?

She made me pul all of my equipment out piece by piece and must have run the bag through the machine 5 times.

PITA, as I pack pretty well and dont have a lot of spare room.

But rules is rules. Apparently.

Last onto the old D8 and took my seat. I had my bag stowed and pulled my Shures out again to pop them in the ears to keep the D8's props to a dull roar.
Now I DO NOT EVER plug them into the Ipod until the seatbelt sign is off.
However, the FA stopped the emergency presentation and told me to take out the earpieces.
I asked why as I could still hear her and I did not have it plugged into my Ipod...
She then yelled at me and I quote ..."It is a safety issue!"
WTF
Since when?
I took them out and put them in the seat pocket.
I have been on about 20 D8's in the last year and never had a problem when the FA has seen it hasn't been plugged in.

She continued with her presentation and finished it with "and please do not use any musical device including putting earphones in."

Thats just nasty.

I duly waited for the seatbelt light to be turned off, and put them back in again.

I decided not to avail myself of the snack and kept reading my bad novel.
Just as we came back over the Victorian coast, the sweet and lovely FA came back on the PA and we got the whole "please remove your headphones when the Captain switched on the seatbelt light".

Again, not something I had heard before, but who am I to argue?
We landed at MEL on time at 6pm and had the long walk back to the QP to await the next leg back to BNE leaving at 7pm getting in at about 9:10.

Interestingly, the guy in front of me on the escalator did the walk straight into the CL.... He looked pretty young, no more than 30. B#stard.
Probably a Mac Bank Fund Manager.
I stopped at the desk to see if I could burn a few points to ODU, but the QP desk guy said it was a 737 400 and had the bad seats.
OK, I already had an exit row so no problem.

Quick few drinks and a couple of rolls with ham later it was time to head down to board.
Walked on board and it was a bl00dy 800....
Shoulda taken the odu. B#gger.
No problems though as I had the row to myself.
Pretty light load except for a group of Chinese tourist in the back fews rows.
What was a nice touch was the Purser coming down to my row once the door was shut and saying hello to me by name, and asking to let him know if I needed anything.
Nice touch. I saw him talk to three other pax doing the same thing so a pretty light Emerald load.:mrgreen:

The flight went fast and I watched a few episodes of the latest South Park.
Kept laughing and got a couple stares from fellow passengers. No problems.

Landed a bit early, grabbed my bag, thanked the purser for his attention, straight out ot the carpark, back into the QLD warmth.
Dropped the roof of the car, plugged the Ipod in and was back home in New Farm in under 15 mins from getting off the plane.
OK, I may have exceeded the limit on the gateway a little, but it was a nice night and the traffic was light.
Just have to wait for Mrs F to get in from dinner with friends and all is good again.
 
you'd be really peeved if you'd popped for the e500pth's and they made you take those out!

btw... does anyone know where you can buy the pth unit by itself in australia. thinking of pairing it with some 2gs
 
aubs said:
you'd be really peeved if you'd popped for the e500pth's and they made you take those out!

btw... does anyone know where you can buy the pth unit by itself in australia. thinking of pairing it with some 2gs
I have a PTH unit given to me from a friend who bought the e500s and doesn't have a need for the PTH device. I tried it out on a few flights with my e3s, but its not really all that useful. I found it easier to put out one ear than to grab the unit, slide the switch (its a slide switch, not a push switch!) and try to hear what is being said. It gets a little tangled trying to position the switch unit and the microphone in convenient locations.

You can try getting the PTH either direct from Jands Australia (Sure distributors) or ask them for a dealer who can provide.
 
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