D8449 Stockholm Arlanda to London Gatwick with Norweigan Air Shuttle
Taking the long way (and back) to Singapore
Time for the last flight of this trip – with a new airline and a new aircraft type to boot. How does the 737 MAX stand up? And more importantly, can people follow crew instructions?
In this adventure
- I needed a break
- 02:40 on the coach? Nothing changes, with Heathrow Terminal 5 and British Airways South Lounge
- BA776 London Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda (Club Europe)
- An afternoon in Stockholm featuring ABBA The Museum
- Off to Stockholm Bromma, AY840 Stockholm Bromma to Helsinki Vantaa with NoRRA (Economy Class)
- A Rapid Helsinki Transit and The Finnair Lounge
- AY099 Helsinki Vantaa to Hong Kong International with Finnair (Business Class)
- Transiting Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific’s The Pier Lounge
- CX715 (AY5855) Hong Kong International to Singapore Changi Terminal 4 with Cathay Pacific (Business Class)
- Into Singapore, IBIS Budget Crystal
- The Mercure Hotel, Bugis
- Boating around the Singapore River
- Exploring Hawker Markets and random fooding around Singapore
- The Best Camera is the One You Have With You – Exploring The Gardens by the Bay
- Up to the Marina Bay Sands Skypark…
- …and the fallout of a stolen and returned iPhone
- Back to Changi Airport the Pokemon Centre at the Jewel and Terminal 4
- 3K513 (AY6379) Singapore Changi to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (Jetstar Asia Economy Class)
- One night in Bangkok and the Avagard Capsule Hotel, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
- An early morning at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and The Miracle Lounge, D Pier
- AY142 Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Helsinki Vantaa with Finnair in Business Class
- Out of Vantaa Airport and into Helsinki… and a little beyond
- Holiday Inn, Helsinki Airport
- Early morning at Helsinki Vantaa Airport and The Finnair Schengen Lounge
- AY841 Helsinki Vantaa to Stockholm Bromma with NoRRA (Economy Class)
- The slow return to Arlanda Airport
- D84459 Stockholm Arlanda to London Gatwick with Norweigan Air Shuttle
- How to get home
- Sometimes, simple isn’t needed
D84459 Stockholm Arlanda to London Gatwick
Norwegian Air Shuttle Sweden
Seat 10F, Boeing 737 MAX 8
15 Cash Points earned, 97 Avios Earned via Credit Card spend
There was a bit of a queue on the jet bridge – with the unordered boarding process not helping a lot.
Eventually, I made it onboard the 737 MAX 8. So far, I’ve managed to skip the type – so this would be my first flight in one.
The aircraft felt a little lighter and airy – even if the fuselage size hadn’t changed a lot compared to previous 737s. This is helped with the ceiling ornament and lighting
Going down the cabin, it was good to see the Boeing pivot bins being used – thus should be able to swallow all the luggage that comes onboard.
I shoved the rucksack in the overhead bin and made my way to the seat.
Onboard, we find the Recaro BL3530 seats. These are now previous generation short haul base-line seats, however, they’re dressed in an attractive Grey Leather look, with a paper antimacassar and amazingly, a recline button for those who hate the people behind them.
Certainly, the windows are a lot nicer than the old ones on the 737 NextGen (and larger too).
As for legroom, I’ve seen a lot worse, with a 30″ seat pitch.
The aircraft took time to load as people started playing luggage jenga, with the crew getting a little irritated at people not getting up to move their bags as they were preventing overhead bins from being closed.
Sadly, some of the passengers were equally self-entitled, thinking they shouldn’t move their bags. Eventually, the stand-off came to an end with both parties working together.
These are… the opposite of clean.
For me, I was reasonably happy with the boarding process, as the middle seat had been left untouched – with the end seat occupied.
I could handle that for the equivalent of Club Europe without the food and drink.
With everyone aboard and all pre-departure items completed, the doors were closed for our trip to London Gatwick.
The safety demonstration was carried out – with this being a manual demonstration carried out by the crew
With that done, the 737 began its taxi around Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
The cargo pad
Zimex ATR72
DHL A300
UPS
The Jumbo Hostel. Yes, you can stay in a 747.
And yes, the windows were rain-stained.
SAS A320neo
Eventually, after passing some sights, the Boeing 737-8 engines roared into take-off power, as it was propelled into the sky.
With the aircraft in the air, I started a hunt for two things, power and connectivity. Looking under the seat and to the sides, there were no power outlets. As for connectivity, that drew a blank too, as the crew stated that it was offline.
Another check online indicated that their older 737-800s had wifi, but the 737-8s that I was on didn’t have Wi-Fi. Things like this are useful when planning a flight – at least for me. Oh well. Such is life.
In addition, there was an announcement that power banks weren’t to be used in flight. I guess Norwegian hasn’t spent the money on the PED Fire product yet to install on their aircraft.
With this being a short-haul flight, I don’t tend to recline the seat – there’s often no point. Least of all, space is limited – even if I managed to get a 30” seat pitch. Combined with the Recaro seat, it gave more than sufficient living space.
No arguments over legroom here.
Although I might have said otherwise if I was further back in the cabin.
I know a lot of slimline seats have suffered the fault of going “too” slimline (and personally, give me a big padded cushion for my backside any day of the week), but Recaro delivered with its seat here with “comfort enough” for this 2 hour 30 segment to London.
Once at a cruising altitude, the crew began the hard selling of food and drink to start with, whilst turning the cabin lighting down too.
I had catering – a bag of crisps and a bottle of water from the airport. 37 Kr for a bottle of water though… sigh.
The prices weren’t a rip-off, but they were reassuringly reminding you that you were stuck aboard an aircraft and there was nothing you could do about it. Nonetheless, the crew seemed to do rather well for the delivery of service, getting at least a person every row or so.
I just settled back and watched the world go by.
Sometimes it’s just nice to try to switch off. Or play CrossyRoad and work out why the hell the person in the row in front is getting hundreds, whilst I struggle to get 50s these days.
Other times, you get lucky and watch crossing traffic coming below you.
Adler (German Airways) Embraer E190 cruising below us.
Toward the end of the flight, the crew conducted their inflight duty-free sales pitch – something that’s become a lot rarer on airlines, as some have worked out it’s not worth carrying one out. Norweigan seemed to grab more than a few people’s attention with middling prices. I guess it is worth it still, providing you can turn a profit on it (versus carrying all the stock on the aircraft and the weight penalty over time )
I was tempted… but I passed.
With the aircraft over the United Kingdom, it began to make its descent towards London Gatwick.
Still the opposite of clean on that light…
Cabin in landing light mode
Along our descent, the aircraft passed our destination in the Surry countryside.
Gatwick Airport, I presume.
With ease, the aircraft turned and lined up for the landing at Gatwick Airport.
Pulling off the runway, the Boeing 737 MAX turned toward the South Terminal and started heading for a gate – it seemed we would not be hanging around once we landed – and to be honest, I was looking forward start dealing with normal things again.
To fly… somewhere else.
easyJet A320
With ease – and a little bit early, the aircraft arrived at Gate 20 at the South Terminal. With the seatbelt signs going off, it was the usual “everyone for themselves” with people going for the overhead bins in a rush to be off the aircraft first.
Whilst I wasn’t in a great rush, I did have deadlines to meet (that could be scuppered by ground handling), so when space opened, I grabbed an exit point and pulled the rucksack out of the overhead bin.
With that in hand, I thanked the crew and headed off to a new airport… or an airport I hadn’t been to in a long time.
Overall:
With an empty middle seat, but no catering, Norweigan Air Shuttle felt a lot more Club Europe than not, with a reasonable seat pitch and comfortable seats. The crew weren’t too pushy with onboard sales – so that nice to see to see.
However, their boarding experience was uncontrolled, and it didn’t help with people not obeying crew instructions when putting items in overhead bins.
At least it didn’t feel as bun-fighty as when I travel with Ryanair – with it feeling a lot more like easyJet did when I flew them a couple of years ago.
It’s a more than passable experience – and when prices are expensive with other airlines, you take what you can get.
Next:
How the heck am I getting home?
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