One of the goals for October was to fly the Tarom A310 before they retire it at the end of the month. In fact I wanted to fly it already back in August but due to work duties I had to cancel my flights (then it was WAW-VIE-OTP-VIE-WAW). So, after the final flight date was set I started to look for flight combinations that would fit me. Already in September the first of two A310s stopped flying, making the risk of a equipment change even greater. After all, I booked a one-way flight from Madrid to Bucharest. As I was time restricted there wasn't too many flight options. I ended up in flying the evening before with Ryanair on WMI-MAD, getting the night at the terminal, some spotting before the flight and a quick, little risky 70 minutes scheduled stop in Bucharest before flying back to Warsaw with LOT.
22 October 2016
RO416 (1215-1650) MAD-OTP
YR-LCA Airbus A310
Managed to get the seat I wanted during on-line check-in, confirmed prior to boarding that the seat next to mine is vacant. Luckily it was. Over 3 hours of flight ahead of me with an empty seat next to mine. Awesome. We push and start a little after our scheduled time, quickly taxi to 36R and off we go, bound for Bucharest. The flight itself was smooth and fast. The food was decent, edible, wide selection of beverages and the crew with a smile. Somewhere around Italy I decided to go for a walk to the back of the plane. The ride was smooth and pleasant. The weather both in Madrid and Bucharest was rather gray. Luckily we arrived on time, which gave me more than enough time to transit for my next flight. I even had time to browse the duty-free! 7 minutes from leaving the plane to getting to the gate area.
All in all, I'm glad I had the pleasure to experience the Romanian A310. Something a little different than the usual that one can find around in Europe.
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