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Alicante (by Chris Smith)

Some old school friends offered me the opportunity to go to Benidorm on a lads week away & after initially turning them down because I'm not a drinker/party-goer, they managed to talk me round, and the prospect of Alicante Airport was a major factor for me accepting.

We arrived at Leeds/Bradford Airport at about 0330 - somewhat early given our flight didn't depart until 0850! I was advised not to go off spotting whilst in the presence of mates & I'd already promised myself I wouldn't anyway, however instinct soon kicked in & it wasn't long before I found myself walking along the LBA perimeter fence!! B733 G-CELF was our ride over to Alicante. All times listed below are local.

Leeds/Bradford Airport
06-07-2010 0330 - 0850

Spotting on arrival at Alicante was somewhat difficult, I was in an aisle seat & therefore unable to read anything off from inside the plane, on exiting the aircraft, I had nothing to write down registrations with, not that it mattered, most weren't visible from my position. I did however have my camera, so I pulled off a few unusable shots for identification purposes only. The biggest disappointment was not bagging any of the biz that was in.

Alicante Airport
06-07-2010 1230 - 1300

Spotting at Alicante on the return was also starting to look like a disappointment, mainly because it was clear we were flying out during what must be one of the quietest times of the week (next year I'll insist on arranging the holiday!!). To make matters worse, Jet2 managed to send the same bloody aircraft to pick me up, despite having a total of 24 of the oversized coca-cola cans! That's the second consecutive time that's happened to me after Onur Air pulled the same stunt last year! But things started looking up when I managed to negotiate a seat swap with one of my mates, giving me a window seat which meant on taxiing to the runway I was able to read off 99% of the biz & tin on the ramp! Then, to put the icing on the cake, after approximately 15 years of failed attempts, I was granted access to the flight deck once the aircraft had come to a stop at Leeds/Bradford & the captain had put it out of gear & put the handbrake on.

Alicante Airport
13-07-2010 1756 - 2029

Landing at Leeds/Bradford was a very scary, but fun experience. We were in heavy cloud/rain until approximately 100ft above ground! We were being rocked slightly by turbulence & given LBAs poor weather record, I did have to wonder whether a diversion into my second home was on the cards. The touch down at LBA was the scary but fun part - we slammed into that runway like an asteroid striking the earth!! That provoked an announcement from the stewardess that went "Well...we've landed!" causing a roar of much needed laughter throughout the cabin. After everyone had disembarked I made my way to the flight deck where I said to the captain "you'll have to check the tires after that one!" to which he jokingly responded to his co-pilot "I don't think we should let him take the photo now!".

Due to it being pitch black dark, I was only able to log three aircraft on my return to LBA. I wasn't too bothered about that until I looked on the LBAviation Yahoo Group only to discover there'd been a USAF DC-9 in! Gutted!!

Leeds/Bradford Airport
13-07-2010 2156 - 2300

During the holiday I spotted a couple of OTTs trailing as well as a couple of aircraft at about FL200 probably inbound to ALC, but like Aidan on his recent trip to Zante, I had to spend considerable amounts of time 'behaving normally', so I didn't log them. Jet2.com are my favourite LCC, I love the brand, the aircraft, the interiors, the route network - everything, so I was more than looking forward to flying with them. When we boarded G-CELF, we were lucky enough to get their new interior, with leather seats & brighter walls, with more use of the Jet2 'red'. The leather seats have become a little scruffy, mainly due to abuse by louts on stag parties etc, but the comfort level is phenomenal for a budget operator, the leg room was the most I've ever had & we weren't in one of the extra leg room seats either! The cabin crew were excellent & somewhat gorgeous, although I failed in my attempts to get the mobile number/Facebook off one of them - sh*t! In a nutshell though, you haven't lived until you've flown on Jet2.com!

I didn't get many photos, but the few I did get can be found below:

Leeds/Bradford photos
Alicante photos

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