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Message started by Markoz on Sep 26th, 2022 at 2:31am

Title: Overseas
Post by Markoz on Sep 26th, 2022 at 2:31am
Hi All.

I would like to apologise for not being around much these last few days, but due to the death of my mother-in-law, my wife and i had to make hasty trip to the Philippines for the funeral. We have lot to do before the funeral on friday (30/09/22), and due to poor internet connection (and regular blackouts), I can't be on here much. When things do finally settle down, I hope to have more opportunity to get on here to provide help.

I'm out in the province, and wi-fi via the cellular network is finicky at best.

I won't be back home until October 21st, 2022.

Again. My sincerest apologies .

Brainfade for spelling due to lack of sleep over the last 3 days

Title: Re: Overseas
Post by Captain Sim on Sep 26th, 2022 at 3:11pm
Thank you Mark!
Dealing with loss is never easy.

Title: Re: Overseas
Post by Markoz on Oct 21st, 2022 at 4:20am
Hi all.

Everything went fairly well for my mother-in-law's funeral, although the impact on our emotions was pretty high, especially for my wife.

Anyway, I just got back today from my overseas trip. All went well, but I can't say much for the internet there (it's primarily geared for smartphone access, not much else).

By Sunday (Aussie time) everything should be back to normal for me.

Title: Re: Overseas
Post by Captain Sim on Oct 21st, 2022 at 9:11am
Mark, thanks for the update!

Title: Re: Overseas
Post by Markoz on Nov 4th, 2022 at 4:49pm
I would just like to tell an interesting story on our trip to the Philippines.

I booked our flights at 4:30pm on Monday the 19th September, for a departure on Saturday the 24th September at 8:10am, so we were leaving about 4.5 days after I made the booking.

On Friday the 23rd September, I recieved an email from Philippine Airlines, saying  "We would like to inform you that there are changes to your upcoming flight from Melbourne (MEL) – Manila (MNL) due to adjustments in our flight operations", the flight number was changed from PR210 to PR5210 and depature time would be two hours later at 10:30am. I say to myself "No problem, that fine by me. An extra 2 hours before we were to leave", I just have rearrange our lift to Tullamarine on Saturday morning.

We get to the airport about 5 hours before departure (for some reason, our daughter was in a hurry to get us to the airport, then get back home), so we were very early. This turned out to be a good thing as...
1. I forgot my to bring walking stick, and this gave my wife time to see if she could buy one from a Chemist at the airport (which she did).
2. We had to go online and organise our COVID-19 vaccination certificates from Australia, and have the info passed on to Philippine Health, and they only told us at the check-in counter that we couldn't proceed without that being done! I reckon we should have been informed of this when we bought our tickets, but we weren't!

Eventually we check-in, and I get wheelchair assistance through Customs, and up to the Gate (Gate 20). We get there, and we're told to go to Gate 5 because that's where we are departing from. So the poor lady pushing the wheelchair turns me around, and back to Gate 5 we go. We get there, and we're told we are depoarting from Gate 7, not Gate 5, but no need to go there yet, we only need to go there when boarding starts. During this time, there aren't many passengers around for our flight (I counted about 20 people) - Just so you know, PR210 is using an A330-300, and PR5210 is using an A321(NEO?), so I figure that a small aircraft was needed due to less passengers than normal, but I couldn't figure out why the flight number was changeed as well. The aircraft was being refueled at Gate 20, and once that was done, then it was going to move to Gate 7 (I don't know the reason for this). Finally the aircraft parks at Gate 7, and about 15 minutes later we start boarding. I'm seated in an aisle seat as I requested, and my wife was supposed to be at the window seat next to me (on the A330-300 anyway as per our booking), but she is seated in the middle seat across the aisle from me (WHAT!). Finally everyone is on board and we take off and are on our way. Strangely, the aircraft looks almost empty! After we climb for a bit the Flight Attendants got out of their seats and started moving around. I ask her as she passes me "How many passengers are on this flight?", and she replies "27, but the aircraft has a maximum of 145". I'm shocked! Only 27 passengers!!! Wow. Before we even reached cruise altitude, the Flight Attendants closed all the bli8nds on the aircraft, and it was like a night flight. Can't think of a reason why they would do that, as the flight is about 8.5 hours, and the time difference between Melbourne and Manila was 2 hours (3 hours on the return because Daylight Savings started while we were in the Philippines).

It turns out that PR210 left at 8:10am, and due to weight discrepancies, a second flight was needed to take the remaining 27 passengers to Manila.

On the return flight (PR209) was also supposed to be an A330-300, but it turned out to be an A350-900, and every seat was filled. Some people were not seated with the ones they were supposed to be so before take off there was a lot of shuffling around of the passengers until every one was satisfied (I hope).

Title: Re: Overseas
Post by Captain Sim on Nov 5th, 2022 at 10:22am

Markoz wrote on Nov 4th, 2022 at 4:49pm:
It turns out that PR210 left at 8:10am, and due to weight discrepancies, a second flight was needed to take the remaining 27 passengers to Manila.

:o

Title: Re: Overseas
Post by Litpon on Nov 30th, 2022 at 2:53pm
Hello captainSim,

I know this is not the appropriate place but I would really like to ask you if it is possible for you to make a B767-300 with the real cockpit (With the 747 systems I don't mind)? And is it possible to talk to each other in private?

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