Aboard the IL96

A few hours later we got the dinner, a tray with decent typical airliner meal. Only that the crew either threw or put it on the table with some violence, with a “eat and shut up” attitude. Food was OK, and we noticed they did not fill the soft drink glasses much and those were tiny white plastic cups that you normally buy 20 a pack in supermarket for picnics. After eating the pax converted the cabin into a living room and a bar was established in the rear galley, with surely being illegal as it was not announced and all was paid cash in a discrete manner. With alcohol pumping in the noise became higher until most of the people went to sleep. The crew had to ask via the PA for the noisiest to let the others rest (as no other type of time killer was possible). A female flight attendant dropped some drink on a 3 year kid sitting in the middle row, and continued without a word. The kid’s father was nearby and went to complain. The F/A had the “Shut the f**k up” face and the man pulled a finger on her back when she simply ignored him and turned the other way. Then she became really aggressive with the man and his wife came in a started crying. A male F/A demanded the F/A to come to the rear galley for a talk, but in the end the mother was left crying, and no one apologised to the family, nor they did any more than dry out the tears.

After a while we felt a huge bump, and everyone woke up. Going through turbulence the plane went up and down, without vibration, in abnormal amplitude with respect to what I have witnessed in over 500 flights. I had to look out the window to be sure we were not ditching or something, the first time I ever did that in a flight.

After, nothing to tell, until we approached HAV and the nose camera was switched on. Some people opened the bins and did not close it at all, so the crew had to close them. As soon as we touched down we had general clapping and half of the pax got up and got their luggage as soon as taxi began. A few minutes later we arrived at a finger-enabled gate but disembarked on foot and climbed some stairs into the terminal, just by the same gate.