Is Air Tanzania better in the Airbus A220? Find out here:
January 6, 2020
It was the 6th day of the new decade where I gave this airline another try, hoping I would have a better experience in the A220.
The journey started with my first flight of 2020, which was also the shortest flight of my life. The flight was in another Q400 and was from Zanzibar to Daar es Salaam. Before this, the shortest flight I’ve ever been on was a 20 minute hop from Charlotte to Asheville, two major cities in North Carolina. This one from Zanzibar to Daar es Salaam was only 15 minutes! As soon as we took off, we were already landing. When we got to Daar es Salaam, it felt like we magically teleported there. I tracked the flight going back to Zanzibar and this one was only 10 minutes! Unfortunately, this was deceiving because were were there for a couple of hours…
The layover would normally have been about an hour and a half, but the time passed and we were still waiting.
The airport here was extremely confusing because there are seperate areas for domestic and international departures. But what was confusing about this flight was that it was both. I thought it would be direct to Entebbe, but I was wrong. It turns out we would have to make another stop in Kilimanjaro first. Luckily, this was supposed to be a stopover, not a layover. What was confusing was that our gate was on the other side of the terminal, I guess because it is first a domestic flight. The problem was that there was absolutely no way to get there due to a giant wall that seperated both areas. We did have a waiting area for passengers going to Entebbe, but as I said before, we waiting longer than scheduled. I haven’t even been on the plane yet and I was already starting to realise the truth. I was getting fed up because what was happening sounded like a repeat of the disaster in Kilimanjaro.
It was starting to head that direction. I was getting bored and anxious because I didn’t know how much longer the flight would be delayed. But similar to the ordeal that I went through already, there were multiple announcements about new departure times. Fast forward to about a few hours, and we were finally called for boarding. The crew said the delay was for technical reasons, but this didn’t make sense to me since the plane was brand new. Although the delay wasn’t actually that long (just a few extra hours), I still found it annoying because I just had one of my worst travel experiences and I couldn’t have another one that soon after. Luckily, it was not actually that bad of a delay and I was excited to see what the A220 feels like.
The cabin was clean and spacious as I expected. The seats were super comfortable, which was one of the biggest surprises of the aircraft. They felt a lot like KLM’s new economy premium seats. The overhead bins were gigantic and so were the windows. The bathroom even had a window in it! I wouldn’t mind spending 8 hours in this plane because it feels like a 787 that’s the size of an A319. The photo above was taken from my seat, which was on the side with 3 seats per row. The flight was mostly empty, so I got that whole row to myself to use as a flat bed, and for a ‘flat bed’ in economy, this one felt the most like a real business class seat! It is not very likely that I get the whole row to myself, which is why I call this the ‘secret class’. Although the flight was only an hour, I took advantage of it and fell asleep.
Let’s talk about the weird part of this plane: the engines. The A220 is equipped with two Pratt and Whitney PurePower PW100G turbofans, which make it quieter and more fuel efficient- that is, quieter during flight.
The strange thing about these engines is that they are obnoxious during taxi but almost silent during takeoff. When the plane was taxiing, the engines made these strange noises that I like to describe as “a bunch of whales having sex”. Yes, that is what it sounds like. It was kind of like a ‘bloop’ noise that started at a low frequency and then got higher. But when the plane took off, it was probably the quietest airplane I’ve ever flown in. I can’t decide weather this was quieter than the A380 or the same, but it came close to silent.
the strange noises didn’t stop there. When the plane took off, there was a strange buzzing sound where it literally sounded like a bee was stuck inside the plane somewhere! I’m not sure where this sound was coming from, but at first I thought it was the flaps. However, I’m still not entirely sure because there were times where the flaps weren’t deployed and I still heard the buzzing. Perhaps this is the reason why the plane was delayed for ‘technical reasons’? I like to joke about the A220 because it makes such strange noises. But so does the A319 with its ‘barking’ sound.
We landed in Kilimanjaro about an hour later and were on the ground for a very short time. I forgot to mention that In every place we stopped, there was a direct flight to Entebbe in Uganda Airlines. Like seriously, there was one from Zanzibar, and when we were waiting for this flight in Daar es Salaam, another one took off. Then in Kilimanjaro, we ran into another Uganda Airlines CRJ900 that was also going to Entebbe. This means we could have gone direct from any of the places that we stopped at, which would mean we would get there faster. Well, at this point it was simply just annoying but it didn’t matter that much because we were already starting to depart. But due to the delay, by the time we departed, we left at around the same time as the Uganda Airlines flight. It was basically a race between which plane would get there first, but I’m pretty sure Uganda Airlines got there first since it took off about two minutes before we did.
The next flight was pretty much the same. It was also about 50 minutes, and luckily no new passengers got on so I still had the full row to myself. In the middle of the flight, passengers were served a sandwich with a choice of beef or chicken. I chose the chicken one and it was decent. My brother had beef and it was unedible. The meat from the beef sandwhich must have been the parts left over that you serve to your dog or something. But since it was a short flight, it didn’t matter to me. We landed soon after and there were many different planes from Uganda Airlines. I’m not sure which one came from kilimanjaro, but it had to be one of them. I’m pretty sure the other ones also came from the three places that we stopped at. The point is, I could’ve taken a direct flight from any of the three stops. A direct flight would normally take about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but with Air Tanzania, it took about six hours.
S0, is Air Tanzania really better in the A220?
Unfortunately, no. Although the A220 is a really comfortable plane to fly in, its still the same airline. I still experienced the same rude flight attendants and there was a delay. Plus, there really is no point because none of their flights are direct. I could take any other airline that flies to the same destination and have a much better experience. I would take any other airline to fly the A220 (I really want to try Delta’s version), but I don’t see a point in flying with ATCL again. I gave them a second chance and got the same results. Luckily, this was my last time flying Air Tanzania. As I said before, I really don’t see a point in flying with them again. As of now, I think this might even be the second worst airline I’ve ever flown in and definately the worst in Africa. My advice to travelers going to Tanzania- just choose any other airline and avoid this one. It’s for convenience.
This review was not very much on the positive side, but when an airline lets me down, I must stick to providing honest reviews, even if they are brutally honest. I hope my reviews also provide guidance for travelers who come across the past two posts so that everyone can have more positive experiences. As always, feel free to comment and check out my social media profiles on the homepage!
More adventures coming soon…
Carlo's Travels and Reviews 
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