My Lithuanian & Bulgarian Wet Lease Adventure Across Algeria & Tunisia

Look, I don’t want to hear any more of this stuff about how “oh, Lucky only likes luxury and champagne.” That’s just completely fake news, but with this outbound trip, I’m definitely proving it, eh? 😉

After a memorable flight in Air Algerie’s A330neo business class, and a very secure connection at Algiers Airport (ALG), it was time to continue my journey:

• On the same ticket I had booked on Air Algerie from Montreal (YUL), I was connecting to Tunis (TUN), also in Air Algerie business class
• Then on a separate ticket I was supposed to fly Tunisair business class from Tunis to Marseille (MRS), but I ended up being downgraded due to a plane swap

What made these two flights so funny is that neither was actually operated by the airline I booked. I guess that’s not much of a downgrade when you get to avoid Air Algerie, but still, the whole thing just made me laugh. I spent my Sunday flying from Algeria to Tunisia to France on Lithuanian and Bulgarian airlines… as one does.

My Avion Express A320 flight on behalf of Air Algerie

My Air Algerie flight from Algiers to Tunis was operated by an 18-year-old Avion Express Airbus A320. You can pick whether you want to call the airline Lithuanian or Maltese — the company is technically based in Lithuania, while it has an air operator certificate in Malta.

On this flight I was in “business class,” which was really just about as no frills as an intra-Europe style business class gets. There were no power ports, no entertainment, etc. I guess one positive is that the cabin was so ancient that they hadn’t even invested in the new, uncomfortable slimline seats.

The crew was actually quite friendly, though a little incompatible with the customer base. The crew members spoke neither Arabic nor French, exactly the opposite of what you’ll find on Air Algerie, where they speak Arabic and French, but typically not English.

There was still one Air Algerie crew member onboard, presumably to ensure that service standards were being met (in other words, to make sure that no one was being too polite to customers). 😉

I must say, for an hour-long flight, the meal was actually quite substantial. As on the last flight, there are some opportunities with tray presentation. And Algerians sure do love their carbs — I love how I was presented the below, and then they came around with a bread basket and asked “would you like some bread?” No, I think the croissant and pastry cover it for me, thanks.

My Fly2Sky A320 flight on behalf of Tunisair

After five lovely hours in the Tunis Airport terminal, it was time to fly from Tunis to Marseille on a 12-year-old Fly2Sky Airbus A320. Fly2Sky is a wet lease operator based in Bulgaria (and the crew was definitely very Bulgarian!). On this flight I was in economy, since they downgraded me.

It’s not often you fly on two all-white Airbus A320s on different airlines on the same day!

Despite the plane being only 12 years old, it sure has been around the world!

Four things stood out to me about this flight:

• Every seat was taken, and my gosh, the pitch on this plane was just terrible
• I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb on this flight; for example, the passenger next to me didn’t understand how to use a seatbelt
• Despite this being a roughly 80-minute flight, they do serve a meal, which, I mean… that’s a nice gesture, but it was not particularly tasty (aside from the cake, which was decent)
• There was a single Tunisair flight attendant on the flight, and he was responsible for duty free sales; I couldn’t believe how many cartons of cigarettes were sold, as I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more cigarette carton sales than passengers onboard, and he was busy from takeoff to touchdown

Shouldn’t airlines have to disclose wet lease operations?

The concept of wet leasing has become increasingly common over time, as airlines deal with aircraft shortages, try to manage seasonal demand, etc. Generally speaking, a wet lease agreement leads to a reduction in quality, since work is being contracted out to a third party that isn’t necessarily as invested in the guest experience as the “native” airline.

Now, maybe that applies a little less when you’re operating on behalf of Air Algerie, which really doesn’t care about the guest experience.

But here’s what bothered me a bit. When you book a wet lease flight on Lufthansa or SWISS, it’s clearly disclosed at the time of booking that the flight is operating on behalf of other airlines. Meanwhile at both Air Algerie and Tunisair, that’s not at all the case.

For example, when you book a flight on Air Algerie that’s operated by a wet lease operator, it’ll just show the plane type, as if it’s operated by Air Algerie (in the below example, Air Algerie doesn’t directly fly Airbus A320s).

Of course I was able to figure this out, since I’m a huge aviation geek. But I just feel like from a disclosure standpoint, it should be reasonable to expect that this information will be conveyed at booking, just so customers know what they’re getting into. It’s no different than how a codeshare flight also shows what carrier is actually operating the itinerary.

Bottom line

I spent yesterday flying two all-white Airbus A320s, belonging to Avion Express and Fly2Sky, operating on behalf of Air Algerie and Tunisair. I have to say, compared to the passenger experience ordinarily offered on Air Algerie, that probably wasn’t too much of a downgrade, at least in terms of service.

That being said, it is an interesting state of things when you fly two back-to-back flights on A320s without liveries, neither of which actually belong to the airline you booked, with no disclosure of this detail during booking.