When we landed at Dorval airport at Montreal in our Air Transat Airbus A310 we were met by a mobile lounge, a Plane-Mate made by the Budd Co of Pennsylvania. The Plane-Mate is like a large coach capable of carrying up to 150 people which travels at normal height and then rises up to the side of the aircraft, in our case at the rear door. This contraption transferred us from one A310 to another for the onward journey to Toronto.
I hadn't encountered one of these since flying into Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. in the early seventies, when they were quite new. At Dulles the Plane-Mate meets the aircraft and deposits you at the terminal without a lengthy walk. They are on the point of being phased out altogether, but linger on in Quebec for use in special circumstances. You feel like you are taking part in a sixties sci-fi fantasy, a new experience for many of our fellow passengers.
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