Air Scandic International Airlines -SCY

...to be an airline called Air Scandic, whose main flying base was Manchester, which happened to be our departure airport. We were flying to Preveza airport in Greece, a very small airport on the mainland. All in all, it was only a 2 and a half hour flight to Greece, so what could go wrong?

Outbound
------
We arrived through the doors of Manchester airport in a slightly flustered state, due to difficulty of locating the ...
...tickets, and then approached the Air Scandic Check-in desks, where queues were developing. The check-in assistants were not Air Scandic’s own however, check-in was to be conducted by Groundstar, Air Scandic’s baggage and aircraft Operation Company. Luckily the queues were handled in a competent manner, and soon it was our turn. We were greeted by a very nice check-in assistant, who politely explained all the details to use, checked baggage and passports, ... more

This opinion is my first opinion on the travel sector, and also my first after a long break from Ciao. I have decided to write about a popular topic on Ciao, which happens to be Airlines, after our recent experience on holiday this year.

The Hughes’ Annual Holiday 2003 was in Greece, in a small town called Sivota. We were due to fly out on the 14th July, through a tour operator called Olympic Holidays. Our paper’s came through the post, and I noticed the flight code, in which the Airline happened to be a code called “SCY”. We puzzled over this, as we had never heard of an airline called this.

I spent five minutes on the internet researching this code, and it turned out to be an airline called Air Scandic, whose main flying base was Manchester, which happened to be our departure airport. We were flying to Preveza airport in Greece, a very small airport on the mainland. All in all, it was only a 2 and a half hour flight to Greece, so what could go wrong?

Outbound
------
We arrived through the doors of Manchester airport in a slightly flustered state, due to difficulty of locating the offsite airport parking company. “That was the company’s fault, giving us crap directions!” said Dad. However, I think it was his limited ability to follow directions which was at fault! We reached the Olympic Holidays service desk, to exchange our paperwork for the tickets, and then approached the Air Scandic Check-in desks, where queues were developing. The check-in assistants were not Air Scandic’s own however, check-in was to be conducted by Groundstar, Air Scandic’s baggage and aircraft Operation Company. Luckily the queues were handled in a competent manner, and soon it was our turn. We were greeted by a very nice check-in assistant, who politely explained all the details to use, checked baggage and passports, and even said “Have a great holiday!” which is something I’ve never heard of before!

We wandered through passport control, and into the departure lounge and duty free area, where we browsed and had something to eat. In the departure hall, there was a massive viewing area which looked out onto the boarding gates, allowing people to view the aircrafts. I went and looked, saw 2 British Airway’s Boeings, a BMI plane, and a couple of Britannia Airbuses.

Then I saw it, hiding at the most remote boarding gate. I burst out laughing when I saw it, I must admit, due to the sheer sight of it! Standing there was an ageing Airbus A300 plane, decorated in the most hideous livery I have ever seen. Honestly, I could have designed a better one with MS Paint. It was white with a black tail, and red writing saying “Air Scandic” with a horrible tacky yellow sun emblazoned on the aircraft’s side! I must say that it had a good right to be at the furthest boarding gate, with livery like that!

An hour passed, and then the tannoy went “All Air Scandic passenger to Preveza please report to the boarding gate please”. That was it, we were going on holiday! All 300 passengers came jostling to the boarding gate, all wanting to be on first. Luckily, the ground crew had better ideas. They told us to take seats, and then embarked us in blocks, divided by row numbers. They kept the flow of passengers moving easily, and within 15 minutes, we were all on the aircraft.

I could tell that this Airbus had seen better days. The carpet was threadbare in places, the seats looked worn and tatty, and the entertainment equipment left a lot to be desired! They were projection screens, meaning the aircraft had only three screens. Where mum and I were sitting, we needed a telescope to see it!

We sat down, and put our seatbelts on. This was when I found out about my seat’s little fault. The plastic trim on the arm of the seat was loose, and I ended up knocking it off a few times. Even a cabin crew member knocked it off! However, the legroom seemed quite decent, a lot better than My Travel who I flew with last year. All around us, the crew (there were 9 Cabin Crew to my knowledge) were bustling round, making sure that all was safe before take off.

The safety demonstration was carried out without a hitch, all doors were closed and armed, and the plane’s engines started to vibrate underneath us. We were now moving! The Captain came onto the intercom, and told us the details, that the flight would actually be 2 hours and 20 minutes long, and that the slight delay (we never noticed!) was due to Air Traffic control in Switzerland! We were then placed in a queue of three aircraft waiting to take off, and after ten minutes we were taxing down the runway, getting ready to blast off into the unknown…

The takeoff was excellent, very smooth and quick. After about ten minutes, the cruise began. The announced the movie to be shown was “Bringing Down the House” staring Steve Martin, which to my knowledge, was fairly new at the time. However, we couldn’t really see the screen, so we didn’t bother to purchase the headsets, which were at the rip-off price of £3 each.

Next thing to come round was the bar service, which served a range of drinks and snacks for us. Mum and I both purchased a bottle of white wine from it. The bottle contained one decently-sized glass of white wine, enough for a meal I think. We opened it, poured it and tasted it. The wine was of acceptable quality; however the bottle had not been chilled, so it was not served at its best. In fact, after asking Dad and Mark, we found none of the drinks were properly chilled, which somewhat spoilt the drinks a bit. The price, as always, was expensive for what we got.

Now, it was now the time for the most exciting part of the cruise, the meal! On this flight, it was Chicken in a Provencal sauce, with vegetables. The cabin crew came out with the trolleys, and started to serve the passengers. Mum and I were in the middle sections, with Dad and Mark in the row in front. They got served before us, but for some reason our row didn’t get served off the trolley! Mum, the Greek guy next to mum and me all exchanged looks. “Were we going to get a meal?” was our question. Luckily, ten minutes after everyone else got served, us three got served. The meal was hot when we opened it, and for once, the chicken tasted fresh and nice! However, the vegetables were bland and mushy, but the trifle we got for desert was tasty, so overall it wasn’t too bad a meal.

All the meals were cleared away, tables were folded back, seatbelts reapplied, and the plane started to make its descent. The Cabin Crew kept us very well informed throughout this, reassuring us about the engine noise and the emergency exit signs lighting up were perfectly normal, and also telling us our position and estimated flight time. The plane dropped down and down, and like the takeoff, the landing was first class. He brought it down really gently and smoothly, so we hardly felt the bump. The aircraft slowly started to taxi to its allocated position, and the cabin crew wished us a good holiday, and we disembarked from the aircraft to the pleasures of the arrivals hall.

All in all, the outbound flight was pretty good. Apart from a tatty and old plane, the cabin crew were in the main good at their jobs, and we had a pleasant and relaxing cruise aboard Air Scandic.

Inbound
----
After one heck of a good holiday, we were back at Preveza airport, all checked in and in the departure lounge, waiting for Air Scandic to take us back home. During this time, I was very interested by the Olympic Airways little planes, which were run like a bus service. They had a turnaround time of 5 minutes, so as soon as they had landed, they were taking off again!

Eventually, we got called forward, but this time embarkation was a shambles. We weren’t called by seat number like in Manchester, so we all got mixed up by pushing and shoving. I got separated from our party, and ended up boarding the plane ten minutes before them! As I was walking across the tarmac, I looked at the place, and as expected, it looked very similar to the one came on. In fact, it was the same one.

This time, we got 3 seats together and a seat over the aisle from the other 3. As I was the first on, I took the lone aisle seat. What a choice, as when we all boarded, the seats next to me were not filled, as were the 3 rows behind me!

This time, the safety demonstration did not go to plan. The cabin crew member next to me got mixed up when demonstrating the emergency lighting and the oxygen mask, and it reduced her and her crew mate just down from her to a fit of giggles. I mean, she couldn’t stop herself! I found it mildly amusing, but concerning at the same time. What sort of message does it give the passengers that the cabin crew still get confused with the safety routine? Not too good a one I think!

Again, the takeoff was as seamless as last time, with a good smooth taxi and blast off. The cruise section now begun, and luckily we were about three rows back from the video screen. They announced the movie would be “Chicago” starring Catherine Zeta Jones. “Excellent” I thought, “I’ve always wanted to see that!” So I purchased a headset, and a bag of Mini Mars Bars from the bar trolley, and stretched out across the two vacant seats.
It was brilliant! I was so comfortable, sitting there! In fact, you should have seen Mum, Dad and Mark’s faces, all green with envy! The film was enjoyable, except when the projection equipment broke down three times, meaning we kept missing parts of the film out! I come to the conclusion that I think the plane we were on needed a complete cabin overhaul, in both seating and entertainment equipment.

The meal this time was…. Chicken (surprise surprise!!) in gravy. This time, the service was even worse, but there was a reason for it. We were seated in the rear section, so we got served first. However, when they just started on the middle section, the Chief Cabin Crew Member came on to the intercom, “Cabin Crew suspend service”. We wondered why, and then we felt it, we were going through a patch of turbulence. Once again, the familiar click of seatbelts was in action, and again the Cabin Crew were really informative over it, so we were never left in the dark about our situation.

The meal this time was not so good. The chicken was tough, again the vegetables were soggy and mushy, and the gravy was in a sheet! The desert, which was cheesecake, had to be the funniest thing I’d seen in a while, as it was in completely the wrong order! It was served in a pot, with the cheesy-creamy bit in the bottom, the fruit in the middle, and the biscuit on the top. How strange!

The film finished, and we watched a little bonus programme of the Bee Gees, which was funny and entertaining. Now, it was the landing again. They dimmed the cabin lights, the engine noise started to get louder, and the exit signs illuminated. The Captain started to edge her down, slowly and surely, until we heard the gentle thump of the wheels on the tarmac. I could not believe it, two perfect takeoffs and two perfect landings, all by the same airline! It was the best captain and flight deck crew I had known!

The Cabin Crew started to disembark us, greeting everyone with a cheery goodbye, wishing us a safe journey home. I think that the Cabin Crew were excellent on this flight, apart from the safety demonstration. I could not fault them for their customer service skills if I tried!

Overall the inbound flight was very good, with the good seating arrangements, and the good movie and excellent crew all round staffing the plane.

Overall
----
As I had never heard of Air Scandic before, I was a bit apprehensive of them, since on the internet people had said that they had a bad reputation in the past. This wasn’t helped by my first impressions of the plane and its livery.

However, once aboard, the crew did the best they could to make us happy, and I think they did a very fine job of it. If I was to be flying with Air Scandic again, I would be very happy to!

www.airscandic.com
 

...less