The Skys the Limit - Overhauled
 Mar 20th, 2001 (Jan 2nd, 2004)
Advantages:
Modern airlines with friendly staff
Disadvantages:
Difficult staff when paying for extra leg - rooms seats for children over 12
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Food Quality
Customer Service
Punctuality
Space
Value for Money
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  sue.51
About me:
Sheesh - seems like ages since I've been here. So many changes, business up and running - bred my f...
Member since:20.03.2001
Reviews:275
Members who trust:170
Review rated by 29 Ciao members on average: helpful 
This review received a counterstatement by a party concerned
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Britannia Airways are owned by the Thomson group and serve three main holiday companies, Portland Direct, Skytours and Thomsons, all owned by the World of Tui. As a result, in recent months, some of the planes have been upgraded and are being resprayed to display the turquoise synonymous with the company with small red Tui logos dotted on the wings and body of the plane. Flight only deals can also be booked through Britannia themselves or on-line at www.skydeals.co.uk..
UPDATED 01/01/04
Britannia have now changed their name to Thomson flights (I hope this means the company is not going to go the same way as JMC and My Travel - or should that be Thomas Cook and AirTours) - and are again having their planes rebranded . Flights can now be booked at: http://www.thomsonflights.com. Britannia's typical fleet consists primarily of Boeing 757's and 767's, although they also commission a few bone rattling Airbus's, which for anyone who has ever flown in one will know that upon take off and landing the damn things sound and feel like they are about to explode they rattle so much, although I am told this is perfectly normal.
I have now flown more than 20 times with Britannia, and found their planes to be clean, good quality and comparable with scheduled airlines, although leg room is minimal and I am reliably informed by my somewhat taller other half that the seat backs could be higher as he finds them unsuitable for supporting his back and neck during the longer journeys. Their newer planes do seem to have rectified some of these problems. During summer 2003 we flew to Ibiza with them on one of the 767's and as we are prone to do, paid for extra leg-room seats at £30 each return - the 767 is a 2 4 2 seat formation and believe me it is not money well spent - we have substantially less leg and arm room than the kids sitting 8 rows ahead - and although Britannia do not allow children under the age of 16 to travel alone, they are more than happy to let children sit on their own.
FOOD
This has always been of reasonable quality, but presentation has declined somewhat over the last few years. From the of Summer 2003, like most of their competitors, Britannia now charge for food on planes, rather than it being included in the holiday price. The charge for adults is £10, and for children (12 and under) £5.
If Thomson claim is
true that the holiday prices have been reduced as a result, then in theory we should save some money because the kids never actually touch their meals and either we end up eating them or they go back untouched. Trouble is, if travelling as a party, you are only allowed to either all have meals, or none of you can eat - so much for freedom of choice. TYPICAL MEALS
Breakfast (early morning flights up to around 10am) usually consist of scrambled egg, sausage, potatoes and beans or tomatoes, orange juice, a bread roll followed by tea/coffee, the rest of the time you can usually guarantee getting chicken or steak casserole with two veg and potatoes, a bread roll and cheese and crackers, the cups are still supplied for Orange Juice which does seem to have been noticeable by its absence the last few times we have flown.
They have a wide range of reasonably priced duty free items, including gifts, drinks and cigarettes and the service is speedy and friendly. My most recent trip with Britannia (December 2003) was to the Canaries where I picked up 400 cigarettes for the very reasonable sum of £19 - or high street brand names you will not buy them tax free in the Canaries for that price.
INDULGENCE MEAL
For the small sum of £40 per couple, you can book a sumptious feast consisting of 3 courses, a complimentary wine (at that price I should think so). DRINKS
All drinks must be paid for, although they do offer a wide range of reasonably priced beverages, ranging from beers, wines and soft drinks through to spirits which are served in double measures. Payments can be made by credit/debit card, and cash from all currencies although change will always be issued in sterling, so you could lose out big-time.
In addition to the drinks, they sell a small range of complementary cold snacks, including small packs of Pringles, which for some reason, never taste the same from anywhere else as they do in a pressurised cabin 36,000 feet in the air. DELAYS
Only once have we ever experienced severe delays (above 1/2 hour) with Britannia and this was due to circumstances beyond their control. We were informed at the point of check-in, and provided with vouchers allowing us to purchase a meal at no cost from the airport lounge.
GENERAL SERVICE
The flight attendants are smart and generally very friendly. I have a couple of bad flights due to bad weather, and as I am not very good at flying, have found the attendants to always be pleasant, friendly and very supportive. Upon returning from a recent holiday, the flight crew had to accommodate a severely disabled child and parent together, and openly asked the passengers to move, so that they could sit together. For the people prepared to move, they provided with free beverages from the drinks trolley throughout the flight.
EXTRA SERVICES
For a small sum of £10 per adult, and £5 per child (£14 on long haul flights) you can pre-book your seats. This can be very useful on the return journey, which then allows you Express check-in at some return overseas airports, including Majorca, Ibiza, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. (this may vary out of season - check with the Travel Agent). Personally I think charging for this is appalling - JMC (Now Thomas Cook) do not charge for pre-booking, although I am reliably informed by friends that other charter airlines sell extra leg-room seats at the airport, so I guess it is first come, first served as obviously spaces are limitedCOST.- Between £20 and £40 per person on short-haul
- from £80 per person on long-haul
If you are flying with children under 16 or have physical disabilities you cannot take advantage of this facility, although there is a 'Special Needs' area of the plane which does offer extra led room and is not adjacent to an emergency exit.JULY 2002
Now both our kids are over the age of 12, and knowing my partners height and the fact that my legs tend to swell on even short flights, we elected this year to pay for extra leg-room seats, a grand total of £80 for the 4 of us (children paying child prices still have to fork out the full amount), great what could go wrong?
At check-in in Cardiff, the assistant insisted that the age for these seats was 15 not 12 as stated in Thomsons T&C, after much arguement and bringing out half the contents of the brochure he reluctantly checked us in, but that certainly wasn't the end of it, the flight attendants tried to move us, telling us the children were too young making the first hour or so of our flight very tense and unsettling, for someone who doesn't like flying at the best of times this was something we could have done without. On the return journey, the check-in assistant was more interested in kissing her boyfriend rather than paying attention to what she was doing and failed to notice the pre-booked T&C on the tickets, hence all check-in had to be halted whilst the matter was resolved - I was not impressed. REMEMBER: Even if paying for special reserved seats it is still worth turning up at the airport early as once passengers have been issed with tickets it is very difficult to change them.
Worse still I have paid for the same service for my forthcoming trip to Lanzarote with my daughter and her friend and am just praying I won't encounter the same problem again, I have already been in touch with Thomsons to ensure that the issue is clarified to the staff at Cardiff. You do have to have no physical disabilities to book extra leg-rooms seats adjacent to emergency exits, although there are a limited number of extra leg-room seats not by the exits which are used for people in wheelchairs and the elderly and from what I have seen whilst travelling, those needing assistance are usually boarded last and offloaded last with assistance from crew, I do not believe that these services carry an extra charge, although it would be wise to advise your tour operator of the circumstances at the time of booking.
BAGGAGE
The normal allowance is 20KG (c44lbs) per person plus one item of hand luggage which must be under 5Kg because of safety restrictions on the overhead lockers. I know some people whinge that they think this is too low, but just think how you would feel if there was severe turbulence and one of the lockers came open landing someones luggage on your head - even at 5Kg you are going to end up with a nasty injury, something heavier could easily kill a child or even an adult, so next time you are arguing with the check-in assistant about hand-luggage, stop and think for a moment. If you late book with Thomsons or Portland you will find your baggage allowance reduced (10Kg), plus you will not be able to pre-book any services on board the flight, you may also encounter a charge for collecting your tickets at the airport and will have to pay extra for on-board meals and airport/resort transfers (this will however become standard practice for all Thomsons Holidays from Summer 2003)
VIP Airport Lounges - UK and overseas
£16 per person - you will need to check with Britannia/Thomsons to check availability - no children under 12 are allowed in. WHERE DO THEY FLY FROM? At the rate they are expanding, it would be easier to ask where they don't fly from. They currently fly from 20 UK destinations, namely:
• Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Newcastle, Teeside, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, East Midlands, Humberside, Birmingham, Luton, Norwich, Stansted, Gatwick, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton Although be aware that destinations and flight will vary according to airport and season.
In addition, Britannia are starting up a new ‘no-frills’ scheduled service in March from Coventry airport to 11 European Destinations – at the moment, many of these flights are very very cheap, check out http://www.thomsonfly.com/en/index.html or more info. ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Britannia do not charge for the use of headphones on their flights.
UPDATED 01/01/04 - when I flew with Britannia in December 2003, we discovered that they are now charging the princely sum of £3 per pair of headsets which they recommend you hold onto for future journeys - whilst I am not totally averse to paying for these products if there is actually something on I want to watch (Calender Girls was on during our last trip home and is superbly entertaining) - I do object to the fact that the orifice in which the connector is placed is dodgy meaning that commentary was very unreliable and bitty - I was not impressed - plus the headsets are so small simply with small plastic connectors over each ear that the likelihood of being able to locate them for my next trip is, to say the least, remote. Since all the publicity surround DVT you will receive either a information leaflet or short video on how the condition can be avoided, you will also receive a short video on what to do in the unlikely event of an emergency (apart from start praying I guess).
In-flight entertainment consists of programmes such as Harry Enfield, Vicar of Dibley, various uninteresting chat-shows and cartoon network clips - or there is a small choice of radio stations using the currently FREE headphones. Each route now has its own schedule of TV programmes which seem to remain static throughout a season, the information is contained within the in-flight sky brochure - this interesting little book also contains a range of out of date 'interesting' gossip articles and a dearth of information on overpriced gifts you may want to buy for your loved ones.
TV screens are dotted around the plane fixed into the roof, and for those sitting in specific extra leg-room seats you will have the benefit of your own small TV-screen. DUTY FREE/DUTY PAID
As most people now know, duty free no longer exists within the EU, although it still applies for the Canary Islands. Britannia offer a small selection of 'cheaper' goods in alcohol and cigarettes and have held perfumes and related items at pre duty-free abolition prices, I feel however it is still prudent to buy before flying home, as prices are far cheaper, particularly in Mainland Spain and the Balearics.
You can pre-order a selection of duty paid goods and collect and pay for them on your return flight, but again prices tend to be cheaper (Spain) in the resort and departure airports.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Upon returning from your holiday, the flight crew provide you with a questionnaire asking for information on the quality of the service, location, accommodation and reps within the resort, and also flights both ways.
These results are then analysed and used to rate accommodation in the following seasons brochures. In summary, a very efficient airline, providing an above average service for a relatively low cost but causing extreme irritation when paying for extra services.
Sue
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Related tags for Britannia Airways - BAL
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by (31%):
01.06.2004 00:31
Another good review. I've flown with Britannia every time I've gone aboard up until this year (holiday requires we fly with Spanair), and I can say I've had a great journey both there and back. I hope the rebranding to Thomson Airlines does not affect their service. Keep the good reviews coming :) -Karl
17.01.2004 04:52
Didn't see the original but this update is a good, thorough review, thanks
02.01.2004 08:38
02/01/04 - p.s I notice that this op is still languishing as an 'H' when there are now 16 VHs compared to 9 Hs. Goodness knows how Ciao work this out! Chris