*** this review was origonally mis placed under my travel due to a mistake on my part. I am waiting for it toi be deleted.***
I would like to start of by saying that I have flown with Britannia airways more then ten times and I feel they are a great airline. I am currently a member of staff for 'the world of tui' which is the company who own Britannia airways. The main reason I am writing this review is to give both my personal view and to clear up some contradictory information contained in previous reviews.
Britannia airways is one of the longest established charter airlinesin the UK, it dates back to the 60's. It ranks as the biggest airline in the UK (after British airways) by number of passengers carried. For a good number of years the airline has been the most punctual charter in the UK. However it was recently over taken last year by JMC (now Thomas cook).
Check in.
Check in for flights varies slightly depending on where you fly from. The larger airports such as Gatwick or Manchester have dedicated check in 'tui' check in areas. However the majority of other airports operate check in where ever it is available in the airport at that time. There are always at least two check-in desks (one
which is for premium and executive check in customers). At all airports in the UK Britannia use ServisAir for ground handling.
Check-in form your resort airport will vary depending on local conditions but will usually be of the same standard.
Pre booked seats.
There are very many popular misconceptions when it comes to pre booked seats. Many people see it as £10 for nothing (they believe that you can just turn up at the airport early and get the seats anyway). Obviously to a certain extent this is true. When customer pre book their seats they are guaranteed to sit together and can also be guaranteed a window seat for every 2 passengers. Another benefit is those customers do not have to check in until 90mins before departure.
I would also like to point out that customer who do not pre book are not guaranteed to be seated together. Having said that they are not guaranteed to be separated either. Customers who have pre booked seats will be give priority because they have paid for the privilege (this is only fair). It is a fact that one some flights as mush as 95% of the seats are pre booked.
I know what I have writing so far will seem like 'company minded diatribe' and to a certain extent it is. However I do feel that pre booked seats are a very good value product and are often misconceived.
Boarding.
The boarding process is normally straightforward and follows the standard procedure. With passengers with special needs, or children being called to beard first. Then passengers are called by seat number sequence to board the aircraft.
The majority of problems at boarding are caused by the passengers who are too impatient and want to board the aircraft before they are supposed to. The same situation occurs when the aircraft lands and everyone jumps to the lockers to get their luggage (the stands for 10 mins before the doors are opened)
In Flight service.
The service I have personally experienced has always been very good. The cabin crew always seem to know what they are doing. They will go out of their way to help you as best they can. The airline also runs flying with confidence courses which aim to help people conquer their fear of flying. I can personally say that this course is excellent because my mother took it about six years ago. That was the first time se had flown and now she is a regular.
You will have the usual service selling drinks and snacks. Then also duty free. Also for all you smokers out there on all flight to Spain you can pre order up to 3200 ciggs per person on your outbound flight and they will be available for collection on your return flight. Also these prices are guaranteed to be the same as those in resort (as prices are controlled by the government). (Please note that the canaries are excluded as they are not in the EU)
The cabin crew will also try to sell you scratch cards which are really just a waste of money in my opinion. You have the chance of winning a free holiday even a free drink form the bar.
Meals
The in-flight meals are now charged separately an are £10 per adult or £5 per child. These prices are return. The standard of the flight meals has been greatly increased and I can personally vouch for this. I have tried a great number of the airlines meals when they came to my place of work to let us sample them. They are all very good. There are some interesting options too such as a healthy flight meal for all you diet conscious people.
In flight Entertainment.
Britannia's entertainment is usually very good and is generally sitcoms and comedies such as vicar of Dibbley or Only fools and horses. And on long haul flights movies are shown. One point to note is that the entertainment does not change for the whole season. So if you fly more than one in the same season you will see the dame stuff (this only applies to short haul flights, as long haul flight show up to date movies). Having said that most people do not travel more than once in the same season (the only reason I did, is my job).
The one thing I would complain about is the constant brain washing which you are subjected to. AT every opportunity you are told how good Thomson is and how wonderful the world of tui is. It may just be that working for the company has made me a cynic but it does my head in. To be fair all the charter airlines do this for their parent companies now. I can personally state that both My travel and Monarch advertise Airtours and Cosmos respectively.
Punctuality.
As I stated Britannia is a very punctual airline. No airline in the world wants delays but some times they are unavoidable. The only delay I have ever experienced was last January; I was flying from Gran canaria back to Glasgow. The flight was delayed for 1hr because the catering company had not provided enough flight meals. It was actually quite funny because the captain came on and said that we were 30 meals short and we could wait or we could go without them and passengers would be given free drinks throughout the flight. He then made an announcement saying that if customer were willing to trade their meals for free drinks they could press their call buttons. The response was an astounding rush of 'Bing, s’ up and down the aircraft.
This is my frank and honest opinion of Britannia. I will end by giving an update saying that as part of the world of tui re-brands Britannia is changing its name. It will now simply be called Thomson airways 9operated by Britannia). And has also launched a low cost airline flying form Coventry airport called Thomson fly. Available form thomsonfly.com.
I would recommend the airline to anyone and also recommend looking at the website which is very informative. WWW.britanniaairways.com.
Hello Sue, in response to when I last flew with them. The last time was August and before that in January. Myabe its just my luck however, or it may well be its just becaue I'm Scottish. They seem to use that as justification to charge me a whopping £110 flight supplement which I suppose is Thomsons doing. Thank you very much for your comments I appreciate them. Also with reagrd to the Pre Booked seats I still beleive they are worth the money. The problems you encountered were due to them being miss-sold. Good luck with next years holiday.
Ps. Thanks again for the warm welcome.
Terry
sue.51 03.01.2004 01:16
You might want to leave a comment at the top of the op explaining what you have done with regards to placing the op in the incorrect category whilst you wait for Ciao to remove the original, otherwise you might get some bright spark accusing you, in their eyes justifiably, for duplicating an opinion. I know you work for them, but intrigued when you last flew with them as both my trip to Ibiza and Fuerteventura had movies shown rather than the rather, by now, long in the tooth, comedy shows. With regards to the pre-booked seats, I take on board what you say, however, having this time been given the incorrect seats and had a refusal by ground staff to move them, and then someone turning up behind me and being given the seats we requested at the point of booking and paying, to say I was not impressed - I was assured at the point of booking that I would not have to pay extra directly with Britannia this time as my request would be met - was not a happy bunny. As for the food improving - debateable. The cabin crew are, and always have been first class in my opinion - the ground staff on the other hand have been a pain in the butt on more than one occasion. Have just booked next years holiday flights through their new Coventry service - will see how that pans out - was certainly very cheap - although I suspect it won't stay that way. Phew got that off my chest - welcome to Ciao.
Sue
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Jan 2nd, 2004
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