Britannia Airways - BAL

I have flown with Britannia several times to Mallorca. I have always enjoyed their service and have never had any problems with them. I thought I'd write a quick review of the experiences I have had with the airline. I have never experienced a late departure with this airline!

We (Mum, Dad, Me + Mate) usually book with Britannia online. This saves a lot of hassle and speeds the whole process up. The website (www.britanniadirect.com) is very easy to use and gives you all the options you would expect to receive and more. The best advantage about booking online with them is every passenger receives a £20 discount from their holiday. The only reason we book with Britannia is because they are the only company who can provide rooms for us at a really nice hotel in Palma Nova, the Palma Nova Palace! If you have been there you will know what I mean. Maybe I will write a review on it!

Anyway, booking is simple and friendly and you receive confirmation via email instantly. If you book in advance, you get quite a discount. If you book very late (2 days before) you also get a very good discount. I advise you do this!!!

To travel with Britannia, we must travel from Bournemouth to London Gatwick. We do this by cab as it is the most hassle free way to travel with a load of baggage. Also, taxis are available round the clock for those very early/late departure times.

When we arrived at London Gatwick, it wasn't long before we were called to check-in. There were several check-in desks for the flight although it was quite confusing to figure out which check-in desk was for which flight. This was because Britannia had several flights checking in at the same time all next to each other. Anyway, we checked in with plenty of time to spare. We then wondered around the Airport and eventually made our way to the huge duty free section of the airport.

After a short time in duty free, we were called to the departure lounge. It wasn't hard to find as everything was well signposted. Barely 10mins after arriving at the departure lounge, we were called to board the aircraft. This was a hassle free process as they called several rows of seats at a time. This created minimal fuss.

When boarding the aircraft, we were greeted by several stewardesses who were very well presented in a blue outfit all wearing comforting smiles. We found our way to the seats and within 15mins we were on the runway ready for takeoff 5mins ahead of schedule.

There were no free sweets for takeoff but I didn't mind. The takeoff was very smooth and so was the climb and cruise. Half way through the journey the captain came over the loud speaker and informed us of our position, speed, heading, ETA and weather in Mallorca. Shortly after this the stewardesses came round with our food.

I have always enjoyed the simplicity of airline foods and this was no exception. The main course consisted of sliced sausage, mashed potato, scrambled egg, beans and a small hash brown. I enjoyed this immensely! There was a less impressive piece of cake for desert. There was also a small bread roll with butter and a small plastic glass of orange juice, this was very tasty.

During the flight there was an entertaining video made by Britannia of various episodes of random comedy programs. I enjoyed this but my parents were less interested. The televisions were located on the ceiling near the front of the cabin, and then every 7m or so. The audio for the program came via personal headphones which were adequate. There was also the option to listen to about 9 different radio channels via the headphones. The channels included rock, classical, jazz, pop, the latest chart and some others I can’t remember.

The toilets were nice and clean which is what you would expect and everything worked correctly.

The stewardesses were very pleasant and polite. They knew all the answers to any question you may have asked. The aircraft was in good condition although I did not like the interior colour particularly, a sort of creamy white/yellow. Not my cup of tea.

The seats were not massive and there was little room to stretch out or move but I managed to keep reasonably comfortable. However, the seats were a bit to close to one another which made eating with a knife and folk a bit of a challenge. The cabin was the perfect temperature, not to warm and not to cool.

There was a reasonably interesting magazine containing various articles about sport, beauty and art ect. This was reasonably up to date and kept me interested for around 20mins.

Before the decent, the captain gave us a few more details about our flight. The decent and landing were fine and we arrived about 15mins early! Overall, a great and relaxing experience from Britannia Airlines. I have already booked another holiday with them, I advise you to as well.