Britannia Airways - BAL > Reviews > Cheaper isn't always better!

Author's product rating:   

Food Quality	Satisfactory
Customer Service	Nothing special
Punctuality	Satisfactory
Space	Terrible
Value for Money	Poor

Advantages:	We arrived in one piece !
Disadvantages:	Cramped flight, no extras, poor service

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

For the first time in 4 years, my partner and I decided to make the long journey across the pond to Florida to see some family.

I am a great believer in bargains and always like to save money where I can so when I found our flights to Florida for only £226.00 return each, I was over the moon!!! All the other prices I had found ranged between £400.00 - £800.00!

The flights I had found were on the internet so we did not have a chance to talk to a Travel Agent, but they were so cheap we could not really complain.

We arrived in plenty of time to check into our flight as I was worried that we would not get a seat together. We checked in our luggage and they advised us of our seat numbers, 46, 47 C and D. They seemed really high numbers to us and sure enough they were the last seats on the whole of the plane, right next to where the flight attendants prepared the food and kept all the blankets etc. Our seats did not go back at all so we were in an upright position for 9 hours, there was no leg room and no overhead compartment space as it was all taken up with first aid bags and plastic cups! Everytime the flight attendants came out from their hubby hole to serve drinks or food, they knocked my partner's arm and leg, never apologising just giving us a half hearted smile.

We understood that we had paid cheap prices and therefore maybe we had got what we paid for, but then so had everyone else on that plane, there was no First Class unless you had the seats by the toilet which had extra leg room and your own television screen, the rest of the passengers had to watch the entertainment on screens located in the aisles, hanging from the ceiling, which was fine until someone wanted to go toilet!

We decided to take our own food on the plane instead of paying an extra £20.00 each for breakfast and dinner, and they made sure that we did not get any, including a cup of tea because we had not paid for it!

On the way back the service was exactly the same except this time when we checked in we are asked if we could be moved to another row as 9 hours being in an upright position was just torture! They moved us a few rows down but we were able to put our seats back a little bit so we could try and get some sleep, apparently the leg room is the same everywhere! We did get food on the return journey, obviously as they had not updated their records, the poor people who were put in our seats were not fed at all on the way home and they had probably paid for it!!

At the end of the day, we knew that we were not going to get first class service because of the prices of our flights, but 9 hours is just too long to fly in those conditions, so if you are flying to the States or anywhere further, book wisely as cheaper isn't always better!