Following some ideas from other Ciao-ers have a new online shop - www.cafepress.co.uk/devonbelle . ...
Following some ideas from other Ciao-ers have a new online shop - www.cafepress.co.uk/devonbelle . Just starting out... will review it sometime soon.... :)
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My partner kindly decided to take me on holiday to Paris and bought seats with Flybe from Exeter to Charles de Gaulle. I work in the travel industry and have heard many conflicting opinions of this airline, so decided to travel with a broad mind and decide for myself which rumours were true!
Before buying BA Connect, Exeter was the main base for Flybe and they still have lots of aircraft parked there. We flew on a Sunday afternoon and it seemed most flights had already gone because the airport terminal was scarily quiet; only one check-in desk was open but there was a very busy lady directing all the passengers (all 5 of us) to the self check-in computer screens. This process seemed to work very well and we dropped our hold bags off and toddled into deparutres. The cafe in Exeter is a tad expensive but the seating was comfortable; we were there for a couple of hours so I was grateful for the TV screen in the corner as well.
Our flight was very slightly delayed, so all 50 or so passengers were herded to the gate where we had to wait for a little while longer. I didn't see the point of standing in line for an undetermined period of time so we took a seat and let everyone else scrummage to be first on the plane! I don't know if this is normal but we were allocated seats on board, so I wasn't worried about not sitting with himself.
The flight itself was uneventful apart from the cabin crew working overtime to try and sell us stuff. Not only did we get the food and drink trolley but we also got Duty Free paraded up and down as well! Everyone was very chirpy and the plane itself was clean and well presented. It would have been nice to have something to read other than the Flybe in-flight mag - they do tend to overload you with branding to make sure you know who you're flying with. Our plane was a prop rather than the jets they use on some routes - bit noisy but quite comfortable and enough leg room for the man who's got rather long legs.
I'm not sure what happened at Charles de Gaulle - possibly a cross wind - but the landing was incredibly hard and even the stewardess looked a bit shaken as we taxied to the terminal. One woman in front of us went white and someone else panicked and had to be peeled off the ceiling. Pleased to say that our bags arrived with us (had heard rumours of bags taking holidays on their own while their owners wandered aound in the same set of clothes for a week).
We had a lovely few days in Paris then headed to the airport for a morning flight back again. For some reason the flight was delayed (first service of the day - how can it be late already??) but there were no reasons given on the ground so we just had to wait it out. When it did arrive they sorted everything out very quickly and we were back on board and ready to go. When we were back up and cruising the steward seduced the fella with the Flybe lottery tickets (his excuse was that you can't exchange Euro coins and he wanted to get rid of them before he tried spending them over here.) We didn't win anything but had great fun scratching!
In Summary....
Two pretty ordinary flights except for the dodgy landing in Paris. Flight price was okay - please be warned that they will charge for anything and everything including each bag you put in the hold and even if you need extra leg room. The fare on the website is not what you will pay - taxes and charges get added (and a credit card fee per passenger per flight - what's that all about???) and if you don't book early the lowest fares will disappear. Change fees are extortionate so be completely sure of your travel dates and times before you book. Customer service is good on board (especially if they think you're going to buy something) and overall this is an okay way to travel if you don't mind in-your-face branding and a slightly flexible attitude to departure and arrival times.
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Advantages: Actually fly at sensible times from regional airports, loads of legroom Disadvantages: The use of small planes mean you feel every bump and twist; much of FlyBE's fleet are turbo-props
sue.51 08.09.2002 (29.11.2003)
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Review of Flybe
Feb 20th, 2009
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