I'm more active over on the "other side" these days, where I'm the photography guide.
A...
I'm more active over on the "other side" these days, where I'm the photography guide.
A tenner this month, and a fiver last month in the PF almost tempts me to write more here though!
Member since:04.03.2003
Reviews:99
Members who trust:43
We recently took a week out to Crete, staying in the Chania area (no doubt review will come at some point). The three and a half hour or so flight was with a company called Nordic Airlink, someone I'd never heard of (again). We took a quick look at their website before going, just to see what they were all about (www.flynordic.com, if you are interested).
As you might expect, they are a scandinavian company, serving routes between Sweden, Norway and Denmark. I'd say they are definately a budget airline, judging from the prices - around £20 for a flight between Stockholm and Oslo for instance. We used their email
to ask them about childrens goodie bags on the flight, and after a couple of weeks, they replied saying - none offered, but as of June they would - typical as we went last week of May. Anyway, not to worry, but worth mentioning that their Customer Service is slow for general enquiries.
As well as these short flights, they also flew us from Arlanda in Stockholm to Chania in Crete, and of course back again.
Checking in was easy, 20kg of luggage each, plus hand baggage. We didn't take any guns (or sharp sticks), but they didn't ask us either if we had any, so security at check in isn't too high. We passed two scanners later so, they would have found them I'm sure.
Boarding was equally leisurely, no pushing or shoving. Boarding cards clearly showed our seat numbers, and we had three next to each other, almost at the back of the plane. The plane it self was either a Boeing MD-81/82/83, I'm no expert and can't tell the difference. It was a lot smaller than I'm used to however, with a capacity of just 162 passengers, plus the crew. The seats were layed out in the 3 one side, 2 the other, and there were 35 rows in total. This doesn't add up I hear you say, but that's because the back few rows only had seating on one side, to allow for emergency exit doors and space for the crew to serve from.
Take off was smooth and uneventful, and on-time. The captain was multi-lingual, as were the four flight attendants, who were all introduced within the first few minutes of the flight. Safety demonstrations were given, in two languages. I noticed that the seats were actually rather spacious, offering a good three inches or so of legroom, even with the seat in front reclined. A five year old could easily stretch their legs without touching the seat in front. They were also reasonably comfortable, reclined, and were clean. The crew themselves were smartly dressed, wearing navy uniforms including ties and waistcoats. They smiled, and on the whole seemed quite pleasant young people.
The usual overhead lockers were provided to store hand luggage, however where we sat at the back, these were also used to store some drinks and snacks. Whilst this didn't cause us a major issue, I overhead the people behind us cursing a bit due to lack of space. We also were sitting opposite the area where the crew launched the refreshments from, and could see how cramped this was for them.
Throughout the flight, the captain gave a running commentary on where we were, and plenty of facts about the plane itself, fuel consumption and so on. As it was a lovely clear flight, we had plenty of opportunity to see parts of Poland, Bulgaria and so on, and important cities were pointed out. The captain did seem to talk a lot, one of the crew commented to another crew member on how much he liked the sound of his own voice. Despite this excessive talking, the flight was smooth.
No food or drinks were provided for free. If you wanted anything, the crew would regularly make journeys up and down the aisle. Whilst cold drinks and snacks were served promptly, it took about 30 minutes for the people in front of us to get a cup of coffee. We took out own refreshments, as we think generally plane food and drink is well over-priced. A one page menu was provided, which details items such as a sandwich for about 4 Euros, and a tea or coffee 1 Euro, which in fairness isn't too bad. No tax-free items were offered, however they offer this service on the Stockholm-Oslo route. Payment was cash only (no cards), in euros or Swedish money.
There was no entertainment to speak of, no TV, nor radio, nor even in-flight magazine. We had brought an MP3 player, cards and mags to read, so this wasn't too much of an issue.
I checked out the toilets once, and they seemed ok, I didn't stop long to admire the decor, but there was plenty of paper, and water, and they were clean enough.
Our flight back was pretty similar, and on touch-down were informed that this was the 20,000th landing this particular plane had made - no champagne celebration though.
We'd fly with them again, they seem decent enough for a cheap airline. No worries what-so-ever.
Pictures of Nordic Airlink
Inside the plane
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