SkyEurope

We recently flew from Stansted to Warsaw using an airline that I'd never previously heard of.

We first came across Sky Europe last year whilst watching a travel show on TV. The presenter was saying that Sky Europe had a special offer on for the next forty-eight hours, namely that they would pay all air and travel taxes, all the customer would be paying for was the actual cost of travel. We duly hot footed it to the computer and got ...
...are Sky Europe though? As I've said, I'd certainly never heard of them before. Well, they're an airline based in Bratislava, Slovakia, and claim to be the largest low cost carrier in Central Europe. On their website they also claim to have bases in Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw and Prague. In addition, they say that from summer 2006 they will be operating with sixteen new Boeing 737-700s.

I got this information off their website which, ... more

We recently flew from Stansted to Warsaw using an airline that I'd never previously heard of.

We first came across Sky Europe last year whilst watching a travel show on TV. The presenter was saying that Sky Europe had a special offer on for the next forty-eight hours, namely that they would pay all air and travel taxes, all the customer would be paying for was the actual cost of travel. We duly hot footed it to the computer and got on to Sky Europe's website.

Who are Sky Europe though? As I've said, I'd certainly never heard of them before. Well, they're an airline based in Bratislava, Slovakia, and claim to be the largest low cost carrier in Central Europe. On their website they also claim to have bases in Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw and Prague. In addition, they say that from summer 2006 they will be operating with sixteen new Boeing 737-700s.

I got this information off their website which, I have to say, is brilliant because of it's simple layout. On the home page is a map of Central and Western Europe with all their destinations. All you do is place the cursor over the destination of your choice and the map immediately highlights the routes flown to/from that particular location. It's so easy. On the map it shows the British Isles being served by Sky Europe at Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin. Using this method we found that from Stansted (the nearest of these airports to us) Sky Europe could fly us to Warsaw, Krakow, Bratislava, Prague and Budapest.

We chose Warsaw, as we'd never been to Poland before, and entered the dates we wished to travel on the "Book Online" section, which was handily situated on the home page next to the map. The system then advised us of the departure times for outward and return flights to Warsaw, which was basically one a day, and the price for each direction of the journey. In this instance, thanks to the special promotion, the fare was £9 per person each way, coming to a total of £36. As you can imagine we accepted this price pretty rapidly and gave our credit card details. From then on the booking method was similar to most other airlines.

So, for £36 the missus and me were booked to depart Stansted on a Monday in March at 12.00, and return the following Thursday, departing at 10.00. Journey time was shown on the website to be two and a half hours in both directions. A few days after the special promotion had ended I checked up on the website and found that the same journey, if booked then, would cost £105 which, to my mind, was still a reasonable price to pay.

How did we find the experience of flying with Sky Europe?

Come the day of departure we arrived at Stansted just after ten o'clock in the morning thanks to lighter than expected traffic. I was mildly surprised to find that the check in displays were not showing that the Sky Europe desks were open or, for that matter, where they were. It was not until around 10.25 that the displays showed that the Sky Europe desks were now open for checking in. We found a large queue had already formed and was quickly getting larger. This was due to the fact there was only one person manning the desks. Though this person was working as fast as she could the queue was not moving fast and was soon starting to get in the way of other airport users. It was only at around 10.40, after two other young women had strolled up in a desultory manner and opened up two other desks, that things really start to happen. By this time airport staff had been called to deal with the situation, which, though not out of hand, was starting to get chaotic, with fellow travellers blocking the way for other airport users. The check in staff were barking instructions at us, their customers, ordering us to form three separate lines. When I reached a check in desk, manned by one of the latecomers, I pointed out in a loud voice that the situation would not have arisen in the first place if they had all opened up on time together. This remark was met by the two latecomers with sulky looks and I certainly was not bombarded with a charm offensive.

My check in attendant thrust my boarding cards at me and told me without ceremony that boarding would commence from gate sixteen at 12.10. It was only when I was waiting to go through security that I cottoned on to the fact that if our flight was booked to depart at midday and boarding was going to commence at 12.10 then in all likelihood we would be incurring a delay. Sure enough, in the departure lounge the information screens displayed the fact that our flight was not estimated to commence boarding until 12.55. What a surprise! All we could do was sit and wait and console ourselves with the fact that we had paid peanuts for our fare.

On both outward and return flights the aircraft was a Boeing 737-500, which seats around one hundred and thirty people. The plane itself was slightly shabby and cramped. The seating was laid out in a three plus three formation and the seat pitch around twenty-eight inches. There were a total of three stewardesses on duty, an adequate number. These stewardesses were pleasant, professional and spoke excellent English despite being either Polish or Slovakian. They certainly were an improvement on the English ground staff. Once airborne a selection of drinks and light snacks were served up. This ranged from very tasty salami and cheese sandwiches to salami or cheese and tomato pizzas to crisps and cakes. Examples of prices include the sandwiches, which were set at around £2.40 and cans of soft drink, which cost around £1.60. They could be paid for in pounds, euros or zlotys.

Despite departing Stansted seventy-five minutes late we had made up half an hour by the time we landed at Warsaw. We were loaded from the plane on to buses, which took us the short distance to Etiuda terminal. This terminal is used by the budget airlines flying in to Warsaw and is pretty spartan; basically nothing more than a large shed housing security, immigration, customs and toilets. We were not kept waiting long for our luggage. Once through immigration we were almost immediately outside again looking for a taxi. The total distance from carousel to taxi was approximately twenty metres. It was that easy.

On the return journey we arrived at Etiuda around ninety minutes before departure time. There were three check in desks open, all manned by airport staff rather than those from the airlines. In contrast to their counterparts at Stansted these people were brisk, efficient and kept the queue moving. They were also acting as check in for all other flights through the terminal. What I liked was that once they had handed over the boarding passes and attached the transit labels to our cases we had to take the luggage ourselves to be screened by security. It was only after we had put our cases through the x-ray machine that we were rid of them. No doubt that this is an efficient means of keeping airport costs down for the airlines and, subsequently, their passengers.

The departure lounge consisted of row upon row of seats, some toilets, a coffee kiosk and a couple of small shops selling snacks and last minute souvenirs. In short, adequate facilities prior to travel.

Our flight was again delayed by an hour. Further enquiries made by myself to the flight crew found that the reason for this delay was the same as that for the delay leaving Stansted, namely poor weather conditions at Bratislava. It turned out that the plane was based at Bratislava, not Warsaw, and so had to make the trip from Slovakia before making the return journey between Warsaw and Stansted, before flying back to Bratislava again. So much for Sky Europe's claim on their website that they were based in Warsaw. However, fifteen minutes was made up during the flight home.

So what was our opinion of Sky Europe? Considering what we had paid for our flights we had little cause for complaint, apart from the English check in staff at Stansted, who were abysmal. The plane, though shabby and cramped, got us to and from Warsaw safely and the on board staff were very professional. Etiuda terminal may be basic but it's one of the reasons why one can fly so cheaply to Warsaw now.

If you want to depart, fly and arrive on time and in a plush environment don't choose this airline. However, if you want value for money you can't get much better than Sky Europe. 

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