Flight Report: BY786A & BY786B: STN-TRN-STN

Decided to delete and re-do this yesterday so I can complete an improved version:

Outbound:

Date: 21/12/03
Routing: STN-TRN
Aircraft: B757
Reg: G-BYAY
Airline: Britannia
Seat: 34D
Dep Time: 07:40
Arr Time: 10:05
Actual Time: On Time

Check-in:
Arrived at Stansted Airport around 5:15 am after staying up all night. Stansted airport was its usual colourful self, even when it was pitch black. Went well with check in opening right on time, had to check in twice, once for seats and luggage then the usual oversize check in for snowboard and ski equipment which presented no problems either.

Boarding:
Commenced on time and I had the honour of been the first person on the flight which was a nice touch as this was the first ever time I had been on first. from the back of a 757 you realise how long the plane really is, even for a 200 series.

Take-off:
Went off without a glitch, bearing in mind the high winds as well and you could feel the plane rocking on take off.

In-flight:
Was bumpy all the way to turin, the in flight meal was given to my seat ate as usual. The flight was superb bearing in mind the turbulence, and had a spectular view of the alps.

Landing:
Was a bit odd, noticed during the descent the speedbrake was on for quite a while over the alps, not sure if this is usual practice or not. The landing was a bit on the hard side, but that could have being caused by sitting in the rear of the plane as I have never sat in that part of the 757 before.

Exiting TRN:
A nightmare, took ground staff 1.5 hours to get luggage off the plane and finally cleared the airport 2 hours after landing.

Inbound:

Date: 28/12/03
Routing: TRN-STN
Aircraft: B757
Reg: G-BYAY
Airline: Britannia
Seat: 2A
Dep Time: 11:35
Arr Time: 12:00
Actual Time: 157 Minutes Late

Check-in:
A total disater, firstly the staff at the airport didnt assign our group the correct number of boarding cards, bearing in mind we had waited over 90 minutes to check in as the airport seemed to be on a go slow, with the luggage belt breaking down on more than a few occassions. Was finally assigned seats 2A and 2B after tearing knee ligaments during first 2 hours of snowboarding.

Boarding:
Seemed to be a nightmare as we got to the plane 20 minutes before the new take off time, 55 minutes late, but didnt commence boarding until 12:40 local time, and this was only down to the shuttle bus. bus finally left some 10 minutes later and finally got on the plane at 12:50 local time. Managed to fins my seats straight away. I was delighted to see that I was given a seat that had loads of legroom behind the front exit of the 757, which meant I didnt need the other seat, which I was thankful for. The Britannia Crew excelled themselves, sorting out transportation through Stansted airport and colleceting my baggage as well, which was a nice touch from the cabin crew.

Take-off:
The plane finally pushed backed some 150 minutes late, with the pilot appologising half an hour before saying the turnaround was taking forever, not helped by the snow as well and the plane needed de-icing as a precaution. The plane finally took off behind another Britannia B757. The takeoff was then followed by a sharp right turn to avoid the alps and to gain sufficient altitude to get over them, finally got above the clouds to see load more aircarft heading North East.

In-flight:
This flight was superb on the way back, usually I hate window seats but this flight was something specail when the plane got to 38,000 feet as we were told, with all the other aircraft and there contrails/cotrails or however you spell it, there were loads of them. The meal was superb, one of the best meals I had ever had on an aircraft, a typical sunday roast and it was on a charter airline as well. Was annoyed though that Britannia still dont sell the aircraft model on the ski flights. The weather improved north of paris and staring a lovley descent over the english channel.

Landing:
Superb once again, the plane went over Biggin Hill which was a nice sight on a lovely afternoon, the landing was nice and seemed to take no time at all. Saw my first ever Jet2 B737, reg unkown, and the usual ryanair and easyJet aircraft. The landing was nice and hardly noticed it.

Exiting STN:
Was one of last few people off the plane and was taken through Stnasted with anither 2 passengers who were injured as well, nice and quick through passport control, due to no one in front and as we were last off the plane, the baggage only took about 5 minutes to arrive. The ground staff at Stansted were brilliant and I really appreciated what they did.

Overall:
I had flown this airline and this exact aircraft exactly 12 months ago, was disappointed to see it still hadnt got the new liveries of applied to it, but the service was superb, except for the delay, which wasnt caused by the airline, but the weather at Turin airport and the airline cant really do much about it.

I am gonna have to give both flights 10/10 mainly beacuse of the flight route and it was a greta improvement compared to my previous experience with Britannia. The cabin crew were superb sorting out getting through Stansted airport for me. I would like to fly the airline again now seeing how good they really are, in my opinion anway.