Airtours Review

I ARRIVED BACK AT GATWICK JUST THIS MORNING FROM JAMAICA AND HAVE WRITTEN A REVIEW OF THE FLIGHTS WHICH TOOK ME THERE AND BACK…

Airtours International Review

AIH77/78 London Gatwick – Montego Bay (Sangster Intl)

Our flight from London to Montego Bay was at 09:10hrs. Check-in began at 05:00hrs, much earlier than I had first expected and we got to the airport just after 04:00hrs to guarantee us good seats on the flight.

The aircraft providing the service was an Airbus A330-200 it really was one of the finer aircraft of the fleet.

Shortly after 08:00hrs, we were called to gate number 28. It was a fair trot to the gate and extra security checks were in place prior to entering the section of several gates in the South Terminal.

Boarding began fairly promptly and within 30 minutes, everyone was on board and ready for an early departure. Unforunately, a part in the right engine needed to be replaced and what should have taken a matter of minutes ended up taking almost an hour and 09:10hrs seem to come and go. It was not until 09:55hrs that we were pushed back from our stand and ready for departure.

It wasn’t too busy and we didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes to take off after joining the queue for the runway.

The really fantastic thing was that every seat had it’s own seatback TV with a wide selection of television stations which were suitable for a wide range of audience. Although the entertainment on board was rather continuous and lasted only 3 hours or so and then started again. You would watch one station from start to end and then another for the next showing and you were not forced to watch anything you didn’t want to.

Once up in the air, the in-flight services began and hot meals were served. We started with a hot breakfast consisting of sausage, egg, beans etc. and a bread roll and a few smaller snacks on the side of the plate. I was rather annoyed that we were not served orange juice – just tea and coffee.

A drinks service was on offer as with all flights and 150ml cans of Pepsi, R-Whites etc. were a rather extortionate 60p each, but I only had two for the entire flight and survived, so it wasn’t too bad.

More food was served. I can’t remember what exactly it was, but I ate it all no problem. Again, served with tea and coffee.

As the flight neared an end, we were served a rather generous portion of real Cornish ice cream.

If the entertainment on board ever became unbearable, you could flick to one channel and view what’s going on outside – there were two cameras outside the aircraft showing what exactly was going on and it was great. We flew over the Atlantic so the views were the same for about 8 hours of the 9h 55min flight but flying north of the Dominican Republic was great, it was very interesting to watch.

Sangster International looked fine from the skies and is on a long stretch of land to itself and both the approach and the landing were done over the Caribbean Sea. The captain took one very sharp turn and immediately straightened up as the runway was getting closer and we had to get down. The British like to be different and don’t seem to join the regular traffic pattern for incoming flights, but it was a very good and certainly very interesting landing.

We arrived at Sangster Intl. (Montego Bay MBJ) and it was a fairly small, yet busy airport which dealt which a large volume of air traffic from the US and Canada and some flights from Europe. The Captain spoke and said a slot had been reserved for us and within minutes we would be parked up and out in the scorching sun. He then came back on and said the slot could only only hold an aircraft a third of the size of the A330 and so we wouldn’t be parking there! He was a great captain and the sort that enjoys his job and constantly kept us updated throughout the flight.
Again, the captain spoke and apologised for the poorly organised arrival at Sangster and explained that ATC had asked him to do a loop onto the runway and off again and then we could go into the slot of an American Trans Air L1011. About 25 minutes after landing, we pulled up and were allowed to disembark.

From the airport, we took a 10 minute coach journey to the port of Montego Bay where we boarded the Sundream – an Airtours cruise. The funnel no longer beared the Airtours logo and was just plain blue. This indicating that some sort of change is taking place.

The one week cruise was interesting. We made 4 stops in and around South America and rather than paying to do an Airtours Excursion, we done it all ourself and it was brilliant. Our first port of call was Port Limon in Costa Rica where there is a rather rundown local airport with an incredibly long runway. The taxi driver who took us around and about told us this was currently being decided as to whether or not it should start dealing with passenger aircraft and international flights. He seemed pretty adement that it would.

After the cruise, we spent one week in Jamaica. From the beach, we could see the runway lights (which were in the sea) and watched all aircraft landing. British Airways operate a once weekly Boeing 772 aircraft to Sangster and Airtours operate three weekly flights using the 763 and the A330-200 and Monarch operate just one flight on a Monday from Gatwick using an A330.

The return journey was very disappointing. We were just 15 minutes to the airport and were picked up at 12:30hrs for a 16:20hrs flight. We were still taken to the airport to find we were delayed by 3 hours. We were not informed earlier and were not compensated with a free drink on board or anything. We managed to get away at 19:15hrs local time but we were told some of the lost time would be made up.

The aircraft was a 763 and not an A330 – I was furious! No seatback TV for me and no window seat. I was stuck in seat D in 8 abreast seating and it was quite cramped.

I flew on A Boeing 763 for which the registration was G-DIMB. I’ve search the Internet to see if the aircraft was leased from/to another airline as it did not have the Airtours tail. It looked like the Garuda Indonesia logo, but I can’t be sure. If anyone can help me figure out what is happening, please let me know.

A very smooth flight with limited entertainment seemed to be very quick. It was 8h 45mins planned at the start of the flight and we landed at 09:35hrs. It took 8h 20mins, so we managed to make up for the some of the 3 hours lost due to the delay.

Landing was incredibly bumpy and we hit the ground with quite a thud and I could see 3 overhead lockers near to me which had flung open.

Although Airtours do not become MyTravel until 1st May 02, their in-flight magazine and shopping guide both have the MyTravel logo on them and they are obviously ready for the big change.

I purchased an A330 model on the aicraft which should have been £6.99 but for some reason was sold to me for £4.99. It was a real bargain, even at £6.99 it is worth it. The box says if you want to order any more, to telephone a number. The number is 0161 232 6630/6631 and the A320-200, A321-200, 752 and 763 are available. Just in case any of you are interested. They are of a very high quality and the model looks fine on top of my wardrobe.

The overall Airtours experience was 100% and I don’t think the change to MyTravel will mean much at all. The service will not change, it will be as good as it is now.

::T5::