Manchester to Naples with Thomsonfly

We booked a holiday to Sorrento , Italy as its a place we’ve always wanted to visit. We booked for 2 weeks stay at the Hotel Admiral in sorrento (highly reccommened) with Portland Direct, a sister company of Thomson. The flights were booked with Thomsonfly from Manchester, arriving into Naples. So, here goes….
(sorry there are no pics but the camera battery died on us)

On Monday 16th July, we set off at about 1120 for the hours drive down to Manchester Airport from our home in West Yorkshire. We pulled into the short stay carpark next to Terminal 2 at about 1225. We decided to pay the extra to park the car here because it meant not having the hassle of getting on the bus from Long Stay and arrive earlier.

We made our way to T2 Check in, where the Thomsonfly desks were extremely busy, with our flight to Naples, a 767-300 load to Palma, Dubrovnik and Mahon. We used the self check in desks which are fare more less stressful to use, I don’t see why other poeple don’t use them. The self check in kiosks however were not working, but the agent sent us to desk 38, where there were no queues and we we’re checked in by a very friendly agent. You can tell the check in agents are more friendly during day time hours that the uncivilized hours of the early morining when flights I’ve taken usualy departed. During Check in I saw the computer screen showing the front half seating plan of a 737-300 and the reg of the aircraft – G-THON. We were assigned seats 8A/B and 9A/B which was good, because usually we get someone having to sit across the aisle. It was now 1230, so we had 2 and a half hours to kill before the flight at 3pm. We decided to avoid the queues and head straight through security. I had beeped the metal detector machine and had a search and had to remove my shoes. As we had no meals booked for the flight we took some seats by the window and got food at Burger King. It was now 1ish, so we went for a browse around the shops.

The terminal was slowly filling up, with a Saudi Flight leaving to Jeddah, an Emirates to Dubai and PIA to Islamabad. However there were only a few charters-an Astraeus flight to Taba and First Choice to Sharm el Sheikh. At about 14:40 I saw a TOM 733 arrive from Lisbon. I knew we’d have a delay as it was due in at 14:10 and we were to depart at 15:00. G-THON parked at gate 207, so we headed down to the seating area. Shortly, another TOM 733 G-THOJ arrived on gate 208 from Faro and was to depart to Dubrovnik. At 15:00 an announcement was made that boarding would shortly commence, with special needs passengers asked to come forward first. Finally at 15:10, boarding commenced with rows 15-25 first, follwed by everyone else. We eventually boarded at about 15:20, and were greeted by 2 smiling Thomsonfly hosties who directed us to our seats. I took 9A, with my sister next to me, and my parents were in front in 8A/B.The flight seemed full, but I think there was just 1 spare seat. The seats were ok, the backs were a bit hard but the legroom was great, much more than on the 738, 752, A320 etc. I found this last time I was on a 733. I think the pitch was 30″, so more than the standard 28″.

TOM3053 Manchester EGCC to Naples LIRN
Scheduled/ Actual Dep: 15:00/15:57
Scheduled/ Actual Arr: 19:10/19:43
Scheduled Floght Time/ Actual: 3 hours 10 mins/ 2 hours 46 mins
Aircraft: G-THON Boeing 737-36N CN:28596
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1239204/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1158144/L/

Boarding finished at 15:35, and doors were closed at 15:40, and the captain welcomed us onboard. He said the reason for the delay was the lateness of the inbound flight. We would be flying at 33,000ft with a flight time of 2 hours 45 minutes. There were 4 cabin crew today, all female. The purser was Julie I think. Pushback was at 15:45, during which the safety was shown manually as there are no TV’s on TOM’s 733’s. We taxied to 23L, and lined up after a BA A320 off to LHR. We were soon cleared, so at 15:57, we departed after using under half of the 10,000ft runway. We climbed up to FL330 with 10 mins. Shortly after, a bar service commenced, from which I ordered a pepsi. Most of the UK was covered in cloud so not a lot was to be seen. After 30 mins, the captain updated us again, saying that we should land at naples at 19:50 local time, and that we were encountering very strong headwinds, and the weather was currently very sunny and 33*C at Naples- alot nicer than Manchester! Over France, the meal service began. Only a handful of people ordered a meal, so they were distributed by hand. As we were leaving France, heading into Switzerland, we hit some rather moderate turbulence, so seat belt signs were switched on and we were told to remain seated. The turbulence lasted for 10 mins or so. The captain once again came on over the tannoy and said we’d climbed upto 36,000ft to avoid the turbulence, which was due to the wind direction changing. He said we’d geat great views of the alps from the left of the aircraft, and Mont Blanc could be seen. I peered out of my window and saw a great view of the Alps, as the sky turned clear.

Over Northern Italy, a duty free service commenced, and the Captain once again told us our position (over genoa) and we would have a bout 1 hour left of the flight. We had some great viiews of central Italy-over the Tuscan hills and we could even see the opposite coast. However as we neared Naples, the sky became hazy as the sun was slowly settting. We began our descent over Rome. A lot of speed brake was used to slow us down, and we made some turns to the left, heading inland. As we became lower we made a wide right hand turn to align us with Naples runway 24, about 10 miles away, with flaps being lowered. We flew very close to some high hills, and on the final approach, we got a magnificent view of Mount Vesuvius, the infamous Volcano, and the Bay of Naples. We touched down with a bump at 19:43 local time, with only idle reverse thrust used and moderate breaking to slow us down. After a very short taxi we arrived at the remote stand, where two sets of airstairs were attached to the front and back exits and buses were waiting to take us to arrivals.

The temperature was a very pleasant 28*C, a vast change from the 17* at Manchester. We were quickly through passport control, and by 8pm, we had our bags and were waiting for the minibus to our hotel. One of the swiftest transfers we’ve ever had!

So that concludes the outbound flight. It was a very pleasent all be it average flight. The crew were friendly, the captain very informative and there was good leg room. It would have been nicer if we had some form of entertainment, but the window was good enough for me.

Thanks for viewing, return flight report will be posted later on, where we had a nice suprise.:p