Trip Report: MyTravel Lite BHX-MJV (Very Long!)

Hi everybody

Just got back from a break in Spain – heres the trip report of MyTravel Lite.

First of all I was orignally booked on the MyTravel Lite flights from London Gatwick to Murcia but this route as well as the Tenerife route was cancelled before they even started. At least MyTravel Lite e-mailed me to inform me of the change – imagine if I turned up at Gatwick lol. My family and I only paid £80 return for the flights which is a real bargain for flights to Spain in the Easter holidays. MyTravel Lite said we could either have a full refund or fly from Birmingham for no extra cost. Seeing as the cheapest flights other airlines were offering from London were at least £100 more than what we paid we decided to fly from Birmingham (Bad news for my family, Great news for me 😀 ). It turns out that the reason MyTravel Lite never started the LGW routes was that My Travel needed the aircraft for their own charter work.

So seeing as we were flying on a Sunday we decided to stay in a hotel on Saturday night just in case there was any delays on the motorway up to Birmingham on the Sunday. I live on the borders of Kent/South East London so the trip to Birmingham was going to take a while. Drove up to the hotel which was the Holiday Inn at Rugby/Northampton on the M1 Junction 18 – this was an excellent hotel to stay in with great facilities – even playstation in the bedrooms! Great value for money – £38 a night!

Anyway enough of the hotels – heres the trip report.

Sunday 4th April 2004
MyTravel Lite – VZ7003
Birmingham – Murcia
16:15 – 20:20

Having left the hotel early to make sure we were in time at the aiport and because we wasnt sure how far Birmingham airport was, we arrived at Birmingham airport around 11:15 (lol).

We parked our car in the Long Stay 1 Car park which we actually couldnt find at first due to poor instructions but we found it in the end (the roads into Bimringham Airport are full of roundabouts!).

Arrived in the terminal at about 11:45 and found that the flight wasnt even on the departure screen yet.Only the MyTravel Lite flight to Tenerife was checking in. We went up to the first floor to have breakfast and look around the shops. Just out of interest my dad went down to the check in area about 12:45 and found that the MyTravel Lite check in desks were open for all flights. This was excellent as we could finally get rid of the cases.

There was a small que as there were 2 check in desks open for MyTravel Lite but most of the passengers were for Tenerife as most passengers for Knock and Murcia etc hadn’t even arrived yet. After about a 15 minute wait we checked in. The check – in agent asked if we were flying to Tenerife before even looking at our passports/confirmation and was rather surprised to find we were on the Murcia flight – “My, my you are early aren’t you”. Well at least we were early and not late. Check in was quick and we were given our boarding passes – we had sequence numbers 1,2,3 and 4 – suprise surprise. My Mum kept worrying the whole time that our baggage was going to end up in Tenerife lol.

While my family went to the pub to kill some time I went off on a “mini adventure” – just looking around the shops, then having a ride on the SkyRail link to the train station and back. Then I went to the terrace at the top of the airport. Had to pay £1 entry but didnt mind. There is a fantastic shop at “The Aviation Experience” and I had a good look round and bought 3 keyrings and an Egyptair Boeing 777-200 model as Im flying to Cairo with them in July and it would save me the hassle of buying and carrying a model around then. Walked up to the windows and saw a few take offs and landings – quite a few times the planes departing had only just left the runway when an arriving plane was landing – hit ‘n’ miss sometimes – I was hoping for a flight to do a “go around” but this didnt happen. After watching the departures and arrivals I left as there wasnt much happenning. I found the viewing at Birmingham good but not as excellent as it used to be due to terminal developments now blocking some parts of the window.

Around 14:00 we proceeded straight through to departures – this was refreshing as I’m being used to queing for ages at Security at the London airports. I had to have my bag searched at Security because my Egyptair model didn’t have its wings attached so when it went through the x – ray machines it looked like a big knife lol – at least I knew the security was good.

When in departues ,had Burger Ling and to tell the truth there isnt much in the departures area – a few shops but nothing major but it soon went.

Around 15:30 we were called through Gate D which led to our boarding gate. Boarding was o.k as my family weren’t far from the beginning of the que and they didnt use the 1 – 60, 60 – 120 etc boarding sequence like they should have done but it didnt matter.

Looked out of the airbridge window and found that the aircraft was Airbus A320 G-VCED painted in hybird MyTravel colours. This aircraft didnt even have the MyTravel Lite website on it like some others do.

Boarded to be greeted by cheerful crew and took my seat in the emergency exit row. View out of the window was limited but it didnt matter. Crew did safety briefing and we took off on time at 16:00. Captian said they may be a few bumps as we were climbing which I was worried about as I LOVE flying but HATE turbelence (weird) but the flight was very smooth.

Cabin crew were wearing blue and turquoise uniforms which I thought was the old Airtours uniform but they had tiny badges which said MyTravel Lite on them – maybe the crew switch between MyTravel and MyTravel Lite flights?.

As it was a MyTravel plane there were no magazines/menus of what MyTravel Lite sold. However the crew did make very long announcements of what they sold. They came through the cabin with drinks and snacks to sell – I bought a bottle of water for £1.50. They then came through with scratchcards to sell for £1 (I bought one) and then a trolley with tax free goods and gifts. On the announcements they said “And for our kiddies today we are selling model aircraft”. I dont like the way how some airlines put the model aircraft in their magazines under the toys and kiddies sections lol. I bought a model for £8 but it was a MyTravel A320 and not a Lite version but it didnt matter.

Flight was overall very smooth and lasted for 2 hours 10 minutes which was actually 5 minutes faster than some flights from Stansted???? which I suspect is due to taffic above London.

Landed early at 19:50. Overall it was a good flight and a good start to the holiday.

Thursday 15th April 2004
MyTravel Lite – VZ7004
Murcia – Birmingham
20:50 – 22:30

After a nice break it was time to head back home. Yesterday the weather in Spain was rubbish with high winds and rain and I was glad to be coming home.

First of all the taxi went flying past the airport and we had to tell him to turn round lol which is hardly surprising as Murcia airport is TINY!.

There are only 6 check in desks at Murcia and every one was being used. 1 for the FlyBe flight to Southampton, 1 for us, 2 for British Airways to Gatwick (1 for Club Europe, 1 for Euro Traveller) and 2 for Ryanair (1 for Birmingham and 1 for Stansted).

There was a long que for ours as it was 1 check in desk for 180 people but it soon went. Normally in the hot weather you can sit outside with drinks from the bar in the sun but because of the bad weather everyone was indoors so the terminal was overly congested. We went straight through to find the departures area PACKED! Murcia airport is becoming increasingly popular. I remember flying into there with buzz when it was very quiet and user freindly but now with the invasion of FlyBe, Jet2, bmibaby, Ryanair, B.A etc the airport can’t handle the passengers using it and I hope something is done soon.

There were lots of passengers standing due to lack of seats so it was annoying at times but it was fine once the FlyBe, Ryanair and B.A passengers had boarded.

Our flight landed on time so were expecting an on time departure. When I was looking out of the windows I noticed that the Ryanair plane to Birmingham was delayed and then laughed when I found the a man walk off the plane and then being escorted onto the B.A flight was had its doors closed ready to go but had to reopen again to let him on. Both flights ended up delayed. I know Murcia airport is small and there were 2 planes boarding at the same time but if you have a ticket for British Airways and you have 2 planes infront of you – one saying Ryanair and one saying British Airways you surely know which one to get on – just makes you laugh doesnt it.

The weather sure was nasty so I wasnt looking forward to a bumpy flight. When the flight boarded our flight came up as Gate 2 so everyone ran up to the gate. The spanish agents decided to play a game with the brits whole like to form a que and rush to a gate which hasnt boarded yet. The gate then switched to Gate 3 where everyone ran to, however the gate agents were still at Gate 2. Then the screen changed the gate back to Gate 2 so people were running backwards again. Most people found it funny but there were some “Victor Meldrew” passengers who were not happy at all. A lot of people who were at the front of ques did end up the back but I dont think people were that bothered. We ended up in the middle of the que and all I wanted was my window seat!

We ran out in the pouring rain to our aircraft – Airbus A320 G-SSAS which was in hybird MyTravel Lite colours. Greeted on board by crew wearing orange and blue MyTravel uniforms which do look quite smart and I took my seat near the middle of the aircraft. This time there was a brochure called Lite Reading which had the list of snacks on board to buy etc. Having being used to using other low cost airlines which offer better legroom, it was shocking to notice the difference with charter configurations on their aircraft – I’m about average height for a U.K Male and I’m only 17 but I found the space slightly cramped and prefer the legroom easyJet and Ryanair offer.

Flight taxied out on time and Captain came on to tell us “the weather sure is rough outside so please have your seat belts on at all times” – wonderful news to us people who hate turbelence!

After a short take off the second we were in the air the plane was swaying from side to side, up and down but to tell the truth it wasnt to bad, it was quite fun. But then we got higher and higher. The higher we went the more bumpy it got. The cabin crew made 3 announcements when they were walking around that the seat belt signs were still on – I thought this might be a hint that the flight was going to be bumpy. About 30 minutes into the flight passengers were asking crew when the drinks service was going to start but with the plane bumping up and down you would think these people had some common sense and could answer the question themselves why there was no drinks service at the moment.Some people opposite us started drinking their own alcohol which one stewardess firmly warned which was illegal and took the alcohol off them. The captain then came on again to say outside the winds were at 130pmh!!! (Now does that tell you how bumpy it was!!!) and to say that the winds were in several directions and it was unexpected when the turbelence would occur but they were doing their best. About 10 seconds later the wind actually threw the plane into the air so it was like an uplift effect which made everyone go “wooooooah”. I was still grabbing onto my arm rest for dear life lol. The turbelence did start to calm down but was still bumpy and the cabin service commenced once it was calm.

I bought a Pepsi, Orange Juice and King Size Mars bar for £2.20. The crew seemed really grateful I had the correct change especially when everyone else was paying for cans of coke with £5 notes!

About an hour before landing they came through with the gifts trolley. I again bought a scratchcard and won £2 yey. It could only be redemmed against on board goods so I bought 2 more but didnt win – oh well.

Finally after a bumpy flight of 2 hours and 20 minutes we touched down at Birmingham Aiport – the view into Birmingham is amazing at night especially when you fly over the city.

As we were 20 minutes early we had to wait 15 minutes for the airstairs to let us off because we had caught out the handling agents for being too early but the buses were waiting for us. (If were were in an easyJet or Ryanair plance with airstarirs built in this would have saved the problem).

After finally being left off we boarded the buses and went through security and waited for our bags. Some people at Murcia had told us the baggage handling at Birmingham is bad and they were right – we waited for over half an hour for the bags but I didnt mind as im used to waiting for bags for an hour at Gatwick!

We then went through arrivals to get on the bus to the car park for the long drive home. Just before driving off I wanted to see another MyTravel Lite plane land – the view of the runway from the Long Stay 1 car park is great. We finally got home around 2:30am this morning.

Overall my family and I were impressed with MyTravel Lite and Birmingham Aiport. We found Birmingham airpiort a lot less stressful than flying from the London airports and easier to use. I have flwn with most of the “big” low cost airlines – buzz, go, easyJet, Ryanair, FlyBe and I would say MyTravel Lite performed very well amongst the competition. While I would say buzz was and still is the best low cost airline, MyTravel Lite wasnt far behind. Its a shame their destination list is limited and I’ve heard it will eventually just become a marketing brand merged with MyTravel? But to tell the truth, MyTravel Lite is just MyTravel with Lite on the end and doesnt offer food and fly to places every day. Myabe they could do what Monarch coes and just have the plaens in MyTravel colours and label the service as MyTravel Scheduled?

The only criticism of MyTravel Lite is poor legroom.

My dad even said he wouldnt mind doing trips again from Birmingham! Good news for me!:D