Palma-Manchester Thomas Cook (2006)

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 171

This is a report on a flight I took on September 4th 2006. I posted the outbound report: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=62333but never got round to posting the return sector. So here it is....

So, after a wonderful 9 day saty in the undeveloped quant resort of Puerto Soller (highly recommended), it was time to reurn to the UK. The taxi pick up we booked was due to arrive 0930 for the 40 minute drive to Palma Airport. Howver, it was runninng late and picked us up just about 10am, giving us only 2 hours before the flight, oh dear! The taxi driver put his foot down, and eventually we arrived at Palma Airport at 1040am, giving us 1 hour and 25mins to spare. The TCX check in area was extremely busy, as all the package holiday coahes had just arrived. We queued for about 15 mins, before being teh last to check in. We were allocated seats 25C/D/E/F, and 20 D, so this meant my grandma sitting 5 rows away in 20D, less than ideal.

We made our way swiftly through security, and did some duty free shopping and got some drinks at a cafe. At 1130, we made our way to the gate, in the 'C' Pier of Palma. Once at gate C64, I saw G-FCLI on stand, with and airbridge connected to door 2L. At 1145, boarding was announced.

Flight TCX063L Palma de Mallorca LEPA to Manchester EGCC
Boeing 757-28A G-FCLI "ETOPS"
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0999827/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1011872/L/
Scheduled Dep: 12:05
Actual Dep: 12:22
Scheduled Arrival: 13:40
Actual Arrival: 13:34
Flight Time: 2 hours 12 minutes

We boarded at 1200, and upon entering the plane, I realsied G-FCLI was an ETOPS aircraft, flying the Canadian routes, and was cofigured with only 187 seats, at a huge 35" pitch! As I reached row 25, I found it was at exit 3R :( and as I was only 14 at the time, i was too young to sit there:mad:. The cabin crew asked me to swap with my gran, so for take off and landing, I was sat in 20D, with no window:eek: This was the 2nd time it had happended to me, as with Thomsonfly in august, we were all given aisle seats.

Reluctantly, I slumped into the (extremely comfy) seat, and read the safety card and magazine whilst boarding was still commencing. the legfroom was fantastic! 35" is more than many airlines premium sections. At 1210, boarding finished, as we pushed back at 1215. th captain introduced himself and the F/O, giving us a flight time of 2 hours 15 minutes, and a cruise altitude of 36000ft. He also informed us why the plane was so spacious, as it flies long haul routes. We taxied out to runway 24R, and departed at 1222. We climbed over the bay of Palma, and made a right turn over the island and towards the spanish mainland.

The seatbelt signs were switched off after about 15 minutes, so I switched with my gran, and took 25F. The exit row was great, miles of legroom and it had 2 windows. However, I could feel a draft from the exit. Aisle mounted Tv's showed a series of programmes such as Futurama and Every Body Loves Raymond. An hour into the flight, cruising over central France, Lunch was served. The new TCX meal system is great and very clever. What happens is you are given a box containg your meal (roast beef and veg with strawberry cheesecake yum;) ), and a placemat with your cutlery and other stuff like salt and pepper. After eating the meal, whcih was delicious, and you can place everything into the meal box, and the placemat becomes a sort of bag, aloowing you to fold your tray back up. I think Mytavel have a similar system.

After the meal, duty free commenced, and once over coventry, our descent to Manchetser began. When the seatbelt signs were switched on again, I took seat 20D. Landing was very smooth onto 24R, and 5 mins ahead of sschedule. We taxied to gate 22, a double airbridge stand, and disembarked very swiftly through doors 1 and 2 L. After passing through customs, we got to T1's arrivals, which is in need of some work me thinks. the toilets were disgusting. Anyway, after 15 mins we had our baggage and were leaving the terminal. My dad fetched the car from Premier Car Park, and we were soon driving home to Bradford up the M62.

Overall, I though the flight was very good. I'll score it out of 10:

Service: 8/10 :D
Aircraft: 10/10 :D
Comfort: 10/10 :D
Food: 9/10 :D

Thanks for reading. My next report will be this july with Thomsonfly to Naples. Then at the end of August I'm returning to Puerto Soller in Majorca, but this time with jet2 from Leeds Bradford.

Original post

Member for

18 years 5 months

Posts: 157

Nice little report and good to see you got one of the ETOPS planes for this short flight.
Can't wait for your next report with Thomsonfly to Naples maybe with some pics too:D

Thanks

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

They're rather generous scores for a budget airline..have you traveled much??

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 171

Thank you for the comments.

They're rather generous scores for a budget airline..have you traveled much??

Well I wouldnt say I'm very well travelled, I think Ive flown on about 17 (return) flights and I'm 15 now. We usually take only 1 holiday abroad each year and another holiday in the UK.
I think the scores reflect the flight. It was on time, the plane was spotless and the seats were more than comfy for the 2 hour flight, the food was very nice and the crew were one of the nicest bunch Ive flown with. However, the flight was a charter flight, not a low cost.

Thanks