Every summer we usually take a week’s break in Europe. Perhaps the north of Mallorca, Portgual’s Algarve or France.
Although buckets of British Airways air miles means we could travel from Edinburgh via Heathrow or Gatwick and connect to a Club Europe flight, we’ve sacrificed the lounge access and slightly wider seats for more convennient direct flights with Jet2 or Easy Jet.
Until this year when I booked our villa in Mallorca’s Pollenca region through James Villas and they offered me a BA CityFlyer Charter.
I knew that CityFlyer use the spare capacity during London City Airport’s weekend downtime to offer charters, mainly through Barrhead Travel, and I immediately agreed to those flights and not Jet2.
The BA flights worked out at about £170 each which I thought was great value having paid nearly £1000 for three seats last year on Jet2.
Knowing that my BA silver card provided no advantage on a charter, I asked James Villas if I could pre-book seats.
They said, “No it’s not possible.”
Being a stubborn Edinburgh traveller, a quick Google search revealed a hidden BA CityFlyer Charter website where you can indeed book seats for £6 a pop.
I even had the courtesy to write back to James Villas and point out that you can, indeed, pre-book seats? They were kind enough to reply and tell me that I was wrong and it wasn’t possible to pre-book seats.
I enjoyed reading that email whilst clutching my seat confirmation with a wry smile.
For the outbound at 7.30am on a Saturday, Edinburgh Airport bulged with people. We approached the usual BA check in desks. I asked the lady managing the queues if we could we check in here? She said that the charter check in was at the other end of the check in hall.
I mentioned we were travelling hand bags only and she very kindly used her work station to print our boarding cards. Great service.
Without the benefit of lounge access we waited at the gate for BA to call the flight. Once onboard G-LCYS, one of the newest Embraer 190 aircraft in the BA fleet, we sank into our roomy 2×2 leather seats with their ample 34in pitch.
Once comfy, I heard the lady behind me moaning to the Purser that she and her husband and children had been split up at check in. The purser apologised and said that you can’t pre-book seats on BA charter services (strange that the cabin crew don’t know about the website where you can pre-book).
Anyway this lady whined to anyone who would listen about how upset she was. I was going to enlighten her about the website, but the child she was with was so badly behaved throughout the flight, kicking my seat back, that I decided they could carry on moaning.
Took off bang on time and the crew began the inflight buy on board service. You can see the menu in the photos.
I drank a giant cup of tasty Saile and Sabga Gourmet Cafe Arabica coffee, and ate a hot bacon panini. The coffee could be the best I’ve ever had on an aircraft.
The crew came through the cabin on a second run towards the end of the three hour flight.
On the inbound, with only two BA flights, check in at Palma is civilised and not the multi-queue scrum you find for Jet2 or Thompson.
My only criticism of the operation at Palma is there was no facility for hand luggage only customers. We had to queue with those with luggage – actually we might have been the only passengers travelling without checked bags. Still we only waited about 15 minutes.
Same aircraft and the same crew and the same service on the way home except I had a beer with my coffee and bacon buttie.
The moaning lady was also on the flight, and although sat with her husband and kids this time, all she did was moan about how they were split up on the flight out. Bet she’s a barrel of laughs in the pub.
Overall it was great flying on a BA CityFlyer Charter. You get the extra leg room and the professionalism of BA Mainline, with the extra quantities of food and drink from buy on board.
I’d do this over Jet2 any day.
Now it’s your turn:
Have you travelled on a British Airways Charter Flight? How do you think it compares to BA Mainline or other low-cost airlines like Jet2, Easy Jet and RyanAir? Please leave a comment or share a link to your own reviews.
Recently flew on a BA CityFlyer charter from GLA-PMI return through Barrhead Travel and I have to say they are very cheap and overall great flights. Did have a bit of a problem on the way out with one of the pursers got the impression she was NOT happy at having to serve a load of Glaswegian holiday makers than the usual London city lot. Way back though the service was great, legroom was great and those Embraer aircraft are just perfect for the flight time. Only thing missing is a form of online check in because things do get a little rushed time you wait in the queue to check in and head to the gate. If only instead of charters Cityflyer operated these themselves.