Some of you may know that I wrote this review in 2003, and didn't rate Britannia very much, with an all round poor service. This review was based on my experiences in 1998. I have just returned from a Thomson Holiday with a Britannia flight - and they were excellent this time! So, I like the airline now! First, some info on the company.

Britannia is part of the 'World of TUI', created in about 2001/2002 which owns companies all over the world. TUI UK own Thomson Holidays, Lunn Poly, Skytours, Portland Direct, Travel House and many more, and of course- Britannia! You will also notice, Britannia's livery is changing to fresh blue and white, with the red logo, and the 'TUI' smile on the tail, with only a few aircraft with the awful 'classic' Britannia livery. At the end of 2003, Britannia started to call the charter operation 'Thomson operated by Britannia' and aircraft are being replaced by the small Britannia logo, with a large 'Thomson.co.uk' logo, with 'operated by Britannia' in the nose. They also recently launched 'Thomsonfly', their low cost operation. Uniforms of TUI companies have all been standardised, and are very smart I must say.

Now to the flight...

BY196A
BRISTOL-CORFU
AUGUST 1st 2004
BOEING 757-200 AIRCRAFT
REGISTRATION OF AIRCRAFT: G-CDUP Thomson.co.uk TUI livery.

Arrived at airport at around quarter to 4 in the morning on Sunday for our 7:40am flight. Check-in was very quick and efficient. Bristol's new terminal (opened in 2000) is very nice and modern, glass and silver, very open with many shops and restaurants like Burger king, WHSmith and many. Whilst I like Cardiff Airport, I think Bristol has a bit more, and is busier, so has more of a buzz. Just my opinion.

Boarding was on time. I was happy to see an aircraft painted in full TUI colours with Thomson.co.uk, very nice, I would of hated that awful old livery! Boarded a
nd seats were the World of TUI fabric seats, with stripes of blues and very thin colours. Staff were all friendly and it was in no time before doors were closed. The new TUI uniform is very nice, with light blues, dark blues and light yellows, better than the other one with all those different colours everywhere! I've heard though on the internet that the 757s will be fitted with new '777' interiors and leather seats in October, lets wait and see!

The safety video was shown, and we were soon on our way. The flight to Corfu should take about 3 hours, but it was around 2 hours 40 minutes. It was unfortunately announced that the entertainment system wasn't working. Oh well... Food arrived after around 45 minutes and a very good breakfast for us who had paid for it was given with all the cooked breakfast items in (even Bacon!). Also was a roll, melon, tea and orange juice was on the plate with something else that I can't remember. If you didn't book a meal, then Skystore has some snacks to choose from, but we had a meal so it didn't matter to us.

Skystore was served (shopping) followed by a drinks service shortly before landing. I bought a model 757 and 767 in TUI livery, but with the smaller Britannia/TUI logo, rather than the large Thomson logo. They said that they have only just changed, they will be stocking the thomson ones soon. Oh well.

We landed safely onto sunny Corfu (a lovely island) where the TUI livery looks even better! We disembarked, into the quiet airport of Corfu as it was a Sunday.

The holiday at the Hotel Athina, San Stefanos (NW CORFU) was superb!
Service from Thomson was very good too!

The return flight:
BY196B
CORFU-BRISTOL
BOEING 757-200 G-CDUP THOMSON.CO.UK TUI LIVERY

This flight was also excellent. Not much different than the outbound fligt rather than it was 3 hours, drinks were before the meal, the entertainment was working and the meal was a
beef stew, with a berry/strawberry tart with custard and a roll, and of course tea/coffee served afterwards. entertainment was movie Jersey Girl, Creature comforts and friends with audio channels. Headphones were £3.00 but you could keep them.

Britannia along with Thomson Holidays and the World of TUI overall was excellent. Let's see if the 757s are fitted with leather seats then. They also operate 767-200 and 767-300s as wide bodies. We are flying them again next year to the same place and hotel. keep up the good work!

oh, remember, that my original review of BY was bad, so that's why comments may say this and that I was 8 when I flew. I was 14 this time, and the flights were very good. Is my review as good as the original?