Thomson Airways Manchester to Kittila Santa Flight Review

Today we have a review from a user who contacted us not too long ago about how he went on a Santa Flight and Holiday last year. After a discussion I asked whether he would be willing to write a review for us and luckily he accepted. We would like to take this opportunity to say that we are accepting reviews of Santa Flights, Santa Holidays, Lapland Holidays, Lapland Hotels, Lapland Resorts and anoythign else to do with Santa and Lapland really. If you are interested then please Contact Us.

Flight Date – Sunday 14th December 2008

Location – Manchester (MAN) – Kittila (KTT)

Company – Thomson Airways

Plane – B737.8K5-W (G-FDZJ)

Flight Number – TOM3837

Flight time – 3 Hours 15 Minutes

Seat – 6A

Comfort rating – 100%

Introduction

During the time I have spent being interested in Aviation, I thought, why not visit one of the coldest locations on the planet, with a random flight as well as making it a holiday adventure at the same time, then I thought of flying to Lapland to see good old Santa. I booked through First Choice on a 7 Day package, however, seeing as Thomson brought First Choice, we flew with Thomson, and I have to say, they are totally fantastic.

Check-In

This is not only the first time I have flown from Manchester, but the first time I am flying to Lapland, and I was rather nervous I have to say as usually I fly from my local airport, which is East Midlands (EMA). I arrived at Manchester at around 4.30 as I didn’t want to get there too late. Check in was open for the standard 3 hours which I thought was excellent and I managed to get a great seat, which was 6A right at the front with a window, perfect. After checking in, I had to wait at security for about 20 minutes, as it was the 6am rush of passengers, though this is expected at any major airports. Once arriving into the duty free, I was able to look around, and get my favourite Sausage and Egg McMuffin from McDonalds. After collecting the necessary goods from good old duty free I headed to the gate, but once again, didn’t note down this because I was in such a rush after collecting my Millie’s Cookies, magazines, books for the flight.

Boarding and Departure.

Boarding started at around 7.15, as our departure was scheduled for around 8am. But I managed to get there at around 7.45 after taking a few shots for my collection of the aircraft. I was one of the last to board, and there was no queue. First impressions of the aircraft were good. It was very clean, well catered for and the music choices were excellent. The seats were clean and I had plenty of legroom and I would recommend Thomson for comfort, and considering the flight was full, I felt my self with plenty of room to stretch out and relax. After going through all of the safety features, which I have to say, were delivered as quickly as possible as we all wanted to get off the ground as soon as possible, the cabin crew went through all the services onboard the flight. Taxing only took a short amount of time, as the bulk of the traffic had already gone, however, were waiting just off Terminal One because of a Thomas Cook B767 which was having a problem. After our departure from 6L we were up and away, though of course, had to wait for 10 minutes while an easyJet A320 bucked there ideas up!

In-Flight

As we departed good old “sunny” Manchester, we were up to about 12,000ft within 3 minutes, as we had a very steep climb. The captain informed us that the flight would be approximately 3 hours and 11 minutes as we would be flying at 390 knots at 37,500ft, but told us to expect turbulence when heading up to Finland because of -30*c winds. I decided I wasn’t too hungry or thirsty at this stage, so kindly rejected. Tiredness was beginning to kick in, after having only minimal sleep to have to drive up to Manchester, so decided to nod off and just as Madagascar started as well, damn it. By this time we were well into the flight, flying at approximately 39,000ft because of gusts. However, this was perfect time to start my pack of Millie’s Cookies which I had brought, and read some magazines. The uneventful flight seemed to fly right on by while I was in my comfy leather seat and then started to have a chat to one of the crew members, who was very pleasant and telling me how this is the third time she had done a trip upto Lapland in the past 2 weeks, I was saying that I really wouldn’t mind as the flight was so peaceful, with no turbulence. On the approach into Kittila, it was very foggy and snowing, and therefore was very low cloud, and no matter how far down we went, we couldn’t see the ground. The flaps were drawn to the lowest, which is 40 in a B737 and we were cleared to land. The approach was very pleasant, and just around 11am so the sun was just about up. Finally just before touch down we saw the ground, no less than 3 seconds from seeing the ground, we finally touched down, on what was a little bumpy landing, but this was to be expected after having a slow approach and with an icy runway. Breaks and reverse thrusts were deployed and we came to a slow pace. Also on the ground were another Thomson B737.800 as well as a Thomson B757 and a Thomas Cook B757. We were at the gate within minutes, where we began to disembark.

Baggage Reclaim and Conclusion

After disembarking the aircraft with quite a rude dispatcher in Kittila, I went to collect my luggage, which was on only 1 of 2 baggage belts in Kittila. I think that this flight went very well and it was very enjoyable, Manchester Terminal two was a fantastic facility and I enjoyed the flight very much and would recommend Thomson again. A trip to Lapland is very recommended.

Related posts:

1. easyJet London Gatwick to Rovaniemi Santa Flight Review