My (small) family and myself have a holiday to the Algarve each year. We have been going for more than 10 years now with Palmair (part of Bath Travel) and have never had a major problem. This year, that changed.
On Thursday 1/9/05 we were picked up from the hotel at about 0820 to go to the airport. About 40 minutes later we arrived at Faro airport and checked in our cases and ourselves. The flight was due to leave at about 1135, and we boarded the plane on time.
This is where the problems started. Sitting on the plane, after being pushed back from the stand, we were told that there was a problem with starting one of the engines (Palmair use Boeing 737-200s leased from European Aviation - this was G-CEAC) and that we were going to be moved back off of the taxiway to 'try to start it manually'. At about 1235 we were told that it still wasn't starting. This meant that we would be getting on a bus and going back across to the airport - the plane could, of course, not fly until the problem was fixed. We were then informed that an enigneer would have to come to take a look. We realised that we could be waiting for a rather long time.
Palmair didn't have to do anything at all. They could have just left us in the airport for half a day. But no! A while later, the passengers were told to go to the dining area. There we got a voucher for a free drink and lunch. This was a large drink and two sandwiches each. This could easily cost £5 per person. With about 124 passengers this cost them at least £620 already.
A little later again, we were bussed back to the Hotel Montechoro near Albufeira. Each family who had bought a package (not flight-only) were allocated a room in the hotel which could be used until we were taken back to the airport at 2230. Not only that, every passenger on the flight was able to have a proper evening meal in the hotel's restaurant. To top it off, on each table (for each family), was a large bottle each of white wine, red wine and water for those who didn't want alcohol. Keep in mind that the airline still hadn't had to do anything at all. Could you imagine a 'normal' airline doing this?
We left on time at 2230 and went through check-in again. Unfortunately we still had to wait until 0115 Friday morning to board the plane (G-CEAF, which had flown in specially), but it didn't take long before we were in the air. Hot meals were still served to those who wanted them, and we eventually landed at 0343 - more than 13 hours later than we should have done.
Everyone involved helped to make the day as good as possible. It's not like it was easy for the cabin crew - the flight attendants themselves had been working since 0600 Thursday morning.
The way they handled the problem means that we would definately fly with them again (though, we do each year anyway). Again, we could have been sat in the airport for more than half a day. I think that this is why they are Britain's best airline.
