Flybe recently opened a new base from my local airport London Southend. The airline has 4 based aircraft at the airport, 2 ATR72-600 and 2 E195 aircraft. While the aircraft are branded as Flybe they are actually operated by Stobart air (formally known as Aer Arann). Flybe launched routes to Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin, Prague, Budapest, Lyon and Milan as well as a few others.
I was browsing for flights as I really wanted a day out for I looked on the flybe website to see if they had any good deals. I was in for a very pleasant surprise, I found flights to Dublin for just £4 ! Yes that is just £4 ! So I had to book as it was such a good deal. £4.19 was the cheapest flight I had ever flown on before. The day would be a long one, it was a early start as the flight departed at 06:40, however London Southend is a very small airport so I left just 1.5 hours before the flight to get to the airport.
All the flights to Dublin are operated by the E195 aircraft which is configured for 118 passengers, laid out in a 2 – 2 configuration. Boarding is quick and easy, there was just 30 passengers on todays flight, due to this I had to move to the back of the aircraft for weight and balance reasons. However it was very nice to have the rear of the aircraft all to myself. My flight later in the evening back into London had just 12 passengers on! I found the seats on flybe to be spacious and comfortable. I also like how big the windows are on the E195.
Flybe does not offer any free food or drink they do however offer items for sale. These are well priced and on the flight home later that day all the fresh options such as sandwiches were half price. I didn’t buy anything on the flight as it was just 55 minutes. The crew are very friendly I have found on flybe, this was the second time I flew with stobart/flybe and the crew are great! The crew kept us well informed during the flight and the cabin crew don’t keep pushing for sales over the intercom system. which is something I like.
Overall if you are looking for a cheap, well priced no fuss flight then I would recommend flybe to you ! You can pick up some great deals like I did! The flights are not always this empty but as its a new base for the airline the flights are not always full, I hope flybe keep the base open and the loads do improve as they offer some new destinations from my local airport!
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