TUI Airways UK Gran Canaria-Manchester Boeing 767-300

Background

As an almost monthly visitor to the Canary Islands and keen traveller, I'm always looking for new flights to try out.  There's nothing wrong with the airlines that I usually use to the Canaries such as easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair or British Airways.  But, I do appreciate a novel flight when I find one and there's nothing more novel these days than finding a short haul widebody Boeing 767 flight, an aircraft I flew on regularly as a child.  Cue TUI Airways UK Ltd, the UK airline of German leisure giant TUI AG.

TUI Airways UK traces its ancestry back to Britannia Airways, once one of the UK's largest and most successful charter airlines and succumbed to TUI in 2005.  With a grand heritage such as Britannia, I was eager to get this flight booked and get on board! My YouTube video of the trip is right here.

As TUI UK moves to standardise on the Boeing 787 for long haul and 737MAX aircraft for short/mid haul, at the time of writing, just two 767's (OBYF & OBYK) remain in the TUI UK fleet.  You can find some 787 flights down to the Canaries on some days/times of the year, but these are the exception.

Delivered in 1998/9, the two Manchester-based 767 aircraft are prone to being a bit temperamental these days as they age (aren't we all), but like the sibling 757 that left the TUI fleet in 2021, these stalwarts of the sky continue to transport TUI's mostly package holiday leisure travellers in a maximum density all-economy 328 seat layout.  

The best bit?  The TUI UK 767's are solely short & mid haul assigned now, so it's a relatively inexpensive way to fly them while you still can.

Check In

Check in was a sign of things to come, sadly.  At the time of this flight the world was just emerging from the pandemic and whilst other airlines on this route had started to lift restrictions, TUI was still enforcing the checking of vaccination documents even though the UK government had dropped the requirement some weeks prior.

To complicate things further, TUI wouldn't let me check in online or through their app, so a long queue was congealed at the check in desks, even for people like me who never check in a bag.  I was sternly informed "you cannot take a laptop bag and case on board, TUI only allows one bag in the cabin" nb: all other airlines on this route allow a small bag plus carry-on case.

So, after a miserable 45 minute check in experience, I left to go through security which was well managed by the airport, and on to the lounge.

The Lounge

Excellent food and views from the excellent Sala Galdos (Priority Pass) lounge

As with other island airports in the Canaries, there is a large third party lounge for the premium passengers of airlines such as Iberia and British Airways, along with Priority Pass cardholders. 

Today, as usual, using my Priority Pass card, I was swiftly dealt with at the reception of the Sala Galdos lounge.  The lounge was busy, but not uncomfortably so.

The range of food and drink on offer in the lounge was better than on my previous visit and, as with the lounge at Tenerife South airport, has a decent patio from which you can get those last rays of sunshine whilst watching the aircraft arrive and depart.

As I had eaten a little too well(!), as I always do in the Canaries, I opted for this fresh salad for lunch, which tasted very good, along with a complimentary Heineken beer.  With the temperature hitting 30c, I was in my element and spent a very happy four hours here.

Boarding

TUI 767's are in a maximum density - 328 seats - 2x4x2 configuration

Fortunately (or not, for those cruise passengers affected), a Canarian TUI cruise had been cancelled so we had a very light load of just 75 passengers on board our behemoth 328 seat airliner, today.  Boarding was therefore swift and I soon found myself in my pre-booked extra legroom window seat right behind the left side mid-cabin toilet cubicle.

The Flight

The overhead panels give away the age of the 767!

To its credit, TUI has maintained its 767 fleet very well indeed.  Both my seat and the bathrooms were very pleasant and had a very modern feel.  Bear in mind that both of TUI's UK 767's are now nearly 25 years old and have flown millions of miles.  The only clue of the age of this aircraft was the overhead panels.  

The 767 itself remains one of my personal favourite aircraft of all time and having been lucky enough to fly the final ever British Airways 767 flight back from Larnaca some years ago, I'm always happy to be on one.

Hot on the heels of the check in experience though, then came in-flight service.  Not only did they have pretty much nothing available (see Food and Drink, below), when my card didn't work the first time in their point of sale machine, the cabin crew attendant rudely snapped "your card's failed".  

As I settled back in my seat, we were once again reminded of the need to remain seated (this was an endless chorus throughout the flight), with our masks on, except for eating but that we must eat as quickly as possible.  I'm not sure what people were actually eating though.

Food and Drink

Earlier in the day I received a text from TUI letting me know that there would be no hot food on tonight's flight.  I was actually happy to have been informed, as it set my expectations.  Sadly, once airborne, we were told that there was actually no food at all available.  When the cart came around, I was offered either Fruit Pastilles or Pringles.  There was also no hot water available, so they only had fizzy drinks for sale. 

Being someone who spends a great deal of time on the go, either in hotels or in the air, I rely on airline catering a great deal of the time to get me through the day - several days a week the airline meal makes up breakfast, lunch or dinner for me.  To not have it as an option is a massive inconvenience, and unusual, in my experience.

By way of comparison, Jet2, easyJet and Ryanair all managed to provide hot food and a full menu on exactly the same route and all flights were taken within four weeks of each other.

I settled for a Sprite.  And hunger.

The mouth watering menu (top images) versus what they actually had in stock (lower image)

Arrival

It's fair to say that by the time we began our descent into Manchester, with the sun setting, I was fed up with TUI and its people. TUI Airways UK had seemingly managed to achieve the impossible - to make me unhappy on a flight.  

The crew sat down for the last two hours of the flight and the only time we saw them before landing was for them to ensure that all passengers were abiding by their rules.  I'm certain they got their charm from traffic warden school.

With a near enough on time arrival, clearing immigration at Manchester was fairly quick and I was in my hotel just over an hour after landing.

Verdict

There are great airlines and there are average airlines.  Then there is TUI Airways UK. Possibly, the most dreadful flight that I have ever had. 

Fundamentally, the problem with TUI Airways' is its brand proposition.  I'm not sure what it's trying to be. Ryanair, by way of comparison, is clear on what it offers and just as importantly, it knows what its own product is all about. Ryanair doesn't offer a free coffee on board - and it's proud to tell you that.  But you know what?  Its customers know not to expect a free coffee on board.  The Ryanair brand  proposition is the best in the business.

The same cannot be said for TUI Airways UK.  Its main purpose (I think) is to transport TUI's package holiday masses, but it also sells 'seat only' deals for people like me who never use a tour operator.  So it ends up being a jack of all trades and master of none.  It's neither a low cost airline or a full service airline, but nor is it a charter airline, as was, when it was Britannia.  Whilst TUI will happily sell you a flight on a seat-only basis, the vast majority of their passengers are on package holidays who are forced to fly TUI Airways whether they want to or not, unlike the seat only passenger, who has a choice.  TUI Airways therefore doesn't really need to expend much effort with its product - it's simply a necessary ancillary to get people from A to B for the parent tour operator.  With TUI's package holidays to Gran Canaria starting at just £199 a week, "who cares if the flight isn't any good?", I guess is their attitude.

Having tried the three other airlines that fly between Manchester and the Canary Islands: Jet2, easyJet and Ryanair, all three outshine TUI Airways in every aspect of service.  TUI Airways is also by far the most expensive seat-only choice of all four airlines on this route.

From the grim check in experience, onerous rules, hostile crew, inability to pay for an additional cabin bag, to the lack of even basic catering, the only redeeming factor of this particular flight was getting to fly the increasingly rare (in Europe) Boeing 767. 

Unless you're on a TUI package, so have to fly them, or like me wanted to fly a 767, all of the other airlines on this route are way better than TUI Airways UK.

Overall, I was left feeling dazed by the whole experience.  Best avoided.

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