Gambia Bird, Gambia Birdstrike.

On 12th June I arrived at Gatwick (Useless Bl00dy) Airport after an uneventful, but expensive rail journey.
Let me learn !  If I book on the day of travel I get Stung.
and was handed this bit of paper :

Gambia Bird, 12th June 2013 flight 3G2311 Gatwick/Freetown/BanjulIt is with regret that due to a bird strike yesterday in Banjul, the above flight is delayed.

The damage to the engine fan blades has meant that we have had to despatch replacement blades from Germany to Banjul in order for the engineers to replace them.
                                                                                    .... it continues but gets boring after that.
Anyway they compensated me with a food voucher for £7.50
But I would have given that up for a Smoking Room. (see earlier rant).

It's a bit of a surprise that West Africa gets so many bird strikes as it's not the sort of place you see thousands of starlings (feathered bullets) flocking like North Africa and Mediteranean countries, but many of the birds are pretty big and appear to fligh quite high.

So after the ten hour delay, we boarded one of 3G's two Airbus A319s for the medium haul to Freetown.
Food was not nice, but it was free.
Drink selection was very poor too; no gin and tonic, no whisky, in fact it was just beer or wine as far as alcohol was concerned and the wine ran out halfway over Mali.
The crew were surly, and the the flight deck did not make a single announcement to the passengers, which I found strange, I like to hear a voice at least once from the pointed end, if only to prove they are not sleeping.
Maybe their English is not so good.
The Gambian stewardess was decorative though.
So the flight was uneventful, and maybe slightly longer than usual, the french ATC being On-Strike meant we had to fly west initially to avoid french airspace.

Anyway would I recommend Gambia Bird ? Yes No Doubt.
Because the price was very low.
And to get the low price you have to have the patience of Jobe.
Their website will not recognise debit cards. The booking agent in London cannot match the website price and they will NEVER answer the phone in head office Karaiba Avenue.
maybe if they did the, plane would have been more than half full.
So think about it Gambia Bird: there's no point in having nice posters everywhere, if you have no one who wants to Take The Money!