As is usual my boyfriend and I gift a holiday as a birthday gift to each other. In 2025 Sam was early by gifting my ‘present’ trip to Crete in May as in late September we would be off to Japan.
As we booked through lastminute.com we flew back on a different airline, we were very happy because our flight to Crete on Sky Express left us everything but satisfied.
Crete Midweek Getaway 2025
Our return flight was booked on TUI fly Belgium, but with a small twist. The flight would be operated by an Airbus A320, this is quite odd as TUI fly only has Embraer E190-E2’s, Boeing 737’s and 787’s in its fleet. For the busy summer season they leased an additional A320 of Bulgarian Sky2Fly, a wet lease company. The cockpit crew was Bulgarian and supplied by Sky2Fly while the cabin crew where Belgians employed by TUI fly.
Departing from the old Heraklion airport is stuff ripe for nightmares. Upon being dropped off by our taxi we could see the huge queue of rental cars that were waiting to be returned to the rental company, we were very happy having a taxi transfer dropping us off at the terminal instead of having to queue to return our rental car.
There where tons of people waiting for their check-in to open both outside and inside the (way too small) terminal building. We were there too early too as check-in opened only 2 hours before departure. Sam thought it would be a good idea to have a toilet break before departure, but he quickly turned back and thought to go to the toilets later as soon as he saw the urine running all over the toilet floor.
Luckily with us being so early and having booked the ‘Fly Deluxe’ package we could swiftly check-in at the dedicated ‘Fly Deluxe’ check-in desk, avoiding the huge queues of the general check-in desks in the TUI fly check-in area.
Fly Deluxe is a package available for an additional fee an all short-haul TUI fly Belgium operated flights. It includes a check-in bag of up to 25 kilos, a separate check-in desk, fast-lane access in Brussels Airport, priority boarding, complimentary seat selection for standard seats, and a proper meal service and complimentary beverage service during the flight.
The additional cost for this service on the Heraklion to Brussels flight was €80, considering adding a check-in bag costs €44 on this sector we deemed the package a good value. The only downside was that there is no middle seat left open, otherwise it is on par with lots of European business class products. Due to our late reservation all ‘free’ seats where already gone, but Sam prefers to have an emergency exit row seat for the extra legroom anyway so we reserved those for another €15 additional fee.
After completing the check-in and having our bags tagged with a priority label we moved on to the security check. It looked horrendous with the queue snaking out into the next hall, but despite the looks it actually moved quite quickly and efficient. The main hold back where the lots of inexperienced travellers not quite knowing how to efficiently pass a security check.
Once through security the next part of hell was reached, the single huge duty free shop (always exit through the gift shop!). After browsing a bit through it (and Sam buying some stuff). We decided to continue into the even busier gate area, looking for the business lounge to access with our priority pass.
Eventually we located the SkyServ lounge upstairs near the gate A1 (which we coincidentally would board from as well) unfortunately the lounge didn’t accept Priority Pass at this time, only people flying actual business class where allowed in despite being half-empty. Sam was livid and thought this was scandalous and they could have easily accepted us in. Instead we headed to a cafe where he could have an underwhelming bite to eat to calm his hangriness.
Gate A1 was also a very popular and heavily used gate, in the hour and a half we waited for our boarding to begin they boarded at least 5 different flights through this gate. As planes in 1971 when this terminal opened held much less passengers the gate area was rather tiny and the 5 flights travelling through this gate made for a mad crush of people waiting. The word chaos is Greek for a reason it seemed.
The disastrous overrun state of this terminal can be excused as they are currently building a new, much bigger airport at Kasteli to replace the current one in Heraklion, slated to open in 2027.
Eventually our flight was boarded too and we were bussed to our all-white Fly2Sky Airbus A320-200. We boarded through the front stairs as we were in row 13 out of 30, putting us just in the front half of the plane.
Flight TB2252
From Heraklion (HER) 11:35 (11:58) to Brussels (BRU) 14:35 (14:10)
Flight Time 3 hours 13 minutes
Airbus A320-200 LZ-FSG
Delivered to SEAIR-South East Asian Airlines in July 2012, flying for Fly2Sky since September 2024
The seats inside where in a typical 3-3 setup. The seats itself where quite comfortable and well-shaped, better than the Sky Express seats flying to Crete.
We also enjoyed a huge leg space thanks to our emergency exit row seats. Boarding was surprisingly fast and efficient.
We had a thorough safety briefing by the flight attendants making sure we understood all procedures for the emergency exit.
Take off and climb out was rather standard with a light chop.
After take-off and the crew was released, one of the flight attendants came to us with packages of pizza snacks and requesting us what we would like to drink, I choose the champagne while Sam had a Gin and Tonic.
As we were the sole Fly Deluxe passengers this far down the back of the aircraft we got a lot of envious stares at us “why do they get this and we don’t?”.
In the time we were enjoying our aperitif the crew commenced the buy on board service for the passengers that didn’t buy a Fly Deluxe package, cold foods where given immediately, for hot foods people had to wait 10-15 minutes until they were heated.
After the buy on board trolley passed through the cabin we received our complimentary Fly Deluxe meal trays, this before anyone ordering any hot food received their food.
Our tray was a cold meal, but a very nice one catered by “Jeunes Restaurateurs”, menus created by upcoming star chefs.
On the tray was a starter with smoked salmon and corn, a main with pâté and smoked duck, beetroot and pickled onion, a dessert of a white and milk chocolate mousse and dates. On the tray was also a small butter wrapped like a candy. The crew also came around with delicious warm bread with a choice of white or brown.
Along with the meal we were served another drink, I had a coke and a red wine. They also used proper metal cutlery with TUI smile engravings, proper glassware for drinks but the food containers where reusable plastic, despite there being a proper cup on the tray they handed out the coffee or tea after the meal in paper cups. For the tea you had a choice of black, green or citrus tea.
Throughout the flight the crew came around several times asking if we needed anything else.
As Sam was craving a hot item to eat as well, he ordered the fries from the buy on board menu. They were surprisingly tasty and crunchy, not at all soggy as I would have expected them to. They were a bit too salty for my taste so I only tried a few.
A bit before landing the crew came handing out chocolate covered crispy rice bites, along with an extra drink. A delicious finale to the flight.
All in all we had another wonderful flight on TUI fly. Once again they provided a much nicer experience than you would expect from a leisure carrier. The Fly Deluxe upgrade was more than worth it to feel pampered. The contrast to the ‘low-cost’ flight on Sky Express on the flight to Crete and on TUI fly on the return flight from Crete was night and day.
I would definably fly TUI fly again on a short-haul flight and book the Fly Deluxe package. If you can afford Fly Deluxe, I would recommend it.
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