View Full Version : travel city direct
Hello to everyone
I have just booked to go to florida in september, with travel city direct
got a great deal compared with other companies flying at that time of year, just wanted to know has anyone flown with travel city direct?
are they any good?
I have never flown in to sandford either, normally i always go into MCO
what is sandford like ?
many thanks
richard
solanasunshine
29-06-2005, 14:04
Hello Richard
We've never flown with them but if you look under the forum for "flying" there is a thread on there where people have put their comments.
(Sorry I can't do the link to take you directly there but I don't know how!)
Hope it helps,
Gill
heathercobbett
29-06-2005, 14:59
TCD are not top of most peoples favourites.Obviously it is always best to book your villa independantly so check the 3 OV sites.If you have booked your car with TCD check that your cdw is included otherwise you may get a shock whwen you pick it up
In general,when holidaying in Florida always book the various elements of your holiday yourself.Saves the nagging doubts
Sanford is not as beautiful and spacious as MCO but mostly fine
what does cdw mean should that be ldw
Hi Richard,
We have travelled with TCD a few times and found them to be OK. Certainly not the best we've had
(but also not the worst !!) As Heather says, it's wise to check out the car insurance if you've booked the car hire through them. I always like to have SLI (Supplementary Liability Insurance)
especially as the US citizens are very litigation prone. I have been caught out on this when hiring through Travel City in the past, and had an extra hefty payment on arrival to upgrade the insurances.
Sanford is much smaller than Orlando MCO and I personally much prefer it. Although still very thorough, the Customs & Immigration is more straightforward than MCO (where you have to collect your luggage once , then surrender it for further screening, then go through immigration and finally collect the cases again).
Once you leave Sanford, theres a nice leisurely drive to Orlando / Kissimmee which gets you
used to right hand side driving on roads that are not usually too busy.
Have a great holiday in September.
cjboatman
29-06-2005, 17:14
Hi Richard,
We flew with Travel City Direct two years ago, we thought, at the time, that they were great. No problems at all. But we have heard a few bad things since then. I wouldn't let that worry you, or spoil the build up to your holiday.
With regards to Sanford airport. It is much smaller, we fewer facilities, but then again, this is not what you are visiting Florida for, i hope. In general driving times from Sanford to the Disney area are betweem 50-60 mins, but i think the roads are very good, and actually prefer this route rather than from McCoy. Just personal choice. I always found the traffic busier coming out of McCoy and this added ten minutes to the journey time.
Other than that i hope you have a great holiday, and look forward to photos on your return.
LiesaAnna
29-06-2005, 17:32
i have just looked up the prices for my family to go by travel city direct and altho its alot cheaper, charter/virgin around £370 and TCD its £199 per person, what do we do???? i think virgin would/should win but am always into saving money!!! more to spend in florida!!
anyone give me advise to go with them tcd?????
just took Lucy (julie) advice and had a look on travel city direct reviews, only read a few and have decided no , we will go with charter above link, i wish it was cheaper but as Lucy (julie) says you get what you pay for,
gail and david roberts
29-06-2005, 17:51
This will be are 5 time with this company
and yes I have heared alot of very un happy Villa owners
saying they wouldnt go with them again
but until we have a bad flight from them
We will keep a open mind,
I have always found the staff very nice and helpful
we have only been delayed once last August(weather)24 hours
and we didnt get into the Lounge at sanford , we check in and removed some over night things and off we went to the florida mall Hotel
buses waiting out side to take us there
all meals Paid for and telphone Cards given out
I must say it was a nice end to our Holiday
and it was nice not to wash all the bedding in the morning (men will not understand that bit girls)
we had time to shop in the mall and the Buses came for us at 11am
Can you get TCD quotes online or is it just by phone ??
If that £199 TCD price is a firm offer Liesa, and it's flying from a convenient airport for you, thats a very good price. Most times I have phoned TCD they want to charge extra for provincial airport flights, extra if the dates are not within their specified "cheap rate" months and you have to take their car hire which they quote as 2 door economy with the most basic insurance possible. So you have to pay extra again for decent size car and extra for reasonable level of insurance. In short "a lot of extra charges" [msnsad]
Their advertised prices are not easy to get !
LiesaAnna
29-06-2005, 18:03
i got them online,
but when all is added up i got all the taxes etc put on, for 6 adults and 1 child and a baby and the 8 seater car hire it ended up as £2,439, the car hire itself was £500 but only £398 with charter, desisons desisions!!!
i know that is a great price but we have used virgin through charter twice now, and i worry about the reviews, i hate anything to spoil our holidays!!!
it is from Gatwick so again thats handy as we're in Brighton, and i fancy seeing sanford i hate all that walking through MCO
steph_goodrum
29-06-2005, 18:37
Liesa
The other thing with Virgin if you have been with them twice now have you signed up for their flying club miles? I think you can add them on up to 6 months after you've flown.
If you do 5 trips then you get around 8000 miles each time and 40,000 gives you a free flight to US so if you are saving £100 a time for example with TCD then overall you'll save £500 but if fly with Virgin and pay the extra £500 over the trips then you can use your reward miles to travel at one of the most expensive times of the year for just the cost of the taxes plus you get better flight experiences as well on the whole.
We used our miles a couple of years ago to go to California and in the summer are using our next lot to fly into Boston and out of Orlando.
So there are many things to consider (just as when looking at villas), price shouldn't be the only deciding factor but overall value for money and a little extra can bring much more to the overall holiday experience.
LiesaAnna
29-06-2005, 19:42
thanx Steph, yes we are flying club members and we have 8,000 something points so far each, if we book with charter travel it will be a bit dearer £370 each, and knowing virgin we will have a reasonable flight, seat back tv's etc, last flight was excellant (except for knee pain)
but to go with TCD for £199 and not know whether we will have our own tv's and what the service is like, is it worth it,?????
i think one day we will use our points up, but at least if we use virgin we know we will get another 8,000 i think, each so who knows another trip may be on the cards for next year?????
steph_goodrum
29-06-2005, 19:48
Liesa
The other option is to phone Virgin and see if there are any Miles plus money offers for your dates, for 2000 miles you get a discounted price but it just depends on dates how much cheaper it is.
I think with TCD you may also have to pay for meals?
caroline
29-06-2005, 19:57
I just priced up our flights and car hire with TCD for October, there are 3 adults and 2 teenagers and we're hiring a 7 seater - TCD want £4288
We've paid for Scheduled flights into Tampa £2310 (using the above link) and our car hire through this site for 14 days is £326 this definitely includes all the insurances for both drivers, I'm not sure if the TCD quote did or not [msnscared] so My total is £2636 - therefore by NOT travelling with TCD I'm saving myself at least £1652 - now that's a super shopping trip to the Mall[msnwink]
LiesaAnna
29-06-2005, 21:09
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
Liesa
The other option is to phone Virgin and see if there are any Miles plus money offers for your dates, for 2000 miles you get a discounted price but it just depends on dates how much cheaper it is.
I think with TCD you may also have to pay for meals?
[/quote]
we have included miles plus money it would be £502 for our dates 29th sept for a fortnight
but charter (we can earn points with them but not spend them with them)
they quoted £370 per person
but TCD have quoted £199 its a hard one but i think we will go with charter travel through here
i know where we are with them!! but then i do love to save money!!!
and with charter thats all meals and drinks, as with virgin
we have collected 8.000 points each so far so maybe just let them accumalate for a while and use for next year?
We flew with tcd last year and had excellent service,in fact we have booked with them again for next year our price being 2209 for 3 adults 2 teenagers ,luxury car 2 drivers and all the insurances,yes we have looked into the insurance and it includes the gas,ldw.sli,ump.tax,cfc etc etc,and we also got free travel insurance for being early bookers for 2006.So after so many bad reviews we are very happy flying with them,the money we have saved has gone towards a lovely villa from this site.We did have a bit of a miserable stewardess coming home but didnt take much notice of her[msncool]
Robert5988
29-06-2005, 22:12
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:what does cdw mean should that be ldw[/quote]
CDW = Collision Damage Waiver.
Essentially the same as LDW.
Covers you for any damage caused to your(rental) car.
An important insurance to have is the liability insurance - usually called SLI. This covers you for up to(usually) $1million for damage you could cause to property or person.
jillizzy
29-06-2005, 22:32
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LiesaAnna
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
Liesa
The other option is to phone Virgin and see if there are any Miles plus money offers for your dates, for 2000 miles you get a discounted price but it just depends on dates how much cheaper it is.
I think with TCD you may also have to pay for meals?
[/quote]
we have included miles plus money it would be £502 for our dates 29th sept for a fortnight
but charter (we can earn points with them but not spend them with them)
they quoted £370 per person
but TCD have quoted £199 its a hard one but i think we will go with charter travel through here
i know where we are with them!! but then i do love to save money!!!
and with charter thats all meals and drinks, as with virgin
we have collected 8.000 points each so far so maybe just let them accumalate for a while and use for next year?
[/quote]
Liesa I have booked M + Money fares with Virgin for September 10 for £307 pp inc. all taxes. I just checked for your dates and the cost came out at £322.90 inc. all taxed plus 2000 miles - this was with VAs website so can't understand why you have a higher cost.
Jill
wrightbuxton
30-06-2005, 00:23
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by gail and david roberts
This will be are 5 time with this company
and yes I have heared alot of very un happy Villa owners
saying they wouldnt go with them again
but until we have a bad flight from them
We will keep a open mind,
I have always found the staff very nice and helpful
we have only been delayed once last August(weather)24 hours
and we didnt get into the Lounge at sanford , we check in and removed some over night things and off we went to the florida mall Hotel
buses waiting out side to take us there
all meals Paid for and telphone Cards given out
I must say it was a nice end to our Holiday
and it was nice not to wash all the bedding in the morning (men will not understand that bit girls)
we had time to shop in the mall and the Buses came for us at 11am
[/quote]
We must have been on the same flight as you Gail. We also enjoyed our extra night in Florida. The Florida Mall Hotel would have been pretty quiet that night without us all.
We have flown with TCD a few times and although they are not as good as Virgin, they are certainly not the worst. You could also check into the lounge at Sanford called (I think) The Gateway, there are PCs to use, PS2s and a games room for the kids, a quiet lounge, free drinks and snacks - it makes your last few hours in Florida more enjoyable before you board your flight home. You can check into the lounge on the day and I think the price is around $20 (this includes 2 free alcoholic drinks).
andrewmckay5
30-06-2005, 01:03
Liesa,
remember all the concern and worry you had about flying with Virgin last time and the posts about it? Well at least if you stick with Virgin its the devil you know.
Worth double checking whhat that £199 includes especially on the insurances on the car hire front.
andrew
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LiesaAnna
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
Liesa
The other option is to phone Virgin and see if there are any Miles plus money offers for your dates, for 2000 miles you get a discounted price but it just depends on dates how much cheaper it is.
I think with TCD you may also have to pay for meals?
[/quote]
we have included miles plus money it would be £502 for our dates 29th sept for a fortnight
but charter (we can earn points with them but not spend them with them)
they quoted £370 per person
but TCD have quoted £199 its a hard one but i think we will go with charter travel through here
i know where we are with them!! but then i do love to save money!!!
and with charter thats all meals and drinks, as with virgin
we have collected 8.000 points each so far so maybe just let them accumalate for a while and use for next year?
[/quote]
We looked at TCD but found their car hire too expensive. Flights were the same as other charter airlines.
sunny guy
01-07-2005, 00:41
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
[/quote]
Thank you someone else who thinks along the same lines as I do!! The whole ethos of the company is awful[msnmad]
Lucy,
I thought you were part of their FAN CLUB[msneek]
OOPS! We are booked on a flight of theirs July! Have read the comments and even taking into account the car hire which we could have got for half the price, it still seems a good buy! Will let you know on return if it was worth paying less!
Karen
LiesaAnna
01-07-2005, 11:32
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by jillizzy
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by LiesaAnna
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
Liesa
The other option is to phone Virgin and see if there are any Miles plus money offers for your dates, for 2000 miles you get a discounted price but it just depends on dates how much cheaper it is.
I think with TCD you may also have to pay for meals?
[/quote]
we have included miles plus money it would be £502 for our dates 29th sept for a fortnight
but charter (we can earn points with them but not spend them with them)
they quoted £370 per person
but TCD have quoted £199 its a hard one but i think we will go with charter travel through here
i know where we are with them!! but then i do love to save money!!!
and with charter thats all meals and drinks, as with virgin
we have collected 8.000 points each so far so maybe just let them accumalate for a while and use for next year?
[/quote]
Liesa I have booked M + Money fares with Virgin for September 10 for £307 pp inc. all taxes. I just checked for your dates and the cost came out at £322.90 inc. all taxed plus 2000 miles - this was with VAs website so can't understand why you have a higher cost.
Jill
[/quote]
Jill, last week i went into the VA website and they were offering the same flights for £312 per eprson with miles + money when i gathered everyones money together to pay for flights they went back up to £378 i think it said!, that was just the difference from 9am to the following day!!!
i think we will book virgin but through charter travel above, we will get a decent flight (we hope) and we know roughly the leg room, we know the food etc...... better the devil you know, think your right Andrew!!
we will then earn points through virgin for our next trip, and may have a nice amount for an upgrade on seats???
thanx all for your help
blue nose
01-07-2005, 14:09
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
[/quote]as you may know most travel companies quote there lowest available prices,mostly out of peak season.I have just booked for FEB/06 £1598 for 4 adults one teen,flights and car hire.With my beloved TRAVEL CITY DIRECT.HAPPY DAYS[msnwink]
Robert5988
01-07-2005, 15:00
Add my name to those who dislike the whole 'modus operandi' of TCD.
martin_hutchinson
01-07-2005, 19:15
We've flown with TCD from Manchester a few times and have booked to travel with them again in September. We've found that although they aren't one of the best (very basic, no individual tv's etc) they are good value for money, you get what you pay for. We've never had any delays and have found the company to be fine although the travel city direct planes have generally been better than the air atlanta planes in terms of quality.
Rachel
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by domster
Lucy,
I thought you were part of their FAN CLUB[msneek]
[/quote]
[laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh][laugh] I could start a hate club!!!![sick][sick][sick][sick][sick][sick][sick]
we booked my friend and her husband on TCD last year for their honeymoon all was fine and we have booked for next August 2006 it came to about 3,600 for 7 adults inc car hire for 7 people. If you go on to their web sit ***and pick the holiday type section and go to fly drive it gives you a quote on line with insurance details and everything. They currently have a low deposit scheme as well I think. Another friend has just booked for OCT half term this year and got the flights at £438 each.
sunny guy
01-07-2005, 21:22
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blue nose
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
[/quote]as you may know most travel companies quote there lowest available prices,mostly out of peak season.I have just booked for FEB/06 £1598 for 4 adults one teen,flights and car hire.With my beloved TRAVEL CITY DIRECT.HAPPY DAYS[msnwink]
[/quote]
I don't mind travel companies quoting lowest prices but they actually don't seem to do that as you have to have the add on's.
Give the lowest price including everything and I would be fine. It's just a lack of basic honesty to me and they will never get my money, I would rather pay more to a more upfront company.
TCD can be expensive and their standard of service is very variable, £438 for October 1/2 term seems high to me, we got flights with Aer Lingus for £258 each (3 adults 1 child), even adding the 7 seater mpv I usually get with full gold insurance option only brings it to £350 each.
blue nose
01-07-2005, 21:54
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blue nose
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
[/quote]as you may know most travel companies quote there lowest available prices,mostly out of peak season.I have just booked for FEB/06 £1598 for 4 adults one teen,flights and car hire.With my beloved TRAVEL CITY DIRECT.HAPPY DAYS[msnwink]
[/quote]
I don't mind travel companies quoting lowest prices but they actually don't seem to do that as you have to have the add on's.
Give the lowest price including everything and I would be fine. It's just a lack of basic honesty to me and they will never get my money, I would rather pay more to a more upfront company.
[/quote]every company add things on e.g. meals drinks alcahol/soft,some even charge for headphones, these are all included in the price with TRAVEL CITY.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blue nose
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blue nose
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
[/quote]as you may know most travel companies quote there lowest available prices,mostly out of peak season.I have just booked for FEB/06 £1598 for 4 adults one teen,flights and car hire.With my beloved TRAVEL CITY DIRECT.HAPPY DAYS[msnwink]
[/quote]
I don't mind travel companies quoting lowest prices but they actually don't seem to do that as you have to have the add on's.
Give the lowest price including everything and I would be fine. It's just a lack of basic honesty to me and they will never get my money, I would rather pay more to a more upfront company.
[/quote]every company add things on e.g. meals drinks alcahol/soft,some even charge for headphones, these are all included in the price with TRAVEL CITY.
[/quote]
Not Virgin or BA[msnsmile2]
blue nose
01-07-2005, 22:58
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blue nose
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blue nose
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sunny guy
To be honest after looking at their prices in national newspapers and then having my jaw drop at the actuall price it's going to cost I would not use them. For me it's the worst type of advertising which should not be allowed.
I would not give them the trade on moral grounds alone.
[/quote]as you may know most travel companies quote there lowest available prices,mostly out of peak season.I have just booked for FEB/06 £1598 for 4 adults one teen,flights and car hire.With my beloved TRAVEL CITY DIRECT.HAPPY DAYS[msnwink]
[/quote]
I don't mind travel companies quoting lowest prices but they actually don't seem to do that as you have to have the add on's.
Give the lowest price including everything and I would be fine. It's just a lack of basic honesty to me and they will never get my money, I would rather pay more to a more upfront company.
[/quote]every company add things on e.g. meals drinks alcahol/soft,some even charge for headphones, these are all included in the price with TRAVEL CITY.
[/quote]
Not Virgin or BA[msnsmile2]
[/quote] virgin lowest economy fare. MAN-MCO 5 adults 9 feb to 23 feb 06 £2,678.50 . No car.
BA man-mco via chicago lowest economy fare. 5 adults 9 feb to 23 feb 06 £2,680. No car. Do the maths. [msncry]
TRAVEL CITY MAN-SFB whith fully inclusive car- hire. 09 to 23 feb. 4 adults 1 teen £1598. HAPPY DAYS[clap][clap][clap][clap][clap][clap][clap][clap][clap][clap][clap]
DarrenShort
01-07-2005, 23:02
We flew with TCD in May from Manchester - had no complaints, although we were on the upper deck - we would definately recommend them again.
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
01-07-2005, 23:10
Let's not have another Mach 2 vs Blue Nose TCD vs Virgin argument - it's been done to death plenty of times before and the upshot was everyone has different opinions and what is good for one person is not necessarily good for another.
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
Let's not have another Mach 2 vs Blue Nose TCD vs Virgin argument - it's been done to death plenty of times before and the upshot was everyone has different opinions and what is good for one person is not necessarily good for another.
[/quote]
Ok boss no problems[msnwink]
Lucy,
I double dare you!!!!!!!!!!!!![msntongue]
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by domster
Lucy,
I double dare you!!!!!!!!!!!!![msntongue]
[/quote]
No I'm going to be a good girl[angel][angel][angel][angel][angel]!!!!
Everyone knows my views well enough by now[msnwink][msnwink][msnwink][msnwink]
Steve and Dawn
04-07-2005, 01:35
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Mach 2
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by domster
Lucy,
I double dare you!!!!!!!!!!!!![msntongue]
[/quote]
No I'm going to be a good girl[angel][angel][angel][angel][angel]!!!!
Everyone knows my views well enough by now[msnwink][msnwink][msnwink][msnwink]
[/quote]
Yes and I totally agree with you Lucy. anyway nuff said[msnwink]