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We are 6 adults and 1 teenager hoping to book a villa holiday to Orlando and the Gulf coast for next July. We planned to fly charter from Cardiff as it it so convenient and seems to be much cheaper but I am a little concerned about the quality of service - ie being very cramped, no meals. We've flown with Virgin once and found that ok but far more expensive. any comments wil be appreciated.
athurstance
03-10-2003, 17:45
You're right that chartered are usually more cramped than scheduled but you obviously have to trade off the slightly lower service level with the convenience and cost.
If you fly direct from Cardiff you avoid the couple of hours travelling down to London by car or train so that cuts your overall journey time down.
Personally I prefer not to fly chartered as my first choice but we are flying chartered to Barbados in December because it is part of a package - it doesn't really worry me too much it is just a means to an end after all. I know it will be a little cramped but usually I find if I expect the worse it never seems that bad when I get on the plane.
Even scheduled airline food is terrible in my opinion. The only decent food we've ever had was on a BA flight to Barcelona otherwise I only eat the rolls and crackers and drink the fruit juice. I take snacks and drinks with me in a carrier bag and hand in anything that's left when we get off the plane.
However you get there its worth it - you'll have a great time.
What I think it boils down to is how much extra space and in-flight meals mean to you and how much additional money would you be prepared to pay for them?
If they're a mega important part of your holiday as a whole, then you need to weigh up the price differentials and decide whether they're that important to you.
However, if you just see your flight as a means of transport of getting to and from Florida (in much the same amount of time), then go for the cheaper option.
As home owners, we usually travel to Florida twice a year (I know, lucky us!) and don't mind a change of flight in USA to get to our destination on a scheduled flight. Have you looked at this option?
When you've checked every option out, then you'll have all the facts on which to base your decision, a decision that's right for you and your party.
We always fly Virgin, but we never eat the food, like Blott says take your own "snacks" and "drinks", that way you can eat what you like when you like, when children are hungary they want feeding now, and not when the fight attendants serve it.
Just remember that you must hand in any fruit / vegatables / meat and diary products before you land or you could end up with a fine.
You will get more rooom on a scheduled flight, but if you save enough money by going chartered, with a view of "spending" the saving when you are in Florida, then you may feel that putting up with slightly cramped conditions is worth it.
Also as mentioned, you'll cut your fight time down by 45 mins or so and you won't have the long trip to London to cope with.
Have you tried looking at flying to Tampa or Atlanta on a scheduled fight? It might be cheaper than flying to Orlando.
Tampa is only an hours drive from Orlando and if you are hiring a car then there is no problem getting across to Orlando.
Atlanta is a big airport and is around 1 hours flying time from Orlando, it might be cheaper to fly there and get an internal flight down to Orlando.
No doubt you will consider various options but in short which ever route you take it is well worth it when you get there, we have just come back from our 10th visit in 6 years and we are still as excited about our next trip in April '04 as we were about our 1st.
Any other questions or concerns then I am sure someone will be able to help.
DMC
I agree with the above
Depends on cost and legroom etc, We always fly scheduled if we can. More room. We fly
Virgin and love it. Must admit I like the food, but then in my job I fly around England
a lot and so am always eating airline food
Only issue we have is we are 6 miles from Heathrow, but that would mean a connection
flight and the wife doesnt like the idea, so we have to go from Gatwick.
Gillian-B
03-10-2003, 22:41
Scheduled is usually more comfortable with a slightly bigger seat pitch. However, I think the two UK scheduled airlines only offer at most about 3 inches more than charters and if there's a big cost and time saving in taking the Cardiff option, then it's only a 8-9 hour flight (and you can spend what you've saved when you get to Florida :D).
If you want to see seat pitches for different airlines, look at www.uk-air.net (select "Seat Pitch"). Check out American's pitch in economy . . .
As for the food, what I've had on charters to Europe can be just as good (or bad depending on what you think!) as on the scheduled airlines. Even if you don't eat on the plane, you can have a big breakfast before you go, take a couple of snacks for onboard and have a meal when you arrive (which will be a good way of keeping awake until bedtime).
The flights are an important factor to us, and as we usually have to fly down from Inverness we try to go direct from Gatwick to wherever in the States. In saying that, it isn't always possible and I would rather connect through an American hub than have to change from Gatwick to Heathrow (this probably applies more to other US destinations). The big advantage of connecting through a US hub is that you clear immigration and customs at that point, so when you arrive at your destination it is much quicker to get to the car hire desk and out.
When we fly out in December we are going with American via Dallas, the routing is horrendous and we have 50 minutes to make our connection!![:0] I really hope we make that as we will then arrive in MCO at 22.30, if not it will be 1.00am the next morning. The reason for doing this is the flight price was £600 for us and the add on fare with AA was cheaper than BA for the same BA UK domestic connection! The one saving grace with this routing was the seat pitch with AA, but I am a little concerned that the in-flight entertainment will dissapoint our kids.
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
04-10-2003, 05:39
Having just flown charter to Florida for the first time in my life (never been on a chater anywhere before) we found ti was not as bad as we expected. Granted the legroom was not great but it was not bad either. The food was surprisingly edible and the flight on-time.
In flight entertainment system was rubbish - badly positioned tiny screens at the front of the cabin and small drop down screens from the roof that gave you neck ache if you watched them for any length of time. Also the features were not too good and everyone had to watch the same thing.
Still, this was a last minute trip and Virgin were full so it was the only available direct flight.
The flights was full of children which is ok for us as we had our children with us too but if you are flying without children and are looking for a peaceful flights it might not be for you.
I have flown twice from Cardiff this year and it was fine. Returned home yesterday. The flight was 9 hours going out and just 7 hours 15 minutes soming home.During the last ten years I have mainly flown with virgin and BA from Gatwick. They are better but the convenience of being just 20 minutes from Cardiff airport means in future it is going to be Cardiff everytime.
Maureen Edwards
04-10-2003, 21:36
Julieb, I agree Cardiff is great for us South Wales based folks. They do only fly April - Oct, so out of season we have to go to Gatwick. But the drive back after the long flight is awful. Every time we have done it, we have always ended up in HUGE traffic jams.
Cardiff is around 30 mins for us and we had a taxi last time which was super.
OK, not so much leg room, but not too bad, unless your 6ft plus. We found the crew great, food awful, but I never like eating on a plane anyway.
In May we went with My travel and paid £189 all inclusive, so we certainly could not complain.
Back to Gatwick and BA for November, so will be travelling in style;)
All a means to an end, if charter was the only plane to get me there, I wouldn't hesitate.
sammibabe
04-10-2003, 22:19
At the moment we fly with Virgin because our youngest is 3. We don't want to risk dodgy inflight entertainment with a (can be stroppy[}:)])3 year old! The flight is to long for that. When she's older we will fly with whoever is cheapest particularly if there is a big difference and it means we can go more often:DLike has been said before it does depend on how you view the flight. Means to an end or an integral paart of the holiday.
Maureen
We booked just the flight and didn't pay for the awful meal. We had a good breakfast before boarding the 10.00 flight and had a packed lunch on the plane. I just wish they would operate the flight throughout the year as am sure there is a need for it, our flights in July and September were full both ways.
Maureen Edwards
05-10-2003, 00:36
Julieb, I agree, all year round would be great, we shall have to start a petition -YEAR ROUND FLIGHTS FROM CARDIFF, YEH,YEH,YEH[:I]
Whoops, got a bit carried away then. Good idea, not to pay for the meals and take a packed lunch and nibbles, I think I will do that next time.
Birmingham would be our second choice, but again no direct winter flights.
In November,we have decided to book coach from Newport Coach station, to Gatwick and then overnight at the Copthorne and coach back. It was £120 for two of us, so I think that is pretty good value and saves that awful drive home. [V]