Who do you choose to fly with and why?

[blott]

As you're going from Manchester, any flight apart from Virgin is going to be an indirect one. We find indirect flights are really good and no problems at all. If you're not going with BA, then you change planes in a US city and go through Immigration, Customs, etc there so, when you arrive in Florida, there are no delays at all as you'll arrive on a domestic flight.

[Jo]

Can definitely get gluten free meals on BA - we booked them for our flights last summer via the BA website. 2 coeliacs in the family and nice meals were provided.

It is always hit and miss on flights as to whether the meals turn up ,( or they accidentally give them to someone else). I always eat before I get on the plane and take a bag of snacks in case it doesn't show.

I wouldn't book my airline just on the basis of the special meals though , because even the most reliable airline gets it wrong occaionally

[julieanne]

From Manchester the reasons we've chosen Virgin are direct flights to Orlando airport, flexilibility of flights 6 days a week and not being restricted to 7 or 14 night trips and also the convenience of DTD check in.
Reasons we've chosen First Choice - price!!!

[domster]

We have flown with Virgin and to be honest have seen the extras and service cut back. I thought it was just me until Mel also mentioned it on our last trip.

We flew PE on our last one as the price was reasonable and compared it to the Thomas cook PE we did the year before. Considering the Virgin flight was £200 more (for a similar sort of product), I was not impressed. Yes it was good, but not worth the extra £200 over the Thomas cook flight.

Now a lot of charter airlines offer more in Economy I wonder how many of the Scheduled airlines will pull their fingers out. You only have to look at all the adverts on TV this week telling us about their extra long legroom in Economy.

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by domster
We have flown with Virgin and to be honest have seen the extras and service cut back. I thought it was just me until Mel also mentioned it on our last trip.

We flew PE on our last one as the price was reasonable and compared it to the Thomas cook PE we did the year before. Considering the Virgin flight was £200 more (for a similar sort of product), I was not impressed. Yes it was good, but not worth the extra £200 over the Thomas cook flight.

Now a lot of charter airlines offer more in Economy I wonder how many of the Scheduled airlines will pull their fingers out. You only have to look at all the adverts on TV this week telling us about their extra long legroom in Economy.
[/quote]

Completely agree - if the charters offer good legroom in economy why pay extra for 'premium' economy? Especially as the latter fares will now attract the latest 100% hike in luxury departure tax.

[mizzy]

we have only been once so far and we flew with virgin, we were in economy and with special assistance we were extremely well looked after, sadly the downtown disney check in clerk messed up (genuine human error) on the way home and the flight back was none too pleasant[msnsad]

we have booked virgin prem economy for the next trip and using miles plus money we paid a good price but we are travelling back economy as not enough miles to go prem econ both ways

but back to your question who did we choose to fly with and why?

we choose virgin because they had won a queens award for excellence when it comes to accomodating people with disabilities and they came highly recommended by other families with children at my daughters special school having looked after their childrens needs so well, so it all came down to personal recommendation really

Mizzy

[MarkJan]

Mizzy, might I suggest flying economy on the way out and PE on the return?

[mizzy]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by MarkJan
Mizzy, might I suggest flying economy on the way out and PE on the return?
[/quote]

would that suggestion be based on the sleep better on the way back in bigger more roomy seats theory Mark?

if that's the thinking then sadly it wouldn't work for us as a family, my oldest child needs constant attention and sleeps for only a few hours at a time, she can also be a little disruptive and sometimes unpredicatable in confined spaces so there will be no chance of a sleep regardless where we sit[msnsad]

so we booked PE on the way out as a nice luxury for the start of our holiday[msnsmile]

thanks for the suggestion though

Mizzy

[andrewmckay5]

Virgin for us as we like to fly direct and from Gatwick.Tied in now with collecting the air miles and it means we can fly PE both ways at an affordable price. I'm 6'1" ad enjoy the extra leg room. Also they have always been very accommodating with my parents who don't get around so well.Our flight a couple of weeks ago was with the new PE service; not new seats yet but having 1 flight attendant for the 16 passengers in PE downstairs was much better than before. Always found them very helpful on the phone.
andrew