Not going! - Advice for next year?

[phaedra]

Well it's official, we aren't going back this year

We were hoping to go later this month and use our AP's before they run out in December but having spent the last couple of months trying to arrange an extra few days off school for the kids (without it interferring with our eldests exams next year) and finally getting it we then found we couldn't get a flight from Newcastle or Teeside with a Premium upgrade available, even for just 1 seat

Being 6'6' with osteo-arthritis in both knees means a guaranteed exit seat or miniumum 34' seat pitch is crucial to me getting there in any sort of fit state!. Travelling further to say Manchester or Glasgow airports is also a non-starter as my wife doesn't drive and the longest I can manage is about 30/45mins in the car.

Adding the wonderful joy that is IBS into the equation also means that any kind of travel is becoming increasingly difficult, I can't even take the kids to school without it kicking in and going anywhere normally means a large dose (4 to 6!) of Imodium 2 or 3 hours before I even try and travel mind you, once it kicks in I'm fine for about 10 hours and for some reason when we're in sunny Florida the IBS almost stops anyway, perhaps my doctor would recommend me living there on the NHS

We could get scheduled flights via Amsterdam (which we did last December) but they all now have an additional stop at Memphis or Dulles etc. for some reason which adds another 3 or 7 hours to the journey time, shortest we could manage scheduled was to be leaving Newcastle at 06:15 and getting into Orlando at 20:30 (01:30AM GMT) so a 22 1/2 hour total travel time (leaving for airport about 4AM).

Does anyone know a carrier or tour operator who will pre-book premium or extra leg room for a holiday late next year?, KLM have a very good section on their web site about their disabled travellers facilities but failed to respond to any of my emails asking for seating consideration on their flights!.

Ideally we would love to go around the October 1/2 term or Christmas period when it's quieter and cooler, we went in April/May this year and it was quite busy to say the least

[supersneak]

Have you tried Kuoni? Their holidays include regional flights to London. They use Virgin or BA scheduled flights. Flew from Aberdeen-Gatwick-Orlando this year. Enjoyed it so much, we've already booked for next year.

[blott]

I don't know any airline will actually 'guarantee' you extra leg room seats although I do know that if you have a doctor's letter, they will take it into consideration at check-in. The reasoning behind this is because there may be someone who may turn up with more pressing medical requirements (ie both legs in full length plaster casts?) so things may well get changed at the last minute.

The one airline which did actually stick to what they said on the phone when I rang customer services and actually booked particular seats for both outward and return journeys (I have a doctor's letter) was US Airways but they don't fly from Newcastle.

I take it you've tried the charter airlines flying from Newcastle? Can you get seats from Newcastle on an internal flight to somewhere else where you can get a connection for Orlando? Can you get flights to somewhere else in the US, have an overnight stopover somewhere there and fly on to Orlando the following day?

[fiona]

American Airlines have a 34" pitch, but they only fly from Heathrow and you would to have a hopper. If you can get a cheap flight from Newcastle this might be feasible, but you are going to have a very long days travel unless you have a break somewhere.

Have you tried their website: http://www.aa.com/

I assume you have tried all the usuals, www.opodo.co.uk, www.flynow.com, www.e-bookers.com, www.tellmelgobaltraveller.com?

[Lesley S]

AA fly from Manchester airport (might be easier for you to get to here by car) and then change at Chicargo.

[phaedra]

Thanks for the replies

We tried the usual charter flights, TCD managed to get us premier seating last April with Thomas Cook direct from Newcastle which was ideal but nothing was available for this month, they couldn't even find any on flights from Manchester. The other alternative was t get a short Easy Jet flight to Belfast but again no premier seting available and mostly Air2000 flights with 28" seat pitch!.

Blott, yes, we looked at alternative US flights but most flights from Newcastle seem to route through Amsterdam or Paris and we end up with long delays again, I'll look at spending an extra night to break the journey but with IBS a single long trip is the better option as taking six Imodium causes problems the following couple of days

Martinair gave me exit row seating last December on production of a doctors note (£25!) and it was arranged by email about 6 weeks before we flew, unfortunately I can't find any flights with them in October and for December flights they now seem to fly via Memphis or Dulles and not direct to Orlando as they did last December.


Lesley, I'll have another look at AA from Manchester, I have friends in Sheffield so if I can get there I can get a lift to/from the airport.

Once again thanks for the replies, I'm off to start clearing out our bedroom so my wife can paint etc. as I now live in it 95% of the time and it's getting "a bit cluttered" or in other words you can't see the carpet for all my junk

[Gillian-B]

Jeff - the problem with exit rows is that many airlines won't pre-allocate them because you have to be 100% fit in case you have to open the doors.

I've just booked some flights with BA for my Mum and as she has arthritis too (and a knee replacement last year) and they have pre-allocated the bulk-head seats.

If you can get "internal" flights from the north-east to London, BA will try to help as much as they can, but you may not get an answer on the seat request unless you have made a booking (catch 22!) - always worth asking though.

Good luck.

[phaedra]

Quick update,

I looked at flights from other UK airports using AA, most flights from Manchester went via Gatwick anyway!, and the ones I did find also had a change of flights in New York landing at JFK and then flying from La Guardia to Orlando giving an 18 hour day (plus travel to Manchester or London).

I decided to see what TCD could offer in Sunshine 1st but there's no availability for October or December [:0] anyway, after a lengthy conversation with a nice young lady called Carla the best we could come up with was a standard December fly-drive with a 3 bed villa at Clear Creek inc. pool heating & 7 seater MPV with 1 absolutely guaranteed extra legroom exit row/bulkhead seat at £2415 for December 6th from Manchester Now all I have to do is try to get to Manchester in one piece, even going by train direct to the airport from Newcastle takes 4 hours!!!, it only takes 3 hours to go to London!.

Miriam (my wife) is looking forward to asking the school if we can change the kids extra holiday dates from October to December, she seemed really pleased when I asked her to do it

[lisi]

Hi. Not sure if it is any help. I have disabilities too - both hips replaced so do have problems with seats. We flew this time with BA and their special needs department were very helpful - got the wheelchair treatment no problem and I fancied the seats had more room. Had bulkhead seats - we flew to Tampa and then drove to Crescent Lakes. On the return the plane was not full so they let us change to whatever seats we wished. I think BA were heaps better than Virgin although both of them were very helpful over the phone regarding special needs and Virgin do have a twilight check in. Flying to Tampa seemed less crowded than Orlando and it is only 75 minutes down the road so to speak.

Lisi