Travel City Direct have been acquired by the Avion Group

[intheknow2486]

The Really Great Holiday Company (RGH) who trade as Travel City Direct (TCD) have been acquired by the Avion Group. Big changes are to take place within TCD and their flights will improve now Avion are in charge. Trust me I’m in the know. See Avion's website (aviongroup.is) for the official press release.

If anyone has booked a holiday with TCD then do not panic as nothing has changed except the person that owns the company, your holiday is safe. This is a good thing for TCD as Avion will invest money in the company and has the expertise to improve the quality of TCD's own flights.

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Should be pretty good for them. I like TCD, booked through them a few times over the years....fortunately not when they were "Liberty World Travel" though !!!

 

[Netty]

yep, i have heard about this isnt it being bought by air atlanta /excel?

 

[Gaspode]

Hiya,

I just booked with TCD for the first time yesterday.....we go in September.... is there anything I should be aware of?

Thanks for the info!
Gaspodé

 

[intheknow2486]

The following is some info copied from Avion's website which gives you some info on how they were formed, in short yes Air Atlanta and Exel are both part of the group.

"Avion is a global transport solutions group founded on 1 January 2005.

The company is formed of two business divisions - aviation and shipping and logistics. The aviation activities are represented by a merger of Icelandic airlines, Air Atlanta Icelandic and Islandsflug together with handling service provider SouthAir. In addition, leisure travel service provider, Exel Airways Group forms part of this division as well as maintenance service provider, Avia Technical Services. There are currently 67 Boeing and Airbus aircraft in the fleet with a total number of 3,200 employees involved in our aviation activities. The shipping and logistics division is represented by Eimskip, the prime maritime transportation company in Iceland, with its fleet of 18 ships, supported by 1,200 people at 50 operational bases."

For those of you who have booked a holiday or are planning to book a holiday with TCD nothing has changed at all and you have nothing to worry about. Everyone in control of your holiday is still at TCD, all that’s changed is the management line-up at the very top of the company.

Exciting things are going to happen at TCD so watch this space.....from the guy intheknow.

 

[brer rabbit 28]

hi there guy in the know......so how do you know?!!!

 

[intheknow2486]

Now that would be telling

However as the name suggests I am a guy on the inside

 

[intheknow2486]

I may even be a gurl on the inside

 

[Netty]

obviously a disgruntled ex tcd employee.....

 

[intheknow2486]

Hi Netty,

Yes I am a TCD employee, still work at TCD and are very happy. I just wanted to reassure everyone that they have nothing to worry about as I don’t believe we have communicated well enough with our clients and the public about the take over, we haven’t even posted a statement on our website. This seemed the best place to do that, TCD are aware of disboards and we always take on board peoples comments good or bad. The main problem we have had at TCD is lack of investment, Avion have the finances behind them to invest in TCD and improve its services.

The reason for all the secrecy is because officially employees at TCD are not allowed to post messages on disboards and I don’t want to lose my job.

Regards
ITK

 

[Netty]

thanks for your honesty!
i'm aware that tcd and other travel companies read the posts on the dis and the dibb. if it helps answer peoples questions and put their minds at rest then thats good.

 

[uktigger]

hi
thats good news i am seriously thinking of booking with TCD as they were working out £700 cheaper than virgin for exactly the same holiday so now i'm thinking i should ignore the not so positive reports and go and book

eve

 

[brer rabbit 28]

good for you ITC!thanks for sharing with us.I use TCD everytime i go to Florida and i think they are pretty good,have never had any trouble yet.I think it's a shame when people focus on the negative so much.

 

[nicknsara]

sorry brer i have to disagree with you

we travelled with tcd last year.we were unfortunate to be given a air atlanta charter instead.this flight and plane were an absolute disgrace.the plane was filthy, full sick bags everywhere,toiletes not working and they even forgot to load drinks!!!.the cabin crew were rude and those that did speak english were rude.the landing at sanford was the worst i have ever known.i will always remeber the pilots name CAPTAIN OLSEN.i too am an ex BRITISH AIRWAYS employee and i do know my planes etc.this flight should never have even taken off!!!.i do hope TCD do not become AIR ATLANTA.i will never board another flight of theres.

after reading the dis boards we are trying tcd again in the hope this was isolated incident.the civil aviation authority had 7 complaints after that flight.

unfortunately staff are embargode to fly into orlando,miami or tampa when we are going with BA. so we wil try tcd again

its not negativitve reaction brer its the truth as it happened with us

 

[Netty]

when we last went with tcd we were on a air atlanta plane, and i agree it was awful! one of the passengers said it was like stepping back on to a freddy laker plane it was that old!
hopefully, tcd will note all the complaints about this and may do something about it, or maybe not who knows

 

[intheknow2486]

Hi Guys,

When TCD first had a plane done up in the TCD colours we (the staff) all went on a short flight from Cardiff as some sort of celebration. Well I can definitely agree with Nick’s comments, the plane itself was clean (not in Nicks case I know but it hadn’t gone into service yet) but the galleys looked like you were stepping back in time and I kept looking for Dr Who and his Tardis - lol! Then on the flight itself air masks fell down on take-off and landing, screaming staff everywhere, so we do know what its like - honest! The two planes we are currently using are better yet I don’t know what the comments are as the customer relations department is not in my building so have no idea how good or bad the planes are at the moment.

Nick I can remember that flight you talked about as all the staff were talking about it (bit like Eastenders – lol!) that was a particularly bad flight and you wont experience anything like that again.

TCD managers usually take a look to see what comments have been posted and do take those comments on board, whether or not they do anything is anyone’s guess.

Well have a great weekend guys, I’m working so if anyone has any questions or concerns just reply back on here and I’ll be happy to do what I can to help.

ITK

 

[brer rabbit 28]

sorry brer i have to disagree with you

we travelled with tcd last year.we were unfortunate to be given a air atlanta charter instead.this flight and plane were an absolute disgrace.the plane was filthy, full sick bags everywhere,toiletes not working and they even forgot to load drinks!!!.the cabin crew were rude and those that did speak english were rude.the landing at sanford was the worst i have ever known.i will always remeber the pilots name CAPTAIN OLSEN.i too am an ex BRITISH AIRWAYS employee and i do know my planes etc.this flight should never have even taken off!!!.i do hope TCD do not become AIR ATLANTA.i will never board another flight of theres.

Gosh,i'm sorry to hear you had such a bad flight.I agree if that happened to me i would be reluctant to use them again.I was simply commenting because i have never had a bad experience with them,didn't want to offend anyone

 

[brer rabbit 28]

Hey there in the know,hope you had good weekend!
just a quick question for you.can you tell me if there is a huge diffrence between sunshine first and premium?i have opted for the latter this year cos of money,but was hoping that the seats will still be better than economy. waddya think?

 

[nicknsara]

HEY NO PROBLEM BRER.YOU NEVER OFFENDED ME .IT WAS JUST OURE EXP[ERIENCE.WE ARE GOING ON TCD AGAIN ION OCTOBER HOPE ALLS WELL THIS TIME,

NICK N SARA

 

[nicknsara]

HIYA INSIDER HOPE THE WEEKEND WAS GOOD

WE HAVE BOOKED WITH TCD IN OCTOBER AND WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT YOURE THOUGHTS ARE ON THIS SERVICE?.

WE ARE GPOING FROM GATWICK!!!

JUST HOPE ITS NOT A PLANE CHANGE AND A AN AIR ATLANTA FLIGHT!!

ANY OTHER THOUGHTS OR RECOMMENDATIONS FROM YOU BE VERY PLEASED TO HEAR

THANKS

NICK N SARA