Whos the best airline to fly with???

[buzz for boys]

Hi,
We have just returned from holiday to Florida with Virgin we are now planning to go back. We had the most excellent sevice with virgin but it is very expensive. who would others reccomend ?? I believe that the flight is the most important part of the holiday as a stressful flight is not good so we are looking for a carrier with seatback tvs and good customer service. We are really hoping that there are lots of people who have been loads of times that give honest opinions on the carriers and if need be we will stick with virgin but wanted to research others first.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Peebee]

Hi Louise. We've been a few times with Virgin & BA, plus American and United. These last two were both indirect and with three kids i'm thinking that's an extra hassle you don't need!

Virgin and BA have usually been pretty comparable to be honest, although we've only ever travelled in standard economy. Both have seatback TVs, kiddie packs, etc and most of the time the prices are fairly similar too. The clincher for Virgin however is the twilight check-in at Gatwick and Downtown Disney check-in in Orlando - it can really reduce the hassle on the first and last days of the holiday (I believe BA are now offering something similar in the UK, but not so far in Florida).

I guess you'd be travelling via Manchester so twilight at Gatwick isn't much use, but Virgin and BA both offer online check-in for 24 hours ahead now so that might be useful too.

Hope your next trip is even better than the last

Paul

 

[Hilary]

We've flown to Florida with BA, Virgin and Britannia, and all of these have been direct flights.

If price / dates / availability / local airport / etc. weren't important considerations for us then my vote would go to BA - but by a very slim margin. As it is, we book according to the best balaance of all those factors and take whichever airline can give us the flight we want.

But if the flight was the most important part of the holiday to me, I think I'd probably spend extra on upgrading with Virgin or BA, and I'd avoid an indirect flight because I wouldn't want the extra hassle (although others enjoy the chance for a break!).


Have fun planning

 

[angel659]

Hi

I have flown with Britannia and My Travel to Florida, this year is my first time I will have flown with Virgin. Anyway My Travel were excellent they had seat back TV and the cabin creew were really great. When my dd and I arrived at Gatwick we were told the TA did not book us any meals (Going Places), We booked flight only and booked All Star seperately. so I was annoyed and said well what am I supposed to do on a 9 hour flight with a child. They suggested I spoke to the cabin crew and buy some food incase they dont have any spare. They will charge us something like £10.00 each. My dh was with me at gatwick, but he didnt come as I wanted to be with my daughter to bond, as I had twin boys and we kept argueing anyway so my dh bought us some food and gave us some money incase they had any meals. You can only buy so much for a long haul flight. We boarded the plane and I spoke to the cabin crew and they said they would let me know. They came back and said yes they have the meals for us and would not accept any money from me. They did this both times and I was very surprised with the service. Onlyprob with charter flight is that you have to pay for drinks. Apparently Virgin flights include drinks this will be handy as we drink loads of water and my dh drinks loads of coke. Sorry to ramble on and on. I hope this all makes sense.

I was not impressed with Britannia and would never fly with them or JMC. We flew to MExico with JMC and the flight was awful. It was a DC10 and the air con didnt work properly and they had no seat back TV. The entertainment was poor. I have had family who upgraded on Britannia who flew to Dom Rep and they had a bad experience. My mums TV didnt work and my aunts chair didnt work (would recline) and had prob with channels on TV. My mum couldnt get anything.

I hope this helps

 

[Frances999]

I have flown with both Virgin (PE) + (UCS) and BA (WT+) and in my opinion Virgin Atlantic is far superior.

The cabin crew always seem more helpful and prompt on Virgin flights, and the inflight entertainiment is (in my opinion) better than what BA offer. Food wise, they are both bad -- but the snacks (such as ice cream) offered on Virgin is far better than on BA in my opinion. Plus, as already mentioned, you get Twilight Check-In plus Downtown Disney check-in with Virgin Atlantic.