theenchanted1,

Refer to my trip reports on page 47 (you'll get a feel for the differences). I agree with the others. I don't think the premium upgrade is value for money unless you need the extra bit of legroom. The kids certainly won't appreciate it. SCP is nice, but star class is very nice and the extra bits and peices such as express check-in and the complimentary drinks come at a high price. I personally think FCA are the best charter airline and as joan123 says, they offer better service than many of the more expensive schedule carriers.

Darren

It is very true about losing the benefit of extra leg room in SCP. In December my o.h. and I flew to Goa in SCP; although we had seats at the rear bulkhead and therefore could recline our seats a bit, the woman in front of me decided to recline her seat fully. She was most upset when I complained to the cabin crew that I could not eat my meal because her head rest was in my way and she was forced to put her seat in the upright position. As she didn't want to eat throughout the flight, she thought is was ok to recline her seat fully for the entire flight. Prior to the flight we saw her in the same airport lounge as us and to get her £17.50 worth she spent her time there stuffing her face with nuts/crisps and drinking several very large glasses of brandy. As a consequence she was very sleepy and thought she could sleep the entire way. On reflection, I suspect she was scared of flying and dosing herself up with brandy was her way of coping.

One good thing we have noticed about SCP is that we have never had to wait too long to use the lavatory, whereas when we do not upgrade there are more people queuing in the aisles. On the way back from Goa, so many people were using the toilets in Star Class that two of them became blocked.

Overall, I would say that it is nice to have free drinks throughout the flight, your meals on china plates, loads of films to watch, and have priority boarding on the way out, however, you only get 3 extra kilos of luggage, and you can pay £5 to upgrade your entertainment system (if you are not in SCP), but I don't really think what we got was worth the £230 each we paid for the upgrade. I don't think we had much in the way of alcoholic drinks on the flight out, but we did have a lot of soft drinks to keep hydrated. I don't know how much drinks cost, but I guess we could always buy alcoholic drinks on the plane but take our own bottles of mineral water with us (bought in the departure lounge).

We are going to fly F.C. later on in the year, but we are not upgrading unless F.C. can offer us a good price.

Dazbo....thanx so much for that.

£1400 is a LOT of money, and I have to say that one of the reasons we chose a First Choice holiday was because we were impressed with the service on offer in star class.
We are travelling to a premier family hotel, so we already have our seats booked and did'nt have to pay for that privilege!! My OH is 6ft 3" so can we book extra legroom seats for him at a supplement then??
Also when the seats are booked together, do you know the seat numbers or is that not until you check in???
Soz for all the questions

I'll put £100 to one side and use that for inflight drinks and snacks instead, and the rest can go towards spending money....so much more sensible

theenchanted1,

It depends how old your kids are. They aren't permitted to sit in exit / emergency exit rows. The age quoted by FCA for these seats is 20-65. Pre-booked seating just means you'll get seats together, sometimes seperated by an isle. You'll get seat numbers when you check-in.

Darren

Hi Darren,

Ideally I'd book a extra legroom seat for hubby, then hopefully we would be able to sit behind him?
The kids are'nt old enough.
I'll call First Choice and see what they say.
By the way your photos are great ..... just had a peek at a few

Thanx for your help

theenchanted1,

Might be worth giving them a call as you say, there's no reason why you can't sit in say 20A/B and the kids sit in 21A/B if they don't mind being behind you.

Darren

I spent last night costing up two possible holiday destinations (Kerala/Goa) through First Choice. Out of curiosity, I thought I would see how much it would cost to upgrade. I couldn't believe it, it is so much more expensive. Whereas in the past we have paid a maximum of £250 each for upgrading, F.C. now want an extra £350 each for a holiday to Kerala and an extra £415 each for a holiday to Goa. How can it cost that much more than before? Is it possible that if you book your holiday without the upgrade the cost of the upgrade gradually reduces as it gets closer to your holiday (provided they have the seats of course)?

It does happen that reduced SCP seats become available closer to departure - but don't gamble on it.

Some of the reason that the price has gone up so much is the departure tax - as in SCP you have to pay the "upgrade" rate of tax (which is the same as you would pay travelling on BA first Class!!) - that bit at least is out of the hands of FC - but if some people are prepared to pay that much for the upgrade, I guess business sense decrees it would be foolish not to attempt to make a bigger profit - market forces at work!! Personally I certainly wouldn't pay that sort of price - Star class is an excellent product and don't think the upgrade is worth it!

sydney,

You'll probably find the average cost of a long haul holiday has increased by a good 10-20% over the last 12 months. This is partly due to increases in costs, eg fuel, taxes, but with all the mergers, there is less capacity (ie number of seats on planes) than there used to be. With the same demand but less capacity, it's driven prices up a bit. I agree with TAH-M, stick with star class and use the rest to put towards a posher hotel or spending money.

Darren

Thank you Tah-M & Darren. I will put the cost of the upgrade towards a better hotel.

Hi there,
We're flying FCA to Sanford Florida from Manchester on 11th May 08 4 adults 3 children. We paid £110 to pre-book all of our seats, we asked for window seats seated together {ie 4 window seats}. Is this guarented to be window seats or it it still first come first served at check in and is it still best to get there early ?
Also my son is Autistic and only eats certain foods, will I be allowed to take him a packed lunch {without liquids} onto the flight ?

Thanks

Lyndsey

LyndseyJ,

Pre-booking just ensures your party will be seated together. There's no guarantee you'll get that many window seats. Pre-booked seats are normally allocated prior to check-in and you can't change them. You can take foods onboard no problem as long as there's nothing on the restricted list for going through security.

Darren

Thanks Darren x

Hi All,
We are flying out to Salou in June with First Choice and have opted for the pre bookable seats but no meals (the prebookable seats because my mum and i hate flying and havnt for the past 5 years, so we dont want to get to the airport too early!) and the no meals as the flight is at 6am and will probably be to nervous to eat anyway. I have just read on another website that if you opt for no meals then you get seats at the back on the plane, does anyone know if this is true ? .

I am so glad i've come across this form it is so informative. Any help would be great from all you knowledgable people out there.

It does seem to be the case that they put the people that have pre-booked meals at the front all together to make it easier for the flight attendants to serve them.

But I think on a short hop like Salou you will find that very few people book meals, so rather than being at the back of the plane you may well be in the middle.

I went to Salou with FC last August and it only seemed like the first half dozen rows had bothered with meals.

Fingers crossed for you and your Mum, hope it goes well. It is a very short flight.

Doe

with regards to the Goa flight costings, You don't mention which airport you are flying from but First Choice have four flights a week to Goa next winter (EMA/BHX/LGW/MAN) The BHX departure- Thomson and Thomas cook have an allocation on that flight- so try booking the same holiday with them, on their website. You will be on the same aircraft,
EMA doesn't sell as quickly and therefore on the whole EMA-GOI flights are cheaper- take a look the last few flights out of EMA at the moment are rock bottom- I got a price for last weeks flight for £400 for a weeks holiday- didn't take it in the end.

If you are nearer MAN and LGW- try the competitors usually you can get Monarch premium for the same price as Thomson or First Choice economy and Thomas cook also have the same legroom in economy as FC/TOM. You won't spend much in Goa so premium is worth it in my opinion- and its such a long horrendous flight on your body.

sparki,

For logistical reasons, passengers who have opted for meals get seated towards the front of the aircraft. This ensures all those passengers are in one area of the aircraft to make it easier serving the meal. If you haven't booked meals, you'll be seated further back. Cabin crew have a copy of the passenger manifest with who and who hasn't pre-ordered meals to make sure those who have paid for meals get them, and those who haven't don't.

Darren

thanks Doe and Darren,
now do i book meals or just take a chance

sparki,

You can always buy something in the airport and take it with you if you don't want the pre-bookable meal.

Darren