Flight Only / Airline and Airports

Discussions relating to flight only, airlines and airports.
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Just to advise First Choice customers on an early flight to use the day before check in if possible, it was so quick. Parked up in short term parking area cost £4 , then went through to departures, took all of 30mins start to finish, ie back to car and out of airport.
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Going to PC on 31st July with 1st Choice. Flight is 09.55. What is the problem with check-in?
We always get to the airport early in any case, and usually there are people directing customers to the check-in desks. Was this not happening?
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Hi

Can anyone help please we are travelling with fca brs-ibz 26th Jul we have booked with thomson holidays through the skytours brochure I am concerned that we may only have 15kgs each I have contacted thomson and they said phone Fca spoke to a really dopey person who did not know.So does anyone know or will it be a case of waiitng till the tickets come. :tup
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Hi flying first choice airlines long haul to mexico 2 weeks today :) Does anyone know what films they are showing for july?
Just told the hubby we are setting of in the middle of the night for the airport as our flights 11.30am and I could imagine the queues are going to be awful at check in.
First choice only used North terminal for their long haul flights didn't they?? Now a lot of FCA short haul are going from there too has that made check in worse :que
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Hi there,

I am flying from Glasgow to Sanford on First Choice Airways on 12th Sep and returning 26th Sep.

We have upgraded to Star Class Premier for extra leg-room. This is said to be a direct flight, have read on other forums that there is sometimes refuelling stop, is this correct?

Also, can anyone answer the following:

What type of aircraft is this likely to be?
What is the seat-configuration?
What side of the aircraft is the Star Class Premier toilet located?

Any feedback from people who have experience of First Choice from Glasgow to Sanford would be appreciated.

Thanks
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Knitter:-
FCA have used North Terminal for both short haul and long haul for some time now. However due to the merger, Thomsonfly are now using the North Terminal for both short haul and long haul.

IFE-
I will put this up as soon as I know. They generally dont tell us until about the 26th of the previous month)

TIDA
The toilet is on the left side of the aircraft (or the side that seats ABC are located on)
it will be a 767
I have not heard of any refuelling stops myself on this route any time recently, and the way they fly to SFB I cannot imagine it would be an issue. You may of heard about the Bristol flight that goes via GLA to refuel but the Glasgow flight itself does not refuel.
The seating across the whole aircraft is 2/3/2 seats (3 seats in the middle)
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Flying 9.30am to Aruba 9th July can we check in the day before? If not what time should we be at the North Terminal to check in?. We are staying overnight at The Holiday Inn. :cheers
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The problem with LGW check in seems to stem from the merger of the two airlines and the consolidation of their operation into the North terminal (TOM move to N/Terminal to join FCA).

I beleive the handling contract of FCA was moved from Aviance to Servisair and in a nut shell it seems the ground handlers don't seem to be able to cope with the work load. I suspect the savings made on the handling costs for the combined airline have been at the expence of a reduction in staff and check-in desks. In turn this seems to be causing their customers long check-in times and delays (and grumpy staff who are stretched to the limit and overworked).

If flying with TOM/FCA from LGW I would definately suggest allowing plenty of time to check-in. And a smile at the poor check-in agents!
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Always very pleasant :) When you say allow plenty of time - are you suggesting more than 3 hours, which is what we usually do. Unfortunately, our flight is at 09.55 on a Thursday which means going down the M25 right in the middle of rush hour! :(
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Flying 9.30am to Aruba 9th July can we check in the day before? If not what time should we be at the North Terminal to check in?. We are staying overnight at The Holiday Inn. :cheers


Day before check in is only availabe to flights leaving before 8am or it may be 9am (not sure which) so unfortunately you would not be eligable for this service. I would get to the airport about 3hrs before to be on the safe side. We stayed at the Holiday Inn the night before and everything was fine but a glass of wine was over £6! The courtesy bus picks you up at the hotel door and from 5am it runs every 15mins. The cost is £2.50 per adult. Hope this has been of some help, have a great holiday.
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hi, booked into premium seats which i understand has a seperate check in desk, is this still the case and are the queues as bad as the other desks ? also advised that we could check in 90 minutes before rather than 2 hours, do you think we should get to the airport 3 hours before aswell................thanks
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Our flight later in the year to Cancun from Gatwick is not until 10.00am but we were allowed to pre-book day before check in and have been sent a letter to present to check in the night before. The letter states that day before check in will not be permitted without either the letter and/or pre-booking reference number - this seems to contradict the brochure which implies you just turn up the day before and check in. The brochure/website also mention that the service is only applicable where flights depart before 9.00am but we were told this is because they have limited storage space which is why pre-booking is essential, but as we'd phoned we could pre-book despite leaving later than 9.00am! Confusing!
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tracytreacle1,
From what I have seen, Premium is slightly better but it remains confusing where the check-in lines for this class start. With often hundreds of passengers in a small area the result is rather chaotic. If you are happy to miss all the airside facilities and possibly go straight to the boarding gate, then 90 minutes should be fine (assuming you know your journey to the airport will be trouble/traffic free). Personally I would allow more time. There is nothing worse than having a stressed out family worrying about the size of the check-in and security queues before you are about to go on holiday. Go early, chill out and get your holiday off to a trouble free start.
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We flew Premium last year, and still got there early. We had a nice leisurely stroll around the shops and waited about 2 hours for our friends who flew Economy (it was the height of the security risk last summer, so was well worth paying the extra for the separate check-in). Personally, I didn't think anything else was worth the extra, and this year it is very expensive. Staff didn't want to serve us drinks, they ran out of food choices. Seat pitch was nice though - although 33" in Economy seems fine to me, and our friends were happy with it. They didn't upgrade the IFE as they felt the standard was fine.
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Flying to Eygpt ont he 31st July Manchester to Sharm............does anyone know what type of plane we will be on and the legroom, can't get extra legroom seats as my son is too young
We have prebooked our seats and I believe from reading on here that we would be at the front
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runmeg,

MAN-SSH-MAN (FCA378/9 Dep 10:00 or FCA683 12:55) is operated by a Boeing 757-200. Seat pitch is 28".

Darren
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how can you check in the day before if you have luggage to check in?
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The same as if you checking in the day of travel there store your luggage overnight for you.

Re Check in Gatwick just looked FCA & TOM have 14 flights on a Monady between 05:30 and 10:15 thats 2000 + people to check in. Make your own mind up
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