(and pricing up any children as adults, and visa versa - to see which works our cheaper!). Booked our son as an adult last year, and it worked out over £100 cheaper, as the under occupancy supplement went down!

Excellent advice Belly, free child places aren't always the cheapest way to book a holiday if under occupancy apply, well worth as bellyballyboo suggests pricing a holiday both ways.

I am wondering if this will be the beginning of the end for FC, I have also priced a holiday for next year with FC and it was over £100 dearer than with Thomsons.
This could be how TUI will remove the FC brand, overprice the FC holidays and then combine the 2 brands in to one under a rationalisation (streamlining) plan.

This would be a shame as I found First Choice to be very good, as was Thomsons before TUI (in my opinion)

i have been looking at summer 2009 prices with FC, and i really think the prices seem to have increased...you are now looking at 5-600 each for 2 weeks self catering in the greek islands for a couple in a studio...and this is in september. it is getting very expensive to take what where once ''cheapie getaways'' although they are not my scene, i fully understand why families in particular are now opting for more AI deals...

Hi, today i have been trying unsuccessfully to get through to first choice ........what an absolute nightmare i only want to add a late checkout room to my holiday and i have phoned four times today, listening to the usual "your call is important to us" and " you are high in the queue", once i actually got through only for the girl to put me on hold and never come back.......in total i have been on hold for approximately 2 hours on an 0871 number. I did try the saynoto0870 website but the landline number for Fc was permanently engaged. is it always this bad

Cant you do it on the web site? there used to be a manage your booking icon which you could click on an add things to . It looks like it still there on the front page at the very top "Your Booking" .
Just put your booking number in and presto, no more waiting on the phone.

i finally got through today and it seems that when i booked over the phone (there was a problem with the website at the time) it was put through as a retail sale so my booking reference does not work on the web site.....the lady added the late checkout room for me but was unable to take payment because its a retail sale, so i will have to phone back i also mentioned that i had booked premium seats, which includes sitting together, so what are the chances of us sitting 3 + 1 across the aisle rather than 2 and 2 behind.......no guarantee was the reply............my children are only 10 and 12 and will not be happy sitting seperate or without me........i havent been on holiday yet and im already fed up with FC !!!

premium seats, which includes sitting together, so what are the chances of us sitting 3 + 1 across the aisle rather than 2 and 2 behind.......no guarantee was the reply

The same as all airlines, sitting together can mean, sitting opposite on either side of the aisle or directly behind / front of each other.

If you get to the airport early you should manage to get seats beside each other in a row.

well the saga of the missing booking continues..........i started phoning yesterday morning at 9am to check that the latecheckout room had been added and to make payment for the extra £50. to cut a long story short.......after being transferred 4 times, being told it was a retail booking, and also being told they could not discuss with me as my husband is the lead name (time was now 10.50am) i told my hubby to phone back on the landline number again....the lady at head office was at a loss as to who could help us........finally at 11.30 we were able to add and pay for the late checkout during the afternoon i was still not happy so i went to my local FC shop (wish id booked with them in the first place!) and the lady kindly pulled my booking up and printed off a copy. it seems the booking was taken by the FC call centre so i cannot understand why they kept telling us it was a retail booking, also a second booking reference is also shown, which does work when i want to view the booking online.............so last night i decided to view the booking online and it states it bold red type "payment is overdue, please make payment urgently" obviously when booking last week we had to make full payment as the holiday is only 7 weeks away......................i am not phoning again

Hi.......I have just noticed on this years invoice that i have been charged 4 x £15 coach transfers, however in the 3rd edition brochure (which i assume my holiday is booked from as i only booked last week) it states coach transfer is free.....! Not sure if i can face another phone call to FC. Has anyone else had transfer charges on there invoice/confirmation ?

No the coach transfers are included in the price you paid, they are just showing you the price breakdown thats all, they do that all the time.

Yes I agree with Bunny, they've just basically apportioned the cost of the transfers. I.e. if your holiday cost £1000 and included free transfers, they would apportion so much against flights, so much against hotel (no necessarily shown) and the 4 x £15 against transfers. I think its probably for their budgets.

I queried this a while back when I wanted to cancel the transfers but they wouldn't take the money off because it was included in the cost of the holiday.

HTH

C x

when i booked with them, i said i didnt want coach transfers, and i was told they were free, and so couldnt be removed from the booking.....

i downloaded the third edition brochure and it states quite clearly next to the price panel for the hv turkey - coach transfers free - however if you go to the website to book you are given the option to remove transfers and the cost will reduce £15 per person - so how is that free........i dont understand my booking when viewed online is still showing as unpaid, although as we only booked 8 days ago for august we had to pay in full, and my card has been debited !!!!

Id double check with your bank that the payment has gone through.
The transfers are included in the price they are just telling you that if you want to make your holiday cheaper they can remove them and reduce your price by 15 quid each, same with meals and the option of reducing the luggage to 15kg. Some do the opposit and tell you everything is included then ask for more money to up your hold luggage to 20kg , use the coach or add meals.
I prefer it the way first choice do it , they include it all so you can remove what you dont want. Then you are not thinking your holiday is going up all the time.
Id keep check on First choice's web site under your booking at the top of the page, it may suddenly update that you have paid.

We were due to go to Bulgaria next Friday with FC but have today cancelled and got a refund but I tell you , the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing!

Some really really bad reviews of the hotel we were meant to stay at (just recent scary ones) made us change hotel last week, FC not interested in people's views from this site, Watchdog or TA and say it's just heresay and not proven - however, they did admit they had received a "couple" of complaints re the certain situation and had spoken to the reps who were monitoring the situation but if we wanted to change hotel we'd have to pay the admin charge which amounted to £200 and no we couldn't cancel and get a refund - decided to move hotel and pay up - rather than than risk what we felt was the safety of our kids.

Then, yesterday, got a letter saying flight out changed from 1700hrs to 2230hrs and if not happy with that can amend holiday booking.

We booked in September last year and I got out the brochure (2nd edition) and it basically states that a change to after 2200hrs departure is a Night Flight and a change from day to night is classed as a major change so can accept it, amend booking OR CANCEL WITH FULL REFUND which we decided to do as just lost confidence in the holiday completely.

Off I trotted down to shop where we booked (with my brochure) and yip, she agrees that's what it says, so she phones thru and they say no it's a moderate change and it's not a change of more than 12hrs do can't cancel. She explained what it said and was on the phone for over an hour with no luck.

I ended up phoning the number on the letter about the flight time change and she said the same thing - got quite snippy actually and said "let me finish" when she was quoting T&Cs at me - at that point I said, right are you finished as this is what the T&Cs that were available at the time of booking state and she went, found a book and agreed I was right!

Apparently the T&Cs have now been amended and you can only cancel if flights affected by over 12hrs but that wasn't the case when we booked.

All sorted now, don't get the £200 admin fee we paid last week back but we get the other £1,500 and are putting it aside to go back to Florida next year! Have lost faith in FC and, to be honest, European holidays in general - they just never seem to go straightforward for us! FC just don't seem to have a clue what they are doing!!

So off to book a last minute week at Pontins for £75 and a couple of nights at Alton Towers as well and looking forward to giving Mickey a big hug again next year!

Hello,
My payment is due on the 2nd August 2008 and I have only £100 left to pay but I wont be able to pay this until the 5th August. I spoke to FC last week to arrange this and they said it is fine for me to pay on the 5th and it will be changed on my online booking. I have been checking this everyday but it still says payment due on 2nd August.

Shall I ring them and confirm that is ok for me to pay on the 5th or just leave it as I have already asked?

Thanks in advance

Danielle, If you are worried, give them a ring - but I wouldn't of thought that being a couple of days late with your payment (especially the last £100) is going to cause any problems.
Denny

Hi,

We booked a holiday last tuesday with first choice for summer 2009 via their website. I have the confirmation page printed & also the email confirmation of the booking being completed, but so far the deposit doesn't seem to have been taken from my account! I can't check the booking online as it is for a holiday after 1st May 2009 & this isn't available to do at the moment. I have been thinking about phoning them but before I do and sound like a complete idiot I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if they are slow at taking the payments? I'm sure i'm worrying about nothing but just wan't to know my booking is going to be ok!!

thanks for any help

hi alexnix,
we paid of our holiday on the 25th july and on checking online our payment has been accepted and balance is 0, we have not received a final invoice yet (unsure if we do), i have phoned on a number of occasions to check different things (some quiet simple lol) and i have always had really helpful people, telling me they get asked all sorts. i would just give them a quick call could be something really simple, but check now rather then leave it till its to late.

laura

thanks for the advice laura,

I will go & give them a call, then its one less thing for me to worry about (i hope!!)