depends on when and where from.. i personaly prefer Monarch, have used thomson dont fancy easyjet but in winter monarch dont fly from my local airport.. so it depends on your needs and asperations.. budget is fine for price [if you dont mind the baggage situation] but on a short hop i would not worrie too much about legroom and frills..at the end of the day its what you would like

wiz

Thanks Wiz - can you tell me why Monarch exactly?
We're travelling to Faro from uk in May.

we flew to Faro with BA last year, id fly with them evertime if i could.

but this year my partner is flying with easyjet to faro (im flyglobespan) as the times suited us better for the both of us getting to faro at around the same time.

well i dont like [personal opinion] easeyjet , ryanair or similar budjet airlines from my local airport monarch are usualy the next cheapest [often cheaper when you work out all the charges added by the budjet mob] and no rushing around
however they dont fly to Faro over winter

wizard

You can read more about this elsewhere but BA will stop flying to Faro on 31 March as the subsidiary carrier (GB Airways) has been bought out by Easyjet.

Four of us flew Easyjet Gatwick to Faro last July. It's not a quality experience but provided you book early to get the cheapest price, it's OK for a flight of 2 1/2 hours.

The worst bit is check-in ( otherwise known as the scrum ) and that they dont seem to use airbridges but bus you to the aircraft.

TBH if the price has crept up to similar to Monarch, First Choice or others who actually allocate you a seat I would pay a little bit extra for that.

I paid 260 pounds for the four of us with EZ and the closest I could get at the time was about 550 pounds with BA. I thought the 290 pounds saving was worth it. Spent the difference on excellent accommodation.

You pay your money and take your choice really.

Hope it works out.

Doe

We also prefer to fly with Monarch ,mainly because the times suits us,also we have found that when everything is worked out they are usually no dearer and they do fly to Faro from Manchester in the Winter

Thank you everyone for all your advice.
As always, it is greatly appreciated.

I know BA is the best but is Easy Jet THAT bad???

Hi Michaelsmum,

Well I certainly don't know that BA is best - in fact following the last experience of flying with them to the Caribbean we call them our airline of last resort now. Cancelled original flight, surly cabin staff, hubbie had the last .... yes, the last .... bitter half an hour out of Gatwick, etc. etc. etc.!

We always use EasyJet for Gatwick/Faro, but I must admit we don't go in July and August. Every time check-in has been absolutely fine, never been bussed to the aircraft, cabin crew pleasant and attentive, so much so that it's really noticeable, plenty of legroom (particularly if you know where to head for), nearly always get 3 seats for the 2 of us, very rarely delayed, and flights usually take a shorter time than scheduled. OK, you have to pay for the food, which is much nicer than the horrible "meals" you get included with some carriers, and the only complaint we might have is that there's not always a full choice of the items on the menu. You might say we've been lucky - but we fly out there 4 or 5 times a year and don't see the problem!

We did fly First Choice to Cyprus last year and the seats felt a lot more cramped than EasyJet.

So I think it probably depends when you're going. Perhaps the people who've had bad experiences have been at very busy times, I don't know, and if you're going in the high season you may have missed the best prices - they start low and quickly go up - very steeply sometimes!

Hope this will help and let you see the other side of the coin.

i always use easyjet go 4 times a year, it's only a two and half hour flight so you do not need all the frills, anyway they serve the best cup of proper tea out of all the airlines ,they are always on time and have very friendly crew i always book 6 months or so in advance so get best prices(march/april £60 return and august ony £120 return !!!) and if you want to beat the queues pay the little extra for speedy boarding plus which allows you to use a dedicated check in and gets you boarded first, be aware though they only allow 30 passengers to use this facility per flight.

i am going to faro in october and going with bmibaby and the return fare is £65, http://www.bmibaby.com

hi mick5eye have you added the extras on to this as i can't see these prices in oct ?

nosivad .sorry i made a mistakes ?it is £40.99 outward £50.99 return and taxes £33.80 and total of £125.28 ?again sorry for the mistake?

We flew with Easyjet in November for the first time from Liverpool to Faro and had a very good flight, on time, no hustle and bustle on getting on plane, but that maybe because it was in winter,we never go July & August so dont have the experience of busy airports. Normally fly with Jet2 or Monarch from Manchester. Prices for this year with Jet2 are ridiculous and have booked with Monarch they are slightly cheaper and in flight facilities are better. All in all if we get from A to B safely we dont mind who we fly with. Easyjet flights from Liverpool are also very high, looks like if you want to travel you have to pay the price. Cheers Jayjan

Ah - at last - if you want to travel you have to pay the price.

The god-given right to unrestricted cheap air travel is being blamed by many for all kinds of environmental destruction (lots of big new airports for one) so maybe it is time to be realistic!

By the way I note that BA is to be operating its own flights to and from Faro after 1 April, after the existing GB Airways slots are handed over to Easyjet.

I've used easyjet, Jet2 and Globespan to fly to Faro. I prefer Globespan as you can prebook seats and theirs are a more comfortable, then Jet2 as you are allocated a seat, then easyjet as it's a scrum.

I've used easyjet (2x), bmibay (2x) and monarch from Faro.

Easyjet were on time, bmi were 20 odd late both times and otherwise the same as easyjet, Monarch were 40 late and had bigger planes with overhead TV - which started late so was switched off half way through the main programme as we were coming to land. Monarch allocated seats but had an earlier checkin deadline which meant more hanging around the departure lounge.

We fly Globespan from Glasgow to Faro twice a year and have no complaints. We have never been more than 30 min late in taking off (but usually on time) and somehow always arrive at the correct time!!!!
Pat

We are flying with Jet 2 this summer but are flying from Blackpool instead of our local airport (Manchester) as it is quite a bit cheaper (and less congested!)