We are looking to visit the Maldives for the first time Feb 09 but are are having problems deciding who to fly with.
We are booking the hotel direct as we are using Hilton Honors points at the Conrad, so we need to book our flight separate.
We would prefer to fly from either Birmingham or Manchester but for a more comfortable flight and direct flight we would travel from London.
We've looked at Thomonfly premium and also Sri Lankan (as they fly direct from Feb 09) but we would love to hear your views.
Can anyone give us some advice on who to either def not go with or go with?
Many thanks
Emma
x
emmaj,
This partly depends on where you prefer to fly from, and of course cost. Have a look through the various airline threads on here for detailed aircraft information and opinions on service levels. You have two choices to begin with; scheduled or charter. Scheduled airlines generally offer good service but flights are rarely direct and generally more expensive (not always). Charter airlines will be direct, although some stop for fuel in Bahrain. Monarch aside, the charter airlines (TOM, FCA, TCX) all offer excellent service these days. If you have the option of travelling from the north west, I would do so, especially Manchester. Heathrow is a nightmare! There are no direct flights to Male from BHX as far as I'm aware, you'd have to go via Dubia probably with Emirates. I would consider Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook or my prefered long haul airline, First Choice.
Darren
This partly depends on where you prefer to fly from, and of course cost. Have a look through the various airline threads on here for detailed aircraft information and opinions on service levels. You have two choices to begin with; scheduled or charter. Scheduled airlines generally offer good service but flights are rarely direct and generally more expensive (not always). Charter airlines will be direct, although some stop for fuel in Bahrain. Monarch aside, the charter airlines (TOM, FCA, TCX) all offer excellent service these days. If you have the option of travelling from the north west, I would do so, especially Manchester. Heathrow is a nightmare! There are no direct flights to Male from BHX as far as I'm aware, you'd have to go via Dubia probably with Emirates. I would consider Thomsonfly, Thomas Cook or my prefered long haul airline, First Choice.
Darren
Thanks Darren. Ive just checked Thomsonfly and it says there flights are with first choice. When I called first choice they couldnt offer me the upgrade but its available with thomsonfly? So Im a little confused.
The price however seems really good value esp with the upgrade.
Thanks for the info
Emma
x
The price however seems really good value esp with the upgrade.
Thanks for the info
Emma
x
I've flown with Emirates to the Maldives via Dubia the past few years cos you go direct from Glasgow & I think from Manchester. I try not to go via London unless I can help it
emmaj,
This is only my personal view, but unless you really want the perks of travelling in premium, it's not value for money. I've flown on FCA's longest route (MAN-PVR via SFB which is 14 hours), and several other destinations and Star Class (economy) is more than adequate. Star Class Premium is nice, but I don't think it's worth the extra unless you really need the extra 3" of seat pitch. Have a look at my flight reviews over on the First Choice thread, page 47 I think they are on. Thomsonfly and First Choice have now merged to they are one in the same. Their aircraft fleet is being amalgamated in 2009. FCA's aircraft have nicer interiors in my view. They are configured 2-3-2 throughout compared to TOM's 2-4-2 in economy and 2-3-2 in premium, so a bit more elbow room for the masses. I like the green leather better than the dark blue of TOM as well! That's just me of course.
Darren
This is only my personal view, but unless you really want the perks of travelling in premium, it's not value for money. I've flown on FCA's longest route (MAN-PVR via SFB which is 14 hours), and several other destinations and Star Class (economy) is more than adequate. Star Class Premium is nice, but I don't think it's worth the extra unless you really need the extra 3" of seat pitch. Have a look at my flight reviews over on the First Choice thread, page 47 I think they are on. Thomsonfly and First Choice have now merged to they are one in the same. Their aircraft fleet is being amalgamated in 2009. FCA's aircraft have nicer interiors in my view. They are configured 2-3-2 throughout compared to TOM's 2-4-2 in economy and 2-3-2 in premium, so a bit more elbow room for the masses. I like the green leather better than the dark blue of TOM as well! That's just me of course.
Darren
Hi,
I've flown to the Maldives 4 times, with 4 different airlines and can give a fairly balanced opinion on them all.
Our first trip was with mytravel and was awful - very cramped as they had to charter in a plane usually used for short haul so the journey was a painful experience. Never again.
Second was Emirates- great service, and OK food but flights not direct as all planes go via Dubai. All flights on time but luggages didn't make connection when we arrived so we were without it for first 2 days of holiday. Would use them again only if stoppover in Dubai was less than 2 hours. Great entertainment system kept us busy on all flights.
3rd time was First Choice (but we had previously flown long haul with them twice). Really comfortable flight and certainly matches the scheduled airlines for comfort and beats them on legroom in economy. Not sure the extra 3 inches you get in premium and a few drinks is worth the £300pp upgrade cost as regular economy is so good. For a UK charter company the food was surprisingly good as well.
4th time was with Qatar airlines. They were lovely to me as I was 6 months pregant at the time and gave me 4 seats in economy to myself - only problem was the arm rests can only be raised a couple of inches so it was impossible to lie accross the seats, but the thought was nice. Transfers in Doha were much easier than those in Dubai and we easily made our 35 min transfer- and so did our luggage. We went in May and Doha was scorching hot even at 11am. We got on the plane and the outside temp was 114 degrees. We were then stuck on the plane on the tarmac for 90 mins which made me feel rather ill but they gave everyone cold water and ice cold towels.
Overall though FC, Emirates and Qatar were all pretty similar - so i would go for whatever flight times and days suit you best and whoever can give you the best price.
I've flown to the Maldives 4 times, with 4 different airlines and can give a fairly balanced opinion on them all.
Our first trip was with mytravel and was awful - very cramped as they had to charter in a plane usually used for short haul so the journey was a painful experience. Never again.
Second was Emirates- great service, and OK food but flights not direct as all planes go via Dubai. All flights on time but luggages didn't make connection when we arrived so we were without it for first 2 days of holiday. Would use them again only if stoppover in Dubai was less than 2 hours. Great entertainment system kept us busy on all flights.
3rd time was First Choice (but we had previously flown long haul with them twice). Really comfortable flight and certainly matches the scheduled airlines for comfort and beats them on legroom in economy. Not sure the extra 3 inches you get in premium and a few drinks is worth the £300pp upgrade cost as regular economy is so good. For a UK charter company the food was surprisingly good as well.
4th time was with Qatar airlines. They were lovely to me as I was 6 months pregant at the time and gave me 4 seats in economy to myself - only problem was the arm rests can only be raised a couple of inches so it was impossible to lie accross the seats, but the thought was nice. Transfers in Doha were much easier than those in Dubai and we easily made our 35 min transfer- and so did our luggage. We went in May and Doha was scorching hot even at 11am. We got on the plane and the outside temp was 114 degrees. We were then stuck on the plane on the tarmac for 90 mins which made me feel rather ill but they gave everyone cold water and ice cold towels.
Overall though FC, Emirates and Qatar were all pretty similar - so i would go for whatever flight times and days suit you best and whoever can give you the best price.
Our first trip was with mytravel and was awful - very cramped as they had to charter in a plane usually used for short haul so the journey was a painful experience. Never again.
Just for balance, My Travel are now part of Thomas Cook. As of 1st May 2008, they introduced a new long haul configuration to their Airbus A330's to offer a level of service in line with First Choice and Thomsonfly.
Darren
Darren,
a lot of my negative feelings towards mytravel are to do with the blatant lies people were told. Our flight home was a repatriation flight after the tsunami and there were people on the plane who literally had the clothes they stood up in. We were promised that the flight would be especially equiped with a large amount of blankets, tracksuits for people who only had shorts to wear when they arrived home to December uk weather and additional food and drink supplies. It was all lies, there were no blankets, so tracksuits and so little food and drink on board that they had nothering to offer us for the last 8 hours (the flight was 15 hours which included 2 refueling stops).
Because of that we would never use mytravel or one of it's associates again.
a lot of my negative feelings towards mytravel are to do with the blatant lies people were told. Our flight home was a repatriation flight after the tsunami and there were people on the plane who literally had the clothes they stood up in. We were promised that the flight would be especially equiped with a large amount of blankets, tracksuits for people who only had shorts to wear when they arrived home to December uk weather and additional food and drink supplies. It was all lies, there were no blankets, so tracksuits and so little food and drink on board that they had nothering to offer us for the last 8 hours (the flight was 15 hours which included 2 refueling stops).
Because of that we would never use mytravel or one of it's associates again.
New non-stop UK-Maldives link this winter
SriLankan Airlines is to run non-stop flights between the UK and the Maldives this winter.
The airline will operate twice weekly from Heathrow to Male starting on October 26 with a flying time of 11 hours and 15 minutes.
The carrier's UK and Ireland manager Chanaka Olagama said: "We recognise the need to introduce this non-stop service for such a popular holiday destination.
"Customers' needs are our priority and we believe that this new direct service will provide a time-effective way to travel in style and comfort to their paradise location."
With permission from Travelmole
SriLankan Airlines is to run non-stop flights between the UK and the Maldives this winter.
The airline will operate twice weekly from Heathrow to Male starting on October 26 with a flying time of 11 hours and 15 minutes.
The carrier's UK and Ireland manager Chanaka Olagama said: "We recognise the need to introduce this non-stop service for such a popular holiday destination.
"Customers' needs are our priority and we believe that this new direct service will provide a time-effective way to travel in style and comfort to their paradise location."
With permission from Travelmole
Post a Reply
Please sign in or register an account to reply to this post.
Similar Topics