Don't worry Papa, I paid more than you

we go a week before you, staying at the phoenix park, candolim
cost with upgrades was around £1700

Not far off Del.Very painful considering what we used to pay to go to Goa.That was in the days of the old Tri-Stars with Caledonian.I was much younger then and less well paid and willing to put up with the cramped seats.Nowadays having been spoiled by a couple of Business class upgrades with Emirates I like a bit of comfort.

Regards

Papa

Also booked the same holiday for 2009 and only £4 dearer.

have to say that this year we went with monarch for the first time ,and was really worried after reading all the sardine can reviews and convincing my brother and sister-in-law that goa was better than dom.rep. and mexico(5 star resorts) to come with us. well we must have been lucky because our monarch flight was the better of the three we had done to goa.we're going with thomsons this time and they are supposed to have more leg room than virgin,BA,etc as standard so we shall see.

by the way they did agree that goa was better than the dom rep and mexico!!

We 'made the mistake' of upgrading our flights a couple years ago and now we can't go back to the standard seats.
You will love the journey - it makes such a difference when your'e actually looking forward to the flight instead of dreading it.

ps sound like we paid a bit more than that for the Lagoa Azul in January
never mind - we love it!

Paul

Yes Del,

Very interested this year to discover that First Choice are allowing bookings already for 2009.Not sure if they previously allowed this but if like us you are on fixed holiday times then this gives you great flexibility albeit with the premium you pay for booking early.The good thing is that if you are willing to pay the premium then you can pay a low deposit to secure your holiday.Another excellent facility is accessing your booking online and paying portions of the total in advance.I know of no other companies website that has this facility.

Of course I now believe FC have been taken under the very large umbrella of the TUI chain so who knows what the future holds for this truly excellent product.

TUI i.e. Thomson have improved their long haul product inorder to keep up with FC,w will have to see what this means for us Goa addicts.

We considered Thomson for our flight but from Manchester it stops at Birmingham both ways which added time and cost so FC was a no brainer as our American cousins say.

We did in fact truly investigate all the scheduled carriers via Mumbai but with only 2 weeks it just did not work for us.

Bushbaby.Goa knocks the Dom Rep into oblivion.

Hotxbun.Yes that"Mistake" will haunt you forever.How can you ever go back after experiencing life at the front of the plane.As I said FCs Star class premier is an excellent product but we have due to building up frequent flyer miles been lucky enough to be upgraded to Emirates Business Class.My OH does nothing but talk about it all the time.Oh to be rich.

You may note that the time of my reply is rather late but my OH is snoring loudly and due in work in the mornng.I cannot bear the noise so have escaped to the computer room with a glass of wine in order to let her sleep and make myself tired enough not to hear her snoring.

Of course she tells me she never snores and I tell her I never have to get up to escape it.Ah well bring on Goa.

Regards

Papa

Papa, another reason we booked already for 2009 is that FC are doing sat/Sun flights from manchester and we figured these will sell out fast.
this means that I only need to take 10 days annual leave for the 2 weeks, instead of the usual 11 or 12, thus saving extra days for more hols!!

We booked with Thomas Cook and i noticed once i was ready to pay in full that they had a plan for you to spread the payments for the holiday too.
We are also flying with Monarch and i hope its not as bad as everyone makes out.
Never mind i`ll find out in 19 more sleeps

Reminiscing after reading these posts, the first time I flew to India was with BOAC around 1957, flying in a Bristol Brittania (with propellers)! There after we flew on Comets, VC10s, Boeing 707s etc. I was 8 years old in 57, and was enrolled in the BOAC "Junior Jet Club"

My Father, working overseas, had the flights arranged through Thomas Cook, it was an independent company then. Travel was so much easier then, albeit a tad slower. Imagine leaving Delhi, a 2 to 3 hour stop off at Karachi, Tehran, Basra, Baghdad, Damascus, Larnaca, Rome and then on to Heston Aerodrome (Aka Heathrow). About a 36 hour flight time.

I still love traveling today and for our next trip to Goa via Mumbai on 14/01/2008, BA have now introduced the new Boeing 777 which looks very roomy.

Hope this was not too boring, have a good flight and holiday.

well done harikrishna
what a really interesting read ,its mad how things have progressed over the years and how lucky we are now to be able to fly direct,,mind you i would love to attempt that journey you done all them years ago..

The 777 is an excellent aircraft particularly if they have the latest in flight entertainment.Not to stray too far off topic we live in the North west so Emirates from Manchester was one option we looked at.They are an excellent airline but on the 777 the stretch 10 seats across as opposed to 9 which most other airlines go for.

Having travelled to Thailand many times with them this was an option but in the end Goa won.Top 3 Reasons.Well Goa at number one.The excellent First Choice flight at number two.And direct non stop at number three.

We flew with first choice in March and found them very good! Although next year we decided we would upgrade our flights with them (we didn't decide this until after we booked). I have been calling first choice every month since we booked and they have told me everytime that premium class is sold out for our flight but to keep calling back. I am really disappointed as on the website it says from £150ish for upgrade, but the last time I called they said they had 2 seats available in premium class I got so excited becasue I was going to supprise my OH and say we had upgrades, they kept me on the line for about 10 mins while they "found the price".... £280 EACH!!! I was soooo annoyed! How can they get away with this! And to be honest is there anyone who would actually pay that for a first choice upgrade - you don't really get that much more - £150 is plenty to pay for their upgrade!

I wouldn't bother,even for the £150 I would save your money and enjoy in Goa. As you have said the new FC flights are excellent, we upgraded with them once,and although good, not really worth the extra spent given the leg room/seats etc in star class rather spend the £300 in resort

Oh we would definitely not pay £300 extra to upgrade, but were willing to pay no more than £150 only as a treat... I was just so stunned!! Cheeky really... also she said " that is our price today, it may be different tomorrow, keep trying"

Oh I thought you meant £150 each which would of made £300 for the two of you , I would still say save your money and enjoy in resort,however if had of been going with Monarch I would say upgrade upgrade, upgrade

I thought that the cost of upgrades, although expensive, are worth it.
£400 for 2 = £200 each, divide that by flying time there and back, 20 hours = £10 per hour.
get one drink an hour at about £3.50 each brings it down to about £6.50 per hour, cheaper than orange pay as you go
towards the end of the flight it is defintely worth 10p per minute,After all , I am on holiday!!

thats how i work it out del sounds much better.plus with the extra allowance in baggage if your over by 3 kilo's that would of been £8 klilo extra to pay then the whole cost of the upgrade seems worth it...i went in march with 16 kilos and came back with 36 kilos so roughly £128 i would of had to pay...dont get me wrong i feel £200+ is a lot of money to pay but with the benefits of it i feel it is worth it..the only thing is once you've done it you gotta keep doing it...

get one drink an hour at about £3.50 each brings it down to about £6.50 per hour

Del, at the rate we have them, ours must work out at 75p per hour