V-Flyer

Well! What a lovely surprise, we booked the Thomas Cook flights after failing to find a Virgin flight that would meet our budget, previously we have paid around £850 for PE, having travelled with Virgin for the last 15 Atlantic crossings to MCO. With TCX we paid £825 each for PE return. The aircraft, seating, meals were certainly as good , if not better than the PE we have previously enjoyed with Virgin. Bearing in mind that for the corresponding days we flew the Virgin PE fare was £400 more each! The inflight film choice was more limited, but I found time to watch 3 current films. Inflight drinks service was excellent as was the James Martin meal choices, also, a lovely Devon ice cream instead of the horrible Skinny Cow choices. Afternoon tea before landing , again fresh and tasty. No complaints. So! Virgin what are you going to do to tempt me back? I have just looked at 2017 April/May and Thomas Cook is £810, Virgin £1900 for PE !!! ? This is for the same dates. No contest. It will be Thomas Cook again. Sorry Virgin, but you just cannot match on price, quality and service.
Our return trip in PE on May 19th was equally as good on service, timing and overal experience.

Not sure if your questions are rhetorical - this isn't an official site so you won't get a response here!

Anyway. Glad you enjoyed your flight. If you only fly once a year then perhaps TCX is better suited to your needs, if you're not fussed about airmiles/status and the like.

I think that the point being made is that there is some serious competition out there. Whether a "frequent flyer" or not is irrelevant, air miles and status will not retain loyalty if another airline is plying the same route providing good, reliable service on modern aircraft at half the price!

Thank you for your TR. I am always interested in reading a V-flyer's take on non VS flights.

Thank you for the TR. We have been considering an alternative to VS to MCO and have heard others recommend TCX.

Cabin crew at TCX have today voted to strike in a dispute over rest breaks: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36381827

I've found that Virgin and TCX prices are much of a muchness for when I travel so we stick with Virgin. If there was a significant difference then I'd certainly consider them.

My main issue is what metal we would be flying on. TCX use the Air Tanker (G-VYGK) mostly on ex-Glasgow routes. Nothing wrong with it now but there was initial teething trouble when it was in an all-economy configuration (rearranged August 2015).

They also wet lease from Hi-Fly who operate A340 for surge/additional services during the school holidays and I've heard some negative reports about it.

In Economy they only provide basic content on the IFE, if you want more they charge £4.