Excel or Firstchoice ?

About to book a holiday to Skiathos in Greece for September.
Flights are available with Excel and Firstchoice about the same price.
Anyone flown on either and can offer advice. I am hoping we'll bag some emergency exit seats but am still dreading it, haven't ever flown charter [:0]

Thanks
L2H

Never done First Choice but Excel were great when we flew to Greece last year. Seat pitch is about the same as all the others but the seats seemed a bit wider and the food was OK too.

lovetoholiday.
I have flown both airlines in the last 3 months and I suggest you won't go wrong with either. Both are at the top end of the charter market. FC have probably got an additional 50mm of seat pitch.
Tony

I have hear good things about first choice. There are a few TR's in the other airline trip reports. Rather than inputting the links, just type First Choice into the search here and all 3 should pop up. Are Excel not owned by Microsoft though, in which case is it morally correct to use them?

On the short-hauls to Greece really nothing in it.

If this were long-haul then First Choice win hands down.
For ordering the Boeing 787 they got their 767s refitted for free with 33" pitch, AVOD and nice leather seats.
Not a bad operation at all!

Flown with Excel short haul to greece and the service was fantastic- best charter short haul flight i have been on and gave ba a run for their money. LEather seats thru out- quality paper waiting for everyone on their seat, food decent, great staff.

FCA never done short haul- but did long haul in Premium as it was called then, and they too couldnt be faulted.

lovetoholiday,

I strongly recommend that you fly with First Choice.

I flew with them last year to Faro from Manchester on one of their A320s. Service was good and seats were comfortable. Very punctual and I would fly with them again:D[oo]

DO NOT fly with Excel whatever you do. A friend of mine flew with them to Tenerife South over Easter and she was delayed 5 hours going out and 10 hours coming back[:0] Also another friend flew with them to Kos and the plane stinked very badly apparently[:$]

They are owned by the same company (Avion Group) who owned Air Atlanta Europe (now absorbed into Excel) and I've read lots of stuff about 24hr delays going to Sanford [V] and planes always going 'tech' including the Travel City Direct ones on odd occasions since they operated them.

If you choose to fly with Excel, you have been warned! Best charter airline my a***. (Apologies to moderators for that, had to say it)

Update:
When we came to book this trip FCA and XL were all full so we are now flying with Astraeus.. never heard of them [?]
Anyone had any experience ?

Originally posted by lovetoholiday
Update:
When we came to book this trip FCA and XL were all full so we are now flying with Astraeus.. never heard of them [?]
Anyone had any experience ?

All I know is that one of their pilots is Bruce Dickinson. Other than that I can't really say much because I've never flown with them. They operate a mixed fleet of Boeing 737s and 757s.

As long as its not Excel:D

Please post a TR when you get back.

[HighFlyer]

Flew XL to SSH a few years back, was absolutely awful in my opinion and helped me reach the decision to never fly Charter again. In hindsight they were probably not that bad, probably more my expectations and familiarity with VS that tarnished the experience somewhat. I found the aircraft to be quite aged and weathered, the seats were extremely narrow and had worn blue leather and the aisle monitors were constantly on the blink. It wasn't a plesant flight for me at all. I managed to grab the exit row only to find that the door housing protruded out so much that i had less space than my sardined companions.

As you can by now imagine, i wouldnt recommend them, but i have not flown First Choice either so cannot compare.

Thanks,
Sarah

Originally posted by HighFlyer
Flew XL to SSH a few years back, was absolutely awful in my opinion and helped me reach the decision to never fly Charter again. In hindsight they were probably not that bad, probably more my expectations and familiarity with VS that tarnished the experience somewhat. I found the aircraft to be quite aged and weathered, the seats were extremely narrow and had worn blue leather and the aisle monitors were constantly on the blink. It wasn't a plesant flight for me at all. I managed to grab the exit row only to find that the door housing protruded out so much that i had less space than my sardined companions.

Ouch[B)] That is bad. Although have to agree, some airlines do spoil some passengers. I am one example; I was spoilt by BA when flying to Malaga (kill me for that if you want) and am not looking forward to doing the same journey with easyJet.

Having said that there are some good charter airlines out there. Thomas Cook and First Choice are the ones to go for. If not these, then you should get away with Thomsonfly...on short-hauls. Never flown Monarch so can't comment and MyTravel is a no-no[V]

Just my opinions.

Thanks all for your feedback. I too am not keen on charter (I think its my first ever) but no choice when flying to greek islands. We have been spoilt with VS ![y]

Just looking forward to that lovely blue aegean sea and relaxing for a few days with Mr L2H. Also celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary while we are there[:p].

ps. Mr L2H is off to SFO on business 2 days after we get back and have been busy persuading him to go VS... he knows it makes sense.[}:)]

Originally posted by lovetoholiday
Update:
When we came to book this trip FCA and XL were all full so we are now flying with Astraeus.. never heard of them [?]
Anyone had any experience ?

I travelled with Astraeus two years ago to Alicante and they were fine, the flight was comfortable, plane appeared clean / modern etc
Lesley

We have now returned from our fab holiday to Skiathos.

Really glad we ended up flying with Astraeus. [^]
We were on a 757 and it had great legroom (comparable to PE I think, although we were in the front section), great food, friendly staff ... all good. No sign of Bruce Dickinson in the cockpit though.
Highly recommend Skiathos as a holiday detination and Astraeus to get there.

Now, true to my name I must get my thinking cap on for our next holiday. We are considering a flydrive to the US next March, including Grand Canyon, Las Vegas etc.

L2H

Originally posted by lovetoholiday
Now, true to my name I must get my thinking cap on for our next holiday. We are considering a flydrive to the US next March, including Grand Canyon, Las Vegas etc.

L2H

L2H

Thanks for reporting back.

If considering a fly drive have a look at this thread as it has some hot tips on getting best value on the drive part of the trip.

Paul

Thanks a lot will take a look [y]

Am assuming it works out cheaper in some instances to book flights, cars and hotels separately, or to just book the car ourselves ?
VH are quoting about £1200 per person for the flydrive we are interested in , plus car insurance.
Plus we would also want to use FC miles to upgrade to PE. I think I am right in assuming that VH ticket class doesn't allow this.
Oh it's all so confusing [?]. It's a good job I am not busy at work today, can spend all day looking at options. [:p]

Originally posted by lovetoholiday
Thanks a lot will take a look [y]

Am assuming it works out cheaper in some instances to book flights, cars and hotels separately, or to just book the car ourselves ?
VH are quoting about £1200 per person for the flydrive we are interested in , plus car insurance.
Plus we would also want to use FC miles to upgrade to PE. I think I am right in assuming that VH ticket class doesn't allow this.
Oh it's all so confusing [?]. It's a good job I am not busy at work today, can spend all day looking at options. [:p]

I think Attitude23 can probably give some hot tips on the combinations that are likely to produce the best savings.

In my experience the VH ticket class isn't likely to allow an upgrade to PE as they often come up in "N". I'd have a look at the VS website for the dates you're considering to see what the flight charge would be from VS direct

Have fun with the research!

Paul

[Neil]

Originally posted by lovetoholiday
Thanks a lot will take a look [y]

Am assuming it works out cheaper in some instances to book flights, cars and hotels separately, or to just book the car ourselves ?
VH are quoting about £1200 per person for the flydrive we are interested in , plus car insurance.
Plus we would also want to use FC miles to upgrade to PE. I think I am right in assuming that VH ticket class doesn't allow this.
Oh it's all so confusing [?]. It's a good job I am not busy at work today, can spend all day looking at options. [:p]

Hi L2H,

As Paul has mentioned I'm pretty hot on this type of thing at the moment, and have just saved over £600 on a flydrive I have booked for next year byspending a bit of time searching on the net before booking (this is compared to the VH quoted price inc the 10% discount). You are right that you cannot upgrade to PE with miles so would need to be a flexible VS Y ticket to do this (but it might actually be cheaper to book the VH PE price straight away!).

If you want any info/sites to use/tips etc just send me PM and I would be more than happy to assist in anyway.

Neil:)

Hi Neil

Wow, £600. Well done[oo]

PM on it's way to you shortly.

Have a great weekend

L2H

Have fun with the new booking engine on the VS site. It's opened my eyes to the savings that can be made through being flexible on dates (and even times of day).

Paul