airtours/ my travel

[true_blue_84]

hey there im flying out on 30th june for 2wks, going with tour operator airtours been with them before 1996, was ok. anyway think they use my travel planes now?? is that correct? i will be flying form glasgow and just want to know if anyone has flown with them before and what the planes like? seat back tvs? comfy? legroom? meals? any help would be great!

[isobel]

i would like to know as well as thats who we are flying with in sept p.s have a great holiday if now one lets you know will you let me know please:thumbs:

[kiltedwarrior]

Flew with MyTravel back in 02 from Glasgow, that was not long after they'd made the change from Airtours to MyTravel. It may have changed no but i dont recall there being seat back tv's unfortunately (although we got the bulkheads on the return journey which had screens in front of us) Id say they were generally ok to fly with, service was adequate, staff friendly, food....well its still plane food :hehe: Overall, nothing special but it gets you across the Atlantic :) Im sure someone can give you a more up-to-date report though.

[true_blue_84]

thanx for the info kiltie and isobel ill tell u all bout the flight when i get back, cant wait to go sooooo excited been bout 5 years since my last visit!

[neil@disney]

Hi there :wave:

Myself and my wife flew with My Travel back in 2003 from Glasgow. They don't have seat back screens - you just have to share the ones above the aisles. The service is good and the staff are friendly. The seats are comfy enough but if your bum is of the plus-size variety like mine :blush: then arm rests can dig in a wee bit. What I will say, is if any of your group are quite tall I would find out about pre-booking seats :fingers: as the "normal" seats can be quite a squeeze. My wife is just shy of 6 foot and I don't think she could sit in one for 8 or 9 hours. We booked the extra legroom at the start :)

We are going back to WDW with them in three weeks, so they can't have been too bad :D

As a side note, the only problem we encountered was a pest of a little boy who thought the plane aisles were a race track and continued to run faster and faster in circles. We were in the seats at the front (in the middle of the plane) and he kept using our lovely extra legroom (which we paid extra for) as his pitstops. His parent also saw fit to allow him to eat sweets :nono: and he ended up throwing up right in front of me :eeew:

Hope this helps,

Neil

P.S. Hope you have a good time at WDW!

[Lizzy]

We flew with them in 2002. I think they use different planes though because the one we were on (747? I think.. EDIT: I think it was actually an Airbus cos it had the 'downstairs loos' and was very wide) had screens on every seat. Legroom was pretty lame in the 'normal' bit (we got free upgrades on the way there which was rather nice =) but the seats were fairly comfy, food was just your average plane food really; nothing spectacular but better than other plane food i've eaten (longest plane ride i'd done before Florida was Tenerife though), staff were mostly very nice and helpful (one recognised my mum from the queue in Sainsburys cos it turns out she lived near us, hehe!) My dad only joined us for the second week and he flew out on a DC-10 which didn't have the TVs on every seat just one above each 'bunch' of seats so i'm guessing it varies.

[true_blue_84]

well the plane sounds not too bad then, hopefully we will get the plane with the tvs on the back of every seat that would be a nice bonus. thanx 4 the info

not long to go now YIPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

[babybelle]

Hi true_blue

we live directly across the river from Glasgow Airport (Clydebank) but usually go to Manchester to travel with Virgin for Florida trips (cos its scheduled flights and flies into Orlando instead of Sanford) but nothing can beat the convenience of using your local airport. We also use Virgin because operators from Glasgow like Airtours or First Choice hammer us with supplements because we are a family of five.

We flew many years ago with Airtours and they were fine. TBH, the flight is only the first and very last part of the holiday - the best bits happen inbetween.

Have a great trip!

[adrian]

Just returned on wednesday flying with MY TRAVEL from gatwick to sanford,first off dont expect to much in the way of legroom,we had seat back touchscreen tvs with 3 movies playing kids,comedy plus drama channels also radio with around 14 different types of music,but note headphones cost £2.50.Drinks and snacks onboard also cost.I am not a plane food lover so i stock up before i leave but there was 1 main meal plus a second light snack on our flight.Our plane overall was very smart neat clean and tidy.Beware of the weight of baggage though all the various flights of i have been on MY TRAVEL were the hottest on WEIGHTS.Other than that for the price it was above average in all areas plus no delays and a half hour early arrival back home.!!!

[orlandobabe]

hi Adrian you must have been on the same flight as me .I thought it was good -I haven't been into Sanford for about 14 years and was surprised how it had changed .The weight limit isn't briliant -the guy infront of me at check in at the other end was charged $120 excess .I thought the planes was smart and clean although on the flight out the staff were a bit on the quick side when it came to collecting rubbish.

[isobel]

Hi true blue 84 i see you have only 13 days to go will you have frozen soda for me :rotfl: p.s i still have 78 days to go:(

[true_blue_84]

:lol: lol yea i promise to have a frozen soda, only 13 days to go getting very excited now!!!! plane tickets arrived last week but flight time has changed from 9.00am to 11.35am so bit dissapointed bout that :( but as long as i get there i dont care!!

anyway im off to do sum packing..might be a bit early yet but hey at least i have 13 days to take it all back out and start again :micbounce thats all part of the fun hehe.

ps anyone else flying out from glasgow 30th june -same flight?

[paulf]

used them twice and both times had seatback tv's, and it was ok but no frills as others have said, also you pay for EVERYTHING! headsets, drinks etc. would use them again :thumbs:

[Mindy H]

Hi

I went Mytravel last year and was not impressed at all. We paid for extra legroom seats which were most definately not worth the money......they were the emergency exit seats which meant you do not have seat back tv's but ones which come out the armrest (on both ways mine was broken). if you get the chance I would upgrade to Premair gold, its worth the money for the extra legroom and express check in.

We have opted to go with Travel city Direct this year (upgraded our seats to sunshine first) so hopefully it will be a better flight than last year.

Mindy

[true_blue_84]

mindy, did u fly from glasgow? how was the check in? :)

[Mindy H]

Hi

We flew from Manchester, check in was fine no problem at all and not a big queue. Altho on the return flight it was a really really long wait to get checked in as almost everyone had to pay for excess baggage with only one machine working to process Visa card payments for the baggage !

Hope you have a great holiday, I'm sure you will......can't wait for mine to come round !

Cheers
Mindy

[typhoon tilly]

going from glasgow the day after you and our flight was changed from 11.45am to 3.30pm , but what the heck it wont be long now where are you staying we are on i drive.

[Tyrone2003]

I booked from Belfast to Sanford with Airtours and was assured that we would be flying with MyTravel with seat back screens, I picked the tickets up last week and we are now flying with Monarch, with no seat back screens. It would have been nice if they had told me about the change of carrier.

[Keith]

Sadly loads of the lower cost carriers do this :( same with travel city, you may get a plane with screens or maybe not. The only thing you can really do is think about the money you saved not going with say virgin and perhaps buy one of the cheapy portable dvd players for the flight.

[minnie17_6]

hey typhoon tilly...not long to go now gettin very excited. we are staying on i-drive as well, quality inn plaza. what about you? what hotel u staying at?

[Yohansonfriend]

Hi Im going to orlando on 30th June flying from cardiff. We booked with My Travel but are flying with Monarch. I flew with My Travel 2years ago to orlando and had no complaints what so ever, Anyone know what Monarch are like ?

[Deano1977]

We're going with my travel in Aug, but have booked the upgrade so get all the drinks, headphones, meals etc included (am pleased after some of the comments here). Let us know what they are like, have only travel with Virgin before.

[Lizzy]

Just an update about the flight/plane as I have now returned! Exactly the same type of plane as 2002.. TVs, legroom, loo etc all the same. The meal was possibly a bit nicer (same thing both ways -potato in batter with chicken or beef and mixed veggies- except on the way back you get a light snack for breakfast aswell) but I didn't eat mine on the way back as it was beef =/

[minnie17_6]

Hey Lizzie thanx for your info on my travel planes i cant wait to go now :D:D

[muskateers]

We're going with my travel in Aug, but have booked the upgrade so get all the drinks, headphones, meals etc included (am pleased after some of the comments here). Let us know what they are like, have only travel with Virgin before.

Dean were you pleased you booked the upgrade. we travelled with MT in July and didn't realise you could upgrade (we were booked with Thomson and they changed carrier) the flight was ok but with a DS we could have done with the extra room so we have booked the upgrade for next year. Please tell me we have done the right thing :unsure: and upgraded.

[Deano1977]

I wouldn't want to travel any other way with My Travel or Airtours. Was worth the money. We had more leg room, bigger seats, seating together, meals, drinks, headphones included. And the cabin has its own toilet. Having said that the toilet was blocked for most of the flight on the way out (after an hour delay trying to fix it) and the reading lights didn't work on the way back. But that can happen on any flight.
Just remember that the flight is the boring bit before and after a wonderful holiday!
Have fun :wink:

[muskateers]

I wouldn't want to travel any other way with My Travel or Airtours. Was worth the money. We had more leg room, bigger seats, seating together, meals, drinks, headphones included. And the cabin has its own toilet. Having said that the toilet was blocked for most of the flight on the way out (after an hour delay trying to fix it) and the reading lights didn't work on the way back. But that can happen on any flight.
Just remember that the flight is the boring bit before and after a wonderful holiday!
Have fun :wink:

Thanks Dean on the way back I noticed there was premier check-in at Sanford but I never noticed it at Glasgow. It also states you don't need to check in so early. (they state 1-2 hrs before take-off) Is this correct did you find. We flew this year with MT the first time since out son broke his neck and it was awful on the way out although I can honestly say the cabin crew were great it was the airport check-in that let us down. we have booked and paid for premier for next year but would still check in earlier i.e. the 3-4 hours if you thought it would be needed.
thanks for your help.

[Deano1977]

We flow from Gatwick (we on;y live 10 mins away) where there is a seprate check-in desk for my travel gold. We check-in 3 hrs before departure but only because last time we went we were late and ended up having to run through Gatwick to get to the plane on time :rotfl:
There is a seprate check in at sanford where we had to wait behind 1 other group, again much quicker and easier. Also the larger baggage allowance was a blessing, due to the large amounts of shopping we had done.

[Midnight Storm]

Re My Travel from Glasgow June 06, we live in Glasgow, but are driving to Manchester on the 29th and for that week the flight picks up in Glasgow outbound, going from Glasgow adds £1000 to the holiday (with the upgrade) Better watch the luggage, we are too used to Virgins - so long as we can still take off its fine - approach, but the same dats and location was £1200 more than last year - goodbye virgin (after 5 years) hello Airtours

[muskateers]

Re My Travel from Glasgow June 06, we live in Glasgow, but are driving to Manchester on the 29th and for that week the flight picks up in Glasgow outbound, going from Glasgow adds £1000 to the holiday (with the upgrade) Better watch the luggage, we are too used to Virgins - so long as we can still take off its fine - approach, but the same dats and location was £1200 more than last year - goodbye virgin (after 5 years) hello Airtours

we booked with thomson last year but unknown to us they actually don't fly any of their planes out of glasgow and the plane was airtours. we paid £799 for out flight no extras. we have booked for next year direct with MY Travel which is Airtours and for the upgrades (Premier Gold) we are £888 and Airtours do children up to 19. Unfortunately because of my sons disablity we have to go the shortest route and can't travel other than from Glasgow.

Midnight storm are you going via glasgow via Airtours or Manchester via Airtours .

[Midnight Storm]

Man - SFB MYT (My Travel) flights 15th - 22nd june operate outbound via Glasgow and 29June - 13th Jul outbound and inbound are via Glasgow

To sum up - if your flying from Glasgow mid june - mid July, the Brummies will pick you up on route I suspect, as to your luggage - who knows where it gets sent after you get off.

On a cost note, we are £820 each for 14 nights at the Bahama Bay resort including the Premium upgrade and all the surcharges, F4 car and car insurance and parking at this side,

Colin

[muskateers]

Man - SFB MYT (My Travel) flights 15th - 22nd june operate outbound via Glasgow and 29June - 13th Jul outbound and inbound are via Glasgow

To sum up - if your flying from Glasgow mid june - mid July, the Brummies will pick you up on route I suspect, as to your luggage - who knows where it gets sent after you get off.

On a cost note, we are £820 each for 14 nights at the Bahama Bay resort including the Premium upgrade and all the surcharges, F4 car and car insurance and parking at this side,

Colin

sorry Colin but you now have confused me :hehe: are you saying then that the flights are not direct then. my SIL travelled outwith mid july and they were direct from glasgow with MY Travel

[Midnight Storm]

I do confused better than most.:eek:
If you are traveling from Glasgow, yes you are going direct, however the plane is already part loaded from Manchester, and on the way back only half the passengers are getting off at Glasgow, the rest stay on the plane to Manchester

[muskateers]

weve never experienced that maybe is just certain days although we have flew both midweek and weekends from glasgow with Airtours but never touched down.:confused:

[Midnight Storm]

According to the text on my invoice it is just during the periods indicated, they obviously have operational reasons for it or just are not busy enough from Glasgow alone. Bit annoying to drive all the way to Manchester just to be flown back home (within 10 min of the house) ho hum

C

[muskateers]

more annoying to think they are charging £1000 extra though to fly from glasgow when they are coming this way anyway.

I noticed a flight last year that touched down up here enroute but it was Glasgow Prestwick it touched down at.

thought I would check out own information. we fly out of glasgow on a thursday . we had the option of two flights early or lunchtime but due to DS it would have been a struggle to get to the airport in time for the early flight so we picked the lunchtime one and although nothing at all mentioning manchester but the flight code is exactly the same as the one you are probably on from manchester . now I am worried. do you think everything will be okay.

[muskateers]

According to the text on my invoice it is just during the periods indicated, they obviously have operational reasons for it or just are not busy enough from Glasgow alone. Bit annoying to drive all the way to Manchester just to be flown back home (within 10 min of the house) ho hum

C

never guess what colin but just found out we are travelling glasgow - sanford with the flight having started in Manchester. On another thread it mentions the planes being used next year. as I said above we paid for Premier Gold so do you think we are safe and will get the airbus which will have more room and our seats will be allocated. I am really frightened now of not getting seated next to our son who can't sit on his own (he has a broken neck) and if the flight leave firstly from manchester then will be end up with us all sitting alone or having paid for premier gold will we be okay

[YNWA]

I run my own travel agency, I can tell you for a fact that if you have booked premier seats then you will be prebooked next to each other, all your party will be in the same area, but if there is more than 4 people then you will be separated by an aisle, also if you start at Manchester you will not get off the plane, just stop for half an hour while you are letting people on, this has been known to take up to two hours though as sometimes they schedule a refuill, so prepare youself for a long journey if you have a stop over, you should have been informed at the time of booking that the flight goes via somewhere else, if you were not informed then you have a right to cancel onto a direct flight! Hope this helps!:)

[muskateers]

I run my own travel agency, I can tell you for a fact that if you have booked premier seats then you will be prebooked next to each other, all your party will be in the same area, but if there is more than 4 people then you will be separated by an aisle, also if you start at Manchester you will not get off the plane, just stop for half an hour while you are letting people on, this has been known to take up to two hours though as sometimes they schedule a refuill, so prepare youself for a long journey if you have a stop over, you should have been informed at the time of booking that the flight goes via somewhere else, if you were not informed then you have a right to cancel onto a direct flight! Hope this helps!:)

it does help thank you :) we are getting on at glasgow and that was my concern that all the seats would have been preallocated at manchester and in turn we would have only got what was left. if it wasn't for my son I wouldn't have been so worried but he is paralised and therefore couldn't have coped on a 9 hr journey sitting on his own. we planned and planned for this year and it was a complete nightmare so I thought I did a good thing by booking premier for next year. fingers crossed .:)

[YNWA]

If you are getting on at Glasgow then there will be empty seats waiting for you which will be pre allocated, I would check with your Booking agent just to make sure as all people that book premier seats also are prebooked together as a party, just check to make sure they did it correctly, also if you require special assistance they can give it to you at the airport too.

[muskateers]

If you are getting on at Glasgow then there will be empty seats waiting for you which will be pre allocated, I would check with your Booking agent just to make sure as all people that book premier seats also are prebooked together as a party, just check to make sure they did it correctly, also if you require special assistance they can give it to you at the airport too.

Thanks again Nick . MT has said to TA for them to get in touch nearer the time in April with all the special needs. to be fair I think it was the airport or check-in that let us down this year. they had us sitting quarter of the way up the plane with DS who has no movement is 19 and weight about 12stone sitting in the middle it was a 3-3-3-. took us 3 quarters of an hour to load him and the flight crew were totally embarrassed and said it shouldn't have happened. our first flight since his accident and he sat in tears. landing in america was like chalk and cheese they lifted him off in no time and the airport staff couldn't have been nicer.
got to be positive so we are giving it a try next year. that can only have been the worst scenario so hopefully things can only be better.

obviousley next year he won't be first on the plane so again hopefully they will get it right so the whole load from Manchester arn't sitting watching him.

[YNWA]

Hiya

You should be able to put the request in the system now, as you will need the seats near the exit but not exit seats, think its the row behind you will need, if you phone airtours special assistance with the booking ref and flight numbers they will be able to put this in the system so it doesnt happen again, to be fair this should have been done at time of booking, I always make sure this is done when I book disabled clients onto a holiday, good luck, when are you going anyway?

[muskateers]

Hiya

You should be able to put the request in the system now, as you will need the seats near the exit but not exit seats, think its the row behind you will need, if you phone airtours special assistance with the booking ref and flight numbers they will be able to put this in the system so it doesnt happen again, to be fair this should have been done at time of booking, I always make sure this is done when I book disabled clients onto a holiday, good luck, when are you going anyway?

going next July. she spoke to special needs and it was them that said phone back then when the flight is released .

might see if I can get an email address and then I have it in writing .

thanks again. when do you go ?

[YNWA]

not till next oct, we have been the last few august and been busy so leaving till oct, hope you get it sorted!