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In January/February this year my wife and I flew to the Dominican Republic for a vacation. I'm a large guy (6' tall and 280 lbs/20 stone) so we normally fly independantly using scheduled flights and book our own accommodation. It sometimes comes out more expensive but its worth it for the better seat pitch and inflight service. In fact, to be honest, we avoided charter carriers like the plague. 28/29" seat pitch just doesn't float my boat !!
But this time it was different...We booked an all inclusive holiday with First Choice and we used them because of the advertised 33" seat pitch in standard economy. OK, so we were going to have to pay for our drinks and meals but that's not a huge drawback.
About three weeks before departure we decided to upgrade to Premium class with 36" seat pitch, free drinks service, comfort pack and a better meal service. The upgrade cost us £219 each extra on top of the normal fare which, for a total round trip flying time of 18 hrs, seemed reasonable to me, especially as we had dedicated check-in. We actually paid an extra £5 to check in the previous day at Gatwick outbound. Good job we did as Gatwick was packed solid the next day ( Saturday )
I have to report that the flights were all that we expected. The flights were on time, the seats very comfortable, good food and drink, (and boy, did they throw the drinks at us. Bar service whenever you wanted it.) excellent meals and very good seatback IFE. I took a look at economy and nobody seemed to be uncomfortable. Seatback IFE in economy with a slightly inferior IFE programme which could be upgraded for £5. ( Not really worth it for just 2 more films )
First Choice have taken long haul charter flying into a new dimension and I thoroughly recommend them.
We're off to the Dominican again in September and will probably fly ThomsonFly this time as we've bought a holiday club deal in the resort, so we're booking our own flights this time. We will, however use Thomsonfly's premium class as they're economy class doesn't come up to First Choice's standard.
First Choice seem to be the better deal for a package but about £50 -£60 more expensive than ThomsonFly if you're booking flight only. The ThomsonFly class upgrade is £189 each round trip extra for a total cost each of a bit over £500.
The other charter operators have a lot of catching up to do !!
But this time it was different...We booked an all inclusive holiday with First Choice and we used them because of the advertised 33" seat pitch in standard economy. OK, so we were going to have to pay for our drinks and meals but that's not a huge drawback.
About three weeks before departure we decided to upgrade to Premium class with 36" seat pitch, free drinks service, comfort pack and a better meal service. The upgrade cost us £219 each extra on top of the normal fare which, for a total round trip flying time of 18 hrs, seemed reasonable to me, especially as we had dedicated check-in. We actually paid an extra £5 to check in the previous day at Gatwick outbound. Good job we did as Gatwick was packed solid the next day ( Saturday )
I have to report that the flights were all that we expected. The flights were on time, the seats very comfortable, good food and drink, (and boy, did they throw the drinks at us. Bar service whenever you wanted it.) excellent meals and very good seatback IFE. I took a look at economy and nobody seemed to be uncomfortable. Seatback IFE in economy with a slightly inferior IFE programme which could be upgraded for £5. ( Not really worth it for just 2 more films )
First Choice have taken long haul charter flying into a new dimension and I thoroughly recommend them.
We're off to the Dominican again in September and will probably fly ThomsonFly this time as we've bought a holiday club deal in the resort, so we're booking our own flights this time. We will, however use Thomsonfly's premium class as they're economy class doesn't come up to First Choice's standard.
First Choice seem to be the better deal for a package but about £50 -£60 more expensive than ThomsonFly if you're booking flight only. The ThomsonFly class upgrade is £189 each round trip extra for a total cost each of a bit over £500.
The other charter operators have a lot of catching up to do !!
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