Charter Airlines

I agree with Excel, Flying Colours were a great airline I also like Excel.

My favourite is Excel Airways… but Flying Colours were like the best charter airline of their time. I would say the best charter airlines today are Excel, Thomas Cook and Air2000/First Choice.

I don’t do Charter!:D

Btw, my other two AIH planes were G-PIDS and G-CSVS. Both were awful.

I too have been on G-RJGR and G-JMAB.
What I can remember…. EI-TLO (Britannia A320) G-BYNB (Britannia 737-800) G-MONZ (Monarch A320) TF-ABU (Air Atlanta Tristar) G-OJMR (Monarch A300) G-CDUP,G-BYAI and G-BYAG (All BY 752s with G-BYAG the plane that crashed at Gerona) and G-VMED,G-VTAN (Both Virgin Sun A320s). Thats my charter list plus 3 Britannia 757-200s, 1 BY 767-200 and an Air Europa 752.

My league table is as follows:
1. Excel Airways (TF-ARD)
2.Air Scandic (G-TTMC)
3.JMC/Thomas Cook(G-JMAB and G-JMAA)
3.Airtours International(G-MCEA, G-RJGR, C-GTDL, G-JALC)
4.Monarch(charter)(G-DAJB)
5.Britannia(G-BLKV)
6.Air 2000(G-OOAO and G-OOAL)
7.Air OPS(SE-DPM and SE-DPU)

My scheduled is as follows:
1.Monarch Scheduled(G-OZBE and G-OZBG)
2.Bmibaby(G-OBMP and G-OJTW)
3.British Airways(G-CPEL)
4.Cyprus Airways(5B-DAV and 5B-DAQ)

I have included the aircraft regs because it was more to do with the aircraft in terms of comfort rather than service. I only put four out of the six AIH aircraft I have been on because the other two were poor and would have meant AIH were just above AMM.

Let’s have a quick runthrough shall we…

Monarch – I have flown with Monarch many times. My most recent trip with them was back in 1999, so not really recent! I flew an A300 to the Dominican Republic and an A330 back again. Trips before that were in the early 1990s on charter services to mainland Spain (Alicante, Malaga etc). With the long haul trips, their entertainment was quite good, meals were average and the crew didn’t seem to do anything to upset me.

More recently, my parents flew with them in 2001 to Holguin. They weren’t overly impressed.

Excel Airways – Two members of my family flew to Larnaca with Excel Airways in 2002. They thoroughly enjoyed the flight and were very comfortable in their leather seats.

JMC (Thomas Cook) – Have never flown Thomas Cook, but flew the JMC DC-10s in the Summer of 2000 to the Dominican Republic again. The aircraft was tired judging by the state of the interior. The cabin ceilings were starting to come away, the air conditioning system seemed to drench passengers with leaks and the entertainment was very poor! Crew were quite useless at the time as well, not willing to offer much help when we discovered one of our seats was broken, and another had a broken headphone socket. The flight outbound had a hefty 4 hour delay outbound.

Airtours (MyTravel) – Like Monarch, I flew with Airtours a lot in the 1990s to Spain and Crete. My most recent trip was 2 years ago (the last charter flight I made) to Montego Bay, Jamaica. For a 10 hour flight, I was very impressed. We flew on the hi-tech A330-200 outbound and departed Gatwick on-time. Excellent in-flight service and meals and entertainment which was unbeatable. The inbound flight was delayed by 4 hours and there was not much communication between Airtours staff and passengers at the airport. The 767 which flew us home was a real comedown compared to the A330 we had travelled on previously.

Britannia Airways (Thomson/TUI) – I flew Britannia in the 1990s on trips to Spain and my most recent trips were in 1998 from London Gatwick to Orlando Sanford (767-300s), 1999 from London Gatwick to Girona (767-200s) and in 2001 from London Gatwick to La Romana (Dom Rep, 767-300s). The 1998 trip was my first long haul flight and also my first Atlantic crossing. The service was much better than I was expecting. We had two hot meals and a hot dog towards the end of the flight – you don’t get more American than that! Excellent crew, very punctual (for the six trips I have made with them) and an airline I wouldn’t mind flying with in the future.

Comfort – I don’t think I’ve ever been comfortable on a charter flight. But the airline that offered such great service that took my mind off of how uncomfortable I was would be Airtours (now MyTravel).

From what I’ve experienced, JMC the best and Flyjet the worst.

Why not start a new topic rather than bring a 3 year old one back up?? I think most people would have guessed European from you name and signature?

european air charter

RE: Charter Airlines

As a result of the British Airtours 737-200 which caught fire on the runway at Manchester, a recommendation was made for a legal minimum seat pitch of 32 inches on all commercial flights (primarily, so as to make it easier to evacuate the aircraft).

It was rejected by the airlines.

The issue is similar to the one which predominates consumer preferences these days. People prefer something to be cheap. Unfortunately, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Increasing seat pitch from 30 to 32 inches would incrase the price by more than 10%; more likely 25% to 30%.

RE: Charter Airlines

I guess that Mongu’s point of view is quite fair.
It would make sense to consider :

– Short haul : For a one hour flight , I don’t give a sh… to have
extra legroom (even if I’m 1,92m) and seat TV’s.
– Long haul : That’s an other story. In this case legroom is more important and according with some scientits a matter of safety!!!

Anyway legroom on coach in most US or european carrier a/c is really on the edge !!!

RE: Charter Airlines

If the price was 10% higher i would pay but more than that,no.It also depends on the length of the flight.Anything longer than 4 hours starts to become uncomfortable with 28/30 inch seat pitch.

RE: Charter Airlines

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 03-06-02 AT 11:17 PM (GMT)]The more up-market tour operators actually use scheduled carriers – eg. Hayes & Jarvis.

It’s a question I often ask myself though. Usually, after 10 hours travelling toilet class in a 747, I try to figure out the economics involved.

Consider:

Configuration 1 is 30 rows at 10 abreast. This means 300 seats. At a notional £100 a seat, this gives revenue of £30,000.

Configuration 2 is 25 rows at 8 abreast. This means 200 seats. To achieve the same revenue as configuration 1, average price would need to be raised to £150.

Config 2. gives each passenger approx. 9% extra legroom and a little less extra elbow room. They pay 50% extra ticket price for this.

So the first point is that it is uneconomic to pay a “small premium” for a little extra comfort. The second point is that even a “nice” improvement costs each passenger an extra 50%. Of course, there are now less seats. This means that airline revenues are now more sensitive to load factors than they used to be. To counterract this effect, the 50% rise might need to be increased a little.

On the other side of the coin however, I am really disappointed in BA. I am travelling LHR-MEL in a few weeks. I paid GBP 750 for an economy ticket. I tried to get in “World Traveller Plus”, but the cost was nearly GBP 4,000. This is a rise of 433%!!!

Also, it would be marginally cheaper to fly full business class on Air France, KLM or Lufthansa than to fork out for BA.

My conclusion: Airlines are scared that they will loose premium customers if they make an “improved economy” too affordable. True, perhaps. But you will also gain passengers from other airlines in my opinion.

Sorry – I know that I failed to consider the charter airline issue here!

RE: Charter Airlines

What u have to remember if u go scheduled u pay a lot more anyway.So to upgrade to a charter first class its only a fraction of the price u would pay with BA for example.As for the Mytravel check-in its still the same as the old Airtours one and also the PTV’S are no extra cost.They are standard on all the A330 weather u have xtra legroom or not.
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RE: Charter Airlines

I think it is crazy that we must pay extra for facilities which scheduled airlines offer anyway.

Long haul flights can be extremely uncomfortable with the lack of legroom available and limited entertainment and making us pay a supplement for a personal television and a couple of inches exra is extortionate.

There should be a law on the conditions permitted on airlines.

RE: Charter Airlines

My vote goes to Air Europe. They may have folded ten years ago, but I used to fly them all the time in the 1980’s. They were excellent and had a very young fleet of 737’s and 757’s. It is nice to see the former Spanish associate, Air Europa still in action though. They now fly the 777, which is nice to see.

On the whole though, I think the standards of service offered by charter airlines is quite high compared to yesteryear. The likes of Air 2000 and Airtours International offer mixed class configurations on their long haul services, and IFE is of a good standard.

RE: Charter Airlines

My parents flew on Ambassador Airways BHX-ACE-BHX in September 1994, a few weeks before they folded I think. Anyway, they said at the time that there was no inflight entertainment or magazine provided, so the four hours dragged.

I have got an Ambassador Airways pilot bear in my remaining collection (Ambassabear), but I’m afraid it’s not available for sale, trade or anything.

Wingflaps.

P.S. My parents have also been on Flying Colours. I think I still have the logoed boarding passes.

RE: Charter Airlines

LAST EDITED ON 01-07-01 AT 09:24 AM (GMT)[p]I don’t know any new charter airlines but i have got a few favourites.My favoutrite is Palmair-good service,crew very pleasent and let me view the cockpit on there old BAe 146’s.I also enjoyed travelling SATA International from JER-FNC on a 737.Although the flight was delayed,the aircraft was comfortable,good food and polite crew.
Here are my favourite charters:

1)Palmair JER-AGP
2)Sata International JER-FNC
3)Flightline JER-LIN
4)Monarch LGW-LYS
5)Britannia LGW-REU
6)Airtours LGW-MIR
7)Sabre LGW-Sharm el shake
8)JMC –
9)Air Atlanta Iceland –
10)Nouvelair Tunisie LTN-MIR

Regards Saab 2000