Flights

[coxy]

Due to the fly to the Caribbean in early November still waiting for flight details has anybody got there flight details yet for November/December 

[Chippyminton]

We are on Britannia Nov 4th, spoke to an actual person yesterday as had not received flight details. They are hoping to have Caribbean flights sorted out by the end of the month, will wait and see.

[wowzz]

On a related matter,  when are you normally able to select seats ? 

[Chippyminton]

Usually as soon as the flight details have been confirmed, this is normally 14 weeks before travelling.  We are down to 10 weeks so a bit late in being notified. 

[dgs1956]

Please can someone give me an idea of when the Flight Booker is available for Caribbean flights? I know it is supposed to be 14 weeks but they are currently a lot less than that. TIA

[Megabear2]

My flights for 16 December departure from Gatwick appeared earlier this week.  Confirmed as TUI charter flight leaving 10.15, return flight 17.00.  Seats apparently will be bookable next Friday.  That would be right on schedule as it will be 14 weeks.  

[dgs1956]

15 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

My flights for 16 December departure from Gatwick appeared earlier this week.  Confirmed as TUI charter flight leaving 10.15, return flight 17.00.  Seats apparently will be bookable next Friday.  That would be right on schedule as it will be 14 weeks.  

We are down to 10 weeks and the Flight Booker isn't available. Have you had it confirmed that it will be available next week?

[Megabear2]

40 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

We are down to 10 weeks and the Flight Booker isn't available. Have you had it confirmed that it will be available next week?

I spoke to my personal contact about something else and that is what I was told.  Assumedly the information is correct but to be truthful I never book outgoing seats in advance as we are normally very early for check in going out - I'm very mean!  We do book our return seats as we like an aisle each and as P&O allocate these onboard can't guarantee what will be allocated. Were your flights allocated earlier or has it only just appeared?

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Megabear2

[dgs1956]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I spoke to my personal contact about something else and that is what I was told.  Assumedly the information is correct but to be truthful I never book outgoing seats in advance as we are normally very early for check in going out - I'm very mean!  We do book our return seats as we like an aisle each and as P&O allocate these onboard can't guarantee what will be allocated. Were your flights allocated earlier or has it only just appeared?

 

The flights were announced about a week ago.

[Megabear2]

23 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

The flights were announced about a week ago.

That tallies with the information from Moley a month or so back about a delay, as well as my flight showing up.  My contact is pretty reliable, she's in the CEO's office.  As there were delays in releasing the flight programme it no doubt impacted sale of seats.  I'm told that even though they are all TUI aircraft the seating is different on individual aircraft so until the airline says which plane is on which route it's not possible to sell the seats.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Megabear2

[pennib]

I have just checked as we are going from Manchester on 16 December. The flight details are showing but no facility to book yet. Presumably Megabear means this coming Friday the 9th.

[tim2go]

Going on Azura for my first fly cruise next month. I'm assuming that if we don't book our £17.50 seats they will be allocated at some point for free.

 

Call me silly, but when I book a cruise that states flights included, I don't expect to have to pay another £70 for said flights.

[Jennizor]

10 minutes ago, tim2go said:

Going on Azura for my first fly cruise next month. I'm assuming that if we don't book our £17.50 seats they will be allocated at some point for free.

 

Call me silly, but when I book a cruise that states flights included, I don't expect to have to pay another £70 for said flights.

You are not paying more for the flight you are paying to choose your seats. You don’t have to pay, you will just be allocated a seat when you check in at the airport . We  pay to choose our seats as my husband always wants a window seat.  If you are OK with aisle seats or sitting one behind the other, you won’t be charged. On the other hand you may just be lucky if all the window seats have not been sold. 

[wowzz]

25 minutes ago, tim2go said:

Going on Azura for my first fly cruise next month. I'm assuming that if we don't book our £17.50 seats they will be allocated at some point for free.

 

Call me silly, but when I book a cruise that states flights included, I don't expect to have to pay another £70 for said flights.

Virtually all airlines now charge if you want to choose a seat. The flights are included,  seat selection is not.

[terrierjohn]

16 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Virtually all airlines now charge if you want to choose a seat. The flights are included,  seat selection is not.

Next thing they will be charging to use the inside toilets, outside will remain free!!😊

[Megabear2]

4 hours ago, tim2go said:

Going on Azura for my first fly cruise next month. I'm assuming that if we don't book our £17.50 seats they will be allocated at some point for free.

 

Call me silly, but when I book a cruise that states flights included, I don't expect to have to pay another £70 for said flights.

It's just a way for the airlines to milk more money from us.  On a recent Greek flight in July no one had paid for the exit seats presumably as the price was too high.  Crew members then came round and moved people into them for safety reasons. Laughable but true.  

 

On scheduled flights there's even less reason to pay as we check ourselves in and can move seats as we wish.  It's a herd mentality we have been conditioned to.  

[davecttr]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

It's just a way for the airlines to milk more money from us.  On a recent Greek flight in July no one had paid for the exit seats presumably as the price was too high.  Crew members then came round and moved people into them for safety reasons. Laughable but true.  

 

On scheduled flights there's even less reason to pay as we check ourselves in and can move seats as we wish.  It's a herd mentality we have been conditioned to.  

Or maybe P&O milking more money out of us. I reserved seats yesterday for my TUI flight next month. Cost £9 per seat so 2 seats each way is £36

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

It's just a way for the airlines to milk more money from us.  On a recent Greek flight in July no one had paid for the exit seats presumably as the price was too high.  Crew members then came round and moved people into them for safety reasons. Laughable but true.  

 

On scheduled flights there's even less reason to pay as we check ourselves in and can move seats as we wish.  It's a herd mentality we have been conditioned to.  

Horses for courses.  We always pay for seats,  as I want extra leg room/emergency exit row seats. Just part of the overall holiday cost.   

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Or maybe P&O milking more money out of us. I reserved seats yesterday for my TUI flight next month. Cost £9 per seat so 2 seats each way is £36

A few years back I paid for extra legroom seats only to spend my overnight flight wide awake as ignorant people gathered around the lavatories, sometimes in groups of 6 or more.  I complained onboard the plane and to P&O and commented on the survey about my experience.  I received a call from P&O to be told I actually paid TUI not them for the seats and the "air etiquette" was therefore their responsibility.  They told me their only input into the flights is the allocation of seating on the return to those who haven't purchased seats.

 

As both my husband and I like aisle seats we are actually Tui's ideal customers apparently as we choose to not be seated next to each other.  We do sometimes pay for return seats on the aisle but only do this after viewing the seating plan to see what's already sold. 

 

It's not about the cost that we don't reserve seats but more to do with the odds that we would be paying for something we are most likely going to be given anyway.  

 

 

 

 

 

[wowzz]

36 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

It's not about the cost that we don't reserve seats but more to do with the odds that we would be paying for something we are most likely going to be given anyway.  

But you won't  be given extra leg room seats for free.

As to being seated near the toilets - we would never book those seats.

[Megabear2]

7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But you won't  be given extra leg room seats for free.

As to being seated near the toilets - we would never book those seats.

I wouldn't book extra legroom seats anyway after my previous experiences.  On the TUI Dreamliner to Barbados the extra legroom seats in the main cabins are pretty poor choices in my opinion - I wish I'd checked seat guru before parting with my cash on the occasion I booked one.

 

A seat is a seat to me.  As I said earlier on my Kefalonia flight in July people were put into the exit seats to ensure safety regs were met. 

 

On the Tui charter to Barbados there are two rows with extra legroom, rows 10 and 30.  Row 10 seats are probably best but the middle four with the wall are where any babies are put with bassinets so anyone booking these runs a risk of noise if they don't like children.  Seatguru also has people complaining about the two outside seats in row 10 due to constantly being knocked by trollies. That leaves row 30 with the intruding door  (and associated cold) and proximity to the lavatories.  Neither option therefore appeals to us.

 

Premium economy is better but at £499 each not worthwhile for us.

 

Like everything it's what the individual wants to spend their cash on.  

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

Premium economy is better but at £499 each not worthwhile for us.

 

Seems a lot. We paid £409 each for PE for December 2023.

We don't do lh in economy any more !

[Megabear2]

7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Seems a lot. We paid £409 each for PE for December 2023.

We don't do lh in economy any more !

As I say, your money to spend.  I just checked my email on costings and PE for December last year was quoted as £499. Because of lack of numbers they were pushing it until 3 days before departure. I haven't priced it for 2022 or 2023 so it may have changed but just short of £1,000 pays for my March Florida flights to cruise from FLL so I'll be passing!

[Denarius]

I am due to to fly to Malta on 29 September to join Azura and have still not been informed of my flight details. Late confirmations are sadly par for the course nowadays.

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, Denarius said:

I am due to to fly to Malta on 29 September to join Azura and have still not been informed of my flight details. Late confirmations are sadly par for the course nowadays.

TUI will not release the details till closer to the date, they will not even give details of which planes are to be used, we are waiting for our flight details as well