Phuket Thailand

barfly · #1 25-11-2006, 00:30

Last time out of Phuket I saw a My Travel plane there. Anyone used/any knowledge of this?

steve@thaib · #2 25-11-2006, 02:15

Sounds like the re-instated Brittannia/Thompson flights. There have been a few threads about them lately but, if it is the same, they are a cheap (£299) charter flight routing through the Mid East (Abu Dhabi when I used them)

It's worth being aware that they often offer a Manchester or Gatwick departure. What that can mean is that they originate in Manchester and pick up in Gatwick.

I would not fly them again for a gold clock, but that's just me.

barfly · #3 25-11-2006, 02:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve@thaib

Sounds like the re-instated Brittannia/Thompson flights. There have been a few threads about them lately but, if it is the same, they are a cheap (£299) charter flight routing through the Mid East (Abu Dhabi when I used them)

It's worth being aware that they often offer a Manchester or Gatwick departure. What that can mean is that they originate in Manchester and pick up in Gatwick.

I would not fly them again for a gold clock, but that's just me.

It's always a hard call between convenience(less flights), price and in flight quality.
Maybe give them a miss,then. Not a big fan of half-way stops, especially if they come during sleep time.

steve@thaib · #4 25-11-2006, 02:22

For me, it's the fact that they are a charter. I've seen some amazing behaviour on them (drunks abusing staff, smoking in toilets etc.) and the tight leg room making them really claustrophobic.

Never again for me. They are good value though.

palaceboy · #5 25-11-2006, 22:56

" My Travel " is a big Scandinavian travel agency with a fleet of aircrafts, they normally fly direct Phuket - Copenhagen, and I don't think it's possible to get on a flight out of Phuket unless you arrived with them there, it's possible to book a "flight only" from Scandinavia and leaving out the package tour, they normally sell.

barfly · #6 25-11-2006, 23:55

Coincidence: Just back from a visit to my local Thai restaurant and it has changed hands yet again. Odd Thai waitress who had never heard of anywhere in Thailand except Bangkok but the food was still good. I was talking to the English owner afterwards and he told me of his friend who had booked a flight from Manchester to Phuket this week(leaving this week) for £189 return with Thomsons/My Travel. The service would have to be seriously rubbish to turn that down. As it happens I had just picked up a My Travel(seems to be Airtours) brochure to find out more and the flights section gives the flight as TOM - Thomsons, rather than My Travel Air, even tho' the plane I had seen was marked My Travel.
It would still be nice to hear from anyone who has had a mid-East stop on how disruptful that is.
It would also be good to lose the dodgy KLM hop to Amsterdam.

palaceboy · #7 26-11-2006, 00:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by barfly

Coincidence: Just back from a visit to my local Thai restaurant and it has changed hands yet again. Odd Thai waitress who had never heard of anywhere in Thailand except Bangkok but the food was still good. I was talking to the English owner afterwards and he told me of his friend who had booked a flight from Manchester to Phuket this week(leaving this week) for £189 return with Thomsons/My Travel. The service would have to be seriously rubbish to turn that down. As it happens I had just picked up a My Travel(seems to be Airtours) brochure to find out more and the flights section gives the flight as TOM - Thomsons, rather than My Travel Air, even tho' the plane I had seen was marked My Travel.
It would still be nice to hear from anyone who has had a mid-East stop on how disruptful that is.
It would also be good to lose the dodgy KLM hop to Amsterdam.

It's possible but then we have 2 Airlines with the same name, sorry I'm unable to upload the pic. of the aircraft,MyTravel Airways

faultytowers · #8 26-11-2006, 02:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by palaceboy

It's possible but then we have 2 Airlines with the same name, sorry I'm unable to upload the pic. of the aircraft,MyTravel Airways

It is all part of one company , which started in England.

MyTravel PLC History

johnaalex · #9 26-11-2006, 16:08

For info on their service to Phuket see Book sun holidays to Thailand online with MyTravel.com
They do offer a premier gold service and "extra leg room seats", but they do not give any info on exactly what these extras give you. From what I have heard and read about Mytravel I would not use them. I did LGW to U-Tapao on Monarch about 15 years and swore never to use a charter again after that.

Regards

John

LivinLOS · #10 26-11-2006, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by barfly

As it happens I had just picked up a My Travel(seems to be Airtours)

Never ever again.. Flew airtours once to the states.. Flight out via some northern airport, then pick up more people in Ireland, then land in Maine (Bangor ??) to clear customs and refuel, then finally to Miami..

Probably the worst airline experience I have ever had (possibly except a really scary internal indonesian short hop once) for so many reasons.. I am not exagerating when I say I would not fly with them if they paid me the ticket price.

barfly · #11 26-11-2006, 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

Never ever again.. Flew airtours once to the states.. Flight out via some northern airport, then pick up more people in Ireland, then land in Maine (Bangor ??) to clear customs and refuel, then finally to Miami..

Probably the worst airline experience I have ever had (possibly except a really scary internal indonesian short hop once) for so many reasons.. I am not exagerating when I say I would not fly with them if they paid me the ticket price.

Sounds more and more as though we should stick to the major players. I suppose they are cheap for a reason.

arealhighlander · #12 27-11-2006, 06:47

Our first holiday to Phuket was Airtours charter flight, from Manchester. 14 hours with a stop at Abu Dabi on the way out - 18 hours with a fuel stop (not allowed off!) via some place in East Africa! With a woman in front of me who had her seat down as far as she could and complained when my knees were digging into her.

Been scheduled airline ever since.

The other thing about legroom is that the forget to mention WIDTH. You may have decent legroom but you are still squeezed on your left and right for far too long to be comfortable.

stevem · #13 27-11-2006, 07:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by arealhighlander

18 hours with a fuel stop (not allowed off!) via some place in East Africa!

That was more than likely for your own safety and security.

steve@thaib · #14 27-11-2006, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevem

That was more than likely for your own safety and security.

This happened to some friends of mine as well, when Saddam was kicking off IIRC, and they had the same experience in Africa. Is there not a disease issue? Malaria maybe? So they keep you on the aircraft.

arealhighlander · #15 27-11-2006, 16:42

Mombassa was the place I was trying to think of. Yes, it was because it was kicking off in the Middle East at the time, still extremely unpleasant tho.

Yes, not allowed off because it was a Malaria country, however they also opened the aircraft doors (for safety because they were fuelling) but what that meant is all the mozzies and bugs flew into the aircraft anyway!

Anyways, I still dont fly charter long haul anymore, to me the flight is part of the holiday (holiday begins at the airport!).

steve@thaib · #16 27-11-2006, 19:48

This sounds like the same flight, and I will never fly long-haul charter again for the same reasons. The brittannia flights cured me.

stevem · #17 28-11-2006, 02:54

A recent story doing the rounds about one of these charter type mobs, cant recall the carriers name. But they did a tech stop at Dakar to refuel. As the airline had no representation there, the captain was forced to raise 2000 pounds before the aircraft could depart, to cover the fuel bill.

Unfortunately the ATM in the terminal would not accept his ATM card. So between himself, the FO and the onboard float they managed to get together enough to pay the airport pirates.

By the time they were ready to leave it was now dark, and the airport pirates then wanted 200 pounds to turn on the runway lights. This is another example of potential problems when flying with these charter mobs.

arealhighlander · #18 28-11-2006, 04:41

On UK satellite, theres a documentary running on one of the UK Low Cost carriers, Easyjet.

On one of those programmes a plane was diverted from their usual airfield. When they got there, they wouldnt refuel them as they had no credit agreement and their "fuel card" was not used at that airfield.

It took several phone calls and faxes from the Financial Director to persuade them to fuel them. The pilot would have paidf for it but his wife had maxed out his Gold card LMAO

stevem · #19 28-11-2006, 04:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by arealhighlander

On one of those programmes a plane was diverted from their usual airfield. When they got there, they wouldnt refuel them as they had no credit agreement and their "fuel card" was not used at that airfield.

It happens more than people realise. There was even a Qantas flight which diverted, cant remember exactly where, but the Captain had to use his personal AMEX card to purchase the fuel, just think of all the award points for that purchase. So its not only the charter and loco carriers, but also the legacy ones as well.

landofsmiles · #20 28-11-2006, 18:40

The MyTravel flights are operated by ThompsonFly Boeing 767s from Manchester and Gatwick and the tech stop for about an hour is at Al Ain airport. A very small airport near Abu Dhabi. It does have a Duty Free shop though.

New Page 1