Airtours - now called MyTravel (Airtours)

Member Name: wtwildcats

Product:	Airtours
Date:	07/01/03 (1340 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You get to your destination

Disadvantages: Space, Cabin Temperature

I recently flew from Manchester to Montego Bay, in Jamaica. I went with the company that was formally known as Airtours, its now MyTravel.

I have written an op on Negril, Jamacia for anyone who is interested, but here is my opinion on this company.

The flight was 10 hrs long, approximately. In a nutshell, the seats were tiny, the food was ok, the attendants' service was passable and the in flight entertainment was vaguely entertaining.

Perhaps I should go into more detail.

SPACE

Or lack of it. I am small and fat, and my mate who went with me is tall and thin. Neither of us were comfy - even though I am short - 5'4" - I still had difficulty with leg room ( I was in standard accomodation ) which was made worse when the occupier of the seat in front reclined their seat. I thought my knees would pop out. My friend is thin, but the seats wern't wide enough for him.

FOOD

This is important on a long haul flight. Actually the quality of food wasn't too bad, and it was fairly tasty, although if, like me, you have a recognised, and theoretically catered for, eating option (ie vegetarian, lactose free), you would be dissapointed with the effort put into getting you suitable food. I need lactose free food, and when everyone else is munching on a sandwich or enjoying their cornflakes for breakfast, I got a fruit salad. Yummy - not. I had 2 meals and 3 fruit salad bowls, and just for a change they gave me a whole apple for desert.

I don't live off fruit at home - it was dissapointing.

My mate said that his food was yummy, but he eats anything, and has no dietry requirements.

ATTENDANTS' SERVICE

Reasonable to poor. On the journey out I had no need to call on them, however on the flight back, we flew through the night and I was next to the window, and the people sat next to me were all sound asleep (how???). I needed water and paracetamol, because I was ov
erheating. The cabin temperature was incredible, and after 10 mins of pressing for service, I decided to wake my companions up, so I could serve myself.

I was the third person on the flight suffering from overheating - one had collapsed! but after I moaned a lot, the captain did turn the cabin temperature down a few degrees, which helped a lot.

IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Unlike a lot of airlines, the monitor is in the headrest of the seat in front of you, which means that you can have much more choice over what you want to watch - that is a good thing.

A not too good thing was that headphones cost £1 each, not a lot of money, but its a bit of a scam, and theres no guarantee that the sound quality is good - on my way out it was, on my way back in, all I got was static. Lots of choice of things to watch, and the A330 Airbus that i was on had forward and downwards cams, so you got some amazing views on your screen at take off/landing.

OTHER STUFF

They had the usual selection of duty frees on their trolley, but if you smoked and wanted to buy some cigs, they seemed to run out quickly.

When I booked, the food was an optional extra.

Seats with extra legroom are extra too - I am used to "turn up early and you may get them" rather than "pay an extra £70 each and you'll get them"

They had the usual safety demonstration - but it was in the form of a video cartoon, which probably got the kids interested, but turned the adults off.

Dr Hillary Jones was there (on video) to give tips on how to relax and be comfortable on the flight. Actually have people sized seats would help, but hey ho. He did give advice on some exercises, and DVT was mentioned in the videos.

Would I use them again? Well, yes, if they flew to where I was going, but no if I had a lot of choice. I didn't - I booked through teletext, and had no idea who the travel company was until I had act
ually confirmed my booking.

Enjoy your trip!

Summary: