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A1Travel
by Anonymous
Very rare that I feel strongly enough to write a review but my experience with A1 Travel has left me so angry I just had to share my experience with others, and warn others not to deal with these cowboys.
I called up today to check the price of a city break advertised on Teletext. The first bloke I spoke to said the cost was ... the same but the flight times were different (later outbound, and first thing in the morning inbound, meaning effectively 2 days holiday less). However when I checked on the airport website the flights he quoted don't even exist, only the original ones. This should have been my warning not to ever pick up the phone to them again, but hindsight is a good tool.
So I picked up the phone again and confirmed that the price was correct - she took me through the whole process and confirmed that there were no extra charges and that these were the live prices I would get. Great, I thought and gave over my card details, as this looked to be saving a few quid against booking flight and hotel separately. Half way through the transaction she said "Oh hang on, somethings changed" and proceeded to put me on hold for 10 minutes. When she eventually came back to me she said (without any real apology) that the prices had gone up and they were going to have to charge me an extra £60 per person (bearing in mind the advertised price was only £169 per person this was a huge jump!). When I said that I would therefore leave it, she said I couldn't because the flights had been confirmed and were non-refundable.
After much to-ing and fro-ing, she eventually let me cancel the accomodation part of the booking, but I was still stuck with the flights, which cost £20 more due to fees than if I had booked directly. £20 for some woman at the other end of the phone to put my card details into the budget airline's website (she admitted this is exactly what they do).
In summary: All they do is book what you could do direct and charge you fees for the privelege. Then try and charge you nearly 50% extra after confirming your booking. An absolute waste of space company...avoid at all costs!
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A1Travel
by Goldcoco
I guess from reading other reviews that myself and my partner were lucky. We booked a (£340 each) break to Gran Canaria last week and flew using Ryanair; including transfers and all-inclusive accomodation. The overall package was fantastic and the hotel was a beautiful 4* hotel in a lovely resort called Playa Taurito. I had checked it ... out prior to booking with A1 and it was better than I could have imagined it to be. I had no problems at all booking with A1 - the travel agent was polite, the whole package booked immediately and a confirmation e-mail was quickly sent to my e-mail address. Transfers were easy, as the transfer agent was English speaking. Everything ran very smoothly and was extremely easy for us.
From my experience with A1 travel, I would recommend them, and I would definitely book with them again if I saw a good deal!
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Ferris Holidays
by seksyhuni
Ferris is a coach firm that is based in Wales. And is a coach firm that offers holidays to many Spanish resorts, It is cheap and cheerful.
We recently went with Ferris to Spain and in a nutshell we really enjoyed it,
We were picked up from Knutsford service station at around five in the morning which was a bit of a pain ... as there is nothing worse than hanging round a service station at a sill hour.
Once on the coach we found that the seating was rather comfortable, this I was told was because it was one of the luxurious coaches, in the brochure it does offer you a choice of having a luxury coach but does tell you to pay an extra £15, this ensures you have that little bit of extra room , however we did not pay the extra and still got one of these coaches. Which in a sense was lucky, But I would recommend adding the extra just for comfort.
As I said we got on the coach at around 5am and then had to settle back and enjoy the ride.
The coach did make a few stops but this never once bothered us or upset the journey as it made its way down to Dover. where we caught the 3 pm ferry.
Once on board the ferry you can just relax yet again or take in the shops and bag a few bargains, though I would recommend you doing this on your return journey.
Once across in to France you have the harrowing experience of all the roads which I did find to be a little fast it seemed everyone was in a rush, so to get caught up in the worry of the passing rushing traffic I pulled the curtains.
The coach company host also put on a dvd which helped to take my mind off it too.
Talking of the hostess they are always on hand to provide you with drinks and of course a pot noodle if you feel peckish, but the coach does make a few stops not only in the UK but also through France and Spain where you can grab something to eat.
The stops once you get over the channel are often up until around midnight, I guess this is due to the fact most people are sleeping on the coach so there really is not any need but for smokers it can be a little bit of a drag so to speak as there are not many stops till the morning, This is usually around 8am when they stop so you can get some breakfast before being taken on to your hotel which is usually around 2 hours later.
My overall experience.
In total it took is just over 25 hours to get from Knutsford to Calella, So be warned if you do not like the long haul then this really is not the kind of trip to take. I found the seats to be really comfortable and very roomy as you are allowed to take on hand luggage which was good as I had packed some crisps and pop for the journey and this is easily placed under the seat. Travelling the long haul did not really bother me or my husband as it was a nice nad easy journey with plenty of stops. Though admittedly the odd stop late a night might stop a few smokers from moaning.
They also allow children on the coaches which did not really bother me in the slightest but you could tell the mother of one of the children found it draining as the journey is long and the child did not seem to take well to traveling the long distance, but if you are taking a child then do pack plenty for them to do on the coach as they will I am sure get bored very fast if the DVD is not to their liking!
If i had to nail a problem I guess it would have to be the toilets, they can start to smell a little and there really is not much room in them, But if you do have good bladder control then I do recommend holding it and making use of the toilets at one of the many stops but if you do get caught short then be sure to of packed some baby wipes as they do come in handy if you have to use the toilets on the coach.
Once we arrived at our Hotel we were basically in our room within 25 minutes so there is not much hanging about. however if your room is not ready the hotels do have a luggage room that is secure for you to place your luggage in so if you want to go for a walk after sitting on the coach for a while this too can be done.
In many of the hotels they do have a help desk set up for the Ferris passengers so you can enquire there if there are any problems.
We did not need help but found the help desk to informative as you can usually discover excursions or ideal places to visit.
We really enjoyed our trip with Ferris and intend to do it again next year. The holidays they offer are cheap, but that does not mean you miss out on quality. I stayed at Calella Palace and that was a 4 star and hand everything i needed in the all inclusive package. But be sure to check meal times and times you can order drinks etc, I did find it a little annoying having to ask at the main desk for information about the facilities and would rather of found a holiday pack in my room with all the infromation inside.
But I do recommend you also check the Ferris website as they do have some great offers, not only in Spain but within the UK too.
But most off all if you do go enjoy it and do take a book or ipod as this does break up the journey expecially if they do put on a film you have seen before.
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