cefn25,

Welcome onboard
Refer to my trip reports on page 47 for more information. The aircraft doesn't have the range to fly from MAN - PVR direct westbound (unless they are operating it with a reduced loading), it stops for fuel on the way. It was Orlando Sanford when I last went. You're on the ground for about 45 minutes while the aircraft is refueled and the crew changed. The flight is operated by First Choice (flight numbers FCA174/5). They operate out of Terminal 2 at Manchester.

Darren

It seems to fly direct MAN-PVR this year according to the operations guide.

Hi all in HT land!

Can anyone do me a favour and tell me the "real" reason FCA025 from Puera Plata to Glasgow was "delayed" for 11 hours on the 19th of July.
The inbound flight (FCA024) was as far as I know, in on time but our flight (dep.1955) was rescheduled for the next morning at 07.00.This flight had originated in Manchester as flight FCA341.
I'm not impressed at the thought of our original flight being transfered to another pick up leaving us with a considerable delay.

David

dave dee,

As you've probably seen on this thread (previous page), FCA had a couple of problems with aircraft / drunken passengers last week. You got mixed up in the knock-on effects from that unfortunately.

Darren

Hi Darren

Many thanks for the reply.The thing that puzzled me was that the inbound flight from Glasgow was expected in on time and the outbound was delayed by 11 hours.The pilot on the outbound to Glasgow mentioned something about Cuba but I was too tired to take any notice! So I am assuming that another flight was delayed and ours was "commandeered" and then we had to wait for an other to take us home.
The flights as a whole were very good, infact a lot better than I had expected.Having never flown long haul before it was a pleasant experience.The time flew by and considering we were "only" Star Class, the food and entertainment packages were very good.It was nice to get a choice of meals (only on FCA024) and good in flight service.
The flight delay did not in any way ruin the end of a perfect holiday but it was a major pain in the butt.First Choice done an excellent job in alleviating any hardships by placing us into an alternative hotel for the night, so we were fortunate not to have been stuck at the airport.Coincidentaly we were only delayed for 11 hours when if it had been an extra one, I might've been able to make a claim on my insurance but hey, what the hell!

David

dave dee,

I don't have inside information to know what went on exactly, but it wasn't just your flight that suffered as a consequence. There were several flights delays towards the end of last week. The knock on effects lasted for several days, back to normal now though. Your aircraft wasn't necassariliy commandeered. If it was, you'd have been facing at least a 24 hour delay! Aircraft are rotated for logistical reasons by changing them at destination. It could have been your flight was one of those. They won't have borrowed your aircraft and delayed you intentionally. The logistics of catering for a delay like this isn't easy so they'll have done their best to resolve the situation as soon as possible. It's not only inconvienient for passengers, it's a hassle and major expense for the airline and crew as well. I know where you are coming from, I once had a 52 hour delay when the hydralics of the DC-10 we were on failed onroute to Jamaica on my way home. We were stuck for the weekend (what a shame ) while they tried to fix it, in the end an aircraft was brought in to bring us home. There isn't much you can do and quite often the crew and reps in resort know as much as you do. Just think of it as an extension to your holiday.

Darren

HI again Darren.

Yeah, I fully appreciate the logistical problems when this sort of thing happens.It can't be easy trying to re-accomodate about 200 people especially as the hotels seemed to be full.
I was very impressed with our resort rep who kept us fully informed from the earliest opportunity.We were originally due to be picked up from our hotel to go to the airport at about 17.00 but we were informed at about 12.00 that we would be picked up at 14.00 and transferred to another hotel.So we were glad of this rather than being stuck in Puerta Plata Airport.A "BIG" plus for First Choice and my gratitude goes to them and all their staff.As I said previously, this didn't spoil my holiday (I wouldn't have let it) but it was a "small" inconvenience!

All the best.

David

Hi,

Flying to Verona from LGW on 9th August 0750.

We booked FCA thru Inghams, so I guess we can still use the 'day before check in' service. Does anyone know what times you can do the 'day before check in' and is there usually a specific check-in desk for this?

Thanks

Trig1 ,

Refer to First Choice's website for details and page73 of this thread

Darren

Thanks for reply,

I had already found that information, but it did not have any specific times.

Flying out of Manchester to Montego Bay on the 5th of August in Premium. Does anyone know what movies are being shown?

Has this flight been taking off on time lately?

Last year, this same flight was 24 hours delayed! I know I must be crazy to be taking the same flight again. However, I did like the flight it self and the cost was reasonable.

the movies are all listed on page 76. The search feature at the top of the page will help you find a lot of useful information and save duplicate postings. As for delays, aircraft can be delayed for any number of reasons beyond First Choice's control and therefore it is impossible to say your flight will be effected just because this weeks was or the 7th may's was. The best tip I can give is check on Manchester Airport Website for the Aruba flight, the aircraft you will be going on goes to Aruba Monday and is due to land at 0615

here they are:-

Longhaul:-
Outbound
Definately Maybe
10,000BC
The Spiderwalk Chronicles
Dr Seus Horton Hears a Who
Step up 2 to the Streets
21(P)
Be Kind Rewind(P)
The Street Kings(P)

Inbound
Fools Gold
Chaos Theory
Penelope
Dr Dolittle-Tail to the Chief
Shine A Light
The Other Boleyn Girl(P)
Drilbit Taylor(P)
Vantage Point(P)

Short Programmes
HOP(2-4yrs)- Pingu,Bob the Builder,Pingu,Barney, Thomas the Tank & Friends
SKIP(5-11)- Ben 10, Hannah Montanna, and Animalia
JUMP(12+) The Hills,The Simpsons, Live at Abbey Road
LIFESTYLE Perfect Housewife, Stars, Top Gear, Stars Profile
LAUGHTER- Scrubs, My Family and Jam & Jerusalem
DRAMA- Pushing Daisies, The Fixer
VARIETY- Grand Designs, Creature Comforts, Mans Work

Games
Solitaire
Hangman
Disney Classic Games
Battleship Multiplayer
Insaniquirium Deluxe
Scrambledash
Zuma(P)
Ultraball(P)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire(P)
Bejewelled Deluxe(P)

Music
Hitlist
Classical
Kids Choice
Livewire
Jazz & Blues
Dedicated(Madonna)
Galaxy Radio-Nu Cool
RnB
Classic Rock
Soul
Movie Soundtracks
Best of...

All the ones with (P) are in Star Class Premier or costs £5.00 to upgrade in Star Class.

ukusa,

Delays happen from time to time. FCA are pretty punctual. There were some delays last weekend because of a drunken idiot on the LGW-VAR flight that cause up to 14 hours of delays to subsequent flights when they had to divert to Bermuda to off-load him. You'll find posts on this topic over the last couple of pages. They also had an aircraft with a technical problem. Like busses, problems come in pairs! I'm sure you flight will be fine. I was just posting about the movies, BY-TOM-AMM-FCA beat me to it!

Darren

try looking here: http://www.thomsonfly.com/en/flywithus_4118.html

not the most logical place to find the information but hope it helps.

Hi all,
Notice lots of questions & comments about seat allocation.
Beware - It can go completely haywire!
I returned on 23rd Jul from Colombo to Gatwick on FCA063.
They somehow managed to choose the wrong aircraft type in the seat allocation system!!
And allocated some people seats that simply didn't exist.
Then - without correcting what they had done - they apparently started issuing some seats again.
So now they had double allocation of some seats.
It was all left to the flight crew to sort out the very angry passengers as they tried to board.
They had a really tough job to do it. The captain apologised multiple times for the mess.

I don't think the problem was totally First Choice's fault - but it has to be said that they must have picked their handling agents
- and it was only First Choice who seemed to be having chaos problems in the airport.
All the other (mostly scheduled) airlines did seem to be having somewhat more slick operations.

I am travelling with FC to Cozumel on the 27th September for two weeks. When will the outbound entertainment list be published? And will it be a completely new list for my inbound flight as I will be returning in October?

Thanks

xdaniellex wrote:

When will the outbound entertainment list be published?

It doesn't get published. BY-TOM-AMM-FCA kindly posts it (insider info!). They never used to change the inbound IFE from the outbound, but they do now. It get's changed every 2 months I believe so Sept/Oct will be the same.

Darren

Trig1
Day before check-in is open from 12.00 - 22.00pm, check in is in Zone A.

ukbill

First Choice cannot choose handling agents at airports like Colombo because there is no choice. First Choice have had a number of problems with long haul aircraft recently.