We recently went to Cyprus for a week in the hope of getting some sun and to chill out for a week. The hotel was fantastic (Riu Cypria Maris), an all inclusive deal with great food and plenty of drinks and I’d gladly recommend it to anyone.

The same cannot be said about First Choice Airways who we flew with. We booked with Thomas Cook and when the flight details came through I remember thinking that I’d seen some adverts somewhere about First Choice and their claim of more room for passengers in their planes so I was quite pleased.

Well things change fast. On arrival at Luton airport 2 hours before take-off it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to check in. We then had 20 minutes to get through security and then to the gate. This was really cutting it fine.

Anyway, onto the plane and yes I would concede their seats are bigger (wider) than most charter airlines but what they fail to mention is there is little leg room for anyone other than a midget and the seats are like sitting on concrete. The flight was about 4 and half hours and after around 15 minutes I had to get some pain killers from my girlfriend. It really was that uncomfortable.

Coming back from Cyprus the airport check-in wasn’t so much of a problem. They had 5 desks open rather than the 2 at Luton and surprisingly they didn’t seem too bothered about security there. I was surprised as an EU member country there was none of the put your liquids in clear bags and the guy checking boarding passes just waived everyone through.

The flight home was as uncomfortable as before (no surprise there) and to top it all when we eventually got to Luton at about 1.30 in the morning my bag wasn’t there. It took us until about 3.00 am to find someone to report my bag missing too.

Fortunately they found it the next day but all in all First Choice I would say you would be my Last Choice.

Posted in Rants & Raves