EGPF Forum

This year will see a couple of milestones occur. One in the UK, the other in The Netherlands with Britannia Airways and Transavia celebrating Diamond Jubilees.

Ok I know Britannia is long gone and buried within TUI but the BY flight prefix still exists. HV are even painting a new Neo in original colours to mark the event.

So this leads me to ask what is your go to and long lost holiday airline and why.

Mine has to be Britannia,as was, with Thomas Cook and Monarch following close behind. All had substantial GLA bases in their day and gave many happy memorable flights: even moreso when you knew crew onboard.

That’s my feedback, what’s yours?

Air 2000. The service, for a charter flight really was great. I remember my first flight with them to ACE and getting a bucks fizz before take off.... I was like is this a wee business cabin, 'cause we were seated near the front Staff were always super friendly too.

Globespan. Most ultra friendly crew out there and their punctuality was second to none. A real shame that no one helped them in their hour of need. Jet 2 remind me a bit of Globespan in some ways, so they're my current favourite.
Having said that, Britannia back in the day were brilliant from Gatwick. I remember having to sit beside an emergency exit door coming back from Verona (passenger that initially sat there was easily 20+ stone and she was moved for safety reasons ), and thus getting split up from my party. As way of compensation, when we landed my wife informed me that the hostess had a rather large bag of miniatures and some cans of beer for me, so we were to exit through the rear door. Of course, she forgot to tell me until we were inside the terminal waiting for luggage.

I have to say I liked GLOBSPAN and flew with them several times. Staff were friendly and efficient and the airline as a whole were fairly punctual.

Jet2 hands down.

The best experience I had was the Thomas Cook 757s that they used to operate to YYZ for Canadian Affair. I think they had significantly enhanced seat pitch compared to those they used for holiday flights. It was the best transatlantic flights I've been on.

Iain wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 8:16 pm The best experience I had was the Thomas Cook 757s that they used to operate to YYZ for Canadian Affair. I think they had significantly enhanced seat pitch compared to those they used for holiday flights. It was the best transatlantic flights I've been on.

I’m sure they were downseated to 187 pax. They used to operate to MAH on Friday mornings before a YYZ trip and on Mondays to PMI again before a YYZ flight. A very comfortable way to travel to the Balearics indeed.