Scheduled V Charter

814man

Currently looking at a couple of holidays in Riviera Maya, Mexico. If all things are equal it may come to flight via BA or Thomas Cook. Can someone explain if the differences between a Thomas Cook charter flight and a BA scheduled flight?

Forgetful

as far as I know.. a thomas cook flight will have everyone going to the same place with lots of Black suitcases and lots of people with big ques....dunno whether urs include meals... But with long haul schedule flights u get meals and drinks and ques that are maybe shorter and not everyone will be going to the same place and not all black suitcases!!! hth

Ps.. I would go for the BA flight... better seats as well..

budgetflyer

+they don't all have football shirts on, on the BA flight

newbutold

Normally the service will be better, well with more of a smile, and your meal and all your drinks will be included in the schedule ticket. You will also be able to reserve your seats at no extra charge.

On the charter flight you will have to pay extra for food, drinks, reserving your seats, headphones on the plane etc.

I would go for the schedule flight every time.

Enterprise_1701C

In my experience, as well as the free drinks and food, scheduled flights are more likely to leave on time - it is the charter fligths that get the delays.

dickydonkin

budgetflyer wrote: »

+they don't all have football shirts on, on the BA flight

................or brand new trainers!

Scheduled every time!

squinty

There is not as much difference on long haul flights as there is to the short haul destinations. Take a look on seatguru.com to see what is available on the actual flights.

Also, for flights to Cancun there is a departute tax. Most charter flights will not include this (ie you must pay it yourself). Most scheduled flights do include it. You need to take this into consideration when comparing costs.

ferf1223

newbutold wrote: »

You will also be able to reserve your seats at no extra charge.

Not on BA.

exel1966

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

scheduled flights are more likely to leave on time - it is the charter fligths that get the delays.

Well, that's not quite true but I see where you're coming from.

Delays caused by the infrastructure of the system are spread randomly and as evenly as possible.
There is no distinction between scheduled, charter, private etc, however charter airlines generally operate on far tighter schedules, are far smaller, have less resource (staff/equipment) and far less contingency in place should anything go wrong which in turn leads to knock on delays which gives the perception of charter airlines being treated more harshly when it comes to delays.

In summary, opt for scheduled over charter.

hcb42

I would go BA every time.

I have also reserved seats so surprised someone says you cannot do that?

Voyager2002

hcb42 wrote: »

I would go BA every time.

I have also reserved seats so surprised someone says you cannot do that?

On BA, unless you have status as a frequent flyer you can only reserve seats free within a couple of days of departure.