first choice leg room

tubbsandeddie

Hi,
I would be grateful for people's ideas on how to proceed with this problem.
I recently got married and we went into a First Choice travel agent to book a homeymoon. We were primarily considering Sri Lanka but were undecided.
In the past we have had a very bad long haul flight (not with First Choice) when neither of us could sleep due to restricted leg room. It took a few precious days of our holiday to recover and we were determined that this should not happen again.
My wife's friend, who travels with First Choice frequently, recommended them generally but also informed us that their legroom was on a par with the best other airlines.
When we were discussing our holiday, we made it clear that legroom, not destination, was most important. We suggested upgrading to Premium class (36" legroom) as we wanted our honeymoon to be perfect but were told that there was no need as the 33" legroom was ample. We duly booked the holiday.
When we arrived at our allocted seats, I was annoyed to find that my seat had 28" legroom (the allowance for short haul flights). On top of that the pocket on the seat was broken and furtehr impinged on the legroom. We asked for a change to a seat with the agreed 33" legroom and were told the plane was full and that "yeah 33 inches, that's what they tell people."
There were other problems on the flight but to my mind I was missold this product. I have photographic proof of all this and wonder how people think I should proceed to get compensated for detracting from what should have been the perfect honeymoon.
Thanks for any help.

Tubbs.

bagand96

Are you sure your flight was actually on a First Choice Airways aircraft? If so do you know the aircraft type? All of First Choice's long haul aircraft DO have 33" seat pitch throughout, complete with personal TVs etc etc. They were the first package holiday operator to offer an improved long haul product and have been doing it for a couple of years.

The only thing I can think of is that either you ended up on a First Choice short haul aircraft (although they wouldn't have the range for Sri lanka), or you were not on a First Choice aircraft....

Nikko5

I have flown FCA to Sri Lanka 3 times and can highly recommend them. I don't know what the precise seat pitches are in " but they were perfectly roomy enough even for the taller members of our party! This was in Economy too, Premium I would imagine is even better.

Sadly their fares have gone up a lot this year (we paid just £309 return inc. taxes last year) but if you can get a good deal then I'd definitely recommend the destination too, SL is a wonderful place to go on holiday...

PS - we flew on a Boeing 767 IIRC.

tubbsandeddie

Thanks for the replies guys. The plane was a FC aircraft, can't remember the type (possibly 757 or 767). I had thought it was perhaps a short haul plane which was used as they stipulate 28" for those flights. I measured the legroom from the where the riser of my seat met the flat part of my seat to the seat in front and found it was 28" (the actual legroom was less than this when the broken pocket with the rigid rod on the seat in front was taken into account). The flight back was OK for legroom by the way. I also wondered if the reduced legroom on the way there was due to the fact that our seats were behind the emergency exit seats and they were eating into our allocated space - not sure. I have not been able to make it to the travel agent yet to see what they have to say but I certainly feel we were mis-sold the flight. Anyway, the actual holiday in Sri Lanka was fantastic - an excellent country.

Tubbs.

bagand96

I think you are getting confused between legroom and seat pitch.

The seat pitch is 33". Seat pitch is the distance between any point on your seat, so for example the upright, and the same point on the seat infront/behind. This is the industry standard for measuring seat spacing, and it is what First Choice, and every other airline, advertise.

Obviously there is a difference between seat pitch and actual legroom, and the two often do get confused. However First Choice advertise pitch, and that is what the aircraft would have been.

By the way, the seat pitch, and hence legroom, on First Choice is very good, infact the best of any UK airline, better than BA/Virgin etc... the only way you would have got more would be paying to sit "upfront".

I don't know where you would stand on being mis-sold the flight; it probably comes down to an agent, who didn't know any better, using the term legroom instead of seat pitch. It could be argued I guess that they should have been better trained etc... but I would imagine your chances would be fairly slim as its a case of semantics

budgetflyer

Yes, I can endorse FC leg room/seat pitch too. Certainly as good as any schedule airline Ive flown in Economy. To be honest, no matter the leg room, an 11 hr flight is never comfy really.
You now know at least next time, you will have to upgrade to Business Class or equivelent as it really doesnt get any better than FC in economy

dmg24

tubbsandeddie wrote: »

I measured the legroom from the where the riser of my seat met the flat part of my seat to the seat in front and found it was 28" (the actual legroom was less than this when the broken pocket with the rigid rod on the seat in front was taken into account).

How? Do you carry a tape measure with you on holiday?

budgetflyer

dmg24 wrote: »

How? Do you carry a tape measure with you on holiday?

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: dont you ?

dmg24

budgetflyer wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: dont you ?

I do carry some questionable items when I travel, but none of them measure 28 inches, let alone 33! x

tubbsandeddie

Thanks bagand96, I was getting mixed up with legroom and seat pitch (a term I'd never heard before). When I was buying the holiday, I told the travel agent that I really didn't want a flight with too little leg room. She told me legroom (the term she used) was 33". I then asked if that meant 33" from the back of the seat in front to my seat and she said yes. I asked her was she sure as this seemed very generous and she said yes. When I asked if we should upgrade to ensure extra legroom she said there was no need.
When we got on the plane, my seat had considerably less legroom than any other seat due to the pocket on the seat in front being broken and impinging into my legspace. I pointed this out to the staff and asked if they could rectify the problem. They said they could not remove the pocket and I asked if it could be taped up. About an hour later, they brought some of that yellow and black "incident ribbon" and I (not them) spent 20 minutes trying, with limited success, to tie the pocket shut. During the flight I needed to tighten this many times and it was a generally unsatisfactory start to our honeymoon.
The seat on the way back was ok, by the way.
I feel on this basis that I have been mis-sold, as this was the only reason I opted for first choice. The issue of semantic confusion becomes redundant when the vendor defined legroom as 33" from the back of the seat in front to my seat. If someone sold me another product with such blantant misinformation, I would be entitled to return the product.
I wonder if people think I should return to the travel agents with my grievance or just procede to first choice complaints dept and abta?
Thanks for the advice.


Tim.

richardw

What does it say in the terms and conditions regarding seat pitch and reserving the right to change aircraft?