Globespan - Glasgow to Vancouver

organic_wanabe

Has anyone travelled this route with Globespan recently and had a positive experience? My family and I are due to fly with them in a couple of weeks and I'm really dreading it after all the bad press and reviews that I've been reading.

susancs

Dont worry, we read the same bad reviews when we went from London to Toronto last October and felt the same as you do before going. We had no problems though-flights took off and landed ontime. It is a budget airline and legroom was a bit restricted-but other than that fine. They charge you for earplugs to listen to the film (it is cheaper to buy them from a poundshop before going). We brought plenty of snacks on board with us coming back as this was a bit limited (also bought drinks in airport waiting area after going through the boarding gates and took these on board). The inflight films were good. The queues were a bit long for the toilets, so if you have small children remind them and take them regularly to avoid any last minute panics (and I would't have liked to sit too near the toilets). The meals were not great, but I am not keen on the food onboard the airlines anyway, so may be just us. As a friend of mine, who is a cabin crew member of another airline said to us, you have to remember that Globespan is a low cost airline and your expectations have to be inline with this-it is really not for people who want great comfort on flights-but as long as your flight is on time and their safety record is good-you have got what you paid for.

organic_wanabe

susancs - thanks for that. We usually fly scheduled but this year decided that we really did not want the hassle of having to go through London so my Travel Agent suggested Globespan. We have already booked seats with a bit more leg room (just behind Premium Economy), and not too close to the toilets, so fingers crossed that we'll be OK. We also booked some additional luggage weight, even although we probably wont need it but just so we don't get stung at the airport. Thanks for the tip about snacks and ear-phones for the film. I did ask about the ear-phones and was told "its complimentary in-flight entertainment" so they will be issued free. As you say - as long as the flights are on time and there are no safety issues then we are getting what we paid for.

Twaddell

Dont want to depress you but dont bank on the "on time" bit. We are also booked on that flight in 2 weeks and I have been watching the times (sad, I know). Some are less than 30 minutes late, 1 was even early, but others were delayed by 2 to 22 hours. Not bad for a route that only started 1 month ago! End of last week they swapped planes, using the Glasgow to Orlando plane to catch up some time but within one flight it was 4 hours late leaving Manchester (they do a Manchester > Dublin > Vancouver run between Glasgow>Vancouver flights). We thought about trying to cancel but have decided just to take a good book(s). I intend to check on the day because they seem to have tried contacting passengers to advise them of some long delays in the past, better waiting at home. We're out on 9th back on 25th BTW.

organic_wanabe

Twaddell - I also thought about cancelling but would have lost too much money. We fly out on 5th July (though had originally booked to go out on the 9th, but changed it as we are due to go on an Alaskan cruise on the 12th and I thought I better leave more time to make sure I definately managed to get to the ship on time!) and then back from Calgary on the 29th July. I'll post to let you know how I get on - provided I have arrived before you leave on the 9th. Fingers crossed that we'll be lucky, meanwhile I'm off to check the small print on my travel insurance.

BTW - where do you check the actual landing times, is it on Cefax?

Twaddell

flightstats.com - I've got alerts set up for every flight that plane does til we are due to go. The other annoying bit is that, booking now, it would now cost £1200 less for the 4 of us than we have paid, yet they are threatening to put on a fuel surcharge to their long haul routes!