A last minute break down to lanzarote was definatly called for after the winter we have suffered so day of departure arrived and having carfully weighed our cases to ensure no more than 23kgs in each we loaded our cases into my van and headed to Hove to meet my in laws who were also coming.
Loaded cases into their car at around 8am set off for Gatwick. My gf had pre booked long stay parking and around 45 mins later we wre in the departures hall of the North terminal ready to check in.
Check in was emty and within ten mins were through security and coffee in hand. Anyone who knows me will know when it comes to flying, the one ac type I loathe is the 757, of course a plane that forms the backbone of the UK charter fleet, so when I discovered on another forum that I could expect a 738 for this route I was mildly chuffed. Noticed that the North terminal seemed very quite and it was not long before we headed to the gate, a bit of a walk over the big bridge, and it was then, on seeing the plane realised it was in fact a 752[:?][n] yuk 280 other passengers squeezes into a cigar tube for 4 1/2 hours filled me with horror.
The gate area soon filled and yes the plane was gonna be full[:#]
Flight pushed back on time and we were soon airborne with a 1/2 added to flight time due to potetial French ATC action so a route down to Lands end and down apparently was the order of the day.
So the servivce. All good seat pitch was 28 inches although the AC was fitted with those Recaro seats with the molded pocket in the back of the seat in front's head rest so some gain is mad.
The food was ok and with the number of people heading for thier maturing years coupled with the volume of children on this flight(i thought half term was last week)[n] the crew did a great job stopping and starting service everytime sombody wanted to use the WC's.
Time seem to fly and we landed about 30 mins later than advertised into a sunny Lanzarote.
All in all a good flight and we had a great week all inclusive at the H10 Rubican Palace for under 500 each including flights.
RTN flight was exactley the same all good except only 3 & 1/2 hours in the air due to strong tailwinds.
Would be happy to reccomend First Choice/ Tomson Airways based on my overall experience.
