My partner and I booked a holiday to Cancun about three years ago. I'm not particularly tall (not daddy long legs either) but struggled to get comfortable in the "PremiAir" Cabin in the plane. The service on the plane was unbelievable.
When you pre-booked your seats (usually cost £10 pp but if you booked the holiday between specified periods this was free) you received a choice of about 10 different hot meals on the way out and 4 different meats on the way home. Every passenger had their own seat back touch-screen TV with a choice of about 9 channels (movie, comedy, and kid’s shows). You could also view a map of the flight which had facts on the speed we were travelling at, time at destination, temperature, expected time of arrival and see the flight path. Another really cool thing was the chance to view either a down view or front view through cameras outside the plane. This was really good during take-off and landing (if you don't have a fear of flying that is!) You had to purchase the headsets but you expect that. As we left the plane in Cancun I noticed a cabin behind a curtain. Wider leather seats, more legroom. This was something I had to investigate for next time.
The following year we went back to Cancun but this time we decided to fly "PremiAir Gold". This meant going in the cabin I mentioned above. It cost an extra £249 per person (has since increased slightly and for the same flight next year is £269 per person) but for a total journey of approximately 20 hours (about £12 per hour) it seemed worth it, for the comfort if nothing else. For this £249 extra you got the following each,
5kg extra luggage allowance (30 kg in total)
Dedicated check-in-desk at both airports (when there are only about 30 seats in this cabin that means you don't have to queue for very long, about 30 minutes at the most)
Complimentary Drinks and snacks for duration of light (selection of a few chocolate bars, Pringles and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks)
Complimentary headsets
Extra movie channel (film not available in normal cabin and film was not available on video at the time)
Complimentary metal knives and forks (although not after 11\9\2001)
Complimentary novelty Salt and Pepper pots
Complimentary flip flops for use on plane
The list of little added extras to make your journey as comfortable as possible is endless.A quick Comparison of the two cabins and service received.
Booking and ticket purchase are the same for “PremiAir” and “PremiAir Gold” as they are both part of a packaged holiday with Airtours (as they were last year) and tickets are received from whatever Travel Agent or Tour Operator you booked the holiday with.
OBVIOUSLY, the safety measures found in both cabins are identical to that you would find onboard any plane. These are not compromised in “PremiAir” just because your ticket cost less.
Check-in clearly takes longer in “PremiAir” (doesn’t take a genius to work this out) as there are almost three hundred of you checking in at between two and four desks (depending on Airport and time, the closer to departure time, the more desks they usually open to get you all through in time.)
The seats in “PremiAir” are like you would expect in any Economy cabin. You have restricted legroom (unless you get lucky by a door). They are not the most comfortable seats in the world either. The “PremiAir Gold” cabin seats are a lot wider and provide more legroom. I haven’t flown by Business Class but I would imagine them to be similar to that. They are not big enough to be classed as First Class
Food and Cabin Service – The food choice I mentioned above when I travelled “PremiAir” is exactly the same as when I travelled “PremiAir Gold” the year later. The only difference was the items on the menu itself. You still had a great choice of food on offer (available if you pre-booked and selected your meals at time of booking or up-to x number of weeks before) and the service from the crew was superb throughout. The difference in “PremiAir Gold” was the ratio of crew to passengers. I can’t tell you exactly what it was but there were two staff for about thirty or so passengers. Obviously, a lower ratio in “PremiAir” due to the two to three hundred passengers in the cabin.
Take-off and landing can not really be discussed in this as every person we spoke to in Cancun complained of “iffy” landings as they was a lot of scattered low cloud.
Luggage handling can not be discussed either as ServisAir is the main luggage handler at Gatwick. This company are responsible for getting your luggage from Check-in to the plane rather than Airtours.
I could go into the service of the reps in resort but that would be waffling as they do not work for Airtours International but Airtours themselves. These were (before the creation of My Travel) two separate companies.The only disadvantage I have is that because of the layout of the cabin (2 seats-aisle-3 seats-aisle-2 seats) if is inevitable that someone is not going to be next to their partner as you don't find many groups of 3. I had a bit of a neck ache on the outbound journey on the way out as my partner was seated behind me.
That is the risk you take but it is definitely worth it for long haul flights!
More details
Class flown most frequently
Economy
How often do you travel with this airline
Frequently
Where did you book
Travel Agent/Tour Operator
Safety
Very safe
How well does it cater for disabled people
Don't know
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