Review rated by 5 Ciao members on average: helpful
Used Travel City in 2005 NEVER AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a copy of the letter I sent to TCD to which got a standard reply in other words they didnt want to know.
I am writing to complain about the service received from your carrier Air Atlanta.
As a regular traveller to the USA, mainly with Virgin Atlantic, I decided to book my 2005 holiday in Orlando with TCD, because your advertisements seemed to offer the same level of service as Virgin at a more reasonable price travelling on your own branded 747 aircraft.
The outward flight on 19th August got off to a bad start with a 3 ½ hour delay, although to be fair, was not entirely due to yourselves (caused by a medical emergency on the inbound flight) The ground staff at Gatwick
were excellent very apologetic and issued us £5 per vouchers for refreshments. The inbound plane arrived within its estimated time, but as we were about to board, another hour delay was endured while engineers worked on an engine. I did not take much notice of this as it is quite normal, little did I know at this time that the plane had many defects and should never have been in service.
We sat in the last two rows at the rear.
I noted that several pieces of seat trims were hanging off along the isle
Only one channel of the audio was working on my seat.
My passenger seat tray was completely broken making it imposable to eat a meal in comfort or place a drink down on it.
The audio module unit beneaf my seat had broken loose from its frame and was swinging freely beneath the seat with bare wires exposed ( the unit was running very hot and could of been a source of fire)
Several cabin facier panels were detached from the fuselage beside my seat, magazines, papers and rubbish had been deposited between the facier and the fuselage dropping down beneafe the floor (another potential fire hazard)
When the aircraft braked upon landing liquid flooded from the rear toilet and flowed down the isle soaking the carpet.
Although the aircraft had leather seats the foam cushions were so hard it was like sitting on a wooden chair. ( Ok for short haul flights but not a 9hr long haul flight )
These are just a few of the defects around the four seats that my family sat in, god knows what the rest of the 21 year old aircraft was like or if it was even airworthy at all.
On a positive note the cabin crew on this outbound flight were excellent they could not do enough for us, the level of service was first class.
On 2nd September we boarded the same aircraft for the flight home. Naturally I assumed that the faults would have been repaired during the two weeks that had past. How wrong I was. Nothing had been repaired. In fact things were worse. The cabin temperature was far too warm, even after take off it did not get any cooler. I along with other passengers had to make many request for the cabin crew to ask the engineer to check the cabin temperature. The crew couldn’t care less, one steward said “we are just as hot as you” not what you’d expect from a member of the crew. It took nearly two hours before the temperature was finally reduced. Only one alcoholic drink was offered along with a bottle of wine for the meal. My children were not given a drink for their meal. When my son went to the galley and asked for a drink he was refused. I then complained to a crew member that my children had no drinks with their meals after which she reluctantly returned with two cans of coke.
Later when I asked for an alcoholic drink I was told that drinks were finished only after I persisted she served us with drinks but did it in such a way that no other passenger saw her.
When my son sat on a row of vacant passenger seats a steward told him” to return to his allocated seat as the crew wanted to use them and that the crew take priority over passengers”, at one stage he raised his voice and became quite rude. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing from a crew member !!!!!!!!! Where does Air Atlanta get its staff from?
All the faults with the aircraft on the outward flight were still present nothing had been repaired, to make matters worse there was no audio working during to entire flight and the captains announcements could not be heard because the intercom volume was so low.
However after enduring such an awful cabin crew on the homeward flight and a plane that was fit for the scrap yard, I can only give praise for TCD, both at Gatwick and at your Lake Buena Vista Office along with your downtown check in service it was all excellent.
I have since read the many customer reviews on www.airlinequality/forum/atlantaeurope.htm And only wish I’d seen them before I booked.
Your advertisements are misleading; they give the impression that you use your own aircraft, which is not the case. It’s nothing more than an Air Atlanta aircraft with your advertisement painted on the fuselage.
You offer a good value for money service which is being severely let down by a very poor airline with only one shabby elderly aircraft (TF AMJ ) allocated to TCD.
I certainly will not be travelling with TDC again if you continue to use this second rate airline.
I would appreciate a personal response to my complaints and not a standard copy letter.
