Jet2.com now flying from East Midlands to Chambery.

Snapzzz wrote:

Tony_H wrote:


Flying is the safest from of transport. When it rarely goes wrong, its generally catastrophic, point taken. But planes DO NOT just drop out of the sky.

I think you either missed the point of my post or chose to ignore it.

Nope, not at all. As Pabs said, all planes are maintined regularly. In the UK probably more so than many other places in the world. They have stringent checks before each single flight and if it is deemed unable to fly, something has to be fixed or replaced before it can, hence technical faults and delays.
Your point was hinting that an airline who provides poor food and has broken seats is likely to cut corners in maintenance and air worthyness. I see your point, and did previously, but I dont think it would get through the checks in place.
Each accident in history has affected the way we fly today, the checks put in place, and the general increased safety.
Its not great when you get a turbulent flight, an old plane, or a maggot in your apple. But that plane will not take off if it is not safe to do so.

RoseR wrote:I whinged about that flight because of basic things that were very wrong and felt that they should have been addressed. But I did'nt feel unsafe, well maybe I worried that the other side of the window might fall out :lol: Hubby thought I might throw a nervous tiz, as he puts it, so said I should be glad that the Captain cancelled the flight because of safety issues and that at no point would he put his life at risk, let alone all of us. I just feel that flights are a lot of money and small discomforts should have been dealt with.
Oh and I did add to the minor exploding sounds on that flight, I had a bag of crisps in my handbag, which blew up to exploding point, made a helluva mess, now I know why they only serve pringles not crisps on board :lol:

Indeed, the pilot would never have flown had he deemed it unsafe to do so. Tech faults are a pain as they cause delays, but you have to tell yourself that it is better to be safe than sorry and its for yours and everyones good that the flight is being delayed.

As for flight prices, I am afraid you have to accept that prices are low. Air travel is more common and heavier than it has ever been, and as a result prices have dropped. Your flight probably cost something like £50 return per person as part of the holiday that you paid for, as the tour ops charter these planes for the season to keep costs down.

Unfortunately, when you book a tour op package, you cannot choose the airline, upgrade to first class, or pick your seats ( to a degree). Unless you are flying to the US/Canada in which case option A is pay the quoted price and fly long haul Thomas Cook or Monarch, or pay an upgrade and go BA/Air Canada where you will most definitely receive a far higher standard of service and probably a much nicer aircraft.

Having flown Jet2.com, I wouldn't choose to do so again to be fair though.

The Thompson/Thomas Cook aircraft I flew on in to Calgary was miles better than both BA and Air Canada Long Haul journeys I have made in the past few years. In fact, one Air Canada flight is probably the worst I have ever been on. I reckon it is just your luck unless you choose to fly with someone with a properly good rep (Emirates, Virgin etc).

I have two flights booked later on in the year both with Thompson this time. I must accept that budget airlines have budget prices. I have looked at the alternative if I want to go back to Lapland. Travel Finnair, 2 stops, 8hrs travel time and twice as much as the holiday normally costs, so thats that option out the window.

RoseR wrote:I have two flights booked later on in the year both with Thompson this time. I must accept that budget airlines have budget prices.

Thompson are as good a charter airline as I have flown with. Modern planes (apart from a couple of old 757's which have been refurbed), leather seats with reasonable legroom, decent food (Aldo Zilli).....I had nothing but good experiences with them. They now own the old First Choice fleet as well, although they have binned a lot of their older planes.

Tony_H wrote:

RoseR wrote:I have two flights booked later on in the year both with Thompson this time. I must accept that budget airlines have budget prices.

Thompson are as good a charter airline as I have flown with. Modern planes (apart from a couple of old 757's which have been refurbed), leather seats with reasonable legroom, decent food (Aldo Zilli).....I had nothing but good experiences with them. They now own the old First Choice fleet as well, although they have binned a lot of their older planes.

I have heard good things about Thompsons as well. Went twice last year on Thomas Cook holidays, no probs at all, great flights, good meals and superb accomodation. But unfortunately their prices are way up this year. Thompsons not that much cheaper but they do throw in extra's like free car hire, towels,food hampers etc and we got the deals we were happy with, so we will see.

Tony_H wrote:
But that plane will not take off if it is not safe to do so.

If only that were true.

Tell that to the passengers of Japan Airlines flight 123
Tell that to the passengers of American Airlines Flight 191

The fact is that planes DO take off in unsafe conditions, history tells us this. Both the cited examples are botched maintenance and whilst humans maintain aircraft then you are always going to be at the mercy of these technicians.
You are correct in saying flying is really safe, i agree. But to say that unsafe planes do not fly is simply wrong or we would not get crashes like these.

Of course you could list off numerous incidents based on negligence (or whatever) but it is a pretty useless picture without giving some idea of the sheer amount of flights that go without incident each year, it is a tiny fraction and the chances of it happening to you must be close to nil.