First Choice Premium – Great Flight

On the most recent occasion that we were fortunate enough to go over the Florida we also managed to fly there with First Choice in their then new premium cabin. We prefer the option of flying into Sanford airport which is our preferred airport in Florida as it is a smaller, and so there id less stress and whilst it may take an little more time to get to your villa (10-20 mins more driving) that is much preferred over Orlando airport and the many lanes of traffic that you have to deal with. Sanford has a nice smooth

system and as it is nearly all holiday makers they are quite well setup for the numbers. Once you make it through security all the car hire companies are then located outside the main terminal building in their own area and so you can get your luggage, the family can sit in the first of the holidays sunshine, make the most of the soda machine (look at me being all American ) whilst the boss goes in and sorts out the car, but I have now digressed.
With this holiday we booked a great 4 bed villa and then booked a fly drive to complete the main holiday items. When we were looking for the flights I spotted on the first choice website that their new premium cabin was available for the dates we wanted in September, whilst I thought the price would not be justifiable I thought we would have a look and see what was included. The normal price I believe at the time was an extra £200-300 per person return but there seemed to be a deal of £89 each and so with a pregnant wife and 2 grandparents we did agree in the end that we would book premium economy.
There are a number of things that were included in the premium economy but the ones I must admit to being most interested in were the dedicated check in desk and the extra leg room. There is something about having a separate desk to check in at that is always nice, for me especially though it was that there would always be a big queue as they are large planes over to Florida and so 300 people or so and therefore with an early start it would be a nice start to the holiday and it really was!
When we had been looking at the benefits of premium I must admit that I rather joked a lot about 1 benefit in particular and it was the ‘calming mood lighting’ that was mentioned. After having been on the plane for 5 minutes I was taking it all back. When you sat down still for a couple of minutes you found that the extra 2 or 3 inches of leg room made a massive difference (I am 6′ 2) and actually the you really noticed that the seats were indeed slightly wider as well. The thing that was most surprising was though that when you looked back to the main cabin which had normal lighting you really were amazed by the difference, looking down the main cabin it looked like a hospital ward with all the bright lights, what a difference the lights made.
At this point I would also like to say that the seats were comfortable for the 9 hour flight but since my then 3 year old son was insistent on spending the entire flight walking up and down the aisles I didn’t get to use it much, the grandparents had clearly landed in their seats and I had never seen my father so engrossed in a screen before. The flight was really nice and I would certainly recommend the premium cabin in it.
One last thing I must mention that was another surprisingly pleasant benefit was that when you arrived at Sanford to get your flight on the way home you are likely to arrive there quite early since you need to leave your villa normally about lunchtime but we did see that we also got access to a lounge at Sanford. That turned out to be great as within the confines of the lounge there was wifi for me, there were drinks and cookies for all, a tv room, a toys room for the kids as well as one with games consoles and so the hours we had to waste went by much more quickly than I thought that they would.
Would I do this again? Definitely. Would I do it at the full price? Yes if I could afford it. It made the travelling part of the holiday exciting as well as a lot more bearable for 9 hours. I would happily recommend them and next time we go and need the flights I will certainly be trying to get these seats again!

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