Holidays to Europe NOT with budget airlines?

[mrshadders]

My husband and I are looking to go away before our baby is born. Just a week in the sun for the last time before we run around after our first child! We just came back from New York and I found the flight quite uncomfortable. We are looking at the first week in April so need to go to Southern Europe to get hot weather. Currently looking at Cyprus but most flights seem to be with easyJet and Jet2. Does anyone know any other countries that will be hot/don't have Zika that have better airlines? I'll be 27 weeks! Any tips would be great thanks!

We were looking at Seville for exactly the same week and I think BA might have flown there. In the end, we decided not to risk it in case Brexit causes chaos so are just going to somewhere in the UK but I am very sad not to be getting sun!

I think Tui go to Cyprus. I had to fly a lot when pregnant, we went with BA, Ryanair, Easy jet and Iberia. Honestly, when going shorthaul I found them equally uncomfortable. If you choose southern France or Spain your flight time will be pretty short though, so might not be as bad?

Thanks both.

mynameiscalypso we flew with BA to New York and it was hell, I'll never fly with them again!

HappyDinosaur yeah we thought that, just concerned they won't be hot enough to lay in the sun...

What are you looking for that the budget airlines do not provide? If you're travelling in economy there's little between them and the (not so) full service airlines.

Tomtontom the option to upgrade to some kind of economy plus/first class perhaps

You could get the train to Europe?

There is no first class for Europe. Even BA only offer business and that's nothing special

TUI are as hideous as all the short haul providers
Personally I'd go with easyJet over BA and book your extra legroom seat at the front

It's only 4 hours

There are no short haul providers that have a first class product. You'd have to go further afield to come back on yourself, and pay a small fortune!

BA has a Club Europe product, it's nothing exciting. Unless you can get a good deal it's not worth the extra cost. All airlines will allow you to pay extra to book extra legroom.

It's worthwhile looking at seatguru for seat pitch and width. Budget airlines can actually be more generous than BA etc.

The seats on Europe business class flights are often the same as in economy - they might just have an empty seat in the middle. I've found easyJet seats the same as Iberia, Aer Lingus, Olympus... They're all the same. I will always avoid Ryanair though.

Thanks everyone. Thought as much.

I am much much bigger/fatter than most women even at 9 months pregnant so if I can hack it so can you

we flew BA economy and that was hell but have also gone their premium economy and that was far better! much more space. i find most Europe flights the seats are all very similar with limited leg room as they use the much smaller planes.

If interested in cyprus we recently stayed at the Pía Bella hotel in Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus booked through a company called Cyprus Paradise. It cost us just under £1100 half board for 2 of us for 2 weeks in January. We flew with Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and then on to Ercan in Northern Cyprus. Flights are scheduled not charter and pleasant enough. We plan to go back once our twins are a little older as our reason for going out there was to have IVF which resulted in this pregnancy!!

Aegean Air to Crete?

All economy short haul is hellish now

Just did a 2 hr flight on BA and my knees were wedged hard against the seat in front, when I got up I stumbled as my knees hurt so much. Am 6ft and the seats are just too small

So they are all crap imo

Thanks for all the replies. I agree economy short haul is shockingly bad! We have decided not to go and do a spa break when I go on maternity leave instead. Thanks again everyone! X

Take the train to Marseille (direct from st Pancras)? A cruise out of Southampton/tilbury perhaps, they go down to the canaries.

Ba was fine to Canada, I'm not short either - might depend on the actual plane?

My experience of economy in budget and non-budget airlines in Europe is that they are all very similar in terms of on-board comfort. Train to France would be doable, but standard class on Eurostar is similar to a plane in terms of the amount of space you have in the seat (though it's a lot less hassle and waiting around and I always take Eurostar rather than flying if practical).

By the way - check your insurance before booking, I have memories of travelling for work when pregnant and not being covered for pregnancy risks after a certain point around 28 weeks.

Also remember that your EHIC may no longer be valid in April.

We went to Crete with Thomas Cook when I was 29 weeks pregnant. We couldn’t book extra legroom seats as they were all on exit rows and they won’t let you sit there if pregnant. The flight was four hours and it was a bit uncomfortable but worth it for a week in the sun!

I fly a lot and easyJet has newer, more comfortable planes than BA on one of my regular routes. Long haul economy is shit whoever you fly with!

BA is awful. I haven't flown with them for years - like a budget airline without the price tag.

Seasoned traveller here (aka grew up with a parent in the army so spent most of my time on a plane) and quite controversially one of my best flights was jet2, 6ft 4" husband found it comfortable too. The best package holiday I've booked because they do everything for you and are really helpful (this was for my honeymoon and was meant to go back this year but I'll be too pregnant so going for a baby free holiday next year 😊😊)

Have to agree with a pp BA are shite, every plane I've been on has been disgusting and uncomfortable, flown business class with them and would rather slum it on an easyjet.

KLM are also a pretty decent airline but still I love my wee jet2😂😂 i should really get a job with them!!