Air Travel: United Kingdom

A detailed guide to airline services to Tobago from the UK

The following information is based on published 2005/2006 winter schedules. Do not use this information as the basis on which to make travel plans - always check with the airline or your travel agent first. Please notify us if you are aware of any inaccurate information below.

British Airways (BA)

British Airways offer direct flights to Tobago on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flights are via Barbados.

The BA service utilises a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 260 passengers in a three class configuration - standard economy (World Traveller), premium/super economy (World Traveller Plus) and business class (World Club) with 70" flat-bed seats. Flights operate from London Gatwick North.

 

* next day arrival

• Baggage Allowance/Seat Pitch: click here
• Gatwick Accommodation: click here
• Further Information: www.britishairways.com

Caribbean Airlines/BWIA (British West Indies Airways)

Caribbean Airlines (previously BWIA) is the national airline of Trinidad & Tobago.

Unlike its predecessor, BWIA, Caribbean Airlines does not fly to the UK any longer. Instead, it operates a Code Share with British Airways. Please see the listing for BA for further details.

 

 

XL Airways

XL  (previously Excel Airways) have now ceased non-stop flights to Tobago. All flights are now via Grenada. The previous Thursday and Saturday services are being discontinued and from Winter 2008/2009, there will be just a single Wednesday service per week.

The XL flights operate from London Gatwick South terminal. The service uses a Boeing 767 aircraft in a two-class configuration of standard economy and XL One (semi-business) class. The highly popular Premium Economy class has been discontinued. From 1st May 2007, the XL One seating is being reduced from 42 seats in 2-3-2 configuration to 24 seats (4 rows) in 2-2-2 configuration.

Previous incarnations of the XL service were regularly criticised for the limited legroom in standard economy seating. However, current configurations offer 32-inches of legroom in Economy - one inch more than offered by BA or Virgin. (See General Info tab).

You cannot pre-book seat on the XL flights, but XL Pre-flight Services (0870-1677747) can arrange for you to be seated together, for £15 per person roundtrip. You will be guaranteed adjacent seats, although they may be across an aisle. For £69 you can also pre-book the emergency exit row with extra legroom (as long as the passengers are over 18 and able-bodied). You can use the same XL Pre-flight Services telephone number to request special dietary meals or should you want to take large items such as surfboards or sky cots, etc.

Flight-only tickets for the XL service can be booked online at www.xl.com. The Tobago agent for XL is Tourist Services who can be contacted on (868) 639-2285.

Comment:  The XL service offer incredible value for money and has become our preferred method of travel to Tobago. The affordable prices, generous seat pitch, excellent in-flights service and adequate food even offset the naff entertainment systems. It's simply no contest as far as we're concerned!

* next day arrival

• Baggage Allowance/Seat Pitch: click here
• Gatwick Accommodation: click here
• Further Information: www.XL.com or Telephone 0871-911-4220

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic operate a non-stop service to Tobago on Thursdays (was Monday until July 2005). There are plans to offer a second weekly flight, but this is dependent upon the completion of upgrades to Tobago's Crown Point airport.

The Virgin flights operate from London GatwickSouth. The flight continues to Grenada, where it drops off and collects passengers and returns to Tobago for refuelling and re-stocking before the overnight return to London. From December 2006, the entire aircraft is being granted to Tobago travellers, so the flight will not continue to Grenada.

The Virgin service utilises a Boeing 747-400 carrying 439 passengers in a three-class configuration; standard economy, premium economy and Upper Class (with super-dooper Upper Class suites).

Most tickets for this service are provided as part of package holidays with Virgin Holidays who offer some fantastic deals to Tobago from time to time. Flight-only tickets are available directly from Virgin Atlantic or through travel agents.

* next day arrival

• Baggage Allowance/Seat Pitch: click here
• Gatwick Accommodation: click here
• Further Information: www.virgin-atlantic.com

    

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