TUI to leave Sanford

[EssexSue]

Wonder what immigration is like there?

[lizzie145]

No good if you don't drive over there. I like tui and my local airport but this would likely rule them out.
Unless much cheaper than others even with a longer transfer

[Gryff]

We'd not consider it unless it was a great deal cheaper
Takes us less time to get to our villa from Tampa
Not a great move for them I think

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Going for the TC slots at MCO would have been more sensible.

Tampa even more so.

[walt4it]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Going for the TC slots at MCO would have been more sensible.

Tampa even more so.

See more...

I'm thinking the accountant in the office has won this one
Can't see Melbourne charging anything close to MCO / TPA or indeed Sanford.

Nett saving for the company and the balance sheet is looking good

Clueless!

Good for the CV of Melbourne as a small airport they can now add TUI to their list of flights offered.

Great call about those without a car - I'm sure the accountant has not even considered that.

Not offence to any accountant intended in this post
"Sometime things on paper seem better than they end up !" I'm sure I've heard that in a film somewhere

[YorkshireT]

Think they’ll lose a lot of business over this.

The Doncaster to Sanford flight was fantastic this year, particularly Doncaster where, for example, there was literally no one in our security queue. I’d go to Melbourne if the price was right, but suspect prices will stay the same or even creep up.

[BevS97]

Tui from Newcastle has always been too expensive for us. If but means a lower price then I’d be happy but I’m not holding my breath.

I know a lot of people will only fly from their local airport and want that direct option. The flights are always full. So I expect they won’t struggle to fill them even with the move.

[sotagals]

We've been through MLB a couple of times and it was great.

Don't know how they will cope with international flights though.

For a kick off the car hire companies only had about 20 spaces each in an ordinary car park.

It's like Sanford was 25 years ago.

And transfers will be looong, especially for those who think they are flying to Orlando...

[adamtoonarmy]

I had no idea where Melbourne was until I checked. Google maps has the driving time from SFB as 47 minutes to WDW and the time from Melbourne as 1 hour 16 minutes. Both times are without traffic though.

That being said I haven't driven over there since Disney introduced their hotel parking fees and I wont be for the considerable future. My one experience of SFB was poor - waiting longer in immigration than I ever did at MCO.

TUI do coach transfers from SFB and if Mebourne is just another 30 minutes away it wouldn't put me off, nor would it put the masses off. TUIs other destinations often have resort transfers that are over 1hr 15 mins away. Its not as convenient as SFB or MCO but I doubt it will hit their bottom line.

[Thorpy]

The whole draw of Sanford for us was sometimes the price differential sufficiently outweighed the convenience differential. We used several of the operators into there, Tui, Thomas Cook and First choice when they were around. I have to acknowledge that magical express is an added factor in the consideration, but since Tui got the cheaper to operate planes, they have not been price competitive, never mind with sufficient differential to make them a serious part of our considerations. Maybe this will help them to get back into that calculation.

It would mean Virgin, MAN to MCO now has a much higher differential from the alternative offerings in terms of product, and we can therefore expect the price differential to remain high.