Thomson Airways Passenger Reviews and Thomson Airways Customer Trip Reports

My wife and I flew out to Mahon on the 3rd October, returning on the 10th to Manchester. Flights there and back on a full 737-800. Flight out was fine, almost on time and uneventful. The Captain gave the passengers fairly regular flight updates and I would say most passengers were quite satisfied with things. Flight home about the same but the cabin crew were a little more 'in your face' when it came to selling stuff. We didn't buy any on board food as is was too expensive and the flights were only a couple of hours in any case. My only real complaint concerns the lack of leg room; this airline really does 'pack em in' tightly. Not that bothered about lack of in flight entertainment or an airline meal but having flown with Thomson many times dating back to the Britannia days, I will say without hesitation that the overall product and flight experience is not the same; it is something more akin to the other low cost carriers and Thomson should take note of this.

Travel long haul to Montego Bay in May and again in September. I have travelled many times to Montego Bay with Thomsons and have seen the condition of the cabins and food get worse and worse. The planes are old and due to the delay with the delivery of the B787 they are getting even worse. Thomson should have upgraded the cabins but seem to spend money on promoting the B787. On our flight back to the UK we had to watch a video on how good it would be to be one of the first to fly the new B787. I have sat on better park benches and at this point in time I will not fly Thomson Airways again. There were 4 in my party and the extra cost was £179 per person.

I travelled to Florida May 2011 with Thomson premium seating, I could not fault it. We have just returned on 28th September flying with Thomson premium seating. This time I wish we had not - it was an old first choice 767. The only difference I could see from premium and the rear cabin seats was the distance from the seat in front the seats were very hard and uncomfortable. I doubt very much if I will be travelling long haul again with Thomson.

Outbound flight from Belfast International Airport to Las Palmas was on time and the cabin crew very attentive, no complaints. The return flight back from Las Palmas to Belfast International Airport was very disappointing due to a long delay of over 4 hrs. We boarded the flight an hour late and after the safety brief by the cabin crew the jet engines that were revving to go were shut down. A couple of minutes later, the Pilot came on tannoy to explain he had to shut them down because there was a technical problem and the parking brake would not release. We were stuck on the plane for 3hrs because according to the Pilot the plane was registered in Canada and the Spanish airplane mechanics refused to fix the problem for this reason. The pilot was not to blame and kept us informed of progress although passengers were becoming restless and angry by the delay. Fortunately, the problem which in all intents and purposes was probably minor was fixed after 3 hrs and the plane eventually took off. I urge Thomson Airways to review the logic of using aircraft that are registered to another country outside of Europe for this causes added problems and delays.

Dreadful food and unbelievably bad customer service on our flight home. I flew from Sharm El Sheik to Luton on 26.9.12. Despite it being a 5 hour flight there was no meal included so I bought a bacon baguette to eat. The baguette had been in the heater for so long that it was rock hard, so I gave up trying to eat the bread and pulled out the single piece of bacon. It was revolting so I ate none of it. When the stewardess came to collect the waste I gave her the uneaten baguette and told her it was disgusting. Her response was not 'sorry', not 'can we offer you something else' and not 'would you like your money back'. Her response was 'do you want to fill in a feedback form'. If that is how Thomson train their staff to respond to a complaint, they have much to learn about customer service.

I regularly fly to Cyprus with Thomson but was none too happy when my return flight was arranged with Jet2.com, Thomson charged me £320 for my flight and I found out from other passengers (on the Jet2 flight) that they had paid circa £180 for their flights with Jet2. What a rip off - no meals, no entertainment and they arrange a budget airline for the return flight. I have flown with Thomson for over 20 years, but they have now lost me as a customer.

I was unfortunate enough to fly from Tenerife South to Manchester early morning on the 3rd of October. The Boeing 767 was packed and I was sitting behind a woman who thought it would be fun to slam her reclining seat hard into my knees which because of poor leg room and my height (1.88m), were touching the back of her seat. I told her that her reclined seat was causing me pain. At this point a member of the cabin crew arrived. After informing him of the problem he told me that she was quite within her rights to move the back of her seat and that I should have informed Thomson of my knee problem before the flight. He then went away and did nothing further until after an hour of agony, my wife insisted that another seat be found for me. This he grudgingly did. Whilst I have to concede that there are people in this country who are prepared to let others endure over 4 hours of agony whilst they lay back in comfort. I do not expect this behaviour to be condoned by Airline staff.

Gatwick to Marsa Alam return on a fairly new packed 737 both ways. Both flights left on time and arrived early. On both flights the cabin crew worked hard to ensure every passenger was able to buy food / drinks / duty free etc and cannot be faulted in their diligence or cheerfulness.

Exeter to Tenerife and return in a 737-800. Took off on time and arrived at both destinations early. Got the seats we selected and the only problem was the leg room which I found a bit tight but managed the 4 hours without any aches and pains. The cabin was very clean and the CC were pleasant but very busy. Cockpit kept us well informed throughout the flights. All in all not bad flights.

BFS-PMI. Quick check-in at both airports, pleasant crew, meal is expensive, but nice and fresh. B737-800 was clean, so were the toilet facilities, there is no entertainment as its short haul flight. We had pre-booked our seats in front rows, so had enough legroom.

We flew from Glasgow to Cape Verde islands Boa Vista, like most people the plane was very cramped. It took around 6.5 hours to get there, we did get the usual meal but again no inflight entertainment. Coming home we were advised we didn't have enough fuel to get home and had to stop at Gran Canaria (for one hour) to re-fuel. Again we got food but no entertainment and the flight was just over seven hours in total. Not a great flight in either direction but like a lot of people there is less and less choice in holiday companies available unfortunately.

Travelled from East Midlands to Sharm and I don't think I have ever been more uncomfortable on a plane. There was absolutely no room to move and the staff had forgotten to smile. Thomson proudly boast they take more people on holiday than any other airline, it is likely the also do this on fewer aircraft's!