THOMSONFLY review : 10 December 2008 : by Paul Ramshaw
| Trip Rating : 1/10 |
 |
Flew back from Sharm el Sheikh with Thomsonfly as part of a First Choice package holiday. On
arrival at airport discovered that our extra legroom seats had not been processed by Thomsonfly even
though I had made the booking well in advance and had paid the sum of £61.20. As advised, I wrote to
Thomsonfly on my return requesting a refund. To date after numerous telephones calls and E-mails I
am still no further forward with no acknowledgement or refund. If you write check the Customer
Service address as it is now in Manchester not, as advertised on the internet, Coventry. In
addition, expect to be kept on hold for at least 45minutes at premium telephone rates. When you get
to speak to a representative, do not be surprised if you are informed that the computer is down,
his/her manager is in a meeting or we will phone you back (They will not). Excellent holiday - poor
customer service.
THOMSONFLY review : 1 December 2008 : by K Alder
| Trip Rating : 4/10 |
 |
Newcastle - Paphos. The worst leg room ever! This was made even worse due to the fact that we
boarded the plane 1 hour late in Paphos, and were then told we would have to sit on the plane for an
hour before take off as we had missed our slot. A complimentary drink would have been nice but not
even an apology was offered.
THOMSONFLY review : 30 November 2008 : by J Earnshaw
| Trip Rating : 4/10 |
 |
Doncaster-Las Palmas-Doncaster. Doncaster Airport a breeze, only flight departing that morning so
checked in and through security within minutes. Welcomed warmly on board, seats very narrow and
legroom poor. I was travelling on a 737-300 with no entertainment, not great for a 4hr flight. After
take-off, a hot breakfast I had paid for in advance was offered. Small croissant, sausage, bacon
hash brown and omlette, juice and one cup of tea/coffee. Not great but welcome at 7am in the
morning. Drinks for purchase, snacks for purchase, duty free items and finally scratchcard were
paraded up and down the cabin all flight long - just one big sell. Return flight, just short of
5hrs. Hot lunch of chicken and pasta was actually very good - a summer fruit trifle good, small
packaged roll and tea/coffee again - even chocolates and cheese and crackers were provided, so a
very good meal indeed. No entertainment again which is not good enough on quite a long flight and
again it was the hard sell. The legroom and narrow seats made these flights uncomfortable, the
service was generally good with friendly cabin crew and the return meal was very good.
THOMSONFLY review : 7 November 2008 : by R Fitzpatrick
| Trip Rating : 0/10 |
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Doncaster to Faro. Passengers sent through the boarding gate and left to stand in the tunnel for
twenty minutes with no explanation. Once onboard take off time came and went with no explanation as
to why we were still waiting. Eventual explanation from captain, we have lost the flight papers and
can't go anywhere. Forty mins later we ask for drinks and were refused, this didn't stop the cabin
crew getting theirs though. Next update, the papers are on a plane going to Palma and must wait for
it to land and have papers faxed back. We need something to eat and drink by now but are refused
again, we start to complain. Surly stewardess who has by now had 3 cups of coffee, thinks we are
making a fuss about nothing. After more than 2 hours sitting in the plane the papers arrive and we
take off. Complimentary drinks you might think ,at least, but no we have to make do with an apology.
THOMSONFLY review : 7 November 2008 : by Tim Spencer
| Trip Rating : 8/10 |
 |
Manchester to Cancun return economy class Boeing 767-300. Excellent legroom helped by seat pitch and
seat backs being thinner than usual. Seat base became a bit hard after about 7 hours though. Food
just a little above average - only offered one small hot drink with meals which were charged extra
at £20 per person per return flight. Anything other than water was charged extra. Cabin crew - not
impressed at their attitude when several of us politely complained that we could not hear the
announcements. Service OK but not great. Inflight entertainment - some seatbacks had going home
programme and some had going away programme. Cost £5 per flight to make it an on demand system
rather than watch as and when they put it on. My screen cut out and rebooted 5 times during one
flight.
THOMSONFLY review : 6 November 2008 : by D Cook
| Trip Rating : 1/10 |
 |
Flight to Sharm el Sheikh. Paid extra for leg room for outbound and it was well worth it but not
available on return. Just as well the person in did not recline their seat or I would have ended up
with 2 broken legs. Paid extra for meals only to find there was no choice and was served some
disgusting beef sausages and mash (£7!).What happened to the Thomson I used to fly on or has TUI
gone for profit at the expense of customer service.
THOMSONFLY review : 31 October 2008 : by Nicola Neyhaul
| Trip Rating : 9/10 |
 |
Gatwick to Dalaman returnr, both times on 757-200. Leg room was fine. A good hot meal and drinks
service both ways and I thought the crew seemed efficient, friendly and professional. A very
pleasant experience!
THOMSONFLY review : 30 October 2008 : by L Lillis
| Trip Rating : 6/10 |
 |
LGW to PFO return October 2008. Worst legroom I've ever experienced in my life! I don't
understand the point of pre-allocating seats 48 hours before you travel, except that it's a money
making scheme to make you pay the £12 per person fee to guarantee sitting together. The only thing
that increased the score from 2 to 6 is that on the return flight I had a nightmare with the meal.
I'm allergic to cheese and mango, and the main course was cheese and chicken pasta, and dessert was
mango and passion fruit cheesecake! I couldn't believe my bad luck, but it wasn't the airline's
fault. Cabin crew were great, they substituted the main course with a deep filled sandwich, and the
dessert with a cereal bar and pack of fruit pieces. They didn't have to do this, but I was so
grateful. Just a shame about the legroom and the rip off with pre-allocating seats.
THOMSONFLY review : 28 October 2008 : by Len Hunt
| Trip Rating : 1/10 |
 |
I booked a flight to Sharm el Sheikh with Thomsonfly and paid an additional £160 for Premium seats.
The outbound flight was OK but Premium seating was not available on the inbound leg due to an
aircraft change. No problem so far as I was entirely accepting of the fact that technical problems
can occur. That was on 24/8/08 and I have still not managed to secure a refund despite numerous
telephone calls and e-mails. The complaints procedure is an exercise in commercial brilliance as
you, inevitably, run up horrific phone charges on the premium rate line waiting for The Next
Available Operator who, oddly, never seems to be available. E-mails are met with an automated
response that promises a reply within 28 days. Equally oddly, despite it now being forty days I
haven't had any reply yet.
THOMSONFLY review : 24 October 2008 : by Colin Pay
| Trip Rating : 9/10 |
 |
PVK-LGW on B767.Flight very good, more legroom than the First Choice B757
outbound. All passengers given meal, which was a nice touch. Much better than
other charter airlines I have flown with.
THOMSONFLY review : 21 October 2008 : by Stuart Tyler
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Customer Rating : 2/5 |  |
EMA-PFO-EMA. Am 6'5"tall and tried 4 times (months before the flight) to book extra legroom but told
to turn up early at airport. Did so and told no chance as already allocated. Same on return even
having phoned local office and UK office. B757-200 now a bit long in the tooth and it shows. No way
was seat pitch 33" as advertised! Flights were on about on time but most uncomfortable and will not
fly with them again
THOMSONFLY review : 18 October 2008 : by Matt France
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Customer Rating : 3/5 |  |
MAN-ACE-MAN. Plenty of Thomson/First Choice check-in desks at both Manchester and Lanzarote that led
to very quick check-in times. Didn't receive the veggy meals we booked on either leg of the journey
despite being told it would be rectified for our return home. Pilot decided to remove 36 suitcases
from the hold just prior to take-off from Lanzarote due to a strong headwind and the difficult
flight path out of the airport. This despite there being several empty seats. We were told that "it
was either suitcases or some passengers!" Should have sacrificed the meals, duty free and
scratchcards instead as I'm now minus 1 suitcase. Shame to see that the in-flight movie has also
disappeared now that I've finally managed to collect the entire range of aircraft earphone sets.
THOMSONFLY review : 13 October 2008 : by H Southworth
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
MAN-MALAGA-MAN. Pleasantly surprised that seat pitch was more generous than some other charter
airlines I have used recently, legs not pressed against seat in front etc. Cabin crew better on
return journey than outbound leg. My sister ordered a vegetarian meal, this turned out to be a vegan
meal which meant that there was not even any milk provided with the coffee, on the outbound leg the
cabin assistant made us wait for milk- thus cold coffee. Cabin could probably do with a makeover but
seats much more comfortable than Thomas Cook who have you sitting at a very strange angle. I suppose
next year the airline will get an overhaul once it officially merges with First Choice.
THOMSONFLY review : 7 October 2008 : by D Charlton
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
Just got back from a Thomson nightmare from hell! Booked holiday with them and they had
subcontracted out for Futura Airaways to bring us home from Mallorca. Unknown to us Futura Airways
went into liquidation 18 days before we flew out. Thomson made no attempt to inform us the flight
time was significantly changing by 16 hours and we only found out when we queried the resort reps
over the absurd flight time home. For 16 hours we were not even offered a cup of tea - unbelievable.
Finally we arrived at the airport 9pm last night (when we should have been home 12 hours earlier) to
be told there was another flight delay until 2.30am. 2.30am came and went and they tagged another
hour delay on. We finally arrived home at our front door at 6.15am this morning - 21 hours after we
should have done. Of course we was given the obligatory 8 euro voucher for Burger King the only
venue left open at Palma airport. Thomson reps in resort and the airport treated the whole matter as
one huge joke at the airline passengers expense and having just read the EC Regulations concerning
passenger flight cancellations and delays, Thomson was also in breach of these regulations and what
they should have actually complied with. Thomson has lost our custom for life, we will never fly
again with a company who can treat their "bread and butter" passengers so despicably and I would
love to see the Thomsonfly CEO lying on a filthy airport floor trying to get some sleep. Thomson
should be ashamed of the shabby way they treat their customers and it would serve them right if they
ended up with no customers at all.
THOMSONFLY review : 6 October 2008 : by N Batchelor
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Customer Rating : 3/5 |  |
LGW-Funchal Boeing 737-800. The flight was on time, paid for food was quite tasty and beverages
reasonably priced. What was disappointing about this flight was the disgusting state of the cabin,
it didn’t look as if it had been cleaned for a while - lots of bits were falling off and coming
loose including my seat arm and my tray table refused to remain at anywhere near horizontal. It was
annoying also that during the safety demonstration one male member of the crew carried on a very
loud conversation with his colleagues in the front galley area making it impossible to fully
understand the safety instructions, being a frequent flyer is not a major problem.
THOMSONFLY review : 29 September 2008 : by Martin Hampson
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
MAN-NAP-MAN. Outbound boarded aircraft, 3 hours sat on tarmac in hot plane to remedy trivial
technical problem. On arrival at Naples no Thomson staff to help. Car hire closed no Thomson
assistance. Return flight should have flown 20:55 hours, midnight flight cancelled after plane
diverted to Orly with generator fault, repaired but too late to fly to Naples. Taken to Hotel, long
queues booking in 01.30 Sunday. Revisit Naples airport for 16:00 flight on Sunday, boarded, taxied
then developed same generator fault. Thomsonfly decide to fly technician from UK with parts, to
repair overnight. Taken back to hotel and told to get up at 05:30 for 08:00 departure Monday and
then told plane not repaired. Thomson staff absolutely useless, did not pass on the vehement
attitude of customers to head office managers. Eventually decided to fly another serviceable plane
from UK which departed 11:40hours Monday. Thomson admit to a 39hours 30minutes delay, totally
unacceptable and unnecessary, where was the replacement plane on Sunday at the latest?
THOMSONFLY review : 26 September 2008 : by S Balchin
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
LGW to Paphos. Check in appalling, staff arrogant, unhelpful, ignoring frail older people who had
queued for over 2 hours with no help, no drinks, nothing! Duty manager decidedly offensive. Cabin
crew complied with this predetermined standard, no assistance to passengers with young children -
food inedible, drinks overpriced and not one apology for pre-embarking debacle. To top it all - no
response to formal letter of complaint, telephone messages, e-mail correspondence. Goes without
saying we won't be travelling with them again and I am sharing our experience to reduce the risk of
anyone else having to tolerate this level of service
THOMSONFLY review : 26 September 2008 : by J Denton
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
LGW-FUE B757-200. Flight was delayed by approx. 4 hours due to a variety of reasons, but situation
was explained and handled well by the cabin crew and a free drink was offered onboard as an apology.
Service was good if a little slow, and the inflight meal was excellent - a big improvement on
previous Thomsonfly breakfasts. The aircraft was clean and looked to be in good condition. FUE-LGW
on B767-300. Aircraft was half-empty which meant lots of extra room all round - and the interior was
immaculate. The meal and service was excellent.
THOMSONFLY review : 25 September 2008 : by Chris Wood
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
Manchester to Naples. Delayed 3 hours outbound due to technical issues. Return delayed by 39 hours!
Original flight that was coming from MAN to NAP to collect us (same plane as previous week) had
diverted to Paris due to the another 'technical fault' An overnight stay in a Naples hotel was
provided with food. All good. Following day, flight scheduled for 4pm. We actually sat on the runway
in the plane when the pilot advised that the same 'technical issue' was displaying on the
instruments. Back into the terminal building for a number of hours. Zero co-ordination from Thomson
reps as they had returned to Sorrento (having assumed we had taken off). Eventually word got through
from airport staff to Thomson in UK who rearranged coaches and hotel again. Second night in same
hotel. Day 3 - Advised by Thomson to be in reception for 5.30am for light breakfast before coaches
to NAP at 6am for flight at 8am. Arrived in reception at 5.30am to be told 'you may as well go back
to bed - flight cancelled!'. Thomson then advised that due to ongoing issues, a new empty plane
would be flown out to fetch us. This arrived (jumbo jet - luxury seats etc) and departed at 12.20
midday. Terrible experience.
THOMSONFLY review : 25 September 2008 : by S Bradshaw
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
Birmingham to Orlando Sanford. Outward flight delayed for two hours due to the plane not having
enough fuel onboard, had to wait for Shell to turn up with the remaining fuel! Once inflight all was
ok except the individual tv screens only worked sporadically (the system had to be rebooted 4 times)
this meant it was almost impossible to watch a film! Return flight was a complete shambles! Again
the inflight entertainment was a joke. When it came to the food service, 14 of us never got the meal
we ordered. Eventually some of us had childrens meals and some had crew meals. First we were offered
free unlimited drinks from the bar, but then after one drink the staff changed their minds and no
more drinks were served! Overall the attitude of crew was diabolical and rude.
THOMSONFLY review : 22 September 2008 : by A Humphrey
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Customer Rating : 2/5 |  |
LGW to Bodrum. 0840 departure ended up (officially) in 1845 (10h 05m delay!) though I think it was
some time after that before doors closed and we finally took off into the night air. Initially, TV
screens said 1 hr delay, then after 1hr it became 2, then after 2 it said 3, etc. No one from
Thomsomfly, or whatever they call themselves came down to speak to the paying customer, instead they
left it to Servisair reps, who were not well informed. Fair enough, this was also the day when their
main rival Excel went bust, but this is exactly when the paying customer wanted to know what was
going on. As the pilot later told us, the delay was caused by a faulty windscreen, three new
windscreens were tried, engineer sent from who knows where etc. Aircraft had to be replaced. Due to
lack of info throughout the ordeal, passengers kept on nipping off for a quick drink which
eventually brought out the worse aspects of certain passengers who were then prevented from flying
or verbally warned by police due to behaviour. 4 people taken off (their hold bags as well) and the
people sat next to me were cautioned Sussex's finest and told they couldn't have another drop.
Staff were pleasant, food decent, entertainment was latest Indiana Jones movie played through those
headphones (you had to pay for) with the special airline plugs. Bodrum-LGW was only subject to 1hr
delay, food on board was an Aldo Zilli's pasta dish which was delicious. Not everyone gets food
flights consist of Thomson package hols as well as flight-only PAX. Both legs were on 757-200, few
spare seats if any. Again, as with first flight, food was served after on-board shop and the paid
snacks had slowly trundled down the aisles. Decent enough airline, though I wish they would deal
with the cock-ups better, even if the issue wasn't of their own doing.
THOMSONFLY review : 19 September 2008 : by S Fennell
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Customer Rating : 1/5 |  |
Manchester to Catania, delayed both ways - 1.5 hours delay out, 8 hour delay back. The explanations
for the 8 hour delay were confused and changed as they day went on, but the final version from the
pilot on the way back was that the airline had to change planes when the initial plane lacked key
paperwork - so it's clearly their fault and not something beyond their control. Slow and
inefficient check-in. Best avoided if possible.
THOMSONFLY review : 13 September 2008 : by P Shepherd
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Customer Rating : 4/5 |  |
Have used the Bournemouth - Malaga route several times in the last few years without any serious
complaint, though I think the seating would be a bit tight for a longer flight. Staff have always
been pleasant and check-in efficient. I note the comments about expensive drinks etc and tend to
excuse (but not use!) them on the basis that the firm has some justification in trying to make a few
bob when the fares are cheap.
THOMSONFLY review : 9 September 2008 : by Sandra Hart
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Customer Rating : 2/5 |  |
Cardiff - Herakalion. Check-in very good. Flight on time. Plane old 737 very cramped - no
entertainment, food & drinks very expensive. Crew okay. Return very unhelpful staff in Crete. Flight
on time. Plane once again old 737 same as flight out but cabin crew a lot more friendly. The best
bit was the flight getting into Cardiff 15 mins early. Would never use them again. A far cry from
Britannia Airways days where they were one of the best.