Thomson Airways Passenger Reviews and Thomson Airways Customer Trip Reports

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  31 August 2009 by E Whennell   (UK)

Have just returned from Paphos and after a four and a half delay about which we were not kept well informed, but accept can happen, the attitude of the cabin crew was not welcoming and showed no signs of consideration for the passengers needs. While a member of the crew was searching through a pile of tapes for the safety film we had to try to get a seat belt for our infant grandson who nobody seemed to have noticed did not have a seat. Throughout the flight apart from "Do you want a drink it's free" or "any gifts or perfume" we were not made to feel that anybody cared about any of their clients. My family and I have flown with Thomson for all our holidays for about fifteen years but have seen the standards of service and passenger care deteriorate over the past few years and considering Thomson claim to be the third largest airline I feel they should be able to maintain at least a reasonable standard of passenger service and care. Neither the outward or return flight did anything to enhance our holiday spirit and I will think twice before flying with Thomson again. The take over byTUI and the merger with First Choice has done Thomsons reputation no favours.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  30 August 2009 by T McClennon   (UK)

Manchester - Sharm El Sheikh return on B767-300. Paid extra money at Manchester Airport for the additional legroom seats and were allocated the three middle seats in row 15 against the bulkhead. Unfortunately, these seats were between the two sets of toilets, so we were constantly interrupted by other passengers deciding to walk across to the toilet on the opposite side and back again. We even had one woman who fell across us having tripped over one of our bags. Having complained to the cabin crew about this (and they did not seem surprised at all this was happening), an announcement was made but to no avail. Return journey on same aircraft type but in row 10 - no additional legroom but no-one constantly pushing past us either. Entertainment was good in both directions which made the flight pass by quickly. Value for Money wise, flight was part of a package that was good value hence response, but wouldn't recommend middle seats in row 15 to anyone.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  15 August 2009 by O Spreadbury   (UK)

Bristol - Cancun Return, Premium seat was comfortable and legroom was above par. The cabin crew service was excellent. Check in staff friendly at both airports. The hot meals served were OK but then airline food never is that great. On the downside, I do think the customer service was better when the airline was Britannia.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  8 August 2009 by Paul Wilkins   (UK)

LGW-NAP-LGW B737-800. Had booked extra legroom seats - allocated 12B/C by ThomsonFly. Arrived at LGW and given new seat allocation of 16A/B due to change of aircraft. Very comfortable flight out to NAP. Return to LGW, given seats 12B/C as booked by ThomsonFly and they were not extra legroom seats, could not eat inflight meal as not enough space to bring tray-table down not really much one can do except complain to Thomson. Didnt get what I had paid for.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  3 August 2009 : by Trevor Mayne   (UK)

Manchester to Cancun. Thomson state on their web site that "size matters". All seats are 33" for long haul and they take great care to say they are better than several other operators. Informed just five days before we left that due to technical issues the plane was changing to one with 29" seat pitch. Rang Thomson to confirm and was told "No way. These seats are for short haul European flights only and not suitable for long haul." After re-checking they finally confirmed that plane had indeed changed. I managed to get extra leg room seats on the plane but these were situated next to the toilets and were not ideal. Seats were narrow and hard, obviously well used and were not up to the standard advertised. Cabin crew were surly and unhelpful throughout the flight. With the exception of one person at Thomson their attitude was always "We have your money so were not going to do anything". Possible upgrade for the return flight never materialised as staff at Cancun couldn't make a decision. Don't know how they get away with advertising one thing and giving another. Return flight / cabin crew were excellent. Low marks are given for outward flight.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  27 July 2009 : by M Hampson   (UK)

Flew to Cape Verde with Thomson. Awful flight, old First Choice B757 with nearly 240 seats shoehorned in, 4 toilets for 240 people - and ran out of toilet paper. They also ran out of food - - grumpy crew said "what do you expect". I've flown Britannia/Thomson for 20 years - they've really gone to the dogs and I shall avoid in future.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  19 July 2009 : by H Griffiths   (UK)

Our plane broke as it landed at Sharm to collect us, and after spending some time trying to fix it, it became clear that they would have to fly out a replacement part from the UK the following day. When they announced the 24 hour delay I was very nervous as to how we would be treated in the meantime, but need not have worried. After the initial chaos and mayhem that is Sharm airport (airline reps are currently banned from the departure area so Thomson could not assist us) we were all put onto coaches and shipped to two different all-inclusive resorts to spend the evening and following day. The reps accompanying us ensured that not only the restaurants would remain open, but that check in procedure would be swift and efficient. The rep also made a point of telling us that the bar tab for our stay would also be on Thomson. We were shipped back to the airport the following day, where everything was swift and efficient with apologies from all staff on the ground and the aircraft. I now know that should something go wrong, as it inevitably does every now and again, Thomsonfly do look after their customers.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  15 July 2009 by Martin Preston

Manchester-Cancun on a Thomson Boeing 757 in Premier class. Crew stated it was a replacement plane and we should have been on a Thomas Cook 757 with more Premier space. There may be more legroom but because of the solid armrests (which also contains a fold away table) the seat width is very snug. Good attentive service from pleasant crew. Reasonable inflight entertainment. Return on the Thomas Cook Boeing 757 - poor service from crew who just wanted you fed and to shut up. Problem with inflight entertainment, so nothing to watch for the entire flight, have seen this reported before on this forum. Same issue with the seats on this plane not enough width. First charter flight for 8 years and never again.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  14 July 2009 by M Gother

Manchester-Dalaman return, Boeing 767-300. We paid to sit together and for luggage - overall not a bad experience. Flights on time, leg room adequate for a 4 hour flight. FAs polite and did smile. There was no hard sell and free water. A word of warning - one of our fellow passengers was charged £10 for being a kilo overweight.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  2 July 2009 by T Collins

LGW-Thessalonkki On the outbound flight we flew on an old First Choice 757-200. The legroom on this flight was ridiculously tight! The inbound flight was better on a Thomsonfly 757-200 and this seemed to have more comfortable seats and moderately more legroom. However on both flights the food was terrible and crew seemed more interested in gossiping. They seemed to despise their jobs and disliked anything to do with contact with passengers.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  29 June 2009 : by Jeff Davison

Newcastle - Sanford Orlando return. Paid for Premium seating as we are both over 6" and I have a son who is Autistic and hates anyone in front of him moving the seat, also then charged extra again for bulkhead seating in premium. Both flights were on First Choice 767s, outbound flight was OK, seats narrow but not as bad as Virgin Economy, meals just edible. Return flight and big surprise, aircraft had gone technical (almost every flight we've had with Thomson/First Choice has had this on the return), bad news no Premium cabin so forced into 30" legroom and very narrow seats, neither of us could fit in them and many others had the same problem. Eventually managed to get an empty row for us and at least got a bit more room. At check-in we were given a letter promising £20 vouchers, free drinks and Premium Meals as well as a 50% refund of the upgrade price. No free drinks, No Premium meal and so far after 4 phone calls and a month later no refund either.

THOMSON AIRWAYS review :  25 June 2009 : by H Lacey

I recently flew with Thomsonfly on one of their old first choice planes (Gatwick/Bodrum). I'm not tall by any means, but the leg room on these planes leaves a lot to be desired to say the very least! I cannot understand why these aircraft have not be overhauled to meet the specifications of the Thomson planes. A very cramped flight overall.

THOMSONFLY review :  21 June 2009 : by J Crockett

Orlando Sanford to Glasgow on B767-300. Check in a breeze although baggage allowance strictly enforced. Boarding quick with passengers paying attention to boarding instructions. Aircraft clean, crew pleasant and courtious. Drinks trolley (pay service) shortly after take off but food took sometime to be handed out and wasn't the best I've tasted with Thomson. Aircraft was about 65% full so had 2 seats and my wife 3 - she even managed a few hours sleep. Breakfast before landing very basic and of continental style. Landed about 10 minutes early in Glasgow but no stand available until our scheduled time of arrival. Overall not bad, seating was good with ample leg room (I'm 6ft), and was happy with product for what was paid.

THOMSONFLY review :  18 June 2009 : by S Garner

Outbound to Lanzarote we experienced the total discomfort of being informed by check-in staff at the check-in desk that there were 'NO' seats left on our flight, so we would not be able to get checked-in on this flight! What an absolute nightmare being told such information and being left to believe we would not be able to get onboard this flight. The check-in staff seemed totally clueless as to what they needed to do in such a situation and just kept attempting to contact various Thomson staff members on numerous occasions without any success of sorting out this issue. It took them from 7:15am up until 8:30am (over an hour) to finally resolve this issue and get us checked onto this flight. Throughout this ordeal we never got any direct assistance or support from staff at the Thomson service desk, even though they were sitting a stone’s throw away from the check-in desk where this issue was occurring. The only assistance we did get was when it was nearing 8:30am and in the panic of not getting any further with the situation, my husband had to go over to the Thomson service desk and get a member of staff to come over to the check-in desk to sort this issue out face-to-face with the check-in staff. What a great example of lack of Customer Care & Support on Thomson’s behalf. I wrote a letter of complaint to Thomson, who just replied and said, 'This issue sometimes occurs, we apologise for the inconvenience you suffered but unfortunately we cannot offer you any form of compensation".