THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  23 June 2009 by S Simpkins   (UK)

Manchester-Vancouver/Calgary-Manchester. Chose Premium both ways and well worth the extra. Comfortable leather seats with plenty of width and legroom (despite the passenger in front who reclined his seat on takeoff and left it that way throughout the flight), excellent cabin staff, plenty of food and drink of reasonable quality. Decent entertainment with seatback screens, and A330 was clean and on-time both trips. All this was significantly cheaper than Economy with a scheduled airline.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  15 June 2009 : by T Hay  (UK)

Newcastle to Kefalonia - we asked for aisle and middle seat and were told unable to move as hadn't pre booked a meal! The legroom was outrageous - we had to pay nearly £40 each on the return for extra leg room as could not bear the thought of the journey home cramped. Would never fly Thomas Cook Airlines again, unless have paid extra leg room which obviously bumps up the price of the holiday.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  15 June 2009 : by R Whitfield  (UK)

Leeds to Heraklion A320. Had heard all the negatives about miserly legroom so looked on website to see about some extra legroom seats - plenty available as Cooks want £120 return for 2 exit row seats, not premium cabin! On arrival at Leeds there was a special offer of 2 for 1 legroom seats for £30 so paid for them. Was worth it for the 4 hour flight for the extra few inches. On checking in for return flight and enquiring about legroom seats was told a load of rubbish that our seats had already been allocated to us and she couldn't alter anything! So 4 hours of discomfort. I'm not over tall at 6ft but the seat pitch is ridiculous. Of course there were empty seats in the exit rows. Only about a dozen people had a meal on 21.55 return flight and there were no takers for the £7.50 offer of buying a spare leftover meal. On the plus side, both flights were on time taking off and both actually landed 15 minutes early. Its difficult to avoid the conclusion that because you are flying charter, you are treated as some sort of peasant

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  8 June 2009 : by M Cabalan  (UK)

London to Vancouver. Considering the price we paid (about half the fare of Air Canada) we were pleasantly surprised at leg space and quality of the plane, seats etc. The flight left on time, reasonable entertainment and overall a good flight. The only downer was my sons kids meal was inedible. The return flight was slightly marred by being told on check-in that the seats we had reserved (and paid extra for) had been changed around and we would not be sitting together as a family! Curiously my 3 year old son was allocated a seat on his own in the aisle separated by a stranger in between. Not acceptable. The ground staff were not helpful in sorting out their error, but we managed to sort out with fellow passenger directly. The flight was just slightly delayed, 1 of the tv monitors was not working, but they gave a handheld one instead which was fine. The cabin crew were helpful and friendly (and very keen on selling scratch cards).

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  6 June 2009 : by J Tillin  (UK)

LGW-FAO return. As everyone has said, the worst legroom I've had. We found the cabin crew a bit surly at times, and they just wanted to sell, sell, sell - as opposed to being interested in service. Can't believe that TCX are asking people to buy the leftover meals rather than just giving them away - £7.50 instead of the £6 pre-book price too! We didn't have meals, just snacks - they were not that expensive.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  1 June 2009 : by B Leung  (Canada)

Took a trip to London from Vancouver . The flight there was very uncomfortable even though I had an aisle seat. The seats were too close together and the monitor in front of our seats was broken, so we couldn't watch any movies. Nothing to do for 9 hours. I ordered a non lactose meal, but they gave me vegetarian instead. Was not what I wanted. On the way back I upgraded to Premium class which was better, but food was still bad. Overall, the cabin crew were friendly and the flight took off on time and arrived early both on the way there and back. I would fly with Thomas Cook again if they had better food and wider seats in economy. Each seat should have their own monitor for movies, even ones in economy.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  25 May 2009 : by James LeBlanc  (Canada)

LGW-YYZ. Rude check in staff, and everybody in line seemed to be having baggage issues. Check in staff seemed to be enjoying making everybody pull out their belongings, and were almost provoking. And this sets a bad tone for the remaining journey of your passengers. I'll pay more to fly in a more pleasant environment with quality staff. Nevertheless, aircraft was clean.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  25 May 2009 : by A Crockatt  (UK)

Manchester to Luxor return. The holiday was fine but flights were dreadful. Everything ran on time but seat pitch and width was the tightest that I have ever experienced. The cabin crew were pleasant and efficient enough although their main mission seemed to be to sell passengers overpriced items. We had elected to buy duty free spirits on the flight home rather than in Luxor. Sadly, stocks were low and the choice of spirits was very limited. In theory, charter airlines offer good value for money. However, I cannot face this level of discomfort again and will opt for a different mode of airline transport next time.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  21 May 2009 : by N Haynes  (UK)

Gatwick to Puerto Plata return. Check in both directions excellent. Outbound flight aircraft not the smartest A330 - a bit tatty inside, but crew excellent as was food. 33 inch seat pitch a huge improvement. IFE was rubbish - only 3 films with set start times and no upgrades available. Thomsonfly 767 with multiple stop start IFE entertainment and upgrades much better. Return flight crew and food excellent. Shame about the rubbish IFE again. I would have given the airline a score of 9 had the IFE not been so bad.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  18 May 2009 : by N Curran  (UK)

NCL to Dalaman. Seating or this 4.5 hour flight was so cramped we couldn't get the table down. From the moment we got on the plane it was hard sell only - no attention to any passenger comfort.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  18 May 2009 : by D White  (Denmark)

Gatwick to Sharm. Terrible Legroom - 5 hour flight and I am 5,10 and could not move or stretch my legs and had the seat back stuck in my kneess. Even before anyone in front reclines I pulled out a 12" laptop and could not even place the screen to a 90 degree angle as there was no room for it. On the return flight the extra legroom was sold out but looking at the seats I am glad I did not pay, as they were tight too. Connecting flights with Easyjet we paid next to nothing for and probably had 3-4 inches more legroom. I will never again ifly Thomas Cook. I would liked to give my opinion on the return flight but they managed to run out of forms after yapping non stop on the tannoy about how important our feedback is.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  16 May 2009 : by Pauline Norton  (UK)

BHX-DLM, DLM-MAN. Seating quality is appalling! Extra legroom seats outbound £30 per person. Cabin very chilly outbound. No food paid for, hence seated at back of plane. Cabin staff efficient. Inbound flight - passengers were moved around to 'help balance the plane due to the way luggage had been loaded'. Over 50 spare seats yet row 17 seated 6 people. Cabin was uncomfortably warm and legroom was negligible. Over-priced 'packed in like sardines' flights!

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  16 May 2009 : by J Craig  (UK)

Bristol-Fuerteventura Economy with extra legroom exit seats. Both outward flights on time. Plane clean and staff friendly. We took our own food & drinks. My only complaint is the lack of value for money. Things I regard as essential such as legroom, headphones for movie, to sit together and hold luggage all cost extra!

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  16 May 2009 : by J Nicoll  (UK)

Gatwick to Florida. We chose them because the flight was cheaper than most and we expected and were happy to compromise. In fact we were pleasantly surprised, there was lots of legroom. We were seated together and found the crew cheerful and helpful. We didn't bother to book meals.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  13 May 2009 : by J Springthorpe  (UK)

MAN-LPA. Check in at Manchester Terminal 1 efficient, the new security screening area is organised and much less hassle. Arrived at gate to find a Titan Airways 757. Cabin crew all Titan Airways staff with addition of 2 Thomas Cook UK crew reps. Captain explained Thomas Cook A320 had technical issues (not uncommon with these old ex Airtours aircraft). Crew smart and friendly, in flight product/stock was that of Thomas Cook. Bar service after departure, average priced drinks for charter airlines – bar noticeably lacking in a good range of snacks etc. Thomas Cook in flight meal of Chilli Con Carne with Burnt dry rice, Crackers with Soft Cheese (classy) and a Chocolate Brownie that seemed to nearly choke most passengers who risked it. Portion size a joke, smaller than most starters. Taste overall, not bad but not great and I was left starving. Most definitely not worth £10, A real insult and that was the view echoed by most. Tea & Coffee service very prompt as was the collection of waste. Movie shown was Bond Quantum of Solace, sadly it took an hour for the crew to get it started and they had to be told after 10 minutes that they had not switched on the audio track for it. Further bar service was carried out after duty free and gifts sale. Return aircraft was old ex Iberia 757 but in immaculate condition, a far cry from the expected charter experience. Comfortable black leather seats with good legroom. The only bad points of the journey have to be the Thomas Cook meal and the fact that it shouldn’t be that a Thomas Cook aircraft has to break in order to enjoy your holiday journey on a nice comfortable & clean aircraft.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  12 May 2009 : by G Wells  (UK)

Manchester - Sanford Premium Cabin. Straight to check in as we had booked Premium Cabin. Not pointed out, but you are given fax track through security, which wasn't necessary as it wasn't that busy. First on plane. Got window seats - extra leg room a godsend; a bit overpriced but worth it Not much extra width in the seat. Plane very clean. Given a blanket and neck cushion plus a bag of goodies (socks, lipbalm, etc). Cabin crew friendly and nothing too much trouble. Inflight entertainment was excellent. Food was great, plenty of drinks. Flight back was ok too.