THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  29 June 2009 by G Miller (Canada)

Pushing the limit of absolute discomfort. Thomas Cook offers transatlantic flights at 30% less than standard carriers by squeezing in several more rows of seats. At 6'0" tall, my knees were butting the seat in front of me with a proper posture. No slouching possible. This is unacceptable legroom for a 6 hour flight. Thomas Cook are absolute sticklers about checked & carry-on luggage weight limits, even on half-full flights. Their carry-on weight limits (6kg/13 lbs) are 4-6kg lower than most rivals. I had to check my camera bag on the return flight, and the strong baggage Xray destroyed $100 worth of film as a result. My departing flight was delayed 4 hours due to mechanical problems, and the return flight delayed 45 minutes due to flight crew substitutions. Extended legroom seats are available that are much more comfortable. However, that upgrade costs so much that the cost equalizes out with standard carrier tickets. This is a great airline for small height, budget minded travels who packs light. I will fly standard carriers (Air Canada, American, British Airways) for my next trip to England.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  29 June 2009 by L Sweetman (UK)

Glasgow to Lanzarote. Seats were comfortable and legroom more than expected. Cabin crew helpful and friendly, meals were as expected. Inflight entertainment was good. Return flight from was late at night 23:50-03:35 and there were lots a tired children onboard - there were no blankets or pillows and if you wanted any you had to pay.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  29 June 2009 by J Leeson (UK)

Manchester-Sanford A330. Worth the extra for premium - seats not great, but wider and reasonably comfortable. Food good for airline food with a reasonable entertainment system. Free drinks and a pre-take off drink. Crew were pretty friendly. Return journey 4 hr delay - A330 return cleaner and seemed to have slighter better seat recline. Hot meal was awful - blankets have been replaced with duvets. Crew very cheerful and helpful although pilots outbound and inbound did not communicate very much. All in all apart from the delay not too much to complain about and we have travelled to USA by most of the major carriers.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  26 June 2009 by J Lewis (UK)

Bristol to Majorca. As well as the usual complaints regarding lack of legroom and being struck by the aircraft trolley several times, my main complaint sent to Thomas Cook was that there were a number of rowdy hen and stag parties on board, obviously already having consumed too much alcohol. Due to complaints from other passengers a group of these youths were advised by the cabin crew regarding their foul language. Next thing is the cabin crew are still selling them alcohol, obviously making money outweighs any other regards. I sent a letter of complaint above to thomas cook and got the usual bland reply that all their staff are trained and sorry we did not enjoy the flight, etc etc but no mention of why the crew were serving alcohol to persons already inebriated. After hearing other complaints no way would we fly with them again

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  26 June 2009 by D Sayers (UK)

London Gatwick to Dalaman. Not a big fan of Thomas Cook flights, but they came up with the most competitive price so thought I would give them another chance. Nothing to complain about this time. Flight outbound left on time. We did pay for extra legroom seats at checkin both out and in, and glad we did, as the other seats had very limited leg room. My partner is 6'1 and Im 5'10 so we did have a more comfortable flight. Didnt pay for meals, so cant comment. Did find tea/coffee and soft drinks onboard expensive though. Both ways cabin staffvery friendly and chatty, with good sense of humour. Check in going out, massive queue when we arrived but all processed very quickly. Again coming back not many in queue so check in quick with efficient staff.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  25 June 2009 by B Darby (UK)

Gatwick-Calgary return. Was aware of narrow seats & minimal legroom etc, which is just about acceptable for flights up to 2 hours, but not 8/9 hours. Consequently upgraded to Premium with the following benefits - 30 kgs baggage allowance, first to board, premium cabin with 2-3-2 configuration, wide seats with acceptable legroom, blanket, neck support, good entertainment system with free headset, free drinks & priority baggage delivery at destination. Whilst walking around the aircraft at intervals & seeing how people were wedged into the economy seats, I decided that my upgrade decision was well worth the reasonable cost. Whilst food quality was average airline fare, I will fly Premium again.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  24 June 2009 by J Jones   (UK)

LGW-FUE-LGW. Bad flight made worse by check-in staff trying to extort additional revenue for baggage. We pre-paid for an additional 5kgs, and then were then asked for an extra 20Euro for just 1kg overweight! Every passenger in line in front was asked to pay 20Euro extra. Seats very cramped - unable to move knees as wedged against seat in front on outbound. 2 hours delay outbound, ontime inbound. On return flight cabin crew failed to deliver pre-paid meals, instead tried to sell excess meals at £7.50 each and were not happy when told we had already paid, then demanded proof. Will try to avoid Thomas Cook/Airtours next time.

THOS COOK AIRLINES review :  24 June 2009 by Terri Stevens (UK)

LGW - Toronto. After being messed about with Canadian Affair, flights were changed several times, and prebooked seats changed - we decided to upgrade to premium, and selected row 8 as there were no extra legroom seats available. When we checked in we were given row 1A/B/D, so pleasantly surprised! Good flight, friendly & helpful cabin crew. Food just edible but what you'd expect on a plane. Lots of drinks offered though - wine before, during, & after meals. A lot better than the return on Air Transat.)

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.