Thomson Airways

I am a frequent traveller and in the most recent years I have suffered severely with arthritic knees and hence require an extra leg room seat. I have found that this given the appropriate booking time allowance has never been a problem on other airlines. Thomson however have as other airlines always told me to book only seven days in advance but never deliver only to tell you on the day that all leg room seats are booked. I am currently at the RIU Karaamboa I Boa Vista Cape Verde and returning home on the 30th April to Gatwick. The usual story I'm afraid after requesting my leg room seat on arrival I was told to request 7 days before departure (today) when I'm told that there was none available.

We were flying from Bristol to Orlando on a B767-300. The flight all went smoothly. However on arriving at Orlando airport we found out the aircraft had pressurisation problems back at Bristol. So we had a long 8-9 hour wait (longer than our flight) whilst they flew in a very old and uncomfortable B757-200. It was a very bad flight.

I cannot find the words that express how bad this flight is. Just returned from Tunisia - but having left the hotel before breakfast and then find on the flight they did not have enough food and I am diabetic. All they said y is 'we have sold out of that' - Food Drinks and Duty Free. Previously on a trip to Egypt they forgot to load the food on board.

Manchester to Punta Cana December 2012 in Economy and had plenty of leg room. I'm only 5'6" so not very tall but could stretch my legs out fully in front of me no problem. Plane was 2-3-2 rather than 2-4-2 which we had the previous time. Staff were good friendly and always at hand. Paid the extra £5 for the extra TV options which I think is worth it just for the on demand option. Food was good though the pillows on the night flight home are pretty useless better to take your own neck pillow. All in all I would definitely recommend Thomson/First Choice and will be flying with them long-haul in the future.

Manchester to Cancun. Booked extra legroom seats in economy no problem with legroom. The problem was my seat was faulty and would not stay in the upright position. Every time I tried to relax as you would on an almost 11 hour flight the poor guy behind me would have the back of my seat almost in his face. The stewardess did try to fix it to no avail. Basically we endured a hellish flight as we had to sit bolt upright. The food was so so nothing to rave about. The other big issue was that about 5 hours into the flight 3 of the 5 toilets were blocked and out of order. Drinks were not served after the announcement regarding blocked toilets. Thankfully I had brought water on board but really felt it for those who hadn't. I would never fly more than a couple of hours again with Thomsons.

Manchester - Malaga - Manchester 08/03/2013 to 19/03/2013. Both aircraft's were fairly new 737 which have the new Dreamliner style interior. The blue leather seats were comfortable enough for a short flight especially considering I am 6ft 1 tall! I did notice that the aircraft could have done with a deep clean. Service on board was professional and friendly. The onboard menu was quite expensive - especially £2.50 for a tiny portion of chips. I highly recommend the cheese and tomato Panini which although does not look nice tasted delicious. The only IFE is the map this may be an issue if on a longer flight. This is the first time flying with Thomson Airways as I usually fly with Monarch and overall I was satisfied and will use them again if the price is right.

Leeds Bradford to Sharm El Sheik. Never been particularly bothered about the quality of 'package airlines' such as this but on this occasion I felt the aircraft was of a poor standard considering the length of flight (5.5 hours). Too often on Thomson flights there is a complete lack of hot food options (despite the fact that prices are over inflated and they need you to buy things). The seat quality and leg room for a medium haul flight wasn't acceptable. Of course a pillow and blanket can be bought - but I doubt this would compensate. No inflight entertainment i.e. TV radio papers magazines. The only thing of interest was to observe how much people bought from the endless trolley services or over priced food drinks souvenirs and duty free. Thomson seem to be severely lacking in the art of distraction.

Manchester to Sharm-El-Sheikh return. Without any doubt the worst flight we have been on. Never been so uncomfortable horrible leather seats no overhead air vents. Then they have the cheek to charge £1.40 for a tea bag and some hot water and £7.50 plus £2.50 for head phones if you want to watch a television. Come on Thomson I didn't expect Emirates standards but you really need to up your game!

Flight out delayed an hour. We were flying to Cancun we had about 2.5 hours to go when they said there was only 1 toilet working people were queuing 45 mins to use it. The inflight service stopped which is very annoying when you have upgraded. The seats were very uncomfortable there was a crying child in front and when the seat in front was reclined they were almost in your lap. Food was mediocre.

I flew twice with Thomson last year BRS-EFL (Kefalonia) in May 2012 and BRS-FUE (F'ventura) in Sep 2012. Both flights had attentive staff and as I am blind they went through the safety brief not all airlines do. The seats were very hard with tight leg room B757s on both routes. I felt the new onboard catering was good had a baguette which was tasty. I cannot say they are a good airline but adequate and I will use them in the future.