Thomas Cook Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | I flew from Manchester to Las Vegas in so-called "Premium Economy". The scheduled plane had a fault so a replacement was provided. During the 11 hour flight we found out that the seats did not recline. We sat bolt upright for 11 hours! As far as I am aware this plane was designed for short haul only. My legs were killing me after only a few hours. On the return flight I chose a bulkhead seat in order to expect good legroom. Big mistake! I am 6ft 2ins and the space between the seat and the bulkhead was ridiculously small. Once again stretching my legs was impossible. 10 hours with my legs tucked underneath is no joke! A complaint to Thomas Cook was sent and they scandalously refused to answer any questions about legality of the seating simply referring me to an independent tribunal panel at a cost of £25! Thomas Cook has "opted out" of the CAA complaints review service and they in turn also referred me to the tribunal panel. Disgusting is the only word I have for this airline. Never again will I use them and if you want to I suggest that you read the rest of the scathing reviews. Your choice!

✅ Trip Verified | Gatwick to Cancun. 1 hour delay, extra suitcase charges are extortionate (up to USD185 for extra 20kg if paid on the day, 50% discount if paid before). They only allow 6kg hand luggage. Probably the most uncomfortable long haul flight seats I’ve sat on. Poor food/meal and you have to pay for all drinks during the flight (including soft drinks). There was no option to upgrade to business class and have a more comfy seat (premium class are next to emergency exits and only give you extra leg room). At face value it seems like a cheap flight option, but the reality it isn’t and is an airline I’ll never fly with again.

✅ Trip Verified | Glasgow to Heraklion. I was really impressed by the inflight entertainment system because I guess I was not expected it. Music during your flight (you have to have your own headphones) and also screens (not individuals but still you can manage to watch without problem) with different programs, mainly for children though (but I love cartoons!). The cabin crew was friendly and so was the pilot and the first officer who was informing the passengers throughout the whole journey about the weather and our estimate time or arrival. The price was incredibly good. Overall I highly recommend this airline and I will definitely fly again.

✅ Trip Verified | Don’t even bother booking a Thomas Cook Airlines flight. It was the worst experience ever! We paid £130 for 2x£65 seat upgrades for extra legroom only to be told 30mins before boarding that they had double booked our seats and we were being moved to normal seats! The only way to get a refund was to wait until getting back to UK and put in a complaint form online and wait 28 days! Even then, after phoning them they insisted that they never received my complaint! Absolutely appalling customer service with no concern for its customers. We will never fly again with Thomas Cook. Also on our Outbound trio my inflight entertainment didn’t work and it meant having no entertainment for a 10 hour flight! Plus when we got back to Manchester our suitcase was damaged beyond repair.

✅ Trip Verified | Manchester to New York JFK was operated by AirTanker. This aircraft had excellent seat pitch, thanks to slim line seating, a complimentary bottle of water was in the seat pocket on boarding. There was WiFi screening of entertainment via an app, which worked. There are no individual tv screens in the seat backs in this particular aircraft. Food was identical to the offerings you'd expect on BA, AA or UA, basic but ok. All beverages were chargeable, except tea/ coffee with meal. The return from New York was a Thomas Cook aircraft which had individual tv screens in the seat backs. On boarding water bottle, pillow and blanket were placed on seat. Leg room was excellent. On take off and cheese and tomato sandwich, followed by a drinks service were provided. Then crew dimmed the lights for three hours allowing passengers to attempt to sleep. An hour and half prior to landing in Manchester a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs etc was served. On both flights departed and arrived on time and had crew who were friendly and professional. The ticket was £400/500 cheaper than the other airlines (VS & UA) who fly the MAN NYC route. Would I recommend? Yes. Have already rebooked for June next year, but in premium economy.

✅ Trip Verified | Flight boarded late, we taxied out to runway and then announced technical problem with aircraft. Parked at hangar for engineers to take a look. Sat on plane roughly 1hr30. No offer of entertainment or drinks at this stage. Paid for premium entertainment otherwise films & tv selection was dire. Thomas Cook don't serve drinks for free only alongside your meal but thats fine we already knew this. They did provide a bottle of water each way which is good. Seat was ok not super comfy but better than BA's old worn out dirty seat. IFE was modern. Plane was relatively clean but missed rubbish in a few areas and tray tables dirty. Service was good outbound but stuck up and abrupt inbound. Cabin member moaned about her job, the Pax and just anything. She met every request with a straight No! Outbound meal was lovely inbound catering from states was poor. No choice just plain tomato pasta for everyone. Breakfast was muffin, yoghurt and orange juice. It was ok but again I've had better, British Airways provide hot wrap alongside cold parts. I know this is a more budget option and we chose them as they were cheapest. If you go with that in mind you will be fine. If you expect all inclusive service, IFE and food etc youll be disappointed. I would fly with them again if they were the cheapest direct option.

✅ Trip Verified | Tenerife to Gatwick in February 2018, they canceled a flight, lying the all day not admitting that and keep saying the flight was just delayed. Online was clearly written cancelled, they were very saying was not true. They lied until 22.30, when the flight was cancelled! We asked if they can give us food voucher and drinks, they didn't. We asked if you could leave the airport and go to sleep paying ourselves our accommodation, they said that they were arranging accommodations for us. Of course at 1 in the morning, they said that unfortunately they couldn't find any accommodation. The day after, the flight was scheduled for 9 am, no one from Thomas Cook showed up until 12. We left again with 3 hours delay, but this time after 24 hours at the airport they gave us 10 euros vouchers for food! When we arrived in London they gave us a paper saying they apologies and they will give us a refund of £200 each, plus expenses. And we are July now, and it's since February that I am trying to speak with them, sent I don't even remember how many emails, called the customer service, wrote on Twitter - they never got back to me.

✅ Trip Verified | Orlando to Gatwick. We received a text message/email an hour or so before leaving for the airport saying our flight had been delayed by 4.5 hours however the check-in desk will still close at the normal time, meaning we need to check in almost 6 hours prior to flying at the latest. Upon arriving I asked the check-in agent if they are about to close and she said no, not until an hour before the flight. When I complained about the delay and the fact that we now have hours and hours to wait all evening in the airport (!) when I had a suite still available to hang out in, I was flat out ignored, the member of staff refused to answer questions and proceeded to hurriedly check in our luggage. Eventually she pointed at a '4-hour pre check-in' sign and said well you need to check in 4 hours early anyway. I explained that I had never heard of that in my life (how would a sign help if you're not at the airport yet) but was ignored (I later complained to someone else who explained this was when they opened and was only an advised time - I showed him the TC website which states the standard 3 hours and told him how rude his colleague had been). The agent did not apologise or show any empathy or understanding. A colleague came over to explain further and provide a $10 meal voucher but also did not apologise or seem to care very much. She pointed out they are just third party staff and to contact TC. A little later I went back to complain to a manager and the agent just said there wasn't one. Then nothing, we just stood there. Eventually a more experienced colleague overheard and took over apologising for the confusion on behalf of TC. Well eventually we got on to our flight and the pilot apologised and explained the reason for the delay (repairing faulty smoke detectors). Service was okay, not great. Entertainment, food etc I'm not really sure about as I was semi-conscious the entire way but I get the impression it's a more budget style airline doing long-haul flights. I bought exit seats which were small and had a ridiculously hidden recline switch which staff struggled to find (don't think anyone actually used it from looking around) also a stiff tv bracket, but at least we could stretch out. When we landed there was an approx 20-30 min delay in getting our baggage which was not appreciated.

Not Verified | Manchester to Kos. Please don’t book the airport lounges if flying with Thomas Cook from Manchester. You pay for 3hours in lounge but Thomas Cook won’t let you check in until exactly 3hours before takeoff even though you’ve already checked in online. After this you still need to go through security and all the delays this brings, you also have to be at the gate 30 Mina before takeoff reducing time spent in lounge considerably. Thomas Cook staff were very rude at info desk when trying to make this point and saying airport lounges were nothing to do with them even though they bombard you with offers to book them by email pre holiday. Won’t be booking lounges again.

Not Verified | Had booked and paid for priority boarding and extra leg rooms seats each way. No priority boarding either sector, told by check in on outward journey by priority desk to go to the other main queue! Did receive allocated seats outward, but not on homeward for our 4 passengers. Staff at PMI seem to ignore any prebooking and allocate as they see fit. No priority homeward either. Plane very cramped and one of us could not even get his drinks tray lowered at all, as it was so cramped and he is not obese. Staff were helpful but a very disappointing end to a nice holiday. Have spoken to Cooks who are arranging a refund but I really do not like this hassle over what should be a straightforward booking. Won't use this airline again.