Thomson Airways

✅ Trip Verified | So everyone checked in early, the flight wasn't full. The bus crammed everyone on within an inch of their lives and here lies the problem. On TOM7748 and sat on the tarmac awaiting push back to be told that we have missed our time and have to sit on this plane for 1.5 hrs before an update. Maybe if the bus hadn't waited to cram everyone onboard and instead allowed an acceptable number to get on the bus then these people do not have to then wait by the plane to board. Instead, a steady flow of passengers can board while the bus returns to the terminal to collect the next batch would have been far more efficient. Why oh why do budget airlines get it wrong compared to some of the more established airlines who quite often are responsible for loading twice as many passengers. Almost every holiday I go on, the element of that holiday that consistently fails me is the flight. I feel like I need another holiday afterwards. Come on Thomson and stop messing passengers about, and please do not give any feeble excuses, we have heard them all before many times. Meanwhile, we are all still sat here awaiting the start of our holidays that we all worked hard for to relax and enjoy. But not sat on the tarmac at Birmingham airport.

✅ Trip Verified | Gatwick to Sal (Cape Verde). Crammed in like sardines, not sure how Thomson get away with this. Space between seats is so limited you cannot get out without hanging on to seat in front, so you annoy your fellow passenger. Seats also recline so if you are unfortunate enough to have someone in front recline you are effectively a prisoner in your seat. I am 6’ tall and my knees were touching seat in front in upright position. Extra leg room seats not purchased in advance (very expensive hence availability) were offered for £30 each. These were snapped up quickly but looked like they were taken by “larger” passengers. No entertainment. Food surprisingly tasty, no choice. Crew seemed happy. On arrival Thomas Cook airbus was on tarmac, very jealous! Will not do this route with Thomson again unless they use different plane.

✅ Trip Verified | We were very pleasantly surprised with our experience in Premium. We normally fly Premium Economy on British Airways and this was a far better experience – the plane was lovely and new and the crew were much friendlier. The premium experience on board is good, nice to have additional space and a private section of the cabin and the crew were generous with drinks. The food was fine and we were pleased to be served two hot meals on the way out. Our checked bags came off very promptly at both ends the Premium labels did seem to make a difference. The only slight negative was that our flight left Gatwick late afternoon and the Premium check in line took longer than the normal one as they seemed to give priority to those checking in for next morning’s flights. Strange, but didn’t spoil the overall experience.

❎ Not Verified | Manchester to Hurghada. Check-in at Manchester was horrible, line was massive. Our flight was around 1 hour delayed and was not informed about the reason although requested. The flight had no IFE, and therefore was boring. Was instructed by cabin crew to fill in a form for when we arrived in Egypt, no pen was handed out so had to ask other passengers to borrow one, which we thought was not acceptable. Would only fly shorter routes with TUI in the future, unless we were on a Boeing 787.

✅ Verified Review | I have flown with Thomson now Tui before to the Canaries and it has always been okay. The staff are friendly and there was very expensive food and drinks on offer should you want to buy anything. My biggest issue on my latest flight was the size of the seat. There was literally no leg room. I am only 5'5 and my knees were touching the seat in front and they were so narrow they were almost impossible to sit in. When I was told to put my bag under the seat in front it left nowhere for my legs. It was the most uncomfortable four hours of my life - never again.

✅ Verified Review | Recently returned from a return trip to Florida with Thomson and as per usual they were fantastic. Aircraft was a 3 month old DreamLiner and it's such a brilliant plane. I'm 6ft and the legroom was perfect with plenty of space unlike years ago when my knees were jammed into the seat infront! Decent choice of movies and a few games to play which kept us occupied as our tablets had to be in hold luggage do to the US Ban. The crew both ways were friendly and attentive, the free drinks were plentiful and it was never an issue getting more if required. The food both ways was fine and wiped the floor with what I've had on our Flag Carrier during the past year. The return flight was the same aircraft as the outbound leg and we landed into Gatwick 1 hour early after a smooth overnight flight. I really can't fault Thomson in anyway, I fly long haul a lot and the larger airlines don't even come close. We are already booked on them again to Barbados in February 2018.

✅ Verified Review | Manchester to Larnaca. The flight was initially delayed for an hour because of technical issues but once boarded we were told that the delay would be up to a further 2.5 hours due to inclement weather over Belgium. We eventually left 2h 57 minutes late. Our flight number BY2334 is constantly late. The seats were uncomfortable and the entertainment was poor (although we didn't expect entertainment). Our aircraft was 18 years old and was showing it's age. We didn't enjoy this experience and were feeling quite tired and aching on our arrival.

✅ Verified Review | I booked my flight through bravofly to go to Mallorca. I loged on to the website to check in online for the flight about 18 hours before the flight. The check in system was not working. I kept trying throughout the day without any luck. The company stated check-ins are open up to 6 hours before flight. This caused me frustration because I didn't even know If I would be able to board since I couldn't provide my advance passenger information. When I arrived at thw check in I got charged £45 for hand-luggage because the limit is 5kg. I took my laptop in hand and gave them the bag. But really? 5kg? A womans purse weighs more than that. They can at least have the minimum decency to say "no hand luggage allowed so we can milk you the remainder of the ticket price that we removed to appear competitive". I never have checked hand luggage weight and never had a problem and I always pack the same amount of clothes for a 3 day buisness trip. You can always say it is my fault for not checking, but even if I had the limit you are informed of this after buying the ticket, unless you search online, leads one to the only option of buying bag allowance. The just feels like you are being scammed even if they can claim they have no wrongdoing and the customer is blaimed for not checking thoroughly. Just to mention at this point, that it was not my money I was spending, so I couldn't care less about that. It is their attitude that they can pull any trick up their sleeve and get away with it. It does seem to be the case though. What was also interseting was the smirk of the lady that was at the desk as if she was pocketing the money (obviously not the case). The seat I was given was on the aisle so at least I had some leg room. Given that it was an economy flight everything regarding food and entertainment was heavily priced, but that is expected. The flight was delayed by about an hour, plus the time it took me to retrieve my overweight "man-purse" resulted in me being delayed for my pickup that we had arranged with my colleague for another couple of hours. Overall it caused me a 3 hour delay. Communication with the staff was minimal so it was as if they didn't exist. It is by far the worst company I have travelled with.

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to Puerto Vallarta. We travelled in premium economy both directions and it's worth the upgrade, but only just. Firstly the premium check in was fast, the included lounge access was great. The only part of the upgrade that doesn't work is the bags off first, this didn't happen in both directions. The food quality was acceptable, drinks were free flowing. The crew seemed to be experienced and happy which made for an enjoyable flight both ways.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Thomson from Birmingham to Cancun. I read a lot of the company's blurb about how good their Boeing 787 was. I was sorely disappointed. My seat and table were filthy, I asked a stewardess for something to clean it with, I was told that they carry nothing to clean with. I said that it wasn't good enough, she agreed telling me that "passengers can be really disgusting!" No apology, no solution. Between the seats hadn't been vacuumed for more than 1 previous trip. Incredibly unhygienic. Staff were rude and disinterested. Thomson should be embarrassed by their seating policy that if you don't pay you won't sit next to people in your party.