Flight Only / Airline and Airports

Discussions relating to flight only, airlines and airports.
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debsp,

BHX-DLM-BHX (TOM648/723) are operated by Boeing 757-200. As seating is allocated the day before, it makes no difference if you arrive 4 hours before your flight or 2 as seating is already assigned. Day before check-in isn't always much of a time saver as you have to make two trips to the airport and you don't have access to your luggage if you're staying in a nearby hotel. Meals are worth it to you if you want to eat inflight as it's about 4 hours plus up to a couple of hours transfer when you arrive depending on where you are staying. As far as airline meals go, TOM aren't too bad.

Darren
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Hi, I'm flying on TOM118 from Manchester on 14th May and although I know it will be an ex-first choice plane I was wondering if you could tell me specifically which plane will be operating this flight please.

Also, I've had a look at the Spring 2011 inflight magazine - will this still be the one that is issued on the planes this weekend?
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Thanks Darren appreciate advice I am staying at hotel and arriving by train into airport. It would be a bit inconvenient doing day before check in (luggage wise), but was hoping I might get good seats, this is not going to be the case and i have to pay at Birmingham. Do you know what the charge is??
I have 7am flight will the fact that i have already checked in make a difference waiting in queue. Was hoping I could arrive a bit later?
Do many people book seats??

if I book seats which are best for seeing ife and will the system allow me to book 2 seats infront and behind??

Sorry haven't flown from Birmingham before and not with thomsons for a long while...well when I did everything was included meals etc
debs
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pigletliz,

I wont know the registration until the day before the flight as aircraft are rotated regularly. It makes little difference as 5 of the 6 are identical inside. G-OOAN, the V1 aircraft is operating TOM158 (MAN-SFB-MAN) today so is in MAN, all the others are V2. Your aircraft should be coming in from Canun (TOM392/3) or Punta Cana (TOM126/7) so I'll know which it is on Friday.

Darren
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debsp,

The charge for day before check-in you mean? It's £5 per person as far as I know. Details are on Thomsons website. Desks should be relatively quiet at that time of day (5am for a 7am flight). If you've checked-in the day before, as long as you aren't flying to the US, you'll have your boarding card issed so don't need to check-in on the morning of the flight, you can go straight through to the departure lounge. Regardless of whether you've pre-booked seating or not, the recommended time to arrive at the airport for check-in is 3 hours before departure for a long haul and 2 hours for a short / medium haul. Providing seating is available, you can choose whichever seat you like with 'select your seat'. Seating is personaly preference with screens located above the isle every 4-5 rows startng at row 1. All seats have a view of the screen, but I prefer 2 or 3 rows behind the sceen so you aren't looking up too much.

Darren
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How long before flight does check in open for 7am flight if you haven't paid extra for day before check in or choosing seats in advance? I'm hoping that my family will be able to get seats together even if there can only be one infant on each row, I don't mind being one row behind hubby but if we're so far apart that girls can't see each other by looking through the gap between the seats, H is likely to be unhappy at not being able to see S.
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cate_taylor,

Check-in opens 3-4 hours before the scheduled departure time. Seating is pre-allocated the day before your flight so it doesn't matter how early you check-in, your seats will have been allocated and can't be changed. The allocation model takes in to account pasengers travelling with children. The recommended check-in time for a short-medium flight is 2 hours before. There's not really any point arriving much earlier than that.

Darren
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Can anyone tell me whether TOM7304 BHX to VRN departed this morning and which particular aircraft was used?
Thanks
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Hi,

I'm planning a trip to Cancun (exiting Gatwick) in April 2012 and because of Thomas Cook's mishandling of their Premium Cabin I'm now going to book with Thomson. But before I commit, I wondered if someone could tell me how many seats there are in Thomson's Premium Cabin and, what is the seat configuration? If it's a small cabin I'll book now but, if it's sizable I might wait and see if the prices fall.

Thanks

John
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There are 2 types of plane that Thomson and First Choice use with Thomsonfly. They use ex-first choice and ex-tomson planes. Thomson planes have about 30 seats or there abouts and First Choice planes have about 60 premium seats. There is no way of knowing exactly what plane you will get only just the knowledge of what normally leaves frm a certain airport. Ex-First Choice aircraft I feel are better but only for the reasons that the seats I feel are more comfortable (i'm not saying Thomson aren't!) and that you get a remote control to play your games and to flick through films etc. (Thomson planes the person behind you has to "tap" the screen to do everything. From my experience the person behind you punches the screen which leads to your chair rocking! lol) Both are great value an it's all about what you feel is an aceptable cost. With Cancun flights I've not really seen the price ever come down just really Florida and Dom Rep. But at this stge I can't see a huge demand for bookings never mind a sell out of seats butcloser hand the time you never know!

P.S the seating arangements are 2-3-2

Graeme
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Graeme

Thanks for the info.

Would the knowledge that we'd be leaving from Gatwick point to a specific craft?

The Thomson site sells Premium as:-
More space with a least a 36" seat pitch
9" seatback TV you can pause, play and rewind
Four-course meal and snack
Free drinks (excluding champagne)
Extra baggage allowance - check in up to 23kg

Does that help narrow it down?

Finally, if they don't know which airliner would be used, how do they know how many Premium seats they have to sell? :que

John
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I know it sounds strange but I once went to Cancun on the First Choice aircraft from Manchester and they only had less then 20 ppl in premium so about 40 empty seats! which was great for us! At that time one of the Stewards said it was normally a Thomson aircraft. So either the Thomson was in for a Service or was stuck somewhere else. This year I'm flying fom Glasgow to Punta Cana and in Premium (as always) and there are still 8 seats left and that is the Thomson aircraft :( lol ( I checked with looking at booking a flight only and seeing how many I could get on Premium) The description you gave with 36" legroom etc is the standard thing they advertise although Thomson aircraft have 37" legroom. I would imagine that the Premium for Cancun is about £249?

Graeme
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Hi Darren
We are flying out of BHX on 4th June Tom7620 and have just recieved flight tickets. which give a different time to that on my last comunication with Thomson and that in the brochure it was 07.25 and is now 08.25 i fully understand that we must go with the ticket info but i would have expected a note from Thomson about the change any ideas why
Thanks
Roger
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Graeme,

Well that sort of, sorts it out :think

I was told that if we waited we might see a slight reduction in the flight cost (about £100) if they couldn't sell enough seats but that due to APL the Premium upgrade couldn't reduce much. I'll assume that a Thomson airliner will be used and, as I'm booking 6 seats, I'll book asap to ensure we're in that cabin.

Oh, the cost per person (LGW-CUN) for Premium is £245

Thanks for your help

John
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Thanks Dazbo, will have to see what happens on Monday. Hopefully if the flight isn't fully booked, hubby & I will have a row of 3 seats like we did on Easyjet last year. Worst case is that we're separated by a few rows in which case S will be with my parents and we'll have H with us.
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hi we are going to kos sat 14th may flying from manchester flight tom2680 anyone know tomsons or first choice , what plane thanking you lolly happy days :sun2
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Gatwick-Cancun is always a First Choice 767.

Manchester-KOS will be a short haul plane, without checking will be either an A320/1 or 757/737 all have same seat pitch and cofiguration(3-3) with in aisle tv monitors so makes no difference if ex- First Choice or Thomsonfly.
Reply
Hi BY-TOM-AMM-FCA,
Do you know which of the long haul movies get shown on LGW<>SSH this month?
Cheers in advance.
Reply
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