You were treated very poorly.

I am not sure what advice to give, but can put some web links on that might help.

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/yourrights/rightsindifferentsettings/transport/Pages/AirTravel.aspx t
There is a contact link for complaints

and also have a look at the caa website: Rights for Disabled and Reduced Mobility Air Passengers. New legislation on the rights of disabled persons & persons of reduced mobility travelling by air within the European Community.
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=125&pagetype=90&pageid=8224

Some medical seats on Thomson aircraft and in fact other airlines have not much more leg room than normal seats.They are usually row 1,2 and seats A,B,F and G.in row 12 depending on the aircraft.
If you dont tell them about your disability and you purchase leg room seats which are usually next to the doors you may be moved when the staff realise you have a disability.I have seen this happen on a Thomas Cook flight.
The best thing to do is phone Thomsons customer services with your booking reference number and ask for the special needs department.They will ask you for your blue badge number(Take a photostat copy with you on holiday)and ask what your medical problem is.If you are tall tell them because that makes a difference to what seat they allocate you.

Hi, thanks for your response,
I had advised Thomson Customer Service dept of my disability and subsequent needs, as had the shop agent. Shop had a copy of blue badge details, these were again confirmed when i spoke to Customer Services the following day it was stressed at all times that i needed extra leg room. It was confirmed to me that this would happen. Thats why we were so unhappy with what happened on the flight.

thanks again

Kaz

The best thing to do is phone Thomsons customer services

Please do not telephone them - unless you are a secret lottery winner - it will cost you a lot of money.

Many thanks for your very lucid explanation - no histrionics just facts - how refreshing. I suggest you put the whole thing in writing to Thomson and send it "signed for" - You are already aware of the problems of telephoning and the correct information not being passed along. On that experience alone I doubt you will do any better now by telephoning.

Whilst people spend hours on the telephone a written complaint is far better. As with your explanation you are able to detail exactly what was wrong. On the telephone they are more interested in latching on to one part of the complaint and not considering the whole story.

If you intend traveling again with Thomson I would also ask for a contact so that you may ensure you do not have the same problem in the future.

fwh

Thanks to you all for taking the time to reply to my moaning!

I know what you mean by the costs of the calls, I'll write to them. The only concern I have is that they'll fob me off with a general 'sorry, but it's not really our fault' response.

Also, very grateful for the links, I was unaware of recent regulations, now I know a bit more. I'm not looking for compensation, I only want to know that if they say I can have this service, then they should deliver.

kaz

I only want to know that if they say I can have this service, then they should deliver.

Unfortunately, Kaz, you'll never get this sort of cast-iron guarantee from any service provider - the disability rights legislation only requires them 'to make all reasonable adjustments' and what constitutes 'reasonable' is still being defined by case law. In the end a request for assistance is just that - a request and nothing more. That said, my mother has osteo-arthritis and osteoporosis and we have found that the system generally works very well, though regular readers of the 'Disabled Travellers Forum' on here will know that it's not without the occassional hiccough. Yes, you should write to Thomson and point out the less than helpful attitude of the 2 staff members you refer to but for all sorts of operational reasons a TO or airline might need to change the plane used to operate a particular flight and if faced with the choice of eg delaying a whole planeload of passengers or boarding you onto a unsuitable plane for your needs they'll always choose the latter and then argue that in the circumstances they then made all reasonable adjustments to accommodate your needs. In the end you would have to decide whether you were going to refuse to travel and then insist on leaving the plane and being placed on a later flight. I am not aware of anybody deciding to do that but I think that, that could end up being your only option - and taking the risk of the airline insisting that that was 'unreasonable adjustment'.

In the meantime you might find the following tips helpful:

1) Always check out the standard legroom offered in advance - there can be quite wide variations between them - and opt for one with a more generous standard seat pitch in the first place. On the whole scheduled, full service flights tend to have better seat pitches than the chartered and no frills services. This is one of the reasons why we always go DIY now rather than on packages.

2) The scheduled services in my experience usually have cabin crew that are both more clued-up about disability issues and are in a position to take more pragmatic decisions at their own discretion. Until they axed the route my parents lways used FlyBe to come up and visit me because they paid the basic economy price but invariably got upgraded to a seat in business class though without the additonal perks of a free bar service. A good 'reasonable adjustment' all round. But of course this isn't an option on single class operators or any service which is going to only ever fly with a full plane.

3) Try and find out exactly which type of aircraft is used by which operators on your route. Some planes simply have no non-emergency exit row seats with extra legroom, others do. On our recent trip to the Canaries with Monarch chartered this meant that my mother could sit in the window seat in the row immediately behind the row by the main cabin door. this row only had 2 seats in it and the window seat in the row of three behind it, therefore had extra legroom and in fact was wide enough for my mother to exit her seat via that gap between the 2 seats and teh wal of the aircraft.

4) Another advantage of going DIY is that you are usually dealing direct for yourself with the airlines' own customer service dept and can ask questions yourself rather than relying on an intermediary. The best way of doing this in my experience is to make the request over the phone with the airlines seating plan for the relevant aircraft in front of me on the computer screen - when making the request they usually pre-allocate you a specific seat at the time and doing ti this way you can see exactly which seat you are likely to be in and can ask them directly about it's suitability.

5) If you have no alternative to booking a package for whatever reason, always follow-it up with a direct call to the TO yourself - your confirmation invoice will usually have dedicated tel no on it for requesting special assistance. This usually results in you being given a reference number and I'm not sure why in this instance you weren't given one - this is what helps the tO themselves track your resuest throughout their system.

6) If on a package always ask the in resort rep to re-confirm your request before your return flight and always make yourself known to the airport rep as soon as you arrive at the airport. This usually means that they will monitor your check-in and sort out any potential problems at that stage. It avoids the cabin crew having to ask other passengers to move for you once on the plane - this way they get moved without them ever knowing it!

7) If you are willing to pay extra to be sure of extra room then check whether the TO/airline offers 'premier' seating or the equivalent. Such seating will usually be at the front of the plane and carry other perks as well such as an extra luggage allowance etc. My mother has jsut about written off longhaul trips for the moment because the osteoporosis makes sitting in any seat for more than about 4 hours too uncomfortable to contemplate but if she ever does decide to give it one more try than I would definitely go down the 'premier' route or else we won't go at all.
And finally, always use the 'Disabled Travellers Forum' here to do as much research as possible before you book your next trip. We're a friendly bunch on it and and can often advise you based on our pooled previous expereicne of various TOs and airlines.

SM

PS Forgot to say that whatever you do, don't be tempted to lie about your disability. If you don't declare it and just pay for an extra legroom seat, then if it's on an emergency exit row the cabin crew will insist you move the moment they clock the walking stick. And if that happens you won't be entitled to a refund because most T&Cs make it clear that these seats are not to be occupied by any passenger that the cabin crew deem at their discretion to not be fit and agile enough to operate the emergency exit machanism. Also, if you don't declare your disability in order to book an extra legroom seat you won't be able to have priority boarding or special assistance at the airport either. It's simply not worth it - especially if you are likely to need assistance to exit the aircraft in an emergency. My mother assumes that she usually gets seated in the row behind the main exit doors so she doesn't have far to walk on the aircraft - the hurried conflab I overheard amongst the cabin crew when we had a similar experience to you a couple of years ago, leads me to believe that it's because it will be easier to make sure she's evacuated quickly and safely whilst at the same time not impeding others while she slowly hobbles down the aisle to the exit.

SM

You can contact Thomson fly customer services on 0161 7964099,which is the cost of a local call.
Its best to contact the airline direct for a medical seat as the travel agent doesnt always pass on the information to the airline.

which is the cost of a local call

But only if you live in Manchester! 0161 is the STD dialling code for Manchester and most people living outside of that dialling area will pay a long distance rate and hence more than they would for a local call even though it will be cheaper than paying for a call to a higher rate number beginning 08 or 09 which are charged at premium rates.

SM

I phoned Thomas Cook airlines last month which was an 0844 number and the call cost me £1.17.Cheaper than £30 each to reserve your seat.Long distance calls are not that expensive if the number begins with 01 and 02,they are free on Talk Talk.
Look on Say no to 0870 for geographical numbers.It is still worth ringing the airline if you want a medical seat.

Thank you for taking the time to reply,
I did speak to Thomson Customer Service myself and we were seated at the front of the plane. However, there was limited leg room. They did have seats at the very front with extra room but cabin crew said they were not advised of my needs.

We were told at the time of booking that as the aircraft had not at that time been confirmed, that they would be unsure how many welfare seats they would have, they did however state that it would be either 3 or 5. , they then confirmed that 2 such seats had been allocated to us.

I will write to Thomsons, as i agree it's much easier for them to 'lose' details of a phone complaint.

thanks again every, you've all been very helpful

kaz

Can anyone supply the Chief Executive Officer, or any other top ranking names for Thomson?

I am writing to them regarding problems on our flight and would prefer to address it to a name as opposed to just the customer Service department.

Regards
Kaz

CEO - ROGER BURNELL BSc, FCA
Group Corporate Communications
Tel: 01293 645 700
Email: corporate.communications@tuitravel.com

TUI Travel House
Crawley Business Quarter
Fleming Way
Crawley
West Sussex
RH10 9QL

Registered Number: 6072876

Please note this comment from their website;

Unfortunately, Corporate Communications is unable to respond to customer complaints about any of the companies in the Group. These need to be taken up with the Customer Services team of the Company concerned directly.

Thanks,
really appreciate everyones help. I stumbled across Holiday Truth by accident, I am so impressed with the kindness and knowledge of all who have responded to my questions.

I'm recently disabled and have paid for extra legroom on a flight to Fuerteventura. Can anyone advise what would be the best seats for me? I know there are a couple of seats at the very front but have been to,d they are not extra legroom. Any advice would be appreciated.

I think it will depend on which aircraft you are flying on. The seats at the front may be extra space seats, which could be bulkhead or exit row seats.

You may be better posting in the Thomson section - I have assumed that's who you are flying with, as this is in the complaints section.