Just got back from Punta Cana to Manchester today - supposed to be on Thomson TOM105.
They did call it that.... BUT....
We ACTUALLY amazingly all got put on the old THOMAS COOK emergency recovery plane. We were given a strange story about aircraft breaking down in Barbados or Cuba or somewhere else. Were were also told we were being merged with the previous day Thomson PuntaCana/ Birmingham flight - which was also apparently broken down somewhere. But no clear information.
Why on earth did Thomson dump its passengers onto a horrible Thomas Cook 767 aircraft (I think the old recovery beast) - no IFE, sardine can conditions, horrible Thomas Cook food, no premier section? Why didn't they use their own recovery 767 - at least they have IFE and better food?
Also - I noticed on the way out on 20th January - the Thomson plane doing TOM104 Man/PuntaCana seemed to be an unusual one - some of the printing on seatbacks wasn't in English, and the "Premier Section" wasn't even separated by a curtain and didn't seem to have larger screens.
Is something horrible going on with Thomson aircraft right now?
There were lots of VERY unhappy passengers.

And just to rub salt into peoples wounds - most of the folk who had paid for "sit next to" or specific seat numbers - lost it and were often placed anywhere in the aircraft.

Here is a good web site to check where Thomson planes are, live status. flightaware.com/live/fleet/TOM, You may be able to check on your planes position.
Al

fazza994,

It's an ex-TOM 76W, either G-OBYE or J. It makes little difference, they are both identical.

Darren

razza923,

MAN-RAK-MAN (TOM484/811) are operated by Boeing 737-300. You'll find further aircraft infornmation on our What Aircraft? guide (link blow). We won't know the registration until the day before as aircraft are rotated regularly. It makes little difference in any case as they are all the same inside.

Darren

ukbill wrote:

Why on earth did Thomson dump its passengers onto a horrible Thomas Cook 767 aircraft

Because there are technical problems with the original aircraft as you were told. It was chartered to repatriate passengers who were stranded and get you home without too much of a delay. The alternative was you'd be stuck in resort for a day or two. This also minimised knock-on delays to subsequent flights.

ukbill wrote:

no IFE

It was G-TCCA that covered the flight. This aircraft has IFE provided via screens over the isles. I've travelled on her several times!

ukbill wrote:

sardine can conditions

I agree, not ideal for long haul with it's seat pitch but what would you rather have, a 24 hour+ delay?

ukbill wrote:

Also - I noticed on the way out on 20th January - the Thomson plane doing TOM104 Man/PuntaCana seemed to be an unusual one - some of the printing on seatbacks wasn't in English

It was G-OBYE. That aircraft has been leased to Garuda Indonesia in the past for the Hajj.

ukbill wrote:

Is something horrible going on with Thomson aircraft right now?

Technical issues, they happen.

Darren

Technical issues, they happen.

Yes, everyone understand that mechanical things occasionally break down.
BUT
My question - are Thomson going through a really bad patch now?
Are these old 767's which were supposed to be replaced by 787 dreamliners a while back, now getting too unreliable?
Surely they wouldn't be using emergency recovery aircraft from their major competitor rather than their own "short haul" 767 planes unless they really had to? Lots of folk on that plane back were very unhappy with Thomson - but the Thomas Cook crew obviously could have nothing to say other than "write to Thomson" on your return.....

Maybe they had none of their own planes available? When we went to Jamaica we ended up on a Thos Cook aircraft, and that was delayed by over 12 hours!!

MAN-RAK-MAN (TOM484/811) are operated by Boeing 737-300

Thanks for that, is there any chance that this aircraft may get swapped around nearer the time? Also does this aircraft still not have any IFE installed and are the seats the old type which do not recline as i have heard or are the the new type?

Thanks.

razza923,

That aircraft type is scheduled throughout the winter season so is very unlikely. The 733's don't have IFE. It depends on the actual aircraft on the day, but the seats are of the older type.

Darren

Hi can you help tom062 cancun been delayed 24hrs should be going Tom any news on aircraft type, hope still got premium seats thanks

Mb7,

Welcome onboard
As you may have seen on the previous page, there are a couple of techical delays at the moment with knock-on effects. I'm mobile at the moment so don't have information to hand, but your flights should still be operated by Boeing767-300/ER, once the aircraft is servicable.

Darren

Just got back from Punta Cana to Manchester today - supposed to be on Thomson TOM105.
They did call it that.... BUT....
We ACTUALLY amazingly all got put on the old THOMAS COOK emergency recovery plane. We were given a strange story about aircraft breaking down in Barbados or Cuba or somewhere else. Were were also told we were being merged with the previous day Thomson PuntaCana/ Birmingham flight - which was also apparently broken down somewhere. But no clear information.
Why on earth did Thomson dump its passengers onto a horrible Thomas Cook 767 aircraft (I think the old recovery beast) - no IFE, sardine can conditions, horrible Thomas Cook food, no premier section? Why didn't they use their own recovery 767 - at least they have IFE and better food?
Also - I noticed on the way out on 20th January - the Thomson plane doing TOM104 Man/PuntaCana seemed to be an unusual one - some of the printing on seatbacks wasn't in English, and the "Premier Section" wasn't even separated by a curtain and didn't seem to have larger screens.
Is something horrible going on with Thomson aircraft right now?
There were lots of VERY unhappy passengers.

Heh, found this forum trying to find out what happened myself! We were supposed to be flying back on the Wednesday from Punta Cana to Birmingham. We were told half an hour before pickup that our flight had been delayed by 24 hours, and we'd be picked up and taken to another hotel in Punta Cana (the Catalonia) for the evening. On pickup the next day from the Catalonia, we were all put onto two coaches - coach one ended up sharing the Thomson flight, coach two ended up on the Thomas Cook flight.

We were told by our rep that our plane (TOM259) had experienced 'tech problems' and was in Barbados. We also heard a story that on Sunday the Thomson flight to Barbados had a bad landing and cracked the fuselage. As a result they ended up sending our plane (TOM259) to Barbados to get the people stuck there, and put all of the Birmingham passengers that should have been flying Wednesday on the planes back to Manchester on the Thursday - both the Thomson and Thomas Cook flights. I don't know what the truth is, because the Thomson reps made themselves conspicious by their absence...

Being on coach two we were on the big Thomas Cook A330 - not as roomy or comfortable as the Thomson planes (leg room seems pretty similar, but the seats and aisles are very narrow), and the IFE was a bit rubbish, but better than what you had, from the sounds of it. :s People that paid for Premier seating weren't allowed to sit in the Thomas Cook equivalent, and quite a few groups were split up all over the plane when they'd paid to be sat together. Also, the Thomas Cook crew hadn't been told that they'd be getting extra passengers, so didn't have hot meals ready (they ended up giving us the microwave meals you pay extra for, so perhaps that was actually a plus...). And the major downside was after a 24 hour delay we ended up in Manchester, so had to have a 2 hour coach journey added onto our travel time and also had to stump up an extra £20 for parking as we'd arrived so late. Bit of drama and a bit annoying as we were supposed to be back at work today, but I guess these things happen. Hopefully we'll be able to get everything sorted via travel insurance, that's what it's for!

Not sure why the TOM105 was a Thomas Cook plane - do they use the same plane for the Wednesday Birmingham/Punta Cana flights as the Manchester/Punta Cana flights? I wouldn't have thought so, but I know very little about the finer points of airport organisation. I'm assuming they must do, otherwise it means they have TWO planes broken down in Barbados!

We also heard a story that on Sunday the Thomson flight to Barbados had a bad landing and cracked the fuselage.

Hopefully Darren will know if that is truth or rumour. They did have one last about October that had a heavy landing at Bristol and suffered the same problem, but that has been back in service since December.

mrs toast wrote:

Not sure why the TOM105 was a Thomas Cook plane

As above, your flight was operated by Thomas Cook as there wasn't an aircraft to operate your flight due to a technical problem. It was either a lengthy delay or sub-chartered to another airline. Airlines don't have multi-million pound aircraft sitting around, they ned to be paying their way. An aircraft sat on the ground costs money. with the sounds of it, the tour operator and airlines handled things pretty well and got you hold with a minimum delay. Lack of information is always the weeker side in these situations but bear in mind reps in resort are often in a situation where they don't have the information to give you.

mrs toast wrote:

We also heard a story that on Sunday the Thomson flight to Barbados had a bad landing and cracked the fuselage

This isn't true as far as I know. This is in reference to the landing incident last year in Bristol. That aircraft is now repaired and back in service.

Darren

morning all, this is a right old boring question which has probably already been answered a million times, but ho-hum...is there anyone who actually knows what premium hold luggage allowance is with thomson these days? we are flying 9th of march, our invoice says 20, ''mythomson'' booking page for our holiday says ''check your invoice'' and last september we were allowed up to 23 with 7kg hand, yet as mentioned, all our paperwork up to now says 20-not got tickets just yet, so confused! anyone flown recently who can give me a clue? thanks is advance!

emmacat,

I think there is even confusion at Thomson on premium luggage allowances! Your invoice should set out your luggage allowance. The standard premium service is showing as 23kg checked-in luggage allowance and 7kg hand luggage. When you come to book the premium upgrade, this is what is shown. However, it's clearly stated on the luggage section that premium passengers are now only entitled to 20kg checked-in allowance and 7kg hand luggage. All the indications are, it's 20/7 from now on with some short haul reduced too. You could argue the case though that you aren't getting what you booked as it's shown as 23/7 on the booking screen and brochures at the moment, and when you booked. I would wait until your tickets arrive then possibly make a phone call if they're showing 20kg to double check as you should be entitled to 23kg as that may have been the case when you booked (subject to date).

Darren

Darren,

Could you please help me as frinds of mine are flying to Madeira on Feb.6th for 1 week and they would like to know what aircraft they are flying on and if it has IFE, I have checked on the "What aircraft guide" but still dont know what to tell them.

Their flights are MAN - FNC - MAN Outbound TOM 2548 Inbound TOM 2459

Many Thanks.

Angie.

Last week flying with Thomson it was 23kg luggage and 7kg hand luggage allowance, both there and back - although this was a 'Premier' benefit of staying at a 'Platinum' hotel, rather than because we upgraded our seats to Premium.

It says 23kg for both Premier and Premium in the November 2010 - October 2011 brochure itself in the A-Z, page 222:

Thomson Premier & Premium Upgrade Luggage Allowance

Each customer is entitled to a check-in allowance of 23kg & a maximum 7kg for hand luggage. This is only applicable to Thomson Premier & Premium upgrade customers, no single item of baggage may exceed 23kg.

I'd phone them to double check though.