first choice & Thomsons airline flight seating

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  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,579
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    edited 21 April 2017 at 5:54AM
    I don't think it's fair to call it a nasty tactic. It's giving people the choice to guarantee seating together.

    With many airline seats laid out in groups of three, and many people travelling as a couple or family, it invariably means that some will be split across an aisle - that's just basic division, rather than anything particularly nefarious.

    If I don't want to be split from the rest of my party, I have the choice to ensure that doesn't happen.

    I think you'll find that 'across the aisle' and 'seated one row behind' e.g. 15c and 16c are classed as 'seated together' by a lot of airlines so unless you pay to choose specific seats, you may not get what you expect.

    This is what Thomson say about if you've paid to select a specific seat and they have to change it:
    http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/info/travel-options
    Once you’ve chosen your seat, you won’t be able to change it. That said, in some circumstances, we may have to change your seat. This would only be for operational, safety or security reasons. Select Your Seat Service is provided using the Civil Aviation Authority guidelines, therefore certain requirements must be satisfied before we can allocate seats near the exit.

    If we do have to change your seat, we’ll try to keep it as close to what you booked as possible. A refund will only be offered if we can’t seat your group together and in a similar position to your original request*. In such cases, we ask that you keep a copy of your confirmation documents and boarding cards. If you choose the Select Your Seat option but then don’t go on to select your seat numbers, we’ll still try and seat your group together. If you’re not flying with Thomson Airways, we’ll do our best to keep your party together but we can’t guarantee it.

    *Seats together may be across an aisle or behind each other. A similar position means the same type of seat (window, aisle etc) as your original selected seats.
  • fifeken
    fifeken Posts: 2,700
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    zagfles wrote: »
    Extra weight = extra cost, obviously extra legroom seats are extra cost, why should one pay extra but not the other?

    Because they've got one thing wrong they should get two wrong? Not in my book.
    zagfles wrote: »
    PS I didn't mean that the entire plane should contains seats suitable for basketball players, just that taller people who have a physical requirement for extra legroom should be able to get the existing extra legroom seats without paying extra for them.

    No way. They knew what height they were when they booked and should have selected suitable transport. I like the extra legroom seats as much someone taller than me, but I would be ruled out by this idea.
  • THOUGH; he confirmed that at the booking stage only a few seats were available for selection and those ones were not adjecent to each other but rather sepeare.

    His logical thinking was: why paying more when ur not sitting close to each other anyways??

    I've no idea how he managed to tell you that. You can't even see what seats are available at the booking stage. The only time you can get to see a seating plan is after you've actually booked.
  • zagfles
    zagfles Posts: 20,274
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    fifeken wrote: »
    Because they've got one thing wrong they should get two wrong? Not in my book.
    How about some consistency?
    No way. They knew what height they were when they booked and should have selected suitable transport. I like the extra legroom seats as much someone taller than me, but I would be ruled out by this idea.
    Yeah yeah, and I suppose a disabled or old & frail person getting public transport knew about their disability before getting public transport so obviously there should be no priority seats for them either, right? Or maybe they should pay extra for such seats? What do you think - why not propose it to your local bus company?
  • fifeken
    fifeken Posts: 2,700
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    zagfles wrote: »
    How about some consistency?

    No, two wrongs won't make a right.

    zagfles wrote: »
    Yeah yeah, and I suppose a disabled or old & frail person getting public transport knew about their disability before getting public transport so obviously there should be no priority seats for them either, right? Or maybe they should pay extra for such seats? What do you think - why not propose it to your local bus company?

    Good manners and legal obligations are completely different issues from whether a tall person should get an extra leg room seat in preference to someone not quite as tall.
  • BUKI_2
    BUKI_2 Posts: 34 Forumite
    UPDATE
    Just wanted to give you all an update about this topic.

    We arrived at the Airport round 8am for checking and we sat one in front of other < close enough.
    The return flight was same pattern :) and yes, was delighted about it.

    The money saved for the seats, we spent on Catalina Island (activity).


    for those who like to know about:
    Domincan Republic - Punta Cana > has got a great beach / sea but a lot of wind and waves.

    Also the english spoken level is very poor :(
    Main language spoken at the resort was Spanish and the English was not really understood.

    Overall, great experience but won't go back again.
  • zagfles
    zagfles Posts: 20,274
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    Thanks for the update, good to know you got seated together (or near enough) and you had a good trip.
  • Tigsteroonie
    Tigsteroonie Posts: 24,954
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    BUKI wrote: »
    We arrived at the Airport round 8am for checking and we sat one in front of other < close enough.

    For a 9:50am flight? I'd have said that was cutting it fine, what happened to the plans to get there at 7am? :p
    :heartpuls Mrs Marleyboy :heartpuls

    MSE: many of the benefits of a helpful family, without disadvantages like having to compete for the tv remote

    :) Proud Parents to an Aut-some son :)
  • BUKI_2
    BUKI_2 Posts: 34 Forumite
    @Tigsteroonie


    I had JetPark 3 pre-booked which claims to have bus transfers every 15 minutes (yeeh right).
    Parked round 6:35am at V Zone and ended up waiting for the bus nearly 45 minutes and got at checkin desk round 8am... that is the reason :) great service huh.


    Had we been there earlier, maybe, we could have got adjacent seats?!

    Worth mentioning: on the return flight at the Dem. Republic they were insisting to purchase the Premium Seats instead and when I asked why not allocating us adjacent seats together without the premium... she was like ermmmm need to talk to my Manager lol


    At the end, 16F and 15F was close enough. (more or less same as outbound flight).




    PS: There were some toddlers on the long flight who never stopped crying .... had not much rest :/
  • Nick_C
    Nick_C Posts: 7,442
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    BUKI wrote: »
    Worth mentioning: on the return flight at the Dem. Republic they were insisting to purchase the Premium Seats instead and when I asked why not allocating us adjacent seats together without the premium... she was like ermmmm need to talk to my Manager lol

    You were trying to get Premium seats without paying for them? Why doesn't that surprise me!
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