Thomson v Thomas Cook - how to get the price down?

northern_rose_2

I'm after tips to try to get the price down!

I situation is -

We know where we want to stay in Cancun at the end of March 2011.
To travel on Sat 26th March Thomas Cook want £3,030 and Thomson's want £3,043. So very close in price.

However, if we go Monday 28th March it's only £2,360 with TC.

The sensible head says go on the Monday! However, it we travel with TC long haul we do the premium cabin as the space in the back is tiny! No premium cabin available on the Monday. We believe the space in the back on Thomson flights is better so could manage without the premium cabin.

Due to leave from work and convenience in getting to the airport we would rather travel on the Saturday but would rather NOT pay £700 for the privilege.

Has anyone any hints/tips on ways we can get the Thomson price down?

delwynshd

You wont get it down by 700 quid thats for definate

They shops normally only take the price down to what the Web has

I doubt you will get anything significantly lower than you already have

Del

whatmichaelsays

You aren't going to help your haggling position by committing yourself to what days you are / aren't prepared to travel on or the services you want. The reality is that two rival firms are relatively competitive on the same holiday.

Travel companies price their packages on when they want you to travel (part of their yield management programme). If you aren't prepared to compromise on what you want from your package, you'll struggle to drive down the price by anything significant.

KonkyWonky

If you go into the shop they will quote you £300 or £400 more than you got from the web. They will probably agree to match the web price but certainly not beat it.

Your best bet is to phone them up and say you want to book today but the holiday is just out your price range. Tell them you are prepared to pay £x amount and they may just agree to take your booking. I did this with First Choice and got £98 or so knocked off, not megabucks but better in my pocket than theirs.

Even still you will be looking at paying £2950 or so which is prob still more than you want to pay.

mrme

The legroom on Thomson/Thomas Cook is now exactly the same on longhaul flights though overall Thomson provide a slightly better service (well the food is better!)

£700 is a lot of spending money so I know who I'd be booking with, Thomson will not reduce by that much

redmalc

Hi been to cancun a number of times in the last few years,i am 6ft and have a large frame and i know that everybody says the legroom is the same but i will not go with Thomas Cook again i was cramped compared to the Thomson flight.The prices are somewhat erratic at the moment we went to the Iberostar Grand last Feb and have tried to book for the same two weeks in 2011 and they will not budge on the price at the moment it has increased by £600 for next year,i still think it will drop later and that is what we will be doing because we are not tied to a date.

northern_rose_2

redmalc wrote: »

Hi been to cancun a number of times in the last few years,i am 6ft and have a large frame and i know that everybody says the legroom is the same but i will not go with Thomas Cook again i was cramped compared to the Thomson flight..

We have the same problem! While neither of us is 6ft we do have "large frames" and have enjoyed the space the premium cabin has offered. Additionally the configuration of the plane in the PC has been such that you don't need to disturb anyone else (other than OH) to get up. On a 10 hr flight these things do matter!

We would be willing to pay for the premium cabin on the TC flight but it's only available one way!

Guess we might have to look at other dates/squeeze into the TC flight!!

stephb34

If its the leg room thats your main priority, find out if there's any extra legroom seats available to book in the standard cabin, thats what we did in april, paid for premium with Thomas Cook on the way out and paid for extra legroom on the way back. Then you can go on the monday and have saved all that money.