Pre Booking Flight Seats

stephb34

I don't know about first choice but if you prebook seats with Thomas Cook you pick the seats you want and on your outbound flight you can check in the week before on the internet, print your boarding passes off and just go to the bag drop at the airport and not have to queue to check your bags in. You cant do this on your way home but you do have peace of mind that you have already selected your seats together.
I do it, after one flight we had coming back from Palma with Futura airlines, they checked my husband into 4c, me into 8a and my 4 year old into 16e. They did make people move eventually but no one really wants to move for you. Mind you they did go bust the following week.

incorrect_2

I always pre book seats now after a holiday three years ago when we were seperated on the plane going on holiday. The kids were split up not even sat near each other, I booked in resort for the flight coming back and have never taken the chance again.

pattycake

On a recent flight out to Sharm, my husband and I were seated together even though we had not paid the extra. Sitting next to me was a 6 year old lad, his mum was across the aisle, his dad in front of her and his sister (about 8) in the aisle seat in front of the lad. Absolutely not ideal for them. I suggested to my husband that we changed seats with them but he is not as nice as me (!) and refused.

We were split up on the way home incidentally.

MandM90

Sorry to hijack this, but we're going with Thomson to Turkey at the beginning of July, and Thomas Cook to Cuba in December...does anyone have any experience with these?

For Thomson it'll be £42 to reserve seats each way. OH doesn't think we should bother booking and hope that they automatically sit DD (4) with at least one of us, but I'm a bit worried about being sat apart and no one wanting to swap. I'm torn between just paying it - they are both rather expensive holidays so the extra charge isn't significant in comparison - and sticking to my guns...after all it's a little extra spending money and I do feel when you are paying however many thousand for a "Platinum" package they could at least sit you with your family!

The other option I suppose is just booking seats for the way back. We can get there super early for the way there, but on the way back we are at the mercy of the transfer bus and sometimes airlines allocate seats in the UK beforehand.

jhe

MandM90 wrote: »

Sorry to hijack this, but we're going with Thomson to Turkey at the beginning of July, and Thomas Cook to Cuba in December...does anyone have any experience with these?

For Thomson it'll be £42 to reserve seats each way. OH doesn't think we should bother booking and hope that they automatically sit DD (4) with at least one of us, but I'm a bit worried about being sat apart and no one wanting to swap. I'm torn between just paying it - they are both rather expensive holidays so the extra charge isn't significant in comparison - and sticking to my guns...after all it's a little extra spending money and I do feel when you are paying however many thousand for a "Platinum" package they could at least sit you with your family!

The other option I suppose is just booking seats for the way back. We can get there super early for the way there, but on the way back we are at the mercy of the transfer bus and sometimes airlines allocate seats in the UK beforehand.

when you prebook with thomsons the price quoted includes the return flight and choosing your seat on the plane. unless thomsons have changed it in the last few months

MandM90

jhe wrote: »

when you prebook with thomsons the price quoted includes the return flight and choosing your seat on the plane. unless thomsons have changed it in the last few months

Hmmm...last year I think maybe we could choose but we opted for extra legroom which you need to pay for anyway. This year there has been no mention of when we can choose and if you click 'select seats' it says they will charge you. I can't find anything about being able to choose them for free closer to the date.

jhe

i get an email off thomsons 10-12 weeks before travel informing me to choose the seats when i have prebooked economy seats.
think with the extra legroom you might have to pay to choose seats as well but its a few years since i booked the extra legroom seats,

foomanchu

We don't book seat and it never causes a problem - other passengers don't want to be lumbered with our kids & usually change seats without asking!

mcc100

I'm sure that it is a deliberate ploy by airlines to split up families who have not prebooked, ensuring that on their next holiday they will pay the extra to prebook.

basill

jhe wrote: »

i get an email off thomsons 10-12 weeks before travel informing me to choose the seats when i have prebooked economy seats.
think with the extra legroom you might have to pay to choose seats as well but its a few years since i booked the extra legroom seats,

IIRC the Thomson seat booking page shows a map of the cabin with the seats already allocated to you marked. You only pay if you actually change the reservation online.

B