Thomson Pre-paid seat allocation

Paully232000

Just a vent, no more no less.
Refused to pay for pre-booking, choose-your own seats, and leave it to the gods of thomson to allocate me and my 2 year old a seat.

Allocated two seats nowhere near each other, so good luck to the person who is sat next to my child when i am not next to her I thought.

Phoned Thomson and at first i was told you have to pay to choose your seats, I said no, and after some tooing and frooing and me being adamant that I was not paying the customer service clerk comes up with,

When you get to check in they will allocate you a seat together as we do not allow children under 12 to be sat away from their adult/carer.
Does their computer booking system not know that?

szam_

Doubtful, their systems from my recent experience seem quite lackluster and basic.

I had a problem where I wanted to pay £200 towards my booking (£250 due by 22nd June) but they won't take anything below the next payment as a minimum payment amount. Don't see why not, unless their transaction costs are high, but as I work for a payments company and having knowledge of that, it seems unlikely.

Completely confused as to the way this is, I just stored the money away until next pay day when I can pay £600 instead.

I put it down to outdated technology on their part.

Out of interest, how far in advance has it allocated you seats? I didn't think they got allocated until the day you fly (or 24 hours before with online check-in). I pay for my seat selection because I prefer window seats, but my experience with other airlines is I didn't know until I'd shown up at the airport.

Paully232000

szam_ wrote: »

Doubtful, their systems from my recent experience seem quite lackluster and basic.

I had a problem where I wanted to pay £200 towards my booking (£250 due by 22nd June) but they won't take anything below the next payment as a minimum payment amount. Don't see why not, unless their transaction costs are high, but as I work for a payments company and having knowledge of that, it seems unlikely.

Completely confused as to the way this is, I just stored the money away until next pay day when I can pay £600 instead.

I put it down to outdated technology on their part.

Out of interest, how far in advance has it allocated you seats? I didn't think they got allocated until the day you fly (or 24 hours before with online check-in). I pay for my seat selection because I prefer window seats, but my experience with other airlines is I didn't know until I'd shown up at the airport.

The online system says that you can check-in 14 days in advance if you want to buy seats, and 7 days in advance if you dont want to. I logged in in the morning of 7 days in advance and was given the seats not next to each other.

The reason I didnt want to pay is that I dont care where we sit on the plane, and thought that common sense would prevail and would get a seat next to my 2 yr old.

Pollycat

Paully232000 wrote: »

Just a vent, no more no less.
Refused to pay for pre-booking, choose-your own seats, and leave it to the gods of thomson to allocate me and my 2 year old a seat.

Allocated two seats nowhere near each other, so good luck to the person who is sat next to my child when i am not next to her I thought.

Phoned Thomson and at first i was told you have to pay to choose your seats, I said no, and after some tooing and frooing and me being adamant that I was not paying the customer service clerk comes up with,

When you get to check in they will allocate you a seat together as we do not allow children under 12 to be sat away from their adult/carer.
Does their computer booking system not know that?

Nice to learn of your priorities between your wallet and welfare of your child.

Paully232000

Pollycat wrote: »

Nice to learn of your priorities between your wallet and welfare of your child.

I glad I have taught you something today, thank you for your input, drop by anytime

DomRavioli

Paully232000 wrote: »

Just a vent, no more no less.
Refused to pay for pre-booking, choose-your own seats, and leave it to the gods of thomson to allocate me and my 2 year old a seat.

Allocated two seats nowhere near each other, so good luck to the person who is sat next to my child when i am not next to her I thought.

Phoned Thomson and at first i was told you have to pay to choose your seats, I said no, and after some tooing and frooing and me being adamant that I was not paying the customer service clerk comes up with,

When you get to check in they will allocate you a seat together as we do not allow children under 12 to be sat away from their adult/carer.
Does their computer booking system not know that?

It just allocates two seats - it does not take into account any of the passenger details. As has been said it can be changed at check in in accordance with interior policies.

redmalc

if you want to sit together pay up or dont moan

Paully232000

redmalc wrote: »

if you want to sit together pay up or dont moan

Explain to me why I should pay to sit together when I don't care where we sit on the plane, so dont mind them allocating me two seats, and Thomsons told me their policy is to always sit children under 12 with their parent/adult?

bod1467

If the interior policy is known then this should be explained at the time of booking/paying.

A cynic would suggest that this is kept deliberately vague so as to persuade as many people as possible to pay for seat allocation. I mean, this used to be the default position until airlines realised they could generate another revenue stream by charging from it.

theonlywayisup

Paully232000 wrote: »

Explain to me why I should pay to sit together when I don't care where we sit on the plane, so dont mind them allocating me two seats, and Thomsons told me their policy is to always sit children under 12 with their parent/adult?

But you do care where you sit. You want to sit next to your child.

Pollycat

Paully232000 wrote: »

I glad I have taught you something today, thank you for your input, drop by anytime

Yeah, pity the lesson left a nasty taste in my mouth from your attitude.