first choice & Thomsons airline flight seating

Bucki

Hello,


I found one similar/same topic which had been closed in year 2011.
Wanted to re-ask the same question if it is ok with you.


Recently booked our holiday with Thomson and did not opt for the "choose seat option" due to the silly high costs. Never the less, now wanted to check in 6 days before flight - and was denied *error: cannot checkin online, please check in at the desk!


I had an online chat and they said that the seats will be auto-allocated! In a way, I am thinking that this type of "choose your seats online" is like a trick to get people pay for it where in fact, there are plenty of free suitable seats available and thinking to get it done at the desk.

On other hand side, I am kind of worried that we will be seated too far apart.


Anyone flown with this line recently?
We going to Dominic. Republic... for a week.


Please advise, your recent experience etc




Thank You and apologies if I did not create the topic to your rules (im new here).

ARandomMiser

The bottom line is that if you really want to sit together they have you over a barrel. When auto-allocating I am led to believe they try to keep people/groups together. The downside is that you may be stuck in the middle 2 seats of a 2-4-2 configuration or either side of an aisle if 3-3-3 configuration.

However if you check in early enough and find you are separated you may well be able to get the check-in operator to change the seats for you.

Dominican Republic is fantastic, have a great time.

Bucki

Thanks for the reply.


Indeed, that is a nasty tactic that the airlines been using for a while now. When I had that online chat with the agent; she confirmed that there only 2 aisle seats available! Makes me wonder if that is another way of making users clients pay for it ... ahhh god damn, they are soooooo greedy lol


By the way, I am not able to check in at all!
That is the problem .... either have to wait until 2 days before the flight or check in at the airport.


Would be great if we could swap the seat with somebody else.




Cheers, hope it won't rain whilst there.

zagfles

We've just flown with Thomsons and didn't have any trouble checking in online 6 days before the outwards flight, I never pay for seats. It showed a seating map with the opportunity to choose seats, but there were hardly any free seats so couldn't have got us all together anyway. The auto-allocated seats were reasonably close together and I couldn't have got us a better result even by paying to select them.

Are you travelling with young children? It might be that there aren't enough free seats to get you together so they'll have to shuffle people around on the plane. This happened on one of our flights - there was a family who weren't allocated seats together and the crew asked for volunteers to move with an offer of free drinks! I wasn't quick enough and someone else got in there first

Bucki

Hey Zag,


no it is only 2 of us (couple) and my wife is scared of flying anyway .. that makes it even worse.
I know I know ... some will say "pay the seats and stop moaning" but yeh, freaking £70 for 2.


and I thought I can check in but apparently not able cos I did not pay for the seat allocation!!

Sea_Shell

So you're going to the Dominican Republic....yet wont pay for allocated seating?

Bucki

yes, and I am sure a lot of people will agree with me that the cost for seat allocations is just 2high!
and I am not here to talk about "but you go to D.R but not pay for the seats..."


Bottom line: even if I pay, there are no adjacent seats according to the agent I talked to!!


So, what is your point?



I knew this was coming.... :T

zagfles

Bucki wrote: »

Hey Zag,


no it is only 2 of us (couple) and my wife is scared of flying anyway .. that makes it even worse.
I know I know ... some will say "pay the seats and stop moaning" but yeh, freaking £70 for 2.


and I thought I can check in but apparently not able cos I did not pay for the seat allocation!!

It might be different long haul - we went to the Canaries - but I checked in OK without paying for seats and got the boarding passes printed OK 6 days before.

But if there's only 2 seats left anyway there's nothing you'll be able to do even if you pay to select! Hobson's choice - no point paying! The seats might be behind one another or across the ailse which is almost as good as sat next to each other anyway.

leylandsunaddict

I'm not surprised if there are very few seats together available. The number of people that fly Thomson that prebook seats is very high. It seems to be a 'thing' with Thomson customers, that and IFE lol. I know because TA is full of threads about people wanting to know the exact date and time their seating plan will open and they stay up to midnight to book their seats the minute it does open! If you leave check in until the airport there will be very little left, and you'll probably find your seats have already been pre-allocated anyway.

zagfles

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

I'm not surprised if there are very few seats together available. The number of people that fly Thomson that prebook seats is very high. It seems to be a 'thing' with Thomson customers, that and IFE lol. I know because TA is full of threads about people wanting to know the exact date and time their seating plan will open and they stay up to midnight to book their seats the minute it does open! If you leave check in until the airport there will be very little left, and you'll probably find your seats have already been pre-allocated anyway.

Yes, though I found it surprising what seats were left - on both our flights there were about 7-8 seats left and we were a group of 5, so basically our seats plus another 2 or 3 unallocated - but the remaining seats were mostly right at the front (rows 2 & 3), 2 together in row 2 and 2 together in row 3 and 1 in row 3 on the other side of the aisle, and similar coming back. The auto allocation did give us the closest together it possibly could, it could have shoved one of us in a solo empty seat in row 11 but it didn't!

Seems people prefer the back of the plane, surprising since they use airbridges, and so all boarding is at the front, so those at the back are last off.

Also the row 2 seats we had were right at the front (as row 1 was only on one side), I would have thought these seats would be extra popular as there's more legroom. Or perhaps Thomson charge more for them, no-one paid, so we got them free ?

Ganga

Bucki wrote: »

Hey Zag,


no it is only 2 of us (couple) and my wife is scared of flying anyway .. that makes it even worse.
I know I know ... some will say "pay the seats and stop moaning" but yeh, freaking £70 for 2.


and I thought I can check in but apparently not able cos I did not pay for the seat allocation!!

I know it is £70 but with your wife being afraid of flying would it not have been better for her to pay and make the whole experience better.
We have just been to Cyprus with Thomson and i paid for the extra leg room seats at the front as my wife enjoys the comfort,it was more than £70 but as the holiday was not cheap,what is a little bit more money to make a holiday great rather than starting off knowing that your wife is not going to be a happy bunny!
Your money-your choise