first choice & Thomsons airline flight seating

leylandsunaddict

zagfles wrote: »

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 ?

That sounds like a short haul flight because if it was longhaul the forward cabin would be PE. On all flights there's extra to pay for extra legroom and extra space seats. Extra space are usually the bulkhead and exit seats and extra legroom are standard seats with increased legroom. They're in the forward cabin but exact position depends on the type of aircraft.

zagfles

Ganga wrote: »

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

Interesting, looks like we got extra legroom seats without paying anything

zagfles

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

That sounds like a short haul flight because if it was longhaul the forward cabin would be PE.

Canaries, which I think counts as short haul even though flight was over 4 hours.

On all flights there's extra to pay for extra legroom and extra space seats. Extra space are usually the bulkhead and exit seats and extra legroom are standard seats with increased legroom. They're in the forward cabin but exact position depends on the type of aircraft.

Right, but as above it seems we got the seats at the front, which definitely did have extra legroom, but we paid nothing and they got auto allocated. If no-one pays for these seats, then I guess they have to allocate them free

leylandsunaddict

zagfles wrote: »

Canaries, which I think counts as short haul even though flight was over 4 hours. Right, but as above it seems we got the seats at the front, which definitely did have extra legroom, but we paid nothing and they got auto allocated. If no-one pays for these seats, then I guess they have to allocate them free

It's unusual for them not to be prebooked. There's so very few of them. They're not usually allocated if you don't pay for them, so you got a result! Row 2 D/E/F on their 737s are extra space seats. Rows 3-5 D/E/F are extra legroom.

zagfles

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

It's unusual for them not to be prebooked. There's so very few of them. They're not usually allocated if you don't pay for them, so you got a result! Row 2 D/E/F on their 737s are extra space seats. Rows 3-5 D/E/F are extra legroom.

Yes it was a 737 and looks like we got 3 "extra legroom" seats auto allocated for free! I thought perhaps the seats were unpopular because there's no under-seat storage in the front seats and the overhead bin is full of crew stuff so we had to put hand luggage a bit further back.

Do they charge more for choosing the "extra legroom" seats compared to other seats? If so perhaps not enough people were willing to pay the extra and so we got them free by checking in "late"!

You're probably right about Thomson customers being different, I've checked in on loads of airlines 6 days or less before the flight and never seen so few available seats. I'll make sure I do the same next time!

stephb34

Bucki wrote: »

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).

Why don't you log on to your booking on line with your booking ref, date of travel and surname to see what seats are left and if you are within 7 days of travel it should allow you to check in and print your boarding passes off.

leylandsunaddict

zagfles wrote: »

Yes it was a 737 and looks like we got 3 "extra legroom" seats auto allocated for free! I thought perhaps the seats were unpopular because there's no under-seat storage in the front seats and the overhead bin is full of crew stuff so we had to put hand luggage a bit further back.

Do they charge more for choosing the "extra legroom" seats compared to other seats? If so perhaps not enough people were willing to pay the extra and so we got them free by checking in "late"!

You're probably right about Thomson customers being different, I've checked in on loads of airlines 6 days or less before the flight and never seen so few available seats. I'll make sure I do the same next time!

Yours were extra space seats and there's very few of them. They do charge more for them but IME the front row are always some of the first to get booked. Possibly someone had cancelled quite late on. They don't usually allocate them free of charge though. They sell the exact number of standard economy seats that they have, so if people don't prebook the extra space or extra legroom seats the system doesn't look at them when doing allocations. Possibly they found they had a family or familes that weren't seated close enough together and have needed to reseat them. They've also had a few glitches with their seating system though where prebooked seats have been dropping off and being allocated to other people so possibly it may have been a system glitch that you benefitted from. Either way, as long as you don't mind bulkhead seats you got a result. We avoid bulkhead. Mr Sunaddict is tall and he finds them more restrictive because he's nowhere to stretch his legs out. Extra legroom are better for us.

shepht

We fly tomorrow with Thomson, I use the Thomson App, no problems with the online booking. Have you got a local Thomson or Thomas Cook shop they could help? Good luck, we never pay but always get seated together. Have a lovely holiday.

comeandgo

We did a Thomson holiday over new year and could not pre book seats as they were using a BA plane and crew. Nobody could prior book so we just arrived early at check in on the day and got seats together.

FBaby

The same thing happened with a low fare flight across the Atlantic booked 12 months in advance. I was taken aback with the costs of booking seats for 4 people, but as a nervous flyer, the prospect of not seating next to family was petrifying. I kept looking at numbers seats booked and was reassured that there plenty of seats left, until I looked a week earlier and it said that all were booked and there were only individual seats that could be booked, which sent me in a panic spiral.

We got to the airport early, did automatic booking, hoping that we could at least sit within a few rows of each other to discover that we were seated next to each other. Same on the way back.

As it is, very few pay to book seats. What they do though is close this option except for very few single seats. They mark the rest as already booked, but they are not! The key thing is to arrive early (we did so 3 hours early).