Seat pitch - Reclaim taxes back

Thursdays_child_3

Do you know of a web page that tells you the seat pitch for differant airlines please.

We recently travelled out to Spain in a Thomas Cook plane and it was horrendous, so much so that we booked another flight and travelled back by Easy Jet.

Also, does anyone know if we can reclaim our taxes from the Thomas Cook flight?

Crabman

Try http://www.seatguru.com/ for airline seating plans

Gertcha_2

Seatguru is a good site as Crabman suggested, but it is more suited to long haul flights. www.airlinequality.com is a good site to compare seat pitch for the likes of Easyjet/Thomas Cook etc. and other major carriers. Bear in mind that seat pitch is calculated on the distance between the same point on your seat to the seat in front. Some airlines are now introducing "ultra thin" seats that provide more legroom whilst actually "squeezing" the seat pitch. BA is an example of such a carrier with it's short-haul airbus fleet.

With regard to claiming the tax on your inbound flight, it's probably going to be verry little if much at all to claim back, and I really don't know if it can be done on a package.

richardw

I think Thomas Cook may want to charge you an admin fee per person that is more than the tax.

bagand96

Was the easyJet seat pitch really that much better than Thomas Cook's?!

I often hear people saying one airline has an awful seat pitch and that the other airline are so much better, but in reality when flying from the Uk to the typical holiday destinations, there really is little in it. The 5 main charter airlines (First Choice, Monarch, MyTravel, Thomson, Thomas Cook) all use Airbus A320s and Boeing 757s as the staple of their fleets. And they all operate these aircraft in the same configurations; 180 seats in an A320 and 235 in a 757. This offers a not very spacious 28-29" of seat pitch. easyJet's seat pitch is 29", as is bmibaby, Jet2 etc etc... they all operate very similar aircraft in very similar configurations.

Anyway, aside from that, you should be able to claim tax back, however once Thomas Cook have taken an admin charge, there will probably be very little if anything for you. Not sure how you'd go about it, you could try contacting Thomas Cook airlines directly, however if you booked as a package deal it might have to be the tour operator, as they would have charged youi the tax on behalf of the airline.

Thursdays_child_3

Thank you every body for your replies. It was not a package, we booked hotel and flights independently, but the reason we booked Thomas Cook flights was that we had loads of Airmiles to use, but never again will we fly with them.

We will look into claiming the taxes back and I will let you know the outcome.

seftonsun

bagand96 wrote: »

Was the easyJet seat pitch really that much better than Thomas Cook's?!

I often hear people saying one airline has an awful seat pitch and that the other airline are so much better, but in reality when flying from the Uk to the typical holiday destinations, there really is little in it. The 5 main charter airlines (First Choice, Monarch, MyTravel, Thomson, Thomas Cook) all use Airbus A320s and Boeing 757s as the staple of their fleets. And they all operate these aircraft in the same configurations; 180 seats in an A320 and 235 in a 757. This offers a not very spacious 28-29" of seat pitch. easyJet's seat pitch is 29", as is bmibaby, Jet2 etc etc... they all operate very similar aircraft in very similar configurations.

Anyway, aside from that, you should be able to claim tax back, however once Thomas Cook have taken an admin charge, there will probably be very little if anything for you. Not sure how you'd go about it, you could try contacting Thomas Cook airlines directly, however if you booked as a package deal it might have to be the tour operator, as they would have charged youi the tax on behalf of the airline.

EasyJet's fleet in the main are Boeing 737, 700 Series aircraft. Their seat pitch is 30" or 31".

withabix

Thursdays_child wrote: »

Also, does anyone know if we can reclaim our taxes from the Thomas Cook flight?

Claiming tax back for what reason exactly?

Gertcha_2

withabix wrote: »

Claiming tax back for what reason exactly?

You can claim taxes back on unused prtions of tickets, even if the fare itself is non-refundable. In todays market where the taxes make up a high proportion of ticket prices, this can add up to a lot of money. There are a few exections to the rule, namely some US tax is collected by the US government as soon as the ticket is issued and they won't give it back, and Ryanair don't refund the Airport Charge, even though it shows on your ticket as a tax.

withabix

Sorry, misread the OP, didn't see that they'd flow back with sleasyjet.