Hi we have never pre booked our seats and always been sat together 2 adults and two kids.
By law they cannot seat a child on their own, they have to be seated with an adult.
I am sure they will sort it out in time for you.

I don't really understand when you say 'allocated'. You actually pick your seat numbers yourself.
Why don't you use ring Thomson Airlines yourselves. Better than relying on a middle man (travel agent) to do it. I wouldn't trust a travel agent to do anything :yikes.
Just ask them to check what seats they have you in and if they can resend the confirmation email. Also double check they have your correct email address.

Sorry, couldn't edit.
I also meant to say we have never had a problem getting an email from Thomson to confirm, but I do always ring the airline myself to book seats.

my concern now is that the seats we were first allocated have probably been given to someone else as it's looking like the person who booked us the seats is incompetant at their job!

Hi sunnydays,
I've used the Thomson pre-book specific seat number option quite a number of times over the last three years, booking by phone direct to them, and more recently using their excellent website facility.

It's always worked perfectly - though I have to say I was mostly taking Thomson holidays on Thomson flights - though in 2009 I did take an Olympic holiday using a Thomson flight and I was able to call Thomson Airways and book my specific seats. The telephone booking people were really helpful and friendly - even advising that I should use a credit card for payment rather than a debit card - because the fees are (surprisingly) very slightly less that way.

I suggest you take the advice of sunaddict - and call Thomson airline directly yourself.
Personally I never trust travel agents to get things 100% right. I'd rather do it myself.
Make sure you are clear whether you are booking "specific seat numbers",
or just "seats together" - which is different and may end up with you seated across the aisle or behind one another.

ukbill

Thomsons only offer the one system called 'select your seat' which gives you access to the seating plan. If the OP has paid Thomson Airlines, that is what she has booked.

In a way we were allocated rows 6 and 9 because the Thomson lady said those were what we could have,i didn't have a seat plan or anything to go from so i was happy to accept those rows as to me they were ideal.I'm not aware of a charge for using my debit card,nothing was said to me and i paid £37 for the seats.
I will be contacting Thomson myself tomorrow to see if i can get any joy as by Friday it will be 4 weeks since i paid for the seats,also if there was a problem with my email address being incorrect,then surely Thomas Cook would have recieved theirs which they requested for me last week?

£37 is the correct amount for 2 adults and 1 child and Thomsons don't charge for the use of Visa Delta, Visa Electron, Switch/Maestro cards.
It might be that Thomsons have got it wrong or it might be something else, but you won't know until you speak to them. The emails usually go out within minutes of the seats being booked. My friend had one occasion when he didn't get an email, but on ringing the airline, the seats were booked, just no email received.

Thanks sun addict,i'll be keeping my fingers crossed for this to be resolved upon me contacting them myself tomorrow morning

By law they cannot seat a child on their own, they have to be seated with an adult.

It isn't the law, it is a CAA recommendation.

Law or no law,my 2 year old son would NOT be seated on his own! They wouldn't do it anyway,we were told by the travel agent they have to be seated with at least one adult.
Onto the good news...all is now confirmed i'm pleased to say,thanks to the manager of our local Thomas Cook branch.It's amazing how fast things are dealt with and resolved when a manager is involved,i didn't even have chance to call Thomson myself!

Glad to hear you finally got it sorted

Law or no law,my 2 year old son would NOT be seated on his own!

But as stated it isn't the law, I know 99% of airlines would always sit a child with a parent regardless of whether they have paid or not, but people that choose not to pay please remember that there is still the 1% chance that an airline won't if everyone else has paid to select seats. Thats why the option is there, the sad fact is not EVERYONE can sit with their family on a full flight, and especially during peak time over 90% of passengers will be families with children, so how do the airlines decide who sits where? I wouldn't be happy if having paid extra to choose my seat I get moved because a family chose not to pay.

I wouldn't be happy if having paid extra to choose my seat I get moved because a family chose not to pay.

And I was VERY unhappy when the seats for myself and my two elderly parents - my mother being also physically disabled - were given to the family ahead of us holding-up the check-in queue with the result that we were then all seated apart from each other and spread out over the plane. We didn't fully realise exactly what had happened at first and were very miffed to see 'our' seats still empty long after it appeared that everybody else had boarded. When I asked the cabin crew why we couldn't after all sit in those seats that we had pre-booked, we were told that they were waiting for a family to board. They dashed on board just before their cases were going to be off-loaded. It then became clear that the reason for the hold-up at check-in was because they hadn't pre-booked their seats and were refusing to agree to be sat separately so in desperation to get rid of them and get the queue moving the check-in staff had given them our seats! It just added insult to injury that they then kept a whole planeload of passengers waiting and caused a delay in take-off.

One of the reasons we had booked the seats we had was so that we could ensure not only that we would be together and that my mother could have a 'medical' seat but so that she and I would be sat near to the toilets as she needs assistance with that. She was considerably distressed by being moved to a seat that could hardly have been further away from the toilets and at the thought that she would have to ask the cabin crew to fetch me when she needed to use the toilet. Thankfully a lovely couple offered to give up their seats so that my mother and I could be seated together and they sat apart instead. I'm not sure what would have happened if they hadn't so kindly offered to do this.

So please, even if you do have young children, please do not assume that there aren't other people travelling with potentially vulnerable people who have as much right and just as much need as you to be sat together. I know that this doesn't apply to the OP who did pay extra but I do feel very strongly that if families with children aren't prepared to pay extra to be sat together then they should accept the risk that they mightn't be and shouldn't expect other passengers to be forced to give up their seats for them. Especially if they don't arrive in time to check-in early and leave it until after most people have already checked-in. That was the first and last time that I have assumed that if we have pre-booked seats we can be relaxed about not being at the front of the queue. I wonder what would have happened if we had arrived 5mins earlier and been just in front of that family? Would they have made a fuss and insisted once on the plane that others be moved to make way for them?

SM

Everyone that pays to prebook seat numbers have their own reasons for doing so. Anyone that has decided to do this, should not be expected to give up their seats for anyone, families included, that have decided not to. Just my opinion!

I so agree, I'm actually crew for a budget airline and it is so irritating when boarding a full flight a family get on last expecting seats all together. We try our best but if people refuse to move (when having paid extra or queued for hours to get on first I don't blame them!) then there's nothing we can do! And CAA regs state that if a child can't be sat next to a parent they should be no further away then 1 row, yet it's hard to do when the child is a toddler! Last week
I had this situation, I managed to find seats across the aisle for them, yet this was NOT good enough. I would class this as seats together! I know it's an added expense but when flying with airlines like mine parents either need to cough up the extra or ask a member of groundstaff for the gate number and get there early. It's not fair depriving other people of privileges they have paid for, or require in the case of passengers with special requirements (e.g special needs/reduced mobility).

I'm glad you got things sorted Sunny Days. I must admit I have always paid for sitting together seats when I travelled with son - it's something that gave me a little extra security for which I deemed a small amount of money, and I agree it is very unfair when someone who does not pay for this then assumes just because they have children or whatever that they should take priority if they kick up enough fuss.

Not entirely the same, but in March when I went on holiday I purchased an 'extra' seat and for the extra legroom etc a couple sittling across the aisle a couple of rows in font. Now I had no-one sitting next to me outboard so good news for me more room to spread, but after we were in the air - the chap turned around and said are you on your own - yes I said - he said would I mind swapping with him or his wife so they could be seated together. I said No I am sorry I have PAID for the extra seat so I am not moving - he was very annoyed with me and then off and on mubbled to his wife and passenger next to him how unhelpful I was being (only those were not his exact words - had a few choice ones thrown in)

Well I have just paid for and chosen my seats for June. I havent done this before, I guess in the last 10+ years of traveling by plane we have always been lucky and been sat together as a couple and now a family. However, after reading this post (and another) it has really got me to thinking. I too was under the impression that it was law that children needed to be sat next to at least one of their parents/guardians and have never given it a second thought. .

One question though, how many people here can honestly say that they wouldnt complain rather loudly that having booked and then been seated in their chosen seats, they then find themselves sat next to or in front of a lone child who has no close adult supervision and the said child was kicking the back of their seat, grabbing the headrest etc etc because their parents were split across a plane and not able to watch them properly? Im guessing rather a lot of you would find that inconsiderate too . It seems to me that some parents cannot win whatever they do.

Oh and for the record, whether I paid for it or not, I would be one of "those mums" who kicked up a proper stink if daughter was separated from both of us -even by just a row - afterall, my child is only 7 and is not responsible enough to fend for herself in an emergency, thats my job. I have no problem being split from hubby mind you

I was told by a Thos Cook transfer rep that seats were allocated by the TO and then passed to the airport. Logical. When you book in you are on their list of passengers supplied by the TO.
So lets take it a step further. Mr X books a holiday for himself, wife and two kids. Four people on one booking. Commosense tells me that they are a party travelling together so would want to be seated together. Not spread out amongst 24 plus rows of seats. If you do that then a more sensible (and fairer) approach would be that we draw a ticket at check in and are seated in the number that comes out of the hat.
The same should apply if you were paying for extra leg room.
My personal thoughts on this. It is an undisclosed policy on the TOs behalf to gain extra revenue from the passenger by charging to sit together. Can I prove it? No. Is it worthwhile taking some form of legal action to seek redress? Not really unless you are wealthy enough. I do think you would be able to convince a court but it would be a long and time consuming process.

fwh

I'm fairly certain children cannot be sat without 1 parent or an adult travelling with them .

On our recent holiday to sharm we flew with easyjet . On both legs on the journey there were families with small children that boarded last and didnt have seats together . An announcemnent was made for volunteers to swap seats as the flight could not take off until these children were seated with a parent .
No volunteers on return leg and the cabin crew randomly chose passengers to seperate and move in order to accomodate them .