The cape verde flight will be operated by one of First Choice's 767's they have either exactly the same or better features of Thomsonfly's aircraft. Also they have less in economy and more seats in premium than Thomsonfly so some lucky people will be upgraded- people in extra legroom/space seats get priority. The seat pitch in economy is 33" and in premium 36" an inch less than Thomsonfly's premium. If you are in economy though and in the centre seats there will only be three seats rather than 4 seats- so you will have more elbow room.

As for general problems with FCA's 767 fleet they have had a run of bad luck and unfortunately do not have any spare aircraft to take any slack when things go wrong. As Thomson and First Choice are merging Thomsonfly are helping out where possible to get things back on track. First Choice and Thomsonfly are now the third largest airline in the UK and at Gatwick- BAA will not upset FCA by removing slots off them- The 1730 take off was due to technical fault with the aircraft a delay was taken rather than risk anyone.

As for the Bristol-Sanford route, this like last year always operated out via Manchester so the agent should of known better. I would definately see if you can rebook from another airport and use that as the main feature of booking this holiday- as it was sold to you as a non stop flight from Bristol to Sanford. If you can proove that you live near to BRS airport but would of travelled further(as you may of done in the past) for a direct flight you may get compensation or rebooking on an alternative flight- maybe out of Birmingham or Gatwick etc..I had a similar experience with Virgin when they temporarily moved their Barbados route to Heathrow I was repatriated onto a British Airways flight on the same date. - TUI have more SFB flights than VS have BGI routes so you may have even more luck than myself.