tried to book our holiday in the shop yesterday credit card system was down so i came home and got online the price online was £250 cheaper now I know why "julian" wanted me to go to the cash machine and come back and book!! it really got me cross!

I booked online for July 2009 going to Turkey and it didn't give me the option of a booking a late check out room, have tried now for two days to get through to Thomas Cook on 08450 77 22 88 but without luck - holding for 20 mins really isn't a good customer experience.
Have also emailed them to recieve a standard reply saying that they will repsond within five owrking days !

First time we have booked with Thomas Cook and so far I'm not impressed

Booking a late check out room through TC will likely cost you an arm and a leg. Better to leave it and book it direct with the accommodation when you are there.

The fact that late check out wasn't offered probably means that TC don't deal with it and you do it direct with the hotel. This has been the case on the last few holidays we have had with TC in Turkey. Denny

the only thing I have found a big problem with TC, is that you cannot pay your holiday at a different shop as when i was down south and staying there for a few months when I booked my holiday to Las Vegas, so I went into my local shop and explained to situation to them and they still told me I couldn't pay for my holiday i had to pay for it in the shop I booked it, ummm 500 mile round trip just to pay for my holiday.and you cannot book seats together in the shops you have to ring the call centre and that drives me mad especially when you 42nd in the queue..

Lydia, the seats can be pre-booked online at http://www.thomascookairlines.co.uk rather than waiting endlessly on the phone and I'm pretty sure the shop you booked in would take a card payment over the phone? I use my local TC shop for most of my holidays but always pay balances over the phone.

Hi cazzholly, I tried that but for some reason my booking refrence didn't work.. so after ringing between Thomas Cook h/o and the shop. I found out that my book refrence had been given wrong.. so a nice long complaint letter has been sent to TC, also what has annoyed me I live in the same city where the call centre is and it is only 2 minutes down the road from me...

Lydia_girl,
Thats odd, i've paid for my holiday at a few different TC shops over the last few weeks, for my holiday to Mexico in Sept. Just took in my booking confirmation and they gave me a new receipt with the outstanding balance on it.
You can't book seats together, in the shops, only by phone, and you can't book 'your seat, your choice' in premium cabin, online either, you have to phone them to do that!!!
However if you ring them, they do tell you how many are in the queue, so it helps you to know whether to hang on or not.... I was 22nd and only waited 4 mins - not too bad.
Still waiting for confirmation of my 'your seat, your choice' booking, in the post, despite 2 phonecalls. The girl said they are having a problem with the printer.....
Denny

Thanks for that, i booked my seats together through the call centre and got confirmation, just hope now nothing goes wrong when i get to the airport...

Im not impressed with Thomas Cook at all and I wont be booking another holiday with them again. Their system messed up and it took them nearly 3 months to realise that our payment hadnt gone through properly for the entire balance of our holiday. Then with less than a week to go before we depart i get a letter saying they now require the whole balance. Absolutely useless. Our tickets were also sent out over a week ago apparently and we still havent received them. We fly out in 5 days and they've told us that if they're not here by Friday give them a call (again at some stupid price per minute) and they'll arrange for them to be printed at the airport.

Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired as well. That is, of course, when you can actually get through to someone and dont sit there for 20 mins listening to rubbish music while you rack up your phone bill. I booked with First Choice last year and it went without a hitch, i shall be doing the same next year!

Darren hi,

Myself and partner are flying Glasgow/Corfu on 28th July on TCX229K.

Is this a 757-200 and how many seats??

Have read reviews on poor seat pitch and concerned as I am 6ft 1.

Pleased to hear.

Rgds

Hi Stephen .. welcome to Holidaytruths.

This particular topic is more specific to Thomas Cook holidays and the tour operator side of their business.

We have a separate forum and topic for enquiries related to airline operations, please click here.

David

I booked and paid for a holiday to Cuba in July last year, taking advantage of early booking offers. I have the confirmation to prove payment. The booking was made through Airtours Direct.
I'm due to fly on 29 August and today received a recorded delivery letter from Thomas Cook asking for full payment by 18 July or holiday would be cancelled. I phoned Thomas Cook and after a moment or two the customer assistant confirmed that payment had been received, but it was shown on the 'other system'.
Obviously this company is still having merger problems.Anyway I have e mailed them asking for an e mail confirmation that payment has ben received. and that my holiday will go ahead as booked.

I'm having the opposite problem. Booked a holiday through airtours and paid it before the change over. Now they haven't sent the tickets and we go in 6 days. We've phoned Royallties Gold who we booked with and they've told us to go to the Thomas Cook desk at the airport and they will have all our stuff but I am feeling very uneasy about it all.

Well Groovee, I know you are away now so hopefully your tickets were waiting at the airport for you. The exact same thing has happened to us - the Travel Agents phoned to say we have to pick the tickets up at the T.Cook desk at the airport.

Why does this happen when you book over a year in advance

Have booked to go to Benidorm over Christmas ( 20th to 27 December) but are now wondering about about extending our holiday over New Year. Apart from extra cost of hotel, or even change of hotel, has anyonyone any idea of costs to change
Helen

We got our tickets shame we only have 3 days of the holiday left.

Hi there, booked holiday to Varadero Cuba from Manchester with Thomas Cook and flying out on 5th September. Been hearing horror stories about check in staff and lack of customer care. Wife is vegetarian and not a good flier and tends to get stressed with rude people. Anybody know if this is the case as I may need to sedate my other half with Champagne. The holiday is a 40th birthday present for her. Steve

Gaspodesm8 wrote:

Been hearing horror stories about check in staff and lack of customer care. Wife is vegetarian and not a good flier and tends to get stressed with rude people.

I've flown with TC several times and never had a problem with any of their staff, whether at check-in, on the aircraft, or at destination. All very friendly and helpful. If your wife is very nervous, you should explain this to the cabin crew on boarding the aircraft and they will do their best to put her at ease. Have you selected a vegetarian meal for your wife?