critchley1987,

Welcome onboard
It's too early to know which aircraft will be used in the winter 09/10 season. Aircraft are due for maintenance and the fitting of winglets, and some go out on lease. I would imagine the ex-Thomsonfly aircraft will be leased / chartered out and the ex-First Choice retained, but that's just a guess. In terms of the premium product, there's not much difference really apart from the number of seats; 31 on the ex-TOM and 63 on the ex-FCA. Both are comfy enough. You can't really compare it to last year as Thomsonfly and First Choice were not fully merged and still operating their own pre-merger programmes. Thomsonfly and First Choice now no longer exist as airlines, they are now merged and known as Thomson Airways.

MAN-PFO-MAN (TOM2316/7) is a short haul aircraft (328Y) so I wouldn't get too excited! I do like a 767 though, especially the solid landing

Darren

hiya daz

thanks very much for ur quick reply... do u have any idea when Thomson Airways will publish their Winter 09/10 timetable??

critchley1987,

The timetable is already available, it's just I don't have access to aircraft specifics as yet.

Darren

Welcome to the forums critchley1987. To prevent having any posts removed, could you try and avoid use of phone text style abbreviations please, as these cause problems for our visually impaired members who rely on screen readers to browse the forums.

Many thanks
David

Long Haul you can book seats 6 weeks in advance of outbound flight

Hi Darren,
Thanks for the 737-300 info,I am really supprised that Thomson Airways are taking bookings for seat numbers 3months prior to departure as on a Thomson Holiday you dont pay your final invoice untill 8 weeks prior to departure??? This is for both Long and Short Haul Holidays.

qatarman,

That's the current information I have and I know some member have been able to book seats. Once you've confirmed your booking, there's no reason for you not to be able to do it really as many other airlines have the facility to allocate seats a lot further in advance than that. It all becomes a mad rush towards departure dates otherwise. For example Thomas Cook. I could select my seats now for a flight later this year and the final invoice isn't due for payment for another month.

Darren

Hi Darren,
It makes sense to me as if anyone cancels the holiday they still have the money.I will get the wife to try later see what she can come up with.

Are thomson basing at LBA next summer ?

Hi All

Off to Tenerife in 6 weeks booked with First Choice but i know we will be on Thompson planes

Havnt flown with Thompson's for a good few years but the leg room was always minisclue and the food terrible!!!!!

I would really appreciate some feedback as to wether these points have improved ???

Id never had an issue with FC's leg room and the food was pretty good too so im a little fed up if this is not going to be the case on a Thompsons flight!!!

Also what sort of entertainment is there and do i have to pay for head sets with Thompson as ive got a shed load of FC headsets!!! ???

Thanks in advance for all replies

Kitten

Nooooo!
Posted a while back to find out which 767 we'd be on for TOM094 on 27/07, at the time it was scheduled to be an ex-FCA but from the looks of the previous posts this is now ex-TOM??

I'd not really been too fussed about upgrading to premium as I thought the whole aircraft was 2x3x2, but this is no longer the case is it?

Gutted!

Hi qatarman

I tried yet again this morning to reserve 2 seats on a Thomson flight leaving 28th June and returning 12th July and they are still telling me that their July flights are not yet loaded onto the system and therefore cannoy be booked yet. I asked them when they they will be loaded and they didn't seem to know

Bastone

Hi, could anyone possibly tell me what sort of aircraft flight TOM7510 is likely to be flying out o BHX on 18/9/2009.

Thanks

Same reply I got for last couple of weeks.

Bastone,
Just to check got the wife to call and she got a recorded message,and the outcome was for her to call back after the 17th of May. seems the facility is there but they are not upto speed on the Summer Season Holidays.

Just a thank you to Darren for answering all my questions this last week. It is really helpfull to have access to someone who knows all the inside details.

Hi

Please can you help....

I am flying from East Midlands to Sharm El heikh with Thomson on 24th June 2009
What plane will I be flying on and what is the seat config?
Also is there any news on the new livery for the airline?

thanks

Hi Darren,

Booked last July on TOM 142 MAN to MBA for 30-07-09. Special birthday with a zero at the end. Was last in Kenya in 1965 so can't wait to see it again!

Time is drawing near to (hopefully) reserve seats. Call centre last week advised ringing back late May. Hoping to get AB seats to see African sunrise, last seen from a BOAC VC10 going to Malawi in 1967 - stunning sight!! (aircraft & sunrise!)

Having lurked for a while, I picked up a seat plan for 767-300 with 315 seats but I gather from your comments they are now 283 seats. Can't find a plan for this config but I have read that row 9 has no window. In 315 config, this applies to row 11, I think. Given that rows 1-5 are Premium, am I right in thinking that only rows 6-9 in Standard are now forward of mid doors and row 10 is the first row aft of mid-WC?

I know you used this service earlier this year so would much appreciate your advice.

Thanks in anticipation,

John.

JL-LIV,

Welcome onboard
I went to Kenya in March, it's a wonderful place. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. You're going back a bit with the VC-10!! The African sunset from 35,000ft is a stunning site so A/B are you seats to see it. I was lucky enough to view it while overflying Ethiopia as we were heading in to Kenyan airspace onbaord an Air Mauritius A340-300 in Spet 2007, it's a stunning sight:



The seating plan for the 315 seat Boeing 767-304/ER is no longer valid. That's the old seating plan for the premium equiped aircraft used on long haul flights up to the end of April 2008. Since then, the cabins have had a refit with less seats to create greater seat pitch (33" compared to 30") in economy. There isn't a seating plan available at the moment for the long haul aircraft and the one I have I can't post here for copyright reasons. Your flights are operated by a former First Choice Boeing 767-300/ER. You'll find more information, photos and my trip reports for other long haul flights on our What Aircraft? thread. These aircraft have 258 seats just to confuse things; 63 premium and 195 economy configured 2-3-2 throughout. Rows 1-9 and premium seats (located in the forward cabin) and the last row in premium doesn't have a window so best to avoid that if you can. Economy seats are located in the centre and rear cabin. The aircraft to vary slightly due to their origins, bt there's no window at approx row 14. I've travelled on all but one of their aircraft if you have any further questions about them.

Darren