hi...tradermojoe.....cant understand that one....but come tommorrow ...someone might explain it ...as Im interested too....there has been so much going on this week my minds been on other things....but seeing your post has reminded me I need sort my seats out...should have done it end of last week...and had forgot....tweetie

ps...welcome back...you have been a member on here since 2007...where have you been holidaying all those years...dont be such a stranger...sure youve got loads of useful info...worth its wieght in gold to a less expierienced traveler

Who have you booked your holiday with tradermojoe?

This explains something for me - I paid for extra leg room seating on a flight only package and was offered the chance to select seats when I put in the API about 5 months before flight- virtually none of the seats were already booked!!! Seems very unfair on package holiday makers.

Hi Glynis i booked online with thomas cook
this is how the thomas cook official rep explained it.
Fly Thomas Cook operate as a different travel agent under a different ABTA number. They use different systems than those used by Thomas Cook direct. At the moment only flights booked through Fly Thomas Cook can select seats straight away

Oh that's definitely not fair to the package buyer. I wonder why they operate this way?

I suppose that could be termed as a restrictive practice (giving some people an unfair advantage - even misleading if it is not made clear to you at the time of booking) or unfair T&Cs. Either way why not contact Consumer Direct/Trading standards and ask the question?
Daft as it may seem even if it is something they can do nothing about at present, if enough people complain then they might take up the cudgels.

fwh

Flythomascook.com is not a travel agent and does not have an Abta number. It is the airlines booking site. Thomas Cook Airlines trade as a separate company to Thomas Cook travel agent. The airline offers flights only passengers the facility to book seats immediately. At the moment anyone booking a package, be it via Thomascook.com or any other travel agent can't. I'm not sure on the position of two different companies having different policies!

Morning everyone, I found this topic really interesting as I was trying to contact a 'real' person at flythomascook.com all day yesterday - to no avail. We booked our holiday to Mexico back in January for May this year. In March I was able to select seats online, which I duly did and paid £80 for the privilege! However, I went to my online booking yesterday only to find that the seats I selected and paid for have been changed by the airlines without any notification or consultation with myself!! Seats that have now been allocated to us for our inbound journey are not acceptable as they are restricted recline and two members of our party have back problems and are unable to sit in one position for any prolonged period. Does anyone know of a contact number for the airline that is not a recorded message which keeps diverting you from one number to another without connecting you to any body?

Many thanks

There's a live chat here (on the right of the page). I suppose it's worth a try:-

https://thomascook.zendesk.com/entries/20147372-how-can-i-contact-flythomascook-com

Good luck

hi.. Ive used that live chat and its quite good. They sorted me out OK.... but mine was about a holiday booking....dont know if it does flythomascok stuff....tweetie

Cadge, I had exactly the same problem (albeit with a different airline) last year... I was told that their reservation system had "crashed" losing all the booking info...

Also, you'll probably find something in the small print or Ts&Cs about "sujbect to availability" or "requests will be met wherever possible"

Hope you get some satisfaction with this, but from experience I won't hold my breath...

ATB,J.

Thanks everyone, I have tried the suggestions, but had no luck so far, I'll be trying again today

I'd at least expect the £80 back!!!

cadge
Live chat link for Thomas Cook Airlines
http://bit.ly/Airline_Chat

Hello

We have booked a package holiday with Thomas Cook for 6th Sept 2012 and I have just managed to pre-book and choose our seats, cost of £7.50 each per journey. I was quite surprised, as I didn't this would be available to do just yet. You have to pre-book your seats, so that you can use the online check in.

It used to be 90 days prior to departure for prebooking seat numbers but that's changed. You can now book seat numbers as soon as you've booked the holiday, with the exception of flights to Cuba.

Update to my previous post. Managed to book seats online eventually, however, a few days before we travelled I had notification from Thomas Cook that the seats were not available and they had therefore upgraded us to premium class! This was a great surprise and although there were no extras available other than the extra legroom, the journey was extremely comfortable and enjoyable. Since our return we have booked another holiday with Thomas Cook for August.
Pre-booked seats were £10pp return and I have booked them on-line with no problems.

Thank you Sunaddict I have just booked my extra leg room seats for Egypt next easter. I would have waited for 90 days before if I had not read your post x

You're welcome wendywu