Dazbo -TOM-AMM-FCA and GowerL7
Thanks for the time in replying to my question - please do not rush to answer this final one about my flight - it is :- Is TOM818 from Manchester the first flight of the day for the aircraft on 26.11.09 or could it be coming from another airport ( uk or abroad ) and be delayed ? I appreciate it could be delayed rven if it is its first flight of the day too but I assume there is less risk if it is already sat on the apron for a few hours before it is due to leave to Sharm with me !!

Thanks

HuddersfieldTourist,

In order to pay their way, aircraft need to be in the air 75% of their operational time so it'll be coming in from somewhere! Looking at the aircraft schedule for 752 movements on a Wednesday evening, there's nothing that sticks out so I suspect your flight will be the first out on the morning after some downtime. Even if theres delays from flights the previous day, there's plenty of time to absort them. One of the 752's will be operating a flight to Luxor on Wednesday (the flight I'm on in March!) but arrives back in the evening. Weds/Thurs are quite quiet in the winter months. If you remind me, I'll check again next Thursday to backtrack aircraft movements to confirm things. Todays flight is just closing its doors (at the time I'm typing) so will probably be pushing back 10 or so minutes late.

Darren

Thanks - I will take you up on that - and I will try the airport website and see what the departure times are like each Thursday just out of curiosity - not that it will make any difference on the day !

On the Man airport website please - Is departure time the time it shuts the doors ( unlikely) or the time it starts to be pushed back or the time it actually takes off - it can take 10 minutes or more sometimes from memory to trundle around to the runway and then wait to go on it if there is a queue or one coming in !! Is that the same time for all / most airports ? Thanks

At 10.55 am it said still boarding then at 10.58 pm it said departed 10.40 am - did not realise it was a Tardis !

HuddersfieldTourist wrote:

Is departure time the time it shuts the doors ( unlikely) or the time it starts to be pushed back or the time it actually takes off

The departure time is the time the aircraft is pushed back off stand. Your flight pushed at 1059 so 19 minutes behind schedule. The taxi times are factored in to the overall flight time, they are gate to gate times. For example I flew to Paris from Manchester to catch a connecting flight to Mauritius the other year. The scheduled time from MAN to CDG is 1.5 hours. The flight (air) time is only about 60 minutes, but because CDG is a large international airport and congested, there was 20 minutes taxi time once in CDG and 5 minutes in MAN. Even though the time in the air was only an hour, block to block time as it's known was 90 minutes. Taxi times at smaller airports can be a couple of minutes but at places like Heathrow and Paris, it can be anything from 5 minutes to over an hour at peak times. That's why aircraft have take off / landing slots to ease congestion. If they miss their slot (or ATC slot), they go to the back of the queue.

TOM818 is currently over northern Germany and is being operated by G-BYAI. Over the last 24 hours, that aircraft has operated BHX-LHR-BHX (TOM416/7), then positioned in to Manchester last night. Things are a bit mixed up at the moment though as it's the summer / winter transition.

Darren

Hi guys I fly on 21/03/10 man to cancun on Tom 144 returning 2 weeks later on Tom 145 will this be an ex FCA or TOM AC?

asli71,

welcome onboard
At present, MAN-CUN-MAN (TOM144/5) is looking like it'll be a former First Choice Boeing 767-300/ER. You'll find further aircraft information on our What Aircraft? guide.

Darren

I thought they'd been posted but can't seem to find them now so here they are:

Short/Mid Haul:
One film will be shown depending on flight time, amount of children, certain flights may show both depending on flight time and at cabin crews descretion. The third film is only available on flights operated by 767's on short/mid haul.
from UK/Ireland

- Adam
- Harry Potter & The Half blood prince
-The Time Travellers wife (767 only)

To UK/Ireland

-500 Days of Summer
-Ice Age 3
- Transformers 2 (767 only)

Long Haul:

Outbound/Leaving UK & Ireland

*GI Joe: Rise of Cobra
*My Sisters Keeper
*Dorian Gray
The Time Travellers Wife
Julie and Julia
Up
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Adam

Inbound/ Returning to UK & Ireland
*Moon
*The Ugly Truth
*The taking of Pelham 123
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
500 Days of Summer
Night at the Museum 2
Ice Age:3
The Young Victoria

Those with * are only available in the Premium cabin or those that purchase the additional upgrade for £5.00, depending on whether you fly on an ex-First Choice aircraft or ex Thomsonfly aircraft you will either receive additional games such as who wants to be a millionaire or 90 cd jukebox collection, respectively.

Thanks BY-TOM-AMM-FCA

Darren - "Your flight pushed at 1059 so 19 minutes behind schedule" - the schedule time was 10.30 so did you mean 29 minutes ? And why did the Manchester airport website say it departed at 10.40am ? To me it is 10 mins late unless I missed something !! Thanks

HuddersfieldTourist,

Yesterdays flight was due for departure at 1040 (don't know why when it's normally 1030) and pushed back at 1059. I don't know why MAN airport showed differently, but they are the numbers for yesterdays flight. I haven't made them up, you can check the details on Flightstats for yourself (I get the info from the dispatch system). Your flight is scheduled for 1030. It's nothing of a delay anyway, if you can call it a delay. I was once delayed 52 hours so wouldn't consider that a delay, just a late pushback!

Darren

Thanks for the reply - I did not disbelieve you - I have absolutely no reason to - I just wondered why the airport system said different times - after all it is hoped they know when the planes have come and gone !!!

Thanks for being a fascinating source of information and likewise to your colleagues who answer the questions also.

hello again Thomsonfly experts !
I can't drop my enthusiasm for understanding the Thomsonfly "Tetris" ( as you describe it ) computer seat booking system. I understand how it now works but when it has allocated all the pre booked seats, the reserved seats , the meal passengers and the special needs etc etc and is left with say just 20 seats left and 10 bog standard paid no extras identical couples - how does it then choose in which order to sit those 10 couples - it must have a system - is it alphabetically so Andrews is allocated before Williams or by ............ ? It's got to be programmed with something - it can't work otherwise - it has to select something and have a process to do so !! It could be that 9 couples are "seated together" even if they have not paid to be seated together ( whether that is side by side,across the aisle etc ) but the final couple are not and how does it select that couple - one of whom is say in 38c and the other in 42d on a 3-3 seat format but the others 9 couples are much closer/together.
Thanks

Good question, I didn't know but just asked someone in the office who deals with this and its apparently on your booking reference number, which are not always generated in numerical order and dependant on tour operator (First Choice, Thomson, Just, Hayes & Jarvis etc.. ) some will even be reused after a certain period should the need arise.

So a last minute First Choice booking could have a lower ref number than a Thomson booking from last year but the "First Choice" couple will be seated first.

hi
do you know what food will be served in premium dec lgw/cun?
thks

Hi Guys - Is it possible for anyone to tell me what type of aircraft Glasgow to Corfu ref No - Thomson 45019 ex 03.09.10 time 06.05 am, return 17.09.10 time 14.25pm. I know its very early but u guys are sooo goooood...Sorry no flight numbers as yet...Its your challenge of the day...

Ta..........Gail

geemac,

Are they the brochure reference numbers you've given? We can't use them to search for flights. It's too early to be 100% sure what aircraft will be operating the summer 2010 schedule as it hasn't been released yet. However I would expect GLA-CFU-GLA (TOM1522/3?) to continue being a Boeing 757-200.

Darren

Hi Darren...the numbers are from the flight timetables at the back of the brochure - I thought I would give all available info I had the noooooe. Thanx anyway for your inf. I dont like 757s though - they are awfully cramped...

G x