Where to sit on the plane?

[daisysun]

To go along with my other post re flying with thomas cook, i just wanted to ask where you think the best place to sit on the plane is?? This year we have paid to pre book our seats which we have never done before and have always sat where we have been put, but having paid would like to make sure we choose really good seats. We pick them a few weeks before we leave. We have done this to ensure we are sitting together as more and more people are pre booking their seats. We will have me and 2 children together (baby on knee) and my husband in the seat across the isle so as we are sat together in a line rather that in front or behind.
Where would you choose to sit??

[JT]

I dont understand why you would pay to pre book seats and then only be able to pick them a few weeks before you leave

Surely then everyone else that has prebooked also will get the option to do this and if it starts at midnight which normally happens then who is to say you will have a decent seat left when you wake up in the morning

In my opinion unless you are paying to book extra legroom/exit seats (which you can't if you have kids booked with you) then it is a waste of time

I have never pre booked normal seats as you turn up early at the airport and they will seat you together

As for your other question about the best place to sit on the plane, with the company you have chosen to fly with again in my own opinion, the best place to sit on that plane is in the toilet

I did this on a flight from Turkey to UK one time as they would not let me sit in the extra leg room seats that were empty even though we were over Izmir at the time unless I paid, I could not fit into the seat they had allocated me so I told the stewardesss that the toilet was now full for the rest of the trip

I sat in the toilet with my laptop for 4 hours and got through a movie and a few games and was very comfortable in my new wide extra legroom seat albeit without a window.

On another trip with on a plane that was switched to the same company from Vancouver I sat downstairs next to a toilet because I could not get comfortable in the seat.

I should have also known better but the price was unreal on one of their flights to Las Vegas from Manchester a few years ago and again could not fit in the seats comfortably so stood up at the back of the bus with the stewards for 10 hours drinking jack and coke and having a good chat

Never again for me I would rather walk

[silverbeard21]

John is correct. Thomas Crook - cattle truck. You may be lucky and not actually be on a T.C. aircraft. This year T.C. have grounded a large proportion of their fleet and are sub-contracting out to other operators who provide a much better service.

Still, it will all be worth it when you get there and have a wonderful time.

Enjoy

David

[daisysun]

i totally agree about not being able to choose the seats until a few weeks before hand, before i paid for them i thought that we would be able to choose them there and then, but couldn't.
To be honest we only paid to pre-book them as at the time of booking the travel agent kind of scared us into it saying that - even tho they are not allowed to seperate a family with children, they could sit one adult with a child at one part of the plane and another adult in a different part of the plane with the other 2 children! We def did not want this so basically were scared into doing it. We also wanted to sit side by side instead of infront or behind each other, which she also said they could do!
I have heard about there not been much leg room Luckily we are not that tall

[holly]

hi
we are going with thomas cook in sept and our seats are booked now we have conformation
of our seat numbers booked flights online and seats through manage my booking
holly

[noodles1609]

My advice - don't sit on the back row or the row in front of toilets in the middle, there seems to be even less room in these rows as the backs are very upright with no give at all (as there is a wall behind them!). As to where else on the plane - depends what is important to you, they always tend to do duty free's and drinks and things from the front and from the back, so if you're keen to purchase they may have run out of things by the time they get to the middle, if that's not so important then it doesn't really matter. Also, how keen will you be to get off the plane at the other end? Sitting near the doors at the front usually means you get off quicker, they sometimes do doors at the back too but not always.

I booked extra legroom on my tc flight as including this into the costings they were still cheaper than the nearest competitor. I'm short, so it's fine for me, but last year we had the seats in front of the loo with a very bouncy teenager in front that caused the OH's knee to be badly cut through his jeans from her constant banging back in the seat.

[alexkeirmaxmum]

Thomas cook are very tight, my hubby was squashed all the way to Turkey last time. I'm only 5ft 2 though so it wasn't an issue for me

We prebooked our seats last time and paid for priority boarding, what a joke. We had to queue with everyone else and made no diffrence whatsoever to the time it took to get through.

We are flying from Manchester this time and so we are going to check in the night before. 7 of us this time as my daughter is bringing two friends to help celebrate my 40th.

As for where on the plane, Ive always been told to avoid the wing area as this is where you feel turbulence the most. wherever you choose, it's only four hours and usually passes quite quickly so don't worry too much

[dotty]

You might want to have a look at www.seatplans.com who recommend the best seats etc on different airlines.

I've also booked with TC and made my seat choice a few weeks ago, I don't travel till 12th July. You should go into the My Booking section of their website.

[bobbysgirl]

We had a flight withTC a couple of years ago to Dalaman and because we had not booked the hotel through them, were given the seats in front of the toilet against the bulkhead and therefore had no room. The people in front immediately put their seats back and we had even less room. There was about 16 seats unoccupied behind us and we asked if we could change - the answer was only if we paid as we were not a TC customer! We endured the journey uncomfortably and on our return were one of the 1st at the TC desk but were given the same seats on the return as they had been pre-booked by them. So to say we were not happy is an understatement and have never flown TC again. We didn't understand the non customer bit as we were on the plane!!

[daisysun]

hi
we are going with thomas cook in sept and our seats are booked now we have conformation
of our seat numbers booked flights online and seats through manage my booking
holly

We go in sept as well but not until the end of sept, how long have you had your seat confirmation for ?? i tried to log on to book my seats today but couldn't as it has to be 90 days before hand or am i doing something wrong??

[holly]

hello
we booked our fights in feb for the 14th sept booked seats 5th of april
if you go on line to book flights now you have the option to book your seats
there and then if you are having problems i would phone customer service
or pop into a thomas cook store as you must be able to book now as i have
holly

[sunlover]

Not going until July but was able to go on yesterday and book mine. They were none at all booked. They will not let you sit in the first couple because you have little ones so I think the first row you will be able to have would be 3 which would be close to the door and easy to get on and off with kids and close to toilets for them -first to get duty free, food etc. when you book it lets you book your return ones at the same time. I did do this before and didn't have to queue at check in on the way out (you do have to queue at dalaman) as a previous poster said but suppose that depends on your airport so didn't have to be at the airport so early.

[LynnJenny]

we flew with them to santorini seats were ok but their was 30 of us so we were walking about all the time with champagne we bought of them so they were happy been on better but only 4 hours soon passed

[Eatock08]

Sorry to hijack your post ha ha!

I'm flying alone in July and can't decide if a window seat or aisle seat would be the best to pre-book. What does everyone think?

Window seat so I don't have to get up when the other passenger wants to get out their seat or aisle seat so I can easily grab my stuff and get off the plane?

[noodles1609]

Middle seat then you might get a row all to yourself

[Eatock08]

Ha ha like your thinking, method in the madness!!

[cassielucy]

We are flying to Dalaman in June & Sept and Tenerife in November - all with TC. Have prebooked extra les room seats for all flights as my hubbie is 6ft 4. It does usually say you can only book 90 days in advance but seems to have changed and if you go to "manage my booking" you can book seats and fill in API.

[ochlynda]

We don't have much choice flying from Belfast it's either Thomas Cook or Thomson. Flew 2 yrs ago with Thomas Cook and watched in Dalaman while they split a family up who had 2 young kids,one being about 18 months so Like you daisysun had one on their knee. They didn't even put them close to each other dad was sat 4 rows back. It was an absolute disgrace.
They tried to do it with us and our Niamh one year and lets just say the person sitting beside Niamh and I weren't long in swapping seats with Hubby lol

Lynda

[daisysun]

thats what we were scared of .

I have been onto their manage my booking part of their website and it is not letting me do anything and when i go into FAQs it says that you can't do anything until 90 days before your departure date (mine is further away than that) so why and how come some people going in Sept have been able to choose their seats already?????

[ochlynda]

Try giving their customer service a call in the morning or send them an email.

Lynda