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Old 29 Jun 18, 12:29 AM  
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#11
whiteswan
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Hi

Just returned - quick update on TUI special needs.

Apart from the initial phone calls to TUI BEFORE I made the booking I am still yet to receive a reply from Special Assistance.

I turned up at the airport Tuesday morning and there was no welfare seat request on the booking - the lady at check in said she would email the relevant department to ensure that on the return journey a bulkhead seat would be allocated ( more on this later) - they DID say I could upgrade to Premium Club on a Buy 1 get 1 free basis (I was travelling with my son) for £250 - I agreed to this - but then they explained it was only for outward journey - it wasn't value for money so I declined.

She suggested I mention it to the crew when I board to enable them to sort me a seat out...……….their solution was to put me in a row of 3 (no extra leg room in front of me) and twist my legs in front of the empty seat next to me for 8 hours...…...and this is what happened. Needless to say I was unable to walk on exiting the plane - it took a while for me to walk even using my crutches - and obviously to be able to drive the hire car.

I messaged their facebook page - explaining what had happened and that I wanted to ensure the bulkhead seating was requested for my flight home - they replied that they could do nothing now as I had left the uk and would have to sort it out at airport before I left for home !


On arriving at Sanford Airport to come home...……….you guessed it - no bulkhead seat available and no welfare seat requested.


This time I decided to be a little more forceful - however it was only when I boarded the aeroplane that a lovely lady called Michelle actually gave me 2 welfare seats with extra legroom - she did explain that the middle bulkhead seats WERE available BUT these are classed as exit seats with TUI (unlike Virgin) - and that rules say you have to be able bodied in case of an emergency despite NOT being located near to a door.


However if I had agreed to pay the extra to Premium Club I was told I could have seats 1 and 2 at front of the cabin - indeed I had these very seats last year on my return home - and not an eyelid was batted.


So for some reason seats at front of Premium Club are Ok for disabled people - seats at front of ECONOMY are not ?


It was all a huge chore - I had only paid £180 return per seat for direct flights from Manchester - so I felt I had probably got what I had paid for.


This is ONLY MY EXPERIENCE - Please make up your own mind - I am sure 100's of people have been allocated welfare seating easily with TUI - Sadly this was not my experience.


Dave
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Old 29 Jun 18, 09:09 AM  
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traceyt
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To be fair to tui if you booked a last minute flight chances are the seats had already been allocated to other passengers, and it would be unfair to move people who probably booked months previously and probably paid more. I would only suggest that if the seats are a deal breaker you book early to make sure you get them.
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Old 29 Jun 18, 01:25 PM  
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whiteswan
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Originally Posted by traceyt View Post
To be fair to tui if you booked a last minute flight chances are the seats had already been allocated to other passengers, and it would be unfair to move people who probably booked months previously and probably paid more. I would only suggest that if the seats are a deal breaker you book early to make sure you get them.
I think you make a fair point - however the plane was nowhere near full.

The main problem for me was the complete lack of response or any communication whatsoever between departments - the stock answer seemed to be - let the staff at the airport deal with it.

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Old 29 Jun 18, 01:50 PM  
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Saratoska
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we have travelled now with TUI for 10 years and never had welfare seats .

we pay to book our seats as find it less stressful, we get them to email over a letter prior showing all that is needed as like you especially Sanford they never know anything about it

With having paid to book and select the seats and the letter I feel less stressed.

We flew with Thomas cook prior to Thomson and they do do welfare seats but that was a disaster.


I prefer to pay for the seating and go with Thomson/TUI

Seats 1 and 2 I don't think are classed as exit seats as there is a bulkhead in from (this is the seats we try and get and usually get bar next year)
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