Thomas cook - thoughts

[JoJoBell]

We flew TC this year after flying with Virgin for many, many years

We were very pleased with the flight for the price so much so that we have booked again for next year

Everything about it feels more basic to me than virgin.

DH upgraded his entertainment on the way out, neither of us did on the way home.

I have no problem buying our drinks considering what we saved

The food was very nice but there wasnt as much of it as on the Virgin flights... again not a problem, just an observation

The service was quite slow compared with virgin as it takes time to take payments for the drinks. I looked at my watch on the way home and it took just over three hours to serve the meal and collect the rubbish, pretty sure it doesnt usually take that long

As I said we have booked with TC again for next year as we have saved hundreds of pounds which I would rather have to spend there (especially woth the rubbish exchange rate)

[itsmeGAV]

Originally Posted by aitchieaitchie

I was looking at TC flights this week to Orlando as they seem pretty cheap, my concern is if I book for next year will they still be around...

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We're booked to fly with them in Sept/Oct 2020.. no concerns from us. Just make sure you have all the correct protection in place like end supplier failure etc.

[Mazascouser]

We travel with the carrier with the best deal when going to USA. If the price is right we book it. When it comes to food and drink we always carry a bottle of water each and plenty of snacks for the plane plus some snacks for the onward journey (yes we do declare it).

[YorkshireT]

TC are pretty good, apart from the dire food back from US. Conversely they have the best food going out of any airline (the James Martin).
Flew Tui Dreamliner from Doncaster this year - that's now my preferred Orlando flight as Doncaster is super easy with parking outside, and we were driving away in the car 45 mins after landing at Sanford. No good if you want Magical Express though.
I'm waiting on the TC situation to hopefully stabilise before booking next year's LAX flights with them. Hopefully they will survive. But I have thought it sensible to hang on and see if this last ditch plan can be pulled off.
Here is a good article on where they are at;

travelweekly/articl...-rescue-is-all

[YummyMummyx]

I have no experience at all of Thomas Cook to Orlando, but I once flew to Tenerife with them and had the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

That aside if im honest I dont care what my plane is like as long as I get there, I know some people only fly PE or on certain airlines etc but for me I just want to get there as cheap as possible. I would take a bus there if it gave me my orlando fix

[Web Owls]

Our Thomas Cook experience was poor.
Plane was switched at last minute so they then asked for 7 volunteers to delay their journey either on to the next plane or a day later. The latter probably being the main option as they would not have mentioned it otherwise.
The compensation was 300 Euros, yep everyone going to the USA and the compensation was in Euros.
Of course the plane could not set off until 7 people bowed out.
They had no volunteers, so it was upto TC to choose.
When it came to the meals they hadn't loaded the proper ones on, so we got some terrible tasting pasta dish when the pasta is one mass clump.
However we were staying at the Yacht Club, I would have been happy if it was standing room only.

[Finn family]

I have just arrived back from Orlando and had a really bad Thomas Cook experience. Rude ground staff, delays, sarcastic staff on board. Also, major delays and not even a free bottle of water on board.

We have previously flew with Virgin and British Airways and find them a lot better.

[Picklepuppy]

I think tc are like all companies in that there will always be some customers who aren’t happy as they are staffed by humans and humans make mistakes. I personally loved our Thomas cook experience they were great and great with our kids in pe.

[itsmeGAV]

Originally Posted by Finn family

Rude ground staff

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Ground staff are not employed by TC.. That would be an MCO issue.

Ultimately, everyone will have their own expectations of a carrier if they've flown with the better known ones such as BA/VA etc.

So when coming to more of a budget carrier it can be seen as a poor experience to them due to expecting the same standards... imo this seems to be a common trend on the Dibb.

[Picklepuppy]

Originally Posted by itsmeGAV

Ground staff are not employed by TC.. That would be an MCO issue.

Ultimately, everyone will have their own expectations of a carrier if they've flown with the better known ones such as BA/VA etc.


So when coming to more of a budget carrier it can be seen as a poor experience to them due to expecting the same standards... imo this seems to be a common trend on the Dibb.

See more...

I don’t think very highly of virgin, every time we have flown with them we have been bitterly disappointed and met with really rude crew and filthy planes.
I think scheduled airlines are often perceived as being better but often TC and tui and the other chartered airlines are a lot better and cheaper! The logo on the tail doesn’t guarantee good service any more 😢