Anyone flown Thomas Cook from Manchester lately?

[Simmyoto]

Originally Posted by meboo

My son did in May - was ticketed as an airtanker both ways. It wasn’t on the way out but was on the way back. Only overhead TVs on an airtanker. It should be clear from your booking if it’s an airtanker

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This is incorrect. There are 2 x airtankers on the man to mco route, as corrected by PPM they are both full economy cabins only one has seatback ife this is G-VYGK the other is G-VYGM that has no ife but has the streaming system. If you look on your booking confirmation there is a section under your flight info that says "Note: This flight will be operated by AirTanker on behalf of Thomas Cook Airlines. For product information please see our website Partner Airlines, and look for aircraft registration and then it says either G-VYGK or G-VYGM.

Thomas cooks website that gives info on the specifications is:

thomascookairlines/e...r-airlines.jsp

[PPM]

Originally Posted by Simmyoto

This is incorrect. There are 2 x airtankers on the man to mco route, one has seatback ife this is G-VYGK which is a full economy only cabin, the other is G-VYGM that is premium and economy that has no ife but has the streaming system. If you look on your booking confirmation there is a section under your flight info that says "Note: This flight will be operated by AirTanker on behalf of Thomas Cook Airlines. For product information please see our website Partner Airlines, and look for aircraft registration and then it says either G-VYGK or G-VYGM.

Thomas cooks website that gives info on the specifications is:

thomascookairlines/e...r-airlines.jsp

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To correct a small error, both A330s leased by Airtanker Leasing to TC are Economy only.
The link posted does confirm this. No Premium on either.

[PPM]

Just a wee bit more background information on the “ Airtankers”;as we all call them

Airtanker is a company, not a plane The two that TC lease are both Airbus A330s part of the RAF surge fleet of Voyager Airtankers that are currently not required by the RAF.
As far as I am aware they can be recalled to duty in times of national crisis.
The first is kitted out with full TC economy interior inc seatback IFE, and is long term leased by TC.
The second has standard Airbus basic all economy interior with overhead screens. It has a streaming IFE unit fitted by TC. This aircraft is the same spec as an RAF A330 operated by Airtanker that is used by the RAF for “ Airbridge” operations between RAF Brize Norton and the Falkland Islands.

A good read for anyone interested in the planes, and what they do for the country. If you watched the BBC flypast for the 100 years of the RAF there was a Voyager Airtanker in the flypast noted as the largest RAF operated aircraft .

airtanker/
airtanker/leasing
airtanker/raf-voyager

Well with a 15min browse.
I hope this extra info is helpful to anyone interested in the planes they fly on

[CuriousAlice]

We flew with them 3 weeks ago from Manchester to MCO. It was an airtanker plane both ways with the seatback IFE. We didnt upgrade the IFE as we had tablets but there was something decent to watch each way in the free selection. DD liked the audio collection they had (free). We were auto-allocated extra leg room seats going out so that was a bonus, Only ever flown to US with BA and Virgin - I didn't miss the free booze (only bought a couple of g&t). Plane was better than the last BA one and while Virgin have split our family up twice, on board the TC crew actually asked if anyone was split and they would try to reshuffle. Toilets were kept pretty clean as staff kept checking on them. Staff were actually really lovely. Wouldn't hesitate to use TC again.

[Uncle paul]

Hi guys, I’m a bit confused, wife and I are looking to book TC Manchester to Orlando for next year. Some comments here say they are economy only, however, the flights that we are trying to book say the front end is premium for which they’re charging a hell of a lot extra.
Are you saying this is a ruse by TC? and we’ll end up with an “air tanker”?

[salmon70]

I've just checked my booking and both legs say:

"This flight will be operated by AirTanker on behalf of Thomas Cook Airlines. For product information please see our website Partner Airlines, and look for
aircraft registration G-VYGK".

My DD will be so pleased as she is normally glued to the films for the whole journey whereas I'm a complete fidgit and can never manage to watch 1 film to the end.

Thank you all for your help 😊.

[Bolto6]

I deliberately booked the flight that didn’t say operated by Airtanker, after reading threads on here. Both our outbound and inbound also have a premium cabin, although we are going economy.

My booking says Thomas Cook Airlines / Condor operated flight.

We are on the 12.55 from MAN on 16/09 and 19.15 from MCO 30/09.

EDIT* I also booked direct on the Thomas Cook Airlines website.

[Simmyoto]

I deliberately avoided the condor flight as it took me 2 years and 2 German small claims court cases to get compensation for a 6 HR delay on a flight I had with them for fuerteventura. It was a nightmare as I had to file everything in German via post to the German court. I got the compensation and court costs in the end but it was a nightmare.. even resolva wouldn't take the case as it's so much hassle!

[Simmyoto]

Originally Posted by Uncle paul

Hi guys, I’m a bit confused, wife and I are looking to book TC Manchester to Orlando for next year. Some comments here say they are economy only, however, the flights that we are trying to book say the front end is premium for which they’re charging a hell of a lot extra.
Are you saying this is a ruse by TC? and we’ll end up with an “air tanker”?

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Not every TC flight from man to mco is contracted to airtanker, there are flights operated by Thomas cook airlines and condor as well, when you do your booking it will tell you who the flight operator is. When it all comes down to it it's entirely possible that due to a maintenance issue / delay etc etc the flight could be switched to a different operator anyway. I'd prefer a flight with seatback ife direct with TC or even the airtanker plane with seatback but at the end of the day as long as it gets me to Florida safely and on time I can live with whatever turns up on the day

[baboons]

Originally Posted by Uncle paul

Hi guys, I’m a bit confused, wife and I are looking to book TC Manchester to Orlando for next year. Some comments here say they are economy only, however, the flights that we are trying to book say the front end is premium for which they’re charging a hell of a lot extra.
Are you saying this is a ruse by TC? and we’ll end up with an “air tanker”?

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If the seat map says premium, it's a TC plane with premium.

Things can change though. I was booked on an Airtanker originally, but it was changed to a TC plane 3 months out, so I upgraded to premium. Service was excellent.