Thomson in flight entertainment

[MX51ROD]

2 or 3 years ago Thomson flights had in flight entertainment on short haul flights , eg Grand Canaria , Last year it appears that economies have been made and so no video / audio entertainment on short haul , I hope bad feedback has caused Thomson to have a change of heart .
We are off to Sharm el Sheik in February , Any PH travellers been there in the past year , Still no entertainment ?
We do have back up, notebook and memory sticks with films on . ipod etc, but just one more thing to carry around

[RumbleOfThunder]

Just came back from Turkey with Thomson. No entertainment.

[R1_NUR]

I work for Thomson.

There is no In Flight Entertainment (IFE) on our short haul flights.

I do not support that decision I am just telling you how it is.

However on our longer SH flights - Cape Verde and Sharm etc we do sometimes have IFE.

My suggestion is plan on there being none.

Where are you flying from?

[Sifly]

I work for them also.

Yes despite crew concerns, the company decided to drop IFE on short haul flights (along with the option of a pre-ordered meal). If you find yourself on a 767, your in with a slight chance, but is most
likely you'll have to 'entertain' yourselves for five and a half hrs!

You can always buy a few bags of chips on board however. Maybe bring some bread with you and make a few chip butties to pass the time.

Blame the likes of Ryan Air and Easy Jet for the current level of service which most charter airlines have had to reduce to in order to be more competitive on price. At least Thomson will put you up in a hotel, feed you and send out another plane to bring you home asap if something goes wrong!

PLEASE feel free to complain about the loss of these things on the questionaire form on the way home.

At least the Sharm hotels are nice, so enjoy your holiday

[TimJMS]

Load up the iPad. Don't forget to don your around ear, noise cancelling headphones so you can be oblivious to the inflight announcements advertising.

[BliarOut]

We flew to Sharm with Thomson in May, zero IFE and bloody uncomfy seats...

That said they were punctual which is more than you can say for Thomas Cook.

[MX51ROD]

Hi Thomson guys , our flight is LGW to Sharm early Feb 2013 ,think about 0950 am mid week ,we were irritated to find , without prior warning , that there was no entertainment in the flight to GC in Feb this year , and did complain in the strongest terms on the feedback form ( which I presume is filed in a recycle bin ) Food is a lesser problem , as for years we have started with a full English at Gatwick then pick up a meal deal sandwich and drink from Boots or Smiths . got fed up with chicken cobbler on every flight, dry over heated and tastless
As I said Notebook and Ipod fully loaded

In Sharm we are at the Reef Oasis Blue Bay resort and Spa , Fantastic place !

Just hope with the new "Dreamliner " on long haul , better aircraft filter down to the shorter routes , some chance !!

[Engineer1]

The real pisstake is they do/did request anything with wireless capability be turned off all flight even if it had an flight safe mode. but you could at that time hire a PSP for £15 for the flight IIRC.

[Sifly]

MX51ROD said:

Just hope with the new "Dreamliner " on long haul , better aircraft filter down to the shorter routes , some chance !!

The 787's will operate for a short period on selected short haul routes (to destinations with engineering cover) before commencing long haul flights to Cancun and Orlando later next year. The long haul 767's will be reduced as the 787's arrive whilst several short haul high density 767's will remain initially. As more new 737 800's arrive, the ageing 757's will be replaced though several are set to remain for the forseable and are due a cabin refurbishment including an increase in seat pitch by removing a few rows of seats altogether.

Thomson operate to a handfull of destinations where the abilities of the 757 are still required as there is still nothing to quite match it's performance and flexibility.

So yes, there are improvements due throughout the fleet (from a passenger comfort perspective) over the next couple of years.

[TheHeretic]

I travel a decent amount, and always take my own entertainment, be it the iPad, iPod, or a good book. NEVER leave yourself at the mercy of staring at the seat on front. Ever.

[petemurphy]

hi thomson people

looking at going to cuba soon - is it worth doing the choose your own seat option / premium? - will be with an 18 month old! if wanting to go end of nov are prices likely to get cheaper or start getting more expensive ( as they have this week )

thanks

[Sifly]

petemurphy said:

hi thomson people

looking at going to cuba soon - is it worth doing the choose your own seat option / premium? - will be with an 18 month old! if wanting to go end of nov are prices likely to get cheaper or start getting more expensive ( as they have this week )

thanks

A 9 hr flight, with an 18month old! Rather you than me I'm afraid, my limit is two and a half hrs with our little one and it's time to get off!

To answer your question, Its not a bad idea if you want to know your seating arrangements, and with a young child its nice to know (for both you and your fellow passengers) so you can be best prepared. As for costs, who knows. The trends at the moment seem to be to book early for a good deal. As the number of available holidays have been reducing over the last few years, there are not so many late places available, so they tend to get more expensive the later you leave them.

But there is no way of foreseeing the future. You pay your money (or not) and take your chance i'm afraid. If for some reason there are lots of holidays left un-sold nearer the time, then the price will probably drop, but bookings for next year with Thomson are already up on this year so its an unknown.

Pay a price you think is fair and enjoy your holiday.

[petemurphy]

Sifly said:

A 9 hr flight, with an 18month old! Rather you than me I'm afraid, my limit is two and a half hrs with our little one and it's time to get off!

To answer your question, Its not a bad idea if you want to know your seating arrangements, and with a young child its nice to know (for both you and your fellow passengers) so you can be best prepared. As for costs, who knows. The trends at the moment seem to be to book early for a good deal. As the number of available holidays have been reducing over the last few years, there are not so many late places available, so they tend to get more expensive the later you leave them.

But there is no way of foreseeing the future. You pay your money (or not) and take your chance i'm afraid. If for some reason there are lots of holidays left un-sold nearer the time, then the price will probably drop, but bookings for next year with Thomson are already up on this year so its an unknown.

Pay a price you think is fair and enjoy your holiday.

fair enough thanks and yes we may be mad!

[Busa mav]

I made the mistake of allowing myself to be on a Thompsons flight a few years back.

The inflight entertainment seemed to consist of scum bags arguing and shouting at each other.

[JVaughan]

Just returned from Sharm on Thompson ... all I can say its EasyJet without the Orange ..
Seating cramped, no entertainment, even the screens in the seats just cycled though the same 5 pictures (for 5 hours !!)
I fly most weeks on Scheduled flights across europe, so im used to economy class, but this last family holiday was the worst 5 hours Ive spent flying in a long time

[Asterix]

Busa mav said:

I made the mistake of allowing myself to be on a Thompsons flight a few years back.

The inflight entertainment seemed to consist of scum bags arguing and shouting at each other.

I know - you'd think they'd keep the cockpit door shut.

[petemurphy]

thomson are better long haul arent they? least the brochure says they have more legrom than virgin, thomas cook etc?

[MX51ROD]

petemurphy said:

thomson are better long haul arent they? least the brochure says they have more legrom than virgin, thomas cook etc?

We did Jamaica about 4 years age and upgraded to what I would suppose to be first/premium class seats and yes they are a lot better , 2 instead of 3 in a row and good leg room with foot rest , and an Arcos player fully loaded with films and music. not sure what cattle class seats were like but they were inhabited by shell suits , Croydon face lifts and fat backsides

Edited by MX51ROD on Monday 22 October 16:51

[Countdown]

Asterix said:

Busa mav said:

I made the mistake of allowing myself to be on a Thompsons flight a few years back.

The inflight entertainment seemed to consist of scum bags arguing and shouting at each other.

I know - you'd think they'd keep the cockpit door shut.

[a4cabrio]

We're flying with Thomson to the Dominican Republic next month, after reading this thread, I upgraded our seats to have more legroom and I've downloaded 3 movies onto my iPad for the flight.