Thomas Cook Airlines - MAN to BGI (A330-200)

By: G-OJET - 2nd December 2008 at 09:48

OUTBOUND
Aircraft: G-TCXA
Type: Airbus A330-200
Flight: TCX029L

This flight was part of an Ocean Village Cruise package; all passengers on the flight were travelling with Ocean Village.

Check-in at Manchester was very smooth; hardly any queuing, although several desks open and we were there around 4hrs before the flight. Maybe it got busier later on. The check-in agent told us that we could have a choice of standard seating, exit row or Premium all free of charge, therefore, we assumed no one had paid at time of booking for Premium and there was no one in it. We decided to take 2 rows of the 2 seats together at the back of the aircraft as the config throughout the rest of the cabin was 3-3-3 (on the Airbus A330) which was not the most user friendly.

Terminal 1 at Manchester is undergoing a lot of work at the moment, so it’s fairly messy. Not the nicest of experiences to wait around in.

The flight was eventually called, on time, and all seemed to be going pretty well. We boarded aircraft G-TCXA, an A330-200 which was fitted out with their new better 33" seat pitch, although rather old and tired looking cloth seats. The entertainment system was similar to that of First Choice long-haul with the hand held remote and Video on demand, BUT only if you paid them £10 extra to upgrade! Decided that was a bit steep as Thomson only charged £5 last time!

The crew were pleasant, although maybe a tad disorganised to the point where one forgot to get her safety demo kit out and ready and then held everyone else up while she searched high and low for it. The demo took place and we pushed back from the gate, engines started and then... NOTHING! We sat there for a few moments wondering what was happening. Eventually, the Captain came over the PA to tell us all that the he had an warning indicator come up with one of the engines and therefore had to return to stand, switch everything off and re-boot the computer!

This whole process took around an hour, so by now, we were going to be late arriving in Barbados. Eventually, we took off got settled into the flight, albeit slightly worried about the earlier engine problem!

In-flight service was very average. Main outbound meal with Chicken and Veg which had absolutely NO TASTE whatsoever! Later on in the flight the crew served Hot Pasta with tomato sauce. Nice as it was to have a second hot meal; it kind of got didn't digest very well by that point in the flight! Drinks were all paid for and average airline price, although I do think £2 for a cup of tea is a little pricey!

Eventually, we landed in Barbados and only 45mins or so late.

All in all, the flight was average. Comfort marked down due to the crazy 3-3-3 config that meant people had to constantly ask others to move during the flight every time someone had to get out of their seat. Thomas Cook has this extra high density config when most scheduled airlines have a 2-4-2 config on the same aircraft type. I guess fitting an extra seat in makes them big bucks?

INBOUND
Aircraft: G-OJMC
Type: Airbus A330-200
Flight: TCX029K

This was the return flight for passengers who had been travelling on Ocean Village cruise line.

Check-in was carried out on board the ship before disembarkation, therefore, a total disaster! Although the ship staff told us our party of 4 would be sat together, we were actually issued boarding cards and split-up over 10 rows apart. However, this wouldn't affect the ship staff by the time we were at the airport would it! :rolleyes:

Barbados Airport seems have gone through a lot of upgrading and is actually very pleasant, although a little cramped when you have 4 or 5 cruise ship flights all waiting, plus the usual British Airways and Virgin flights all waiting to board at the same time.

Flight information in the terminal is a little hit and miss. We had heard reports of there being a delay to our flight, yet the screens in the terminal showed it on time, then 30mins late, then 45mins late, then an hour late. They must have known a more than they were letting on!

Eventually, the flight boarded (without anyone hearing an announcement, by now people were just wondering around thinking they should have been airborne by now, so joined a queue!). We took off around 2hrs late this time with the explanation from the flight being "circumstances beyond our control" which pretty much covers off everything doesn't it!

This time, we were flying on aircraft G-OJMC which although it had leather seats this time, had a much older, dodgy looking seat back TV entertainment system. My screen looked as though it was about to fall out the seat it was attached to. The controls were very unresponsive (touch sensitive this time) so I decided to forget it altogether and not pay the £10 ransom to upgrade movie choice.

In-flight meals were slightly better than the outbound sector. Beef something was served an hour or two after take off and then a hot breakfast of a mini omelette, two miniscule has browns and a teaspoon full of baked beans which to be fair, was all you really wanted after a long flight. I did prefer this breakfast choice to other airlines that offer an old dry croissant and an all in one cereal/milk bowl thing.

Again, I found the 3-3-3 seating config a real pain. This time we were allocated A and B seats and therefore had to ask the passenger in the C seat to get up every time we needed the toilet, and she was feeling pretty ill herself and didn't want to be disturbed. It was very uncomfortable experience from that perspective.

We landed into Manchester over an hour late, but had made up some time on the route back.

There are other better charter airlines I have experienced. Overall, not a flight I would care to do again out of choice, more necessity to get on the cruise ship!