Following some ideas from other Ciao-ers have a new online shop - www.cafepress.co.uk/devonbelle . ...
Following some ideas from other Ciao-ers have a new online shop - www.cafepress.co.uk/devonbelle . Just starting out... will review it sometime soon.... :)
Member since:30.12.2008
Reviews:47
Members who trust:2
Lovely Man and I got married! We had a fantastic day (well weekend, actually) but after all that excitement we were both rather keen to get away to our honeymoon destination of Corfu. The actual holiday we took was with another company and will be the subject of a review soon, but we flew out on a charter flight with Thomas Cook and as this was a new experience for me, I wanted to review it and compare it with the other flights I have taken over the years.
Our flight out from London Gatwick was an early one at 6.20am, with a 2 hour check-in. This meant leaving our nice comfortable hotel at 3am. Yuck! Arriving at the South Terminal, we soon located the Thomas Cook check-in desk and even though check-in wasn't supposed to be open yet, we were allowed to hand our hold luggage over and make our way through security.
When the flight was called (via the big departures board) we joined the herd of people heading for our gate and were politely asked to get on board, with passengers being requested by seat numbers, happily avoiding the free-seating scrum you get with other airlines.
I had heard horrible things about the seat pitch on Thomas Cook flights, but I had plenty of room (not difficult, being 5 foot nothing!) but Lovely Man was also just about ok, and he's 6 foot 2 inches. (For the uninitiated, the seat pitch is the distance between the back of your seat and the back of the seat in front of you, indicating the amount of leg room available. Good seat pitch is about 30 inches or more.)
The safety demonstration took place mostly via the entertainment screens that unfold from the locker space overhead, with the cabin crew showing you the exits and the floor-level lighting. The captain did speak to us before take-off, but to be honest we couldn't really hear what was being said. Take-off was uneventful and as the weather was good, we were soon being offered lots of treats off the trolley and the pre-booked breakfasts were smelling good in the galley. We got a mini-cooked breakfast, mini muffin and a bread roll with a pot of orange juice. I've always been facinated by airline food and how they fit it all into such a small container. We had a sausage, baked beans, egg and a hash brown. All very edible and served hot. The only problem we discovered at this point was that the tray tables were slightly broken on our seats - mine was at a rather precarious angle resting on my tummy, while Lovely Man held his down by anchoring it under his belt.
The in-flight movie didn't interest either of us so we didn't purchase the head phones (at £2.75 each) but read the airline magazine and caught a few minute's sleep. Before landing the crew checked to make sure we were all strapped in and comfortable, then asked us all to stay in our seats while the aircraft taxied to the stand.
The only thing that really annoyed me about the arrival at Corfu (and at Gatwick coming back) was the attitude of the passengers! Despite being asked several times to remain seated until the seat belt sign was switched off, everyone jumped up and started to unpack the overhead lockers soon after we touched down. Minor rant moment - does nobody realise how dangerous that can be???!!!! The aircraft is still moving, the jet engines are still sucking huge amounts of air through them and if anything gets stuck in the engine or the aircraft has to stop on the taxi-way, people will fall about, things will fall out of the lockers onto passenger's heads and if there should be an emergency on the ground, the crew can't get to the doors to let people out. Please Ciao-ers, for your own safety, stay seated, with seat belts on, until the lights go off. It only takes a few extra seconds and the crew will be really grateful. They are there to ensure your safety, after all.
Disembarking was as smooth as the crew could make it and the luggage arrived safe and well.
The journey back was fairly similar, except for the way we boarded. We were taken on to busses in no particular order and this caused a bit of hustle and bustle on board when passengers fought their way to their seats and tried to cram their hand luggage on top of every one else's.
Lunch on the return flight was a really nice chilli beef with rice, and a dense but tasty chocolate brownie bar. Surprisingly nice food! Luggage arrived back with us again in London and this time the tray tables held their shape and I wasn't worried about arriving in Gatwick with chilli beef dribbled elegantly down my jeans. That had been a serious possibility with the baked beans.
Overall I was quite impressed with the flights and service provided by Thomas Cook. The crews were very professional and the food was good. Both flights were on time and the seats were comfortable, although I have seen more leg-room on other flights.
We booked our flights through a travel agent, but I believe you can investigate just about everything that the company offers at www.thomascook.com.
Recommend to anyone wanting a 'what-it-says-on-the-tin' service between airports.
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Oct 10th, 2009
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