Thomsonfly Airlines

'''*Thomsonfly- Premium Service*'''

The holiday was booked via Portland Direct to the Maldives in December 2007.
It is a normal 10.5 hour flight, but after booking we were notified that this would operate both outbound and inbound via Gatwick. We were flying from Manchester so we upgraded to the Premium Service on this occasion.

Check in
We arrived at Manchester airport in plenty of time. There was no separate check in desk as stated. So we stood in line and checked in with the rest of the passengers. However this was at a First Choice check in desk (Thomson and First choice have now joined -even after the concerns from the monopolies commission.) The premium service baggage allowance is 30Kgs each. With the diving gear we just made 61Kgs. and that was with no shoes in the cases. Just the sandals on my feet!

Pre-bookable seats
This is a service that I like about Thomsonfly. But it is only available on certain flights.
When your tickets arrive there will be a printed seating plan, you can then choose the actual seat numbers. For a fee of course!
We had pre booked our seats 6 weeks before departure via Thomson customer services at a cost of £10 each. These were correctly allocated on check in.

Delays
The flight was delayed. The first notification was an hour delay, then another hour delay, followed by another delay.. So in total nearly 4 hours. After 3 hours we were offered refreshment vouchers totalling £6 each- so not bad really. We saved these and purchased duty free from the plane as the vouchers were worth £9 if redeemed on the flight. So the delay bought me a little bottle of perfume. £18 (So I was happy enough with that)
During the delay, the Gatwick passengers were collected before arriving at Manchester- So once we boarded the plane - it was a direct flight to Male.

The flight
The Premium service offers wider seats with extra recline, a wonderful 37" seat pitch. A four course meal designed by Chef Aldo Zilli (more on that later.) Complimentary drinks from the bar. Free in-flight entertainment and headsets.

Pampering packs
On the seats was a cream, (May I say a 'sickly' colour) pull tie fleece bag, which contained a blanket fleece, eye mask and a blow up head/neck cushion. The only thing I did not like was the fact that they asked you to take this with you for the return journey. It was very bulky; luckily we don't have much hand luggage.

A brown zipper pack containing Hand & body lotion, Eye Gel, Mint/choc Lip Balm, Menthol & peppermint Cooling Foot spray and Sleep spray.

Pre-take off drinks were served -bucks fizz in a small plastic cup and a packet of pretzels.

We were issued with a nicely printed and presented booklet containing information about the Premium Service:-
A detailed meal menu from the UK and to the UK
A list of wines, spirits and beers from the bar
The Entertainment available with the Premium Service.

Entertainment
Movies for the month-Hairspray, Oceans 13, Becoming Jane, Shrek the 3rd, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Surfs up, Transformers, The life and death of Peter Sellers, Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix, Die hard 4, No reservations, Evan almighty.

Television-including a Top gear special, Jamie at home, Hyperdrive, Scrubs, My family, Michael Palins New Europe, Doctor who, Living with the future, Darah O'Briain's tough gig, Mountain- with Griff Rhys Jones.

Music- over 90 albums to choose from- The choice was very good and I spent most of my time listening to these.

Games- Hangman, Battleships, Solitaire, Who wants to be a millionaire, Winnie the pooh, Timon and Pumbaa's.

All the entertainment and over head reading lights and attendant call button were accessed via the 9inch touch screen display in the back of seats ( in front of you )The system was very stable with no crashing/freezing of screens.

There was a feature where details of the flight time to destination, outside temperature, head or tail wind speed, maps showing where we were flying over. We were flying at 35,020 feet most of the time...amazing.

Bar service
This service was fast and efficient with a good selection.

Meal 1
Our choice of mains was taken and we were given a bottle of water for the journey.
Our first meal was served on a blue plastic tray, plastic cutlery, small salt/pepper and a quality paper napkin.
Starter was Crayfish salad - I did not eat this.
Main Meal was a choice of chicken, Lamb or ravioli. I had the Lamb and it was quite tasty.
Bread roll, cream crackers, a selection of cheeses & grapes
Chocolate brownie with Panna cotta ice cream
A couple of chocolates in a box
Wine, tea/coffee and a hot towel.

The trays were cleared away quickly, and the cabin lights were dimmed so most could sleep. With the delay many folk were very tired now. Not me I was wide awake reading the in-flight magazine and duty free section. I watched a few programmes and listened to some music.

The seating
The seats were in Dark blue leather and reasonably comfortable. The head rests adjusted up and down and they had padded side wings which could be pulled in to support your head while sleeping. These really are a good feature and stop the person next to you falling on your shoulder.
The seat recline was ok, though I tend not to recline my seat unless I really want to sleep. Even with a seat fully reclined in front of you there was plenty of room.
There was a foot rest, but to be honest these were not adjustable and were not high enough for the average height person.

Meal 2
A hot breakfast was served- A small omelette with strips of ham? and onion? Could not be quite sure what it was, with small gristly sausages -all tasted awful. I only eat the Sun ripe tomatoes and were tasty.
Fruit yogurt with oats on the top- the yogurt was curdled and really not edible
Bread/butter with jam
Tea/Coffee

Trays were cleared efficiently again, and noticed that most of the meal was left by many passengers.

Duty Free
We were asked what duty free we required; these was put in sealed clear plastic bags and bought to us.
Cigarettes were cheaper to buy on the plane than in the duty free at Manchester airport, there were also special offers on perfumes - buy 2 perfumes and receive a free travel adaptor and a free beach bag- these were very good quality items.

Visiting Visa
When visiting the Maldives - you are asked to fill in the visa card on the plane before landing. This is kept in your passport ready for immigration and passport control.

Journeys end
Although we took off late-the normal 10.5 hour flight was completed in 9.5 hours thanks to a tail wind. We embarked very quickly looking forward to our holiday on Embudu Village Island. (Review to come)

**The Return Journey**

The service was excellent from the crew, a free newspaper was offered. Food again was not particularly nice. But to be honest we eat so much in the last two weeks.. I really did not want anymore.
Again there was a 3.5 hour delay, we were not happy about this as we flew home on Christmas Eve so instead of landing at midnight it was 3.30am Christmas morning. But hey.. better to be safe and arrive late, I do understand that delays happen.

I felt very sorry for the passengers arriving on the flight, mainly because after 5.30pm (Maldives time) the sea planes are not allowed to fly. Which meant many passengers would have to transfer by boat. This would mean the transfers would take hours instead of minutes to arrive at their islands. The Xmas Gala dinners are on Christmas Eve in the Maldives. Let's hope that some passengers made it in time for the fantastic lavish spreads they put on.

Summary
Over all I did enjoy this flight and service, especially the leg room and entertainment.
I don't think the change in the menu by Aldo Zilli really worked for most passengers. It sounded delicious in theory but not in practise. I will eat anything and by no means a fussy eater, but I was really disappointed with the quality of food. I expected far better.

Well done to the crew.
All the staff were exceptionally polite and very efficient, even though they too had the four hour delay and must have felt tired themselves. They remained very professional and friendly throughout the whole flight; nothing was too much trouble for them to serve you and actively asked passengers if you required anything. I give them 10 out of 10.

Would we fly with Thomson again?
I have to say yes we would.
But we would not upgrade to the Premium Service as at £300 each it really was not worth the money.

I really am not interested in the fancy packs, fancy food and free drinks; I just want a comfy seat and decent legroom and good entertainment.

I filled out a questionnaire for feedback on the holiday and flight. These were collected before we got off, however these are not sealed and I wonder just how many do get back to customer service??

I hope I gave some useful information about the flight.