I booked return flights for my husband and myself to Funchal in Madeira with Thomson Airways, departing mid-July. As I suffer from a health condition that can mean frequent trips to the toilet, we prefer to have one aisle and the centre seat next to it so that I do not have to keep asking a stranger to move. I always pay extra to allow us to have our preferred choice of seats .
However, I discovered that Thomson does not allow this. Its email helpline gave me the number of its welfare department, but it was unwilling to help. It appeared that the representative was reading from a script and she was unsympathetic. This restriction on choosing seats was not mentioned at point of sale. Had we known this we would have taken pot luck at check in. AP, Nuneaton, Warwicks
You were told firmly by Thomson that this was its “final response” on the matter and that it could not allocate you the seating you wanted. However, when we talked to Thomson it became clear that, although its standard policy is not to allocate aisle seats because it leaves unpopular “orphan” or empty seats by the windows, passengers who are disabled or who have medical issues are entitled to claim priority as a “welfare” passenger.
It is not clear why you were not told this by the staff in the, er, welfare department.
Thomson says: “We are sorry to hear of AP’s experience and we have been in contact to apologise and resolve the matter. We’re grateful that the matter has been brought to our attention and have taken their feedback on board to review our processes as appropriate.”
You received a call on the eve of your departure confirming that your seating has been changed and that you had been allocated the aisle and centre seats near the front of the plane.
It’s a shame you had to undergo stress and worry when you were happy to pay extra for allocated seats. We think Thomson needs to address this customer service shortfall as a matter of urgency.
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