Dreamliner flight switch issues

I and a number of friends are booked on the Dream 10th Feb around central America. We have all paid extra to fly on the Dreamliner flight. Other friends also are on the same cruise, but decided not to upgrade to the Dreamliner and thus paid less than we did for the same cruise. We have now been emailed to tell us that the 9.15 Dreamliner flight will not be flying, and that the 10.15 flight will now be the Dreamliner, and anyone who is booked on the cruise automatically flies on the Dreamliner. So those who opted not to pay the extra now get the Dreamliner for free, and us mugs who paid 90 each extra get no refunds. I have rung Thompsons and they just tell us we are getting what we paid for and that the others are just lucky. Anyone else had this happen and had any luck getting either an on board credit, or refund on the extra paid??

We fly out to Montego Bay 20th Jan and got told the plane would be Dreamliner when we booked from Birmingham. We did not have anything added on that we saw for the Dreamliner, I just got the website prices as quoted and rang up and got the quoted price.

We are flying from Manchester, and at the time of booking there were two options for the flights 9.15 Dreamliner, and normal Thomson Fly 10.20. If you picked the Dreamliner flight the price was higher because of the Dreamliner flight. I rang up to check the reason for the 90.00 per person difference and was told, just that, Dreamliner flight was more expensive than normal Thomson plane.

Now they send a message telling us that all Cruise passengers will go on the Dreamliner and that it will now not depart till 10.20. I rang and asked if the passengers who had booked the normal flight, now had to pay more money, or if we would get the extra back, and they said if you had booked the cheaper option you would now be very happy as you would have been upgraded to the Dreamliner, but as you had booked that plane anyway, no refund. I asked for a cabin upgrade or an onboard credit, and was told sorry, its just tough.

This isn't the kind of customer service I would expect from thomsons at all

Oh dear. That probably means that those of us from other airports with just the one flight out - the Dreamliner - probably had the extra built into the cost, and if ours gets changed from Dreamliner to normal plane, we would be unaware that we were losing that £90 extra each that we were unaware was included in the price.

No as you will be able to tell as the flight time will be slightly longer if you are changed from a Dreamliner flight.

thomsons never publish the aircraft type you will be flying on (maybe your ta knows and will let you know but usually thomsons wont) this is because they can switch the aircraft at any time even on the day (this happens more often that you would think)

you can work out which aircraft you are flying on by working out the flight time, dreamliner is quicker

there is no premium to fly on the dreamliner.... the price is worked out by how quickly a particular aircraft is filling up? obviously what has happened is that they couldnt fill up the other aircraft so they cancelled it and switched everyone to the dreamliner and those people got the benefit of paying the cheaper price....supply and demand...luck of the draw....their cruise might have cost them more (or less) too...thats how it works

there are 2 flights out to montego bay from gatwick at christmas, one dreamliner one 767 both flights cost the same, have always cost the same, I guess because both aircraft are filling up at the same rate

last year some gatwick dreamliner flights were occasionally cheaper than the regular 767 flights...the prices fluctuate

Perhaps they consider they may need less planes from the UK because they are selling cruises to the Canadians. :rolleyes:

thats probably quite close to the mark jaks

the ship could be filling up with canadians?

they dont fly to montego bay from bristol or exeter so they have put those spare planes on at gatwick & manchester....now they seem to be dropping those spare planes??....(not literally):p:eek:

Glasgow flights to Montego Bay are on 767's , which is okay a we knew this when we booked but it was galling to find out that 5 months before we booked there was a huge roll-out and hoo-ha of the new route to Jamaica from Glasgow on the Dreamliner , seems Thomson have now pulled this and are flying 767's i wonder how many booked on the back of it being a Dreamliner ?? - don't know how much shorter the flight would be on a Dreamliner but scheduled as a 10 hour flight on the 767

i wonder how many booked on the back of it being a Dreamliner ?? - don't know how much shorter the flight would be on a Dreamliner but scheduled as a 10 hour flight on the 767

that is why the dont advertise the type of aircraft....they switch aircraft around all the time....they dont want hoards of disappointed passengers at checkin

some people try to avoid the dreamliner (because of the teething probs) others try to fly on it (no dreamliner from bristol....no 767's either!)

dreamliner is about 30 minutes quicker

that is why the dont advertise the type of aircraft....they switch aircraft around all the time....they dont want hoards of disappointed passengers at checkin

 

some people try to avoid the dreamliner (because of the teething probs) others try to fly on it (no dreamliner from bristol....no 767's either!)

 

dreamliner is about 30 minutes quicker

in the grand scheme of things 30 mins isn't that much of a difference , i would have liked to have given the Dreamliner a bash but as long as i get to and from my destination hassle free i'll be happy :)

Have to say, the Dreamliner would not be my choice at the moment :rolleyes: not sure they have sorted all the problems on it!

Have to say, the Dreamliner would not be my choice at the moment :rolleyes: not sure they have sorted all the problems on it!

Have a few friends who have flown from Glasgow to Mexico and they have raved about the plane and the flight

Been on it twice and specifically booked the flight earmarked for the Dreamliner again this winter - could have joined the Transatlantic in Tenerife the day before but it is a 767 so going to Gran Canaria where the return flight from Montego Bay is Dreamliner.

It is not just cruise though - for some of the flights the non cruise Thomson package holidays are sold the Dreamliner too and the Cruise shares the seat allocation.

Was just reading through old posts and saw this one. Id read on Thomsons latest news that they hope to have more dreamliners for winter 2014/15. Someone mentioned on facebook that their plane had been changed for dec and the seating changed. We fly out to barbados on 30th nov and there was 2 flights to chose from, a 9.15am and 10.15am. We chose the earlier as the package was cheaper. No mention of dreamliner. Im a bit worried now that our plane will be changed and we wont get the seats we booked. However if it is a dreamliner we will be happy as we loved it last time we went on it! Just wish i knew! :)

I'm sure supply and demand influences prices. We once got a bargain to the Caribbean flying from our local airport - the same holiday was about £300 p.p. more from Birmingham or Manchester. Reason? Our plane was only about two thirds full so they'd slashed prices on that route to try to boost uptake.

But I'd always imagined (perhaps quite wrongly) that any difference in price at the outset had something to do with the times rather than the aircraft which, as has been mentioned, can easily change. Flights at more sociable hours costing more than extremely early or very late flights. Once the more popular timing fills up more than the less favourable one, they will push up the prices of the one which is selling better. I bet they've got a computer program running which is clocking every transaction!

I flew on the Dreamliner when I went to Dominican Republic this summer, it's a nice plane, plenty leg room even in economy , the windows are great the way you can dim them, but the mood lighting was disappointing, they said they would put it on , they did, they showed us how it worked for a full 2 minutes,

But would definitely go on it again.

Alex

Was just reading through old posts and saw this one. Id read on Thomsons latest news that they hope to have more dreamliners for winter 2014/15. Someone mentioned on facebook that their plane had been changed for dec and the seating changed. We fly out to barbados on 30th nov and there was 2 flights to chose from, a 9.15am and 10.15am. We chose the earlier as the package was cheaper. No mention of dreamliner. Im a bit worried now that our plane will be changed and we wont get the seats we booked. However if it is a dreamliner we will be happy as we loved it last time we went on it! Just wish i knew! :)

We're on that flight that got changed that was mentioned on FB. It was changed from a 767 to a higher density 767 with a smaller premium cabin. The flight time has also been pushed back an hour (not a problem with us as we get an extra hour on the ship with AI :D )

Planes do get changed around for various reasons, but mainly due to technical or operational reasons, demand on a particular route and to keep the schedules running smoothly. It's not always a case that a plane that flies out to say Barbados from Gatwick will then return to Gatwick, sometimes that plane will go back to a different UK airport. I was on a Virgin flight to Barbados that once there, wasn't working the return flight, instead was working the Manchester bound route.

This site ( http://info.flightmapper.net/search ) is reasonably accurate with regards to what plane is scheduled to operate your flight, but Thomson don't finalise their plans until six weeks before the flight is scheduled to operate, but even then changes can still be made, although it's more likely to be for technical reasons rather then scheduling etc.

wonder why they have switched to the higher density b767? overbooking perhaps? seems unlikely in november? ...or maybe more holiday guests on barbados than they were expecting?...also seems unlikely in november its still in the low season:confused:

hopes they dont change my (much anticipated) dreamliner flight on 23rd december:(

great link/site baggers.... thanks for that:cool:

wonder why they have switched to the higher density b767? overbooking perhaps? seems unlikely in november? ...or maybe more holiday guests on barbados than they were expecting?...also seems unlikely in november its still in the low season:confused:

 

hopes they dont change my (much anticipated) dreamliner flight on 23rd december:(

 

great link/site baggers.... thanks for that:cool:

Oops forgot to mention the flight is TOM099 back from Jamacia, and not Barbados, and is also on 23 Decmeber! That's the start of the high season in the Caribbean which runs from December through to April.

But, I'm not sure why they changed it. It's the very start of the Tuesday flights for the new cruising season, so apart from the returning cruisers, can't see many land based holidaymakers being on it and now they've changed it, there's a lot more seats on the return flight than there is on the 757 flight out to Tenerife, and at the moment they're only bundling those two flights together, with the other flights from Gatwick at the start of the cruise to Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, all returning on a Dreamliner. It's certainly not overbooked, and never has been, so fingers crossed, it might be quite an empty flight.

Perhaps they consider they may need less planes from the UK because they are selling cruises to the Canadians. :rolleyes:

Why would Canadians choose Thomson, when the competition in the Caribbean is huge, the ships newer, and the prices lower?

You can book a week's cruise on a Holland America ship that replaced the Dream a decade ago, for far less.

Thomson hasn't been a Canadian company since 1998, so the 'nostalgia' factor would be minimal. Perhaps Canadians pay less than their British cousins for the same cruise?

Perhaps Canadians pay less than their British cousins for the same cruise?

yes they do (i'm guessing because its not so far to fly)

and

thomsons go to cuba :p

Why would Canadians choose Thomson, when the competition in the Caribbean is huge, the ships newer, and the prices lower?

 

You can book a week's cruise on a Holland America ship that replaced the Dream a decade ago, for far less.

 

Thomson hasn't been a Canadian company since 1998, so the 'nostalgia' factor would be minimal. Perhaps Canadians pay less than their British cousins for the same cruise?

I agree, apart from as geomagot says that they're calling at Cuba, I can't understand why they wouldn't go on the American ships that cost a lot less, although the drinks are cheaper on Thomson (on the whole, anyway) but whilst the holiday package price would be cheaper because of the shorter flight, I don't think the cruise element of that is really any cheaper. I know the DP is more or less the same as the UK price.

canadian bookers were getting free drinks package thrown in when this years caribbean itineraries went on sale in canada....£199 per person per week for british cruisers on dream in caribbean:(

canadian bookers were getting free drinks package thrown in when this years caribbean itineraries went on sale in canada....£199 per person per week for british cruisers on dream in caribbean:(

That's not fair but were the prices dearer in the first place? I noticed that the price of the DP is now on a par with the £199 we have to pay. Maybe they were doing a promotion to encourage the canadians to go on a British cruise liner, as they've gotta get their foot into the market if that's the direction that Thomson want to head down.

I guess this means it's no longer a "British" cruise line anymore, as such?