Thomas Cook long haul

[Jimble]

Has anyone on here flown with Thomas Cook long haul? I'm looking at Vegas with them but have read some really bad reviews online about them, mainly the amount of space but i'm 6'2" and could do without having my feet up my @rse for 10 hours! I'm going short haul with them in may so not so worried about that. Any comments appreciated.

[Seanl]

I flew with United through them to Hawaii on my honeymoon this time last year. It wasn't toooo bad, but not 'really good' or anything. Long haul aircraft tend to have more leg room than the small boeing's that do short haul in my experience anyway. 

[The Mighty Elvi]

I flew with United to New York.  This was a scheduled flight as opposed to a charter flight.

(I bought the Hotel and Flight separately)

As it was a scheduled flight there were plenty of empty seats, and on the instruction from the stewardess, I was free to move to any other seat.

Cue me lying down on the 4 abreast middle isle.

Plus.  If you book the flight direct with American you can specify your seat online before flying, if you sign up to American Airlines Advantage.

[Khare]

Cue me lying down on the 4 abreast middle isle.

Plus.  If you book the flight direct with American you can specify your seat online before flying, if you sign up to American Airlines Advantage.

I do this all the time when I travel to Brazil. Arm rests up, couple of pillows and blankets and sleep the whole way.

[Jimble]

I flew with United to New York.  This was a scheduled flight as opposed to a charter flight.

(I bought the Hotel and Flight separately)

As it was a scheduled flight there were plenty of empty seats, and on the instruction from the stewardess, I was free to move to any other seat.

Cue me lying down on the 4 abreast middle isle.

Plus.  If you book the flight direct with American you can specify your seat online before flying, if you sign up to American Airlines Advantage.

I'm going to be flying from Manchester as the London airports are just to bloody awkward! so was either looking at Virgin or TC, i flew to NYC with Continental/United from Birmingham and that was great tbh, cba with connecting flights.

[Mk1Macca]

If those are your options 100% Virgin. Best airline i've ever flown with.

Little trick tip: Look to find a suitable Virgin flight, then got continentals american site and look for the exact same time. They are partner airlines, so if there's availability, it'll show you the virgin flights listed as 'operated by virgin'. Flight price will be a good deal cheaper than booking direct - plus, as it's a US carrier you're booking through, you'll get the protection of being able to cancel your flight fora full refund - should you need to.

If you can't get a Virgin flight, look at US carriers. They have to deal with big fat Americans so the seat pitches are bigger. I'm 6'3 so also have problems on planes. What ever you do, DO NOT fly BA. Tiniest little seats in the world.

United will likely be cheapest, but the aircraft are very old and don't have posh entertainment systems. It's the old tape based system, so no pausing or choosing what you want to watch. You have to wait for it to re-wind!

[golf-sib]

I've only flown short with Thomas cook and the word cramped comes to mind. States wise I have flown with virgin and thompsons. I found Thompsons cheap, good and more leg room than virgin on paper and I'd happily use again.

[Jimble]

When pricing up a complete holiday, Virgin is around £500 more than Thomas Cook! but i ask myself, is it worth that massive difference to be able to walk at the other end??

[VW BUSH]

Long haul flights are sh!te whoever you fly with unless you go full 1st class and even that is dressed up to be more than it is.
I fly a lot out of T5 Heathrow, at least you get all the frills before you sit in a pressurised tube for hours
Booze Book and sleep works for me from Ryan air to BA

[Hartside]

I'm 6'2" and have flown BA and Virgin to the west coast of the states a number of times. I would say seating wise, Virgin are marginally better than BA, although I find neither particularly good for my long legs, especially as I always get a tw@t in front of me that fully reclines as the plane is making it's ascent and never sits up again until we come in to land. If your quick and lucky, try to get the bulkhead seats or the emergency exits, even if you have to pay a bit more for them. I can't remember now but you might find the Virgin planes at Manchester haven't had their refit yet and still have the old entertainment systems, so it might be worth a trip to Heathrow. We flew to Cuba last year from Gatwick and the Virgin planes were quite tired and due for refit 2012. They still had the old tape entertainment systems that couldn't be paused.

Worst flight ever was a Thomas Cook to Tenerife. There simply was no leg room for me and I had to sit bolt upright for 4 hours with my knees pressing into the seat in front. My mate couldn't get his table down due to his fat belly it was so cramped