Warning if you fly on Thomson

[Bold Seagull]

Sounds like another stealth tax to me. I wonder how much per year they make from such charges?

It's not really stealth, we all try to get the best bargain deal we can on the holiday we want. Airlines like Ryanair streamlined checking in, by making people decide whether they needed to check bags in, or just travel with hand luggage, and therefore the flight costs less.

I have 3 children who I have to pay full price for, and we've saved a lot of money on holidays travelling with only hand luggage, i.e. 5 x hand luggage bags is fine for us for a week away. Therefore a base price without checkin luggage, inflight meals etc. is ideal for us. If someone wants to take more, then fine by me they pay more.

 

[Normski1989]

I've flown with Thomson several times. Your hand and hold luggage weight allowances are stated clearly during the booking process and on the tickets. Not exactly their fault that you chose to ignore that information.

 

[Ernest]

Shouldn't this thread be titled too STUPID to check on my airlines website what the hand baggage restrictions are as it states quite clearly 5kg for hand baggage

 

[Rugrat]

This was on my E-Ticket from Thomson:

Luggage Allowance
Your luggage allowance, including any extra kilos you’ve already paid for, is printed on the flight ticket page. Please bear in mind no single item of luggage can top 23kg and anything over that must be packed in a separate bag. If you exceed your luggage allowance, you’ll be charged. You’re also allowed one piece of hand luggage. Size-wise, it should be 55cmx40cmx20cm or smaller and weigh no more than 5kg. If you’re on a Premier, Premier Families, Holiday Village, A la Carte, Sensimar/Couples, Platinum, Lakes & Mountains Platinum, Sensatori, Thomson Family Life/Thomson Family Resort, Falcon Premier or Cruise holiday, or have chosen a Premium upgrade for your longhaul flight with Thomson Airways your hand luggage allowance is boosted to 7kg. If you’re not flying with Thomson Airways your hand luggage is 5kg, regardless of the type of holiday you’ve booked.
If you’ve booked to take sports equipment with you, bulky items such as surf and windsurf boards won’t be allowed on our coach transfers, so we recommend you arrange a separate transfer. If you’re flying with Thomson Airways, and some other airlines, not only can you bring a pushchair but we also give under-2’s a free 10kg luggage allowance. It doesn’t need to be booked in advance- it’s automatically added to your tickets.

I found it on the ticket which I booked in March but I printed the boarding pass a couple of weeks ago and on that it has instructions re checked baggage, hand baggage, liquids, ID and on time departures. Against hand baggage it simply says "You are allowed to take one piece of hand baggage into the cabin with dimensions no greater than 55cm by 40cm by 20cm" No mention of weight but of course I recognise its in the T&C's and somewhere on the 15 pages of my eticket. Why not on the document that you are likely to refer to when preparing to travel and which contains every other bit of important info that you need?

Sounds like another stealth tax to me. I wonder how much per year they make from such charges?

Well they had a special desk set up for it and a decent queue of people at it

It might have been cheaper to throw the books away and buy more when through passport control but it does seem excessive.

You're right, I could have lobbed most of it away but the books alone wouldn't have done it. It's easier after the event than at 5.00 in the morning with a queue of people behind. Don't have scales here but I have to believe my case is 2-3 kg

Anyway for those on here thinking I should have been more careful I've travelled a huge amount in 30 years and never got 'caught' like this. Totally unexpected and my post was merely a warning to others using Thomson to be careful

 

[Hillian1]

I found it on the ticket which I booked in March but I printed the boarding pass a couple of weeks ago and on that it has instructions re checked baggage, hand baggage, liquids, ID and on time departures. Against hand baggage it simply says "You are allowed to take one piece of hand baggage into the cabin with dimensions no greater than 55cm by 40cm by 20cm" No mention of weight but of course I recognise its in the T&C's and somewhere on the 15 pages of my eticket. Why not on the document that you are likely to refer to when preparing to travel and which contains every other bit of important info that you need?
l

Ah, you did on-line check-in.

Never done that myself so not a clue what comes up on the boarding pass, it is a bit naughty I suppose.

Bu as I hate flying and find airports extremely stressful I am pretty anal about having all my ducks in a line so to avoid any further angst on my part.

 

[kentgully]

I got caught as well at Gatwick £48 for 2 hand luggage ... but coming back from Corfu no problem, actually they gave us seats with more leg room...... spoke to people on the flight who had hand luggage in excess of 5k and reckon if you check in online there's no problem

 

[lost in london]

Just reading the Ryanair thread I'm wondering if Thomson will become the new pariah of the skies if Ryanair crash and burn

Blissfully unaware that Thomson have a hand baggage weight limit of a measly 5kg (everyone else I've flown with is either 10kg or no weight restriction, plus their boarding pass only talks about dimensions which we were within) we turned up yesterday for a flight to Tenerife and were ordered to weigh our hand baggage. One was 9kg and the other 7kg. After much pleading/negotiating/arguing the nasty lady (and she really was) forced us to pay £120 excess baggage payment. They have a special desk set up for these payments and we joined a queue of many very disgruntled passengers

Just a warning for anyone planning on flying Thomson

Note 1) Yes I have sent a written complaint 2) It only occurred to me after that we could have transferred 2kg from one case and checked it in 3) How much does an empty carry on case weigh? 4) the fella sat in front of me must have weighed 35kg more than me, maybe he should have been hit with a £700 excess?

I've got a lot of sympathy for you - I booked last minute flights via edreams for a Thomson flight (who in turn used Norwegian Air) assuming we would have the normal 15kg hand baggage allowance. With it being a beach holiday with two kids who can manage bags I didn't bother with hold bags. Only by pure luck did I discover that the hand luggage allowance is 5kg the day before (I think when double checking the dimensions allowed), just enough time to get two hold bags booked.

There was nothing on any of my confirmation emails to tell me that Thomson has such a low limit for hand luggage.