I recently flew on a chartered Thomas Cook flight having booked a package holiday with Manos, who are part of the Thomas Cook group. This was the first ocassion that I had flewn with them and I was left a little disappointed.

~Check-in~
We arrived very early at the airport due to the transfer times we had from our hotel that morning and check-in from Glasgow was very quick and easy. The check-in staff were friendly and supplied us with all the information required. On our flight home there was a number of check-in desks opened, however, the check-in process was slow and was a far cry from the experience in Glasgow. Whether this is down to Thomas Cook or not, I suppose that is debatable.

You have a 15kg baggage allowance as standard, but can pay to check-in 20kg. There is also a hand baggage allowance of 5kg per passenger. We were a little over with one of our checked-in bags and this wasn't a problem and we weren't charged which certainly wouldn't have been the case with one of the likes of easyJet or Ryanair.

~Aircraft and In Flight Service~
Our flight was approximately 3 and half hours from Glasgow to Zante, Greece. I am around 6ft tall, which I think is about average these days, and found that the leg room I had was pretty awful. This was probably the biggest disappointment about my experience with flying with Thomas Cook. My knees were touching the seat in front and I found myself quite cramped. In my opinion, I felt I had less leg room on this flight than on previous easyJet and Ryanair flights I have taken.

The overall standard and cleanliness of the plane was acceptable. Rubbish was collected fairly regularly and the toilets were clean throughout the flight, which is no mean feet when the plane is half full of people on 18 - 30's holiday. The seats were well kept, leather seats. However, I would say that I felt that the seats were quite narrow and I felt like I was going to elbow the lady sitting next to me.

The flight attendants were a bit of a mixed bag. Some were very attentive and others couldn't have looked more disinterested. It certainly was customer service at it's best.

~Overall~
I certainly won't be rushing to use Thomas Cook Airlines again. I would also seriously have to consider picking a different tour operator if I was going to be flying any greater distance. Either that or pay to upgrade to a seat with extra leg room.