Thomas Cook - MAN - CCC - Premium

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Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499


Flight Route: MAN - CCC
Flight Time : 09:36
Class: C - Premium Economy - Thomas Cook Plus
Meal: Hot Meal, After Noon Tea
Other Services: Complimentary Drinks, Duty Free

Flight Number: TCX174K
Aircraft Type: A330-200
Registration: G-OJMB

Destination Airport: Jardines Del Rey, Cayo Coco, Ciego De Avilla

(First Of All, Im new to the images thing, if they are big or small please excuse me and im sure ill get it right for next time)

The trip started on a rather wet morning after a heavy thunderstorm, believe me it is not a good idea to not sleep before a long haul flight.

After a two hour crossing of the pennines we arrived at Manchester Airports Thomas Cook departures area, at the rather early time of 08:05. Plenty of time to check in, in a leaflet that should come with tickets for those booked in Thomas Cook Plus, (sometimes it doesn't), it advises asking at the customer services desk for the correct desk to approach for PLUS check in. At Manchester it is desk 1 which is easy enough.

About 4 days before I emailed pre flight services and requested specific seat numbers for the flight, which of course is free but its not guaranteed.

Arriving at check in desk one there was no one operating any of the desks, but someone soon appreared offering to open to PLUS check in straight away, sorry for the delay and I hope this has not affected your travel. (looking good so far, if im boring you, you can always stop reading)

I have drawn together a list of all the pre flight services you get by upgrading to premium, these go upto boarding the aircraft, and then whilst on board and so on.

Pre Flight Services Associated with Premium

- Priority Check In At Most Airports
- Thomas Cook Priority Baggage labels
- Different hand luggage tags
- Fast track security services is avaiable but we didn't use it.

After checking in within 2 minutes, I decided to try the food court before passport control. It was rubbish but the windows are excellent.

The first thing I noticed is the wind from the east so we must be taking off on either 06L/R. That's two years in a row that we have taken off on 06.

To get a good picture of the plane that I would be traveling on I went to the roof terrace on level 13.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/G-OJMB.JPG

G-OJMB preparing for departure to the gate

10:45 AM, boarding was announced at gate 24, double air bridge one for premium passengers to the front of the aircraft and the one to the middle door.

Thomas Cook Plus passengers were called for boarding at around 11:00, and I was sat in 01D, within 5 minutes. Watching the welcome onboard flash presentation on the TV that comes out of the arm.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/TV1-OJMB.JPG

TV used in all rows without seat in front

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/PREM.JPG

This was on the return flight but ill stick it in now, just in case people don't know what the cabin looks like. I asked the cabin crew kindly to be out of the shot, but some kind of dispatcher started hurrying my out so the image is a bit to one side. Sorry.

Just before I continue these are the labels you get.

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/hold.jpg

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/pluscabin.jpg

After boarding the plane, the seats were comfy, row one has more leg room than any other seats, it has 35" and 36" in some parts. On the seat was the amenity pack, a pillow, a blanket and a bottle of water. It was quite a hassle to handle all this at once but I managed,

http://www.voyagerwebsites.co.uk/trip/AMM.JPG

The amenity packs were excellent and has lots of bits and bobs in, including the headsets free of course

At around 11:55 we closed doors and started to push back, and then various members of the ground crew came from everywhere, back to the gate to let them off. The purser said very abruptly of the PA "Can all members of the ground crew please leave the aircraft immediately".

It was now a race against time to leave the gate on time, which we did with a few minutes to spare. As the cabin filled with the smell of jet fuel, the captain came over the PA explaining the route and that we would be using a runway that he was unfarmilair with. Our initial cruising altitude would be 35000ft, but later climbing to 40000ft.

We taxied to 06 (not sure which the one on 24R, so im guessing 06L). Past the aviation viewing park and onto the final taxi way to the runway, stopping for a moment to let a BY B763 to land, then spooling the engines for a rolling take off, whilst the BY B763 was still exiting the runway at the bottom. Someone actually asked if it was safe to take off with a plane at the end of the runway, which in fact wasn't at this time, it was on the taxi way.

After take off we routed above the penines heading for wallasy and Ireland. The captain explained that there would be slight turbulence for the next 5 - 10 minutes, which in fact turned into violent turbulence over Ireland and seemed to last around 1 hour, the altitude was consatly changing on the map channel.

It soon gets to the cruise, at this point there are various rumors going around, im not sure if its true or not, there were apparently in the words of the two people sitting behind "two sky marshals on board, one had been given an economy seat at the back of the aicraft and was happy with it, the other didn't have one, and had to sit on the front jump seat, the cabin crew seams friendly with him, the first officer even came out to have a natter". Its amazing what you get to hear on an aircraft.

First a complimentary drink service was served, later followed by the choice of oriental chicken or Spanish meatballs. Of the 45 Spanish meat balls they carried for the plus cabin, they only got rid of 2, what a waste.

Later in the afternoon a small cheese sandwich was served and again another complimentary drink service. Later followed by the duty free service.

We began our decent into Jardines Del Rey just over the Bermuda triangle, the pilot over the PA "we have just started our, TOPJET 174 kilo cleared decent to 14000ft" that's the last we heard from the flight deck.

BONG! Seat belts, but there was a que for the toilets and they refused to move until they had been, so the cabin crew had to stand with them.

The flight deck crew then did a few things wrong, the seat belts signs went off, the non smoking signs went off, the entertainment shut down and restarted. Then they all came back on, oddly enough when the seat belt signs went off, nearly everyone must haven taken them off, come on cant they recongnise its a mistake, when the Cayos are in site speed brakes went up and the wheels down early because the plane was too fast for landing.

It astounded me how many corrections have to be made during finals due to the strong winds they have there. For around 10 minutes were were gliding in the wind, spoilers up slightly and idle engines with gear down, and still going too fast due to the high winds, once he had turned onto the finals for the runway however the speed decreased by around 50mph in 2 seconds due to the change in direction against the wind for a short while.

Landing

The reverse thrust was put on full, just so we would come to a stop before the only taxi way to the newly built terminal, since MYT332 went. It rather large now and everything is upstairs.

Once we had pulled up we had to wait 10 minutes for the Monarch flight to depart to Gatwick Via Glasgow, due to it being 4 hours late. The doors were opened and the steam from the vents poured out, i took this time to look at the touch screen panel at the front of the aircraft were the temperature read 18`, so they were keeping it very cold onboard.

Thanks For Reading

Original post

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 1,098

Great report!! The pictures are a bit too big though!!

Member for

20 years 6 months

Posts: 113

Hi,
How did you find the A330 service? Did you enjoy every moment? (excuse the pun)

Thanks
Thomas Cook

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

Yes it was brilliant, they are very spacious onboard. Been on both the two aircraft reg though and i thought OJMC looked a bit newer inside

Member for

19 years 11 months

Posts: 313

Great report topjet!

I'd love to go on an A330.....

Member for

20 years 1 month

Posts: 1,098

So you did get OJMC on the inbound!! OJMC is newer though so might expect that!!

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 679

Great report + pics, Thomas Cook sound very good long-haul.

Flex 35 :cool:

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

yes i agree they are very good, but i expect they will be over taken by first choice next year

Member for

21 years

Posts: 4,209

Interesting report, however some of us are not IATA code experts, and I think even the best wouldn't know where CCC was, it would be a lot more interesting if people writing trip reports could tell us where they were actualy going to! (Not just picking on you topjet, it has been in others as well)

Member for

20 years 6 months

Posts: 113

Hi,
Your comment on FCA overtaking TCX next year may not be true should I let you in on something! PM to find out what.

Thanks
Thomas Cook

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

I have now added, Jardines Del Rey to my trip report as the destination

Member for

20 years 10 months

Posts: 9,401

Wow! You really outdid yourself with that report, fantastic work mate :)

Member for

19 years 10 months

Posts: 499

thank you very much