Today, Thursday 22 April, Thomson Airways have recommenced operating outbound flights from the UK. Unfortunately, there are a number of cancellations and some flight today and tomorrow, Friday 23rd April, have had to be rescheduled. As the situation continues to evolve, customers are strongly advised to check this website before heading to the airport.

Please find below information on cancelled and rescheduled flights for Thursday 22 April and Friday 23 April:

At present, the following UK departures for Thursday 22 April have been cancelled:
TOM172 East Midlands – Goa
TOM2410 Manchester – Alicante
TOM4418 London Gatwick – Faro
TOM4446 London Gatwick – Alicante
TOM1410 Newcastle – Faro
TOM5420 London Stansted – Lanzarote
TOM2402 Manchester – Lanzarote
TOM4404 London Gatwick – Lanzarote

The following UK departures for Thursday 22 April have been rescheduled to a later time:
TOM6406 Bournemouth – Lanzarote Scheduled to depart at 10.10 will now depart at 17.35
TOM278 Cardiff – Sharm El Sheikh Scheduled to depart at 11.25 will now depart at 13.45
TOM7456 East Midlands – Lanzarote Scheduled to depart at 14.30 will now depart at 15.30
TOM586 Gatwick – Agadir (Morocco) Scheduled to depart at 14.35 will now depart at 22.55
TOM7418 Birmingham – Lanzarote Scheduled to depart at 15.30 will now depart at 17.00

The following UK departure for Thursday 22 April has been rescheduled to depart on Friday 23 April:
TOM642 Birmingham – Jamaica (Montego Bay) – now scheduled to depart at 09.15 (Friday)

All other UK outbound flights for Thursday 22 April not listed above are scheduled to operate as planned.

The following UK departures for Friday 23 April have been rescheduled to a later time:
TOM4510 London Gatwick – Palma Scheduled to depart at 06.40, will now depart at 14.15
TOM7548 East Midlands – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 10.00, will now depart at 15.30
TOM6510 Cardiff – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 10.30, will now depart at 22.55
TOM1538 Newcastle – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 11.00, will now depart at 22.55
TOM4514 London Gatwick – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 14.25, will now depart at 18.15
TOM1526 Glasgow to Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 14.55, will now depart at 15.55
TOM176 East Midlands – Sanford Scheduled to depart at 09.15, will now depart at 10.15
TOM196 Manchester – Cancun Scheduled to depart at 09.15, will now depart at 10.35
TOM068 London Gatwick – Cancun Scheduled to depart at 09.15, will now depart at 10.15
TOM1558 Glasgow – Malaga Scheduled to depart at 15.30, will now depart at 16.45
TOM6552 Bristol – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 14.20, will now depart at 15.50
TOM7556 Birmingham – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 14.30, will now depart at 16.30
All other UK outbound flights for Friday 23 April not listed above are scheduled to operate as planned.

Customers whose flights are cancelled between 15 and 22 April can:

* Amend their booking to an alternative holiday or flight without incurring normal administration fees. If the alternative holiday is cheaper than the original, then the difference in price will be refunded. If the alternative holiday is more expensive than the original, then the customer will be required to pay the difference.

* If we are unable to secure an alternative holiday, we will allow customers to cancel with a full refund without incurring normal administration fees.

Lynda Smith
Thomson Airways

Thomson Airways – Volcanic Ash Disruption – update 11.00, Wednesday 21 April 2010

Thomson Airways, the airline for Thomson and First Choice, welcomes the reopening of UK and European airspace by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last night. Now that the airline has been given approval from the authorities, it can commence a full repatriation programme of customers currently overseas and begin operating outbound flights.

Today, Wednesday 21 April our priority will be repatriating as many customers as possible and as a result, a significant number of inbound flights will be operating back to the UK. We expect it will take a number of days before this programme of repatriation is complete. Our teams are working round the clock to confirm this flight schedule. For details of your arrangements please contact your overseas representative or call the 24/7 Holiday Line on 0044 247 6282 228/649 or text 82345. Repatriation programmes currently taking place via alternative modes of transport will continue.

All outbound flights will still remain cancelled on Wednesday 21 April so the focus can remain on repatriating customers and repositioning aircraft as necessary.

On Thursday 22 April, Thomson Airways will recommence operating outbound flights from the UK. Unfortunately, there are a number of cancellations and some flights will have to be rescheduled. This continues to be a fast changing situation and customers are advised to check this website before heading to the airport.

At present, the following UK departures for Thursday 22nd April have been cancelled:

TOM 172 East Midlands – Goa

TOM2410 Manchester – Alicante

TOM4418 London Gatwick – Faro

TOM4446 London Gatwick – Alicante
TOM1410 Newcastle – Faro

TOM5420 London Stansted – Lanzarote

TOM2402 Manchester – Lanzarote

TOM4404 London Gatwick – Lanzarote

The following UK departures for Thursday 22nd April have been rescheduled to an earlier time:

TOM 2412 Manchester – Tenerife Scheduled to depart at 15.30 will now depart at 06.00

TOM 1444 Newcastle – Lanzarote Scheduled to depart at 15.55 will now depart at 08.00

All other UK outbound flights for Thursday 22 April not listed above are scheduled to operate however there may be changes, including further cancellations.

At this time the Friday outbound flying programme is as scheduled, however we recommend customers revisit here for more details.

Customers whose flights are cancelled between 15th and 22nd April can:

Amend their booking to an alternative holiday or flight without incurring normal administration fees. If the alternative holiday is cheaper than the original, then the difference in price will be refunded. If the alternative holiday is more expensive than the original, then the customer will be required to pay the difference.
If we are unable to secure an alternative holiday, we will allow customers to cancel with a full refund without incurring normal administration fees.

Thomson and First Choice customers who booked via our websites, retail shops or call centres can:

Visit their local Thomson or First Choice shop, where our retail staff will assist with any questions customers may have, and amend bookings in accordance to the terms and conditions outlined above. Please use the relevant links to access the Thomson and First Choice shop finders. Thomson First Choice
Call our dedicated customer helpline team on 0800 009 3833, which will be open from 08.00 – 20.00 daily.

Those customers that booked via a third party travel agency are advised to contact their booking agent directly. Customers who have booked a Portland holiday should call 0844 871 0873. Customers requiring general advice can contact our 24/7 flight delay line on 02476 282 501 or email [email]flight.information@thomson.co.uk[/email].

This Brings Great News
Lynda Smith
Thomson Airways

Thomson seem to be doing a lot to help their stranded customers. The cost of alternative travel and a hotels must be huge and is on top of their lost revenue from canceled flights. I dont know what other companies are doing but this a fantastic response to a problem that is obviously not caused by them. Lets hope they can afford it !

Ben
(I dont work for Thomson)

Thank you very Much Ben, I don’t wish to comment on any other Airline but our Main concerns are Safety and Stranded customers.

Lynda Smith
Thomson Airways

Following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, NATS (National Air Traffic Service) have confirmed that the cloud of volcanic dust is still within UK and European air space today (Monday, 19 April). Thomson Airways has been advised that British airspace remains closed until at least 01.00 (UK time) on Tuesday 20 April. This has resulted in significant disruption to our flying programme, and the airline has taken the decision to cancel all UK outbound flights due to operate up to and including Wednesday, 21 April.

We advise customers NOT to travel to their departure airport as this week’s Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday UK outbound flights are now cancelled.

Following the cancellation of outbound flights from the UK, the following policy has been put in place:

Customers whose flights were cancelled on the 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 April can:

o Amend their booking to an alternative holiday or flight without incurring normal administration fees. If the alternative holiday is cheaper than the original, then the difference in price will be refunded. If the alternative holiday is more expensive than the original, then the customer will be required to pay the difference.

o If we are unable to secure an alternative holiday, we will allow customers to cancel with a full refund without incurring normal administration fees.

Thomson Airways are using all the means at their disposal to assist those customers that were due to travel between 15 – 21 April with their revised travel arrangements. In particular, Thomson and First Choice customers who booked via our online websites, retail shops or call centres can:

o Visit their local Thomson or First Choice shop, where our retail staff will assist with any questions customers may have, and amend bookings as per the customers’ wishes in accordance to the terms and conditions outlined above.

o Call our dedicated customer helpline team on 0800 009 3833, which will be open from 08.00 – 20.00 daily.

Those customers that booked via a third party travel agency are advised to contact their booking agent directly. Customers who have booked a Portland holiday should call 0844 871 0873. Customers requiring general advice can contact our 24/7 flight delay line on 02476 282 501 or email [email]flight.information@thomson.co.uk[/email].

Customers due to travel on April 22 and beyond are advised to visit http://www.thomson.co.uk or http://www.firstchoice.co.uk where the latest travel information will be posted before travelling to their departure airport.

Thomson Airways would like to reassure all customers that we are doing everything we can to keep them informed and to get them on their holiday as soon as possible. Details of any further developments will be posted on our websites as soon as possible.

Repatriation of customers from overseas

Thomson is endeavouring to do everything possible to operate inbound flights into UK airports as a priority. However, it is restricted by the closure of air space currently in place which has resulted in extensive delays. As a major tour operator, we have an extensive network of customer service experts overseas who are there to assist customers whilst on holiday. In this instance, those affected are both package and flight-only customers. In accordance with our customer welfare measures, we have been offering appropriate assistance to all those customers that remain overseas as a result of these delays.

Thomson and First Choice have put in place a significant repatriation programme for customers currently in the Spanish resorts of Alicante and Malaga.

The repatriation programme will commence from today (Monday 19 April) and is as follows:

· Some of our customers in Alicante will travel via coach to Northern France where overnight accommodation will be provided. Customers will then travel via ferry on Tuesday 20 April back to the UK and onto their original UK departure airport.

· Additional customers in Malaga will travel via coach to Costa Brava where overnight accommodation will be provided. The coaches will continue on Tuesday morning to Northern France where customers will then travel via ferry on Wednesday 21 April back to the UK and onto their original UK departure airport.

A team of dedicated staff will wherever possible, accompany customers during their return journey to the UK to ensure they have the necessary support and assistance. In total, approximately 5,000 out of the 40,000 customers currently overseas as a result of the closure of UK airspace will benefit from this repatriation programme.

Thomson has also confirmed that its Island Cruises ship, Island Escape, currently in Funchal (Madeira) will bring all customers onboard directly back to the UK. Passengers onboard this ship had previously been scheduled to fly home to the UK, but will instead travel directly to Falmouth (Cornwall) on the ship with an arrival date of Friday, 23 April. Extra spaces onboard the ship, enabled over 300 non- cruise Thomson customers holidaying in Madeira and whose flights had been cancelled, to embark the ship and be repatriated back to the UK. From Falmouth, customers will then be transferred by coach back to their original UK departure airport.

Thomson Cruises will also be utilising it’s new Thomson Dream ship to transfer customers from Majorca to Barcelona from where their onward journey will be arranged.

Thomson and First Choice would like to reassure those who remain overseas, that everything possible is being done to get them home as soon as possible. The company is trying to source further coaches to repatriate more customers and as soon as these are confirmed, customers will be updated.

All our customers overseas are being accommodated in hotels, the majority on an all inclusive basis with the remaining on half board, and resort teams are working hard to keep them informed with the latest information.

Lynda Smith
Thomson Airways

Very sorry about posting in the wrong Forum, I am very New to these Site’s.

Thomson Aiways Would like to make Another Update….

Thomson Airways is endeavouring to do everything possible to operate inbound flights into UK airports as a priority. However, it is restricted by the closure of air space currently in place which has resulted in extensive delays. Should this situation change, we will post updates on our websites as soon as possible and Here. As a major tour operator, we have an extensive network of customer service experts overseas who are there to assist customers whilst on holiday. In this instance, those affected are both package and flight-only customers. In accordance with our customer welfare measures, we have been offering appropriate assistance to all those customers that remain overseas as a result of these delays.

Following the cancellation of outbound flights from the UK over the last four days, the following policy has been put in place:

Customers whose flights were cancelled on the 15, 16, 17 and 18 April can:

* Amend their booking to an alternative holiday or flight without incurring normal administration fees. If the alternative holiday is cheaper than the original, then the difference in price will be refunded. If the alternative holiday is more expensive than the original, then the customer will be required to pay the difference.

* If we are unable to secure an alternative holiday, we will allow customers to cancel with a full refund without incurring normal administration fees.

Customers due to travel on 19 April:

* At this time, no restrictions apply to those flights due to depart on Monday 19 April. However, those customers due to travel on this date may amend their booking to an alternative holiday or flight without incurring normal administration fees. If the alternative holiday is cheaper than the original, then the difference in price will be refunded. If the alternative holiday is more expensive than the original, then the customer will be required to pay the difference.

Thomson Airways are using all the means at their disposal to assist those customers that were due to travel between 15 – 19 April with their revised travel arrangements. Thomson and First Choice customers who booked via our online websites, retail shops or call centres can:

* Visit their local Thomson or First Choice shop, where our retail staff will assist with any questions customers may have and amend bookings as per the customers’ wishes in accordance to the terms and conditions outlined above. To further assist our customers, a number of shops that would normally be closed on Sunday April 18 will now be open.

* Call our dedicated customer helpline team on 0800 009 3833, which will be open from 08.00 – 20.00 daily.

Customers due to travel on April 19 and beyond are advised to visit http://www.thomson.co.uk or http://www.firstchoice.co.uk where the latest travel information will be posted before travelling to their departure airport.

Thomson Airways would like to reassure all customers that we are doing everything we can to keep them informed and to get them on their holiday or home as soon as possible. Details of any further developments will be posted on our websites and Here as soon as possible

Lynda Smith
Thomson Airways