T C Direct

**Homer** · 11-01-2006, 03:14

Anyone flown with these before

Had a quote for a flydrive 22/09/06 @ £1510 based on 2 adults +2 Kids + 7 seater @£1630

Seems good but not sure about TCD

Anyone got any thoughts

**dcnurse** · 11-01-2006, 04:59

You have heard the saying "you get what you pay for" this is certainly true with TCD. We are having a long battle with them at the moment regarding flights we booked for Nov. 05. Just over a week before we were due to travel they phoned to advise us that our flights had been cancelled[msnsad], however they were able to offer us alternative flights with Thomsonfly. As it was so close to our holiday date we said we would accept the flights but were not happy about the level of service being offered. When booking with TCD you get comp.meals, comp. drinks and comp headsets plus a seat pitch of 32", Thomsonfly offer none of the comps and only a 29" seat pitch. We therefore put it to TCD that they were not offering what we had originally paid for. Their answer was that they had carried out their obligation by offering alternative flights and that if we were not happy to write to customer services. This we did before we left for Florida, on our return no reply from TCD so we called and explained that we had no response to our letter of complaint. The reply was "your letter must have been lost in the post", we were then advised to E-Mail a letter of complaint which we did immediately. The reply received stated they were not prepared to consider any form of compensation as we had not made a complaint at the time of alteration and we had accepted the alternative flights. Our arguement is with only a few days to go before travel we had little or no time to make alternative arrangements and also no funds as a refund would not have arrived before our holiday.
The saga is still ongoing, after another letter to customer services with no outcome we have now drafted a letter to the chief executive of TCD a copy of which we will also be forwarded to ABTA[msnscared]
We await the outcome[msneek]

On top of this Thomsonfly then charged us $444 on our return excess baggage[msneek]

We would think very hard before booking with TCD again[msncry]

**SunLover** · 11-01-2006, 05:22

If you do a search for TCD at the top of this page, you will find there have been LOTS of previous threads about them

11-01-2006, 09:43

If you do a google search for Travel City Direct reviews you will find many, none very good I am afraid[msnscared] Here are a few..............

I thought I was just unlucky - I travelled with my wife and 2 daughters aged 13 & 8 from Manchester to Florida on the 19th of August. We checked in at "The Station" (when we eventually found it!) just before 07.30 for our 11.15 flight. We eventually left British soil just after 8pm - a delay of almost 9 hours. Like other people writing here, we didn't see or hear of anyone from Travel City Direct the whole time we were in the airport. I have since found out that after a delay of over 4 hours, passengers should, according to regulation (EC) 261/2004, be adequately cared for, be fully informed of their rights, given meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time and be offered 2 free phone calls amongst other things. The only thing from the above list that we received were a sandwich & bottle of water (twice). Has anybody else here complained about this to Travel City Direct and what was the outcome? Going to Florida, I think we ended up with the really old 747 already mentioned on this page. Returning on the 2nd of September, on a plane which appeared to be about 12 months younger than the other, we had a delay of only 45 minutes - bliss. All in all, if Travel City Direct continue to use Air Atlanta Europe, I would avoid them like the plague.

The 747-200s used for the Manchester Sandford are very old, shabby, poorly maintained and gives cause for safety. Nothing works. The overhead lockers dont shut, the air conditioning wont adjust, The inflight entertainment was broken. The lights wouldnt dim for night flight. The agency-hired flight crew apparently couldnt care less. I have just received a letter back from Air Atlanta Europes customer services, which is basically a standard letter of apology and doesnt address the points I raised. These planes should have been s[bad language filtered out]ped years ago. Travel City must realise this if they are going to renew their contract with Air Atlanta in 2006.

'If you like airports book Air Atlanta UK' That should be this airlines moto. I had reservations about their delays having read this website and so contacted both the Airline and Travel City Direct and was reasurred that all the delay problems were behind them and my flight from Manchester to Sandford on 20th August would be fine. How misleading they were, on arrival the check in staff handed out a letter stating 'due to technical difficulties our flight was delayed from 11:15 to 18:15' in truth it left at 18:40, this meant we arrived well after midnight U.S. time. Not great with two seven year old's. The return on the 3rd of September was also delayed for the same reason but this time it was for four hours. Suffice to say I will not book with Travel City or Air Atlanta UK again. I have travelled to the US on many occassions and also with Travel City before, my recommendation is avoid this airline and the travel company, I certainly will.

Just to add to the very long list below. We travelled to Sanford on 14/08/2005 (not 13/08/05 as promised) and found the service from start to finish appalling. Complete lack of information and duty of care from the faceless Travel City Direct. I too will be writing to Travel City Direct. My husband has telephoned Travel City today to be told that nobody could actually take his complaint over the phone - there was no-one there to talk to him! They took our money and left us in the lurch.

Manchester to Sanford - Saturday 13th August Arrived at check in at 7 o clock well in advance of our 11:15 departure. Got to check in and the member of staff told us the flight was on time and upgraded us to 1st class!! We couldn't believe our luck. We boarded plane half an hour late to find that there obviously was no such thing as first class and the plane was the same throughout. My friend next to me had water dripping on her lap from the roof, the assistant said it was the air conditioning and that it would stop once we h

**Macka** · 11-01-2006, 11:23

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by dcnurse
You have heard the saying "you get what you pay for" this is certainly true with TCD. We are having a long battle with them at the moment regarding flights we booked for Nov. 05. Just over a week before we were due to travel they phoned to advise us that our flights had been cancelled[msnsad], however they were able to offer us alternative flights with Thomsonfly. As it was so close to our holiday date we said we would accept the flights but were not happy about the level of service being offered. When booking with TCD you get comp.meals, comp. drinks and comp headsets plus a seat pitch of 32", Thomsonfly offer none of the comps and only a 29" seat pitch. We therefore put it to TCD that they were not offering what we had originally paid for. Their answer was that they had carried out their obligation by offering alternative flights and that if we were not happy to write to customer services. This we did before we left for Florida, on our return no reply from TCD so we called and explained that we had no response to our letter of complaint. The reply was "your letter must have been lost in the post", we were then advised to E-Mail a letter of complaint which we did immediately. The reply received stated they were not prepared to consider any form of compensation as we had not made a complaint at the time of alteration and we had accepted the alternative flights. Our arguement is with only a few days to go before travel we had little or no time to make alternative arrangements and also no funds as a refund would not have arrived before our holiday.
The saga is still ongoing, after another letter to customer services with no outcome we have now drafted a letter to the chief executive of TCD a copy of which we will also be forwarded to ABTA[msnscared]
We await the outcome[msneek]

On top of this Thomsonfly then charged us $444 on our return excess baggage[msneek]

We would think very hard before booking with TCD again[msncry]
[/quote]

Denise,

I've been here a few times and so have friends and family, that's why none of us use either charter or travel agents, however, Sue them through the small claims court. I've taken two travel agants through the small claims court and on both occasions they've settled to my satisfaction before it got there. Even if it does get to court, from your description you've got an open and shut case. County court Judges very, very very rarely find in favour of large corporates over individuals unless the claims are really tenuous or stupid (and I have that on a reliable authority[msnwink]. The small claims court is the best thing to happen for the consumer for ages. It'll cost you about 50 quid which you'll get back if you win, and it's a doddle to do. DM me if you want further information.

That goes for anyone else, use the consumer laws that are there to protect you, when enough people take action against poor service or products, the emphasis on good customer service will change.

**LiesaAnna** · 11-01-2006, 11:36

some good advice there Paul

**heathercobbett** · 11-01-2006, 11:56

Homer,is is really worth spoiling that happy anticipation you get in the lead up to a special holiday worrying about your flight?

Good luck with your fight,Denise

**Robert5988** · 11-01-2006, 12:59

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:The saga is still ongoing, after another letter to customer services with no outcome we have now drafted a letter to the chief executive of TCD a copy of which we will also be forwarded to ABTA
[/quote]

ABTA must have a huge file on this 'airline'(I use the term in its loosest possible connotation)

The firm are a disgrace!

**Macka** · 11-01-2006, 13:57

Yes apologies to those booked or considering booking with TCD, I'm sure it'll be value for money, however if I was going with someone and asked a question about what folk thought and no-one told me their bad experiences, and then I had a bad experience myself, then I'd be rather angry that no-one told me.

So if you don't want to any hear bad news, then you're better not to ask.