BananaBoY From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 1558 posts, RR: 25 Posted (6 years 11 months 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 6328 times:
According to Travel Weekly, due to print on Monday....
"Thomson will revamp its long-haul fleet to offer extra legroom in economy for summer 2007. It will remove 30 seats from Thomsonfly's Boeing 767's taking seat pitch from 30 to 33 inches on all routes in the operator's Faraway Shores and Florida programmes, out next week. A Premium seat with a 37-inch pitch will be available from an additional £129 return."
No mention of what other (if any) enhancements they will make to the cabin.
Mark
All my life, I've been kissing, your top lip 'cause your bottom one's missing
BALboy From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2000, 142 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (6 years 11 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 6247 times:
The new cabins for the 763 will begin to be installed in feb2007, for official launch in May 2007
Features are... 33 or 34" in economy and 37 or 38" in premium, not sure which measurment is correct yet.
Economy seats are brand new, leather, featuring a 7" PTV with touch screen controls. Option to upgrade to AVOD and headsets are provided free of charge. Economy renamed ThomsonFly PLUS.
Premium... Blue leather armchair style seating with 9" AVOD PTV.
Don't know if the overhead bins and panels are being replaced like on the 762's yet, but a bit of mood lighting is a possibility.
Also a team of cabin crew are in meetings at the moment to discuss a brand new cabin service.
Ardian From Netherlands, joined Oct 2000, 517 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 years 11 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 6215 times:
Great move from Thomsonfly. Hopefully it will be a standard for charter carriers: First Choice was probably one of the first with a great inflight service for a charter carrier. Hopefully Martinair (for the Dutch holidaymakers) will follow; their inflight product is normal, but a bit dated in my opinion.
Bananaboy From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 1558 posts, RR: 25 Reply 5, posted (6 years 11 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 6156 times:
Quoting A340600 (Reply 4): Quoting Richardw (Reply 3):
Will the seating be 2-4-2 or 2-3-2?
Exactly my question, as if they don't FCA will still have an advantage,
Sam
I would guess that they are keeping 2-4-2, given the number of seats they say they are removing. FC website says they took out more than 50 from their 767's.
Mark
All my life, I've been kissing, your top lip 'cause your bottom one's missing
LTBEWR From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12365 posts, RR: 12 Reply 8, posted (6 years 11 months 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 6075 times:
Competition is good sometimes as in this case. Sure you can sell a seat cheap, but if previous flyers complain about the lack of room, you may lose customers. It may also reduce risks of DVT as well as with all the luggage tourists take with them the gross weight of the a/c, saving fuel.
Captaingomes From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 6413 posts, RR: 58 Reply 9, posted (6 years 11 months 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 5973 times:
How wide are the seats in a 767 in 2-4-2 versus 2-3-2, and how does that compare to a 757? I'll take 34" of legroom and 2-4-2 as opposed to a 1" wider seat and 29" of pitch.
I do like this trend though, I flew on TCX 757 with 34" pitch and it was truly great. I will go out of my way to get legroom like that again, over anything else, price of course being the main factor.
"it's kind of like an Airbus, it's an engineering marvel, but there's no sense of passion" -- J. Clarkson re: Coxster
Highpeaklad From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 538 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (6 years 11 months 5 days ago) and read 5892 times:
Quoting Captaingomes (Reply 9): I'll take 34" of legroom and 2-4-2 as opposed to a 1" wider seat and 29" of pitch.
I agree. I flew ATA MAN-MCO a few years ago and was dreading a charter flight. When I got on board I was pleasantly surprised. OK , it was 10 abreast, but the leg-room felt about 33" certainly plenty of room. We also stopped at Gander on the way to refuel, it was just like being on a school trip, they said get off, stretch your legs, get some ice cream and we'll see you back here in 45 minutes. Best charter flight yet, so I'm all for more leg room!
Chris
Don't try to keep up with the Joneses - bring them down to your level !
Widths are the width of the seat cushion an do not include the arm-rest (2")
If Thomsonfly are only removing 30 seats it sounds as if the 2-4-2 economy layout is staying, but at the end of the day it all comes down to economics - First Choice could only afford to do what they did due to the financial deals negotiated with the leasing companies, Panasonic (launch customer for the full version of eFx) and Boeing (tied in with the 787 order)
The Thomson reconfiguration is likely to be a combination of a competitive one, as well as a practical one - with 318 (occupied) seats the 767-300 is very heavy, add to that the weight of the IFE system (approx 1400kg for 318 seats) and there are potentail performance and range penalties on the long-haul routes these aircraft are used on. The move to a low-density layout will address both competitive and performance issues...
The 8 abreast layout on the 767 is narrow, but having sat in the seats it is bearable - what gets me every time on long-haul is pitch (or lack of) which is why I'd go for a 10-abreast Emirates 777 at 34" pitch over a 9 abreast BA 777 at 31" pitch, regardless of how much the airliners.net "experts" whine about the Emirates aircraft.
I'm sure Thomsonfly will install the enhanced interior on the 767-300 fleet when they make the changes, it would seem odd to be spending all that money (and down-time) on the aircraft and not update the look of the cabin to bring it into line with the 767-200 and 757 fleets.
While First Choice Airways' configuration and entertainment package is still superior in my opinion, Thomsonfly's new product seems to bring them firmly into second place - their only obvious disadvantages are economy seat width and a more basic IFE product (touch-screen IFE means you can't offer games etc)
Monarch, MyTravel and Thomas Cook all offer inferior legroom and only very basic seat-back IFE, or overhead screens.
Just shows how the product cycle works...
A few years back Air 2000 and Britannia (remember them?!) were being panned for their outdated 767s, while Airtours and JMC were praised for their new A330s. After a bit of an interior re-work (and some name changes) the situations are more or less reversed!
Captaingomes From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 6413 posts, RR: 58 Reply 13, posted (6 years 11 months 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 5809 times:
Crosswind, that's excellent information, as usual. There really is a big difference between the 7 and 8 abreast seats on the 767. How about wide-body Airbus 8 versus 9 abreast?
It is nice to see the updates that are being done with British charter airlines, I just hope it trickles down to the Canadian ones as well.
"it's kind of like an Airbus, it's an engineering marvel, but there's no sense of passion" -- J. Clarkson re: Coxster
BananaBoY From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 1558 posts, RR: 25 Reply 14, posted (6 years 11 months 14 hours ago) and read 5639 times:
Quoting Crosswind (Reply 12): While First Choice Airways' configuration and entertainment package is still superior in my opinion, Thomsonfly's new product seems to bring them firmly into second place - their only obvious disadvantages are economy seat width and a more basic IFE product (touch-screen IFE means you can't offer games etc)
Destinations From United Kingdom, joined May 2006, 194 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (6 years 10 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 5431 times:
Quoting Crosswind (Reply 12): While First Choice Airways' configuration and entertainment package is still superior in my opinion
Apart from the fact it keeps crashing that is, oh and the skymap doesnt work on two planes and has just broken on a third. You can tell FCA was the launch customer.
And G-OOAN has a poor premium cabin config.
Ill let everyone know what happened on my recent flights soon.
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 1558 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Oct 2000, 517 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12365 posts, 
From Canada, joined Feb 2001, 6413 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
