Thomas Cook becomes first holiday airline to offer online check-in

Passengers flying with Thomas Cook Airlines can now check in online and choose where they want to sit - but they will have to pay for the service.

Thomas Cook is charging passengers £6 per flight to select their seat online at www.thomascookairlines.co.uk/yourflight.asp. For an extra fee, starting at £23.50 per flight, they can also reserve a seat with extra legroom.

Passengers who buy Thomas Cook's Seats Together/Your Seat package when they book their holiday can check in online up to seven days before their flight.

For an extra £6 per person per flight they can log on to the website up to 98 flights before their flight and choose their seat. They then check in online up to seven days before the departure.

They will have to print out their own boarding passes and when they get to the airport, instead of going to a check-in desk, they will drop their bags at a designated point.

Thomas Cook Airlines claims to be the first charter airline to offer online check-in, though scheduled airlines, including British Airways (www.ba.com) and EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) have been offering it for some time - and they don't all charge a fee.

It's not possible to check in online for all Thomas Cook flights at the moment, though the airline said it was hoping to roll out the service across its network soon.

For the time being, only passengers flying from Gatwick, Stansted, Leeds/Bradford, Bristol, Belfast and Newcastle can use the online check-in.

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