Terms and conditions
Online check-in
You can check in online 72 hours before your flight. Once you check in you’ll automatically be allocated your seats on the plane, on a first come, first served basis. If you have booked a return trip you will check in for the return leg of your journey separately to your outbound flight. This will also be available 72 hours before departure.
If you buy Select Your Seat, you will be able to select your seats 90 days before your return flight. If you have bought an upgraded seating product, like Extra Space Seats, Extra Legroom Seats or Premium Seats, you’ll be able to select your seats as soon as you have booked. You can choose your seat numbers using a digital plan of the aircraft.
As part of the online check-in process, you’ll be asked to confirm that you understand the restrictions on carrying dangerous goods in your hold luggage or hand luggage. Please ensure you check this information carefully.
To complete online check-in, you must print boarding passes for yourself and all of the other passengers on your booking. If you have made your booking through a TUI or First Choice website, call centre or travel shop, you can visit any TUI Travel Shop if you need help checking in online, or if you want our travel shops to print your boarding cards for you.
For holidays to the USA, Cuba, Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica, your boarding passes can’t be printed at home. You’ll need to print your ‘confirmation of check in’ document instead. You can exchange this for your boarding card at the airport check-in desk.
Online check-in closes three hours before the scheduled departure time for flights leaving the UK and Republic of Ireland. Online check-in closes six hours before your inbound flight to the UK or the Republic of Ireland.
If you have any difficulty completing the final stage of the online check-in process and have booked via a TUI or First Choice website, call centre or travel shop, you can visit a TUI travel shop for help. Alternatively, you can go to the TUI Airways bag drop desk at the airport to check in and obtain your boarding cards at no additional charge.
If you wish to make any changes to your booking once you have checked in online, such as modifications to names, dates, or flights, please contact us via the same channel you used to make your original booking. You may need to repeat the online check-in process and re-print your boarding cards.
You’ll need to show your boarding pass with your passport at the airport before boarding. Each boarding pass must be on an individual A4 page with no rips or tears, which must be clearly printed so that the barcodes can be easily scanned. You can also download your boarding pass to your mobile phone if this is supported. Your boarding pass is an official security document, so please keep it safe until you’ve arrived at your destination. Any unclear, faded or blurry boarding passes won’t be accepted. We reserve the right to deny boarding and cancel your reservation if you don’t have the required documentation. If you lose, forget or damage your boarding pass at any point prior to departure, you’ll need to visit a TUI Airways bag drop desk to get a replacement.
If you choose not to check in online, or if you haven’t printed your boarding pass correctly, you’ll need to visit a TUI Airways check-in desk when you arrive at the airport to get your boarding pass.
If you only have hand luggage and have checked in online, please go through security to departures. If you have hold baggage, please go to the TUI Airways bag drop desks to drop off your baggage. When flying from the UK and the Republic of Ireland, bag drop desks are usually open two to three hours before your scheduled departure time. If you’re taking a long-haul flight – usually a flight over seven hours – please drop your bags at the airport three hours before your flight is due to leave. Please be aware that bag drop desks usually close 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. If you haven’t dropped your baggage and completed all formalities before this deadline, like paying any applicable fees, your reservation may be cancelled and you may be refused boarding onto the aircraft. Please make sure you arrive with plenty of time to spare.
Please allow yourself plenty of time to get through security and walk to your departure gate, which may be some distance from the TUI Airways bag drop desks. Passengers who arrive at the gate later than 30 minutes prior to the scheduled time of departure won’t be accepted for travel and will forfeit their seats. For travel on a later flight, you’ll be required to make and pay for a new reservation.
Select Your Seat
If you book your holiday or flight less than 72 hours prior to departure and you’d like to add our Select Your Seat service, you’ll need to do this via the contact centre, after you’ve made your booking.
Seats are assigned separately for outbound and inbound flights, and you’ll need to make each seat reservation by looking at a digital aircraft seat plan for your flight. Remember to make sure seats are assigned for each leg of your journey. Please note, if you leave empty seats between the ones you’ve chosen, or you leave a single window seat unoccupied, we won’t be able to confirm your seating request and you will be asked to re-select.
If you make any special requests at the time of booking and then go on to amend your holiday, like changing the date of the flight and adding or removing passengers, you must let us know of any special requests again after you have made any amendments. For operational reasons, including in the event of any flight disruption, delays or cancellations, TUI Airways reserves the right to change the aircraft type we operate. Due to differences in seat configurations across our fleet, the seat selections made can’t be guaranteed, and actual seat numbers may have to be reallocated. In these circumstances, we’ll make every effort to place passengers in the same or similar seats to those selected, however this may not always be possible.
We’ll attempt to accommodate your party together wherever possible, although this can’t be guaranteed. Seats together means seats that are alongside each other, immediately in front and behind each other. Parties may be separated by an aisle.
A refund will only be offered if we can’t seat your group together and in a similar position to your original request. Please keep a copy of your confirmation documents and boarding cards.
In these circumstances, it’s normal procedure for a full refund to be issued on your return to the UK, after writing to our customer services team with copies of your boarding card. If you have any queries, please return to the point of booking.
Customers wishing to enter into any correspondence should write to:
TUI Airways
After Travel Customer Support
Wigmore House
Wigmore Lane
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU2 9TN
Or call us on 0203 451 2688
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