Thomson Airways scraps oxygen charges

Thomson Airways has announced that it is removing all charges for supplementary therapeutic oxygen and relaxing its policy on customers bringing their own supplementary oxygen onboard its flights.

The airline has listened to feedback from customers and disability groups who felt that these charges were unfair on those that required supplementary oxygen treatment to travel by air.

Unlike many other airlines, Thomson customers requiring supplementary oxygen can now either:

• Pre-book the use of a nasal cannula therapeutic oxygen supply onboard all flights free of charge; or
• Bring their own oxygen supplies for use during the flight, subject to meeting certain conditions and gaining prior approval; or
• Bring their own portable oxygen concentrators, provided it meets certain safety requirements.

Thomson Airways had previously charged for the supply of oxygen onboard its flights since 1 May 2009. These charges were purely used to cover the operational cost of providing and refilling the oxygen cylinders used, and for helping to recover the initial investment that was required to upgrade its fleet to provide this service. The airline has never profited from providing supplementary oxygen.

The removal of these charges will apply immediately to all bookings from 17 August 2009 onwards.

Carl Gissing, Director of Customer Services for Thomson Airways, commented: “I am delighted that we have been able to scrap these charges following feedback from our customers. We urge other airlines to follow suit and remove these charges to ensure that everyone has equal access to air travel”.