Thomas Cook's short-haul flights offer a basic 28-inch seat pitch, which will be a tight squeeze for some. It makes a distinction between flights under three hours, which are classed as short-haul, and those of three to seven hours, which are called medium-haul.

Mid-haul flights include Turkey, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Morocco, Egypt, Gambia, Malta, Bulgaria and Tunisia, Greece and the Greek Islands.

Some medium-haul flights are on Thomas Cook's Boeing 767s. These are wide-body aircraft designed for long distances, but Thomas Cook crams 326 seats onto them, meaning that the seat pitch is only 29 inches - only an inch more than on its short-haul aircraft.

Like all charter airlines, Thomas Cook makes you pay for things that used to be free. Expect to fork out for food and alcohol unless your tour operator has advised you otherwise.

On most short and medium-haul flights, Thomas Cook has now dispensed with the overhead entertainment screens for which it used to charge £5 for headphones. It says that only 10% of passengers used the system and has now switched to PlayStation Portables which offer eight films and seven TV programmes. PSPs cost £7.50 per person. A "splitter", which allows two people to use one PSP, is another £5.

Seat reservations also cost extra. Ensuring you can sit together on a short or medium-haul flight will cost a family of four a hefty £60 on top of the return ticket price.

If you bought through a tour operator and want to choose your actual seat, the cost will be decided by the operator.

If you want an exit seat - the only option for extra legroom - that will cost an extra £35 return on your basic short-haul fare or £60 return medium-haul. All reservations must be made three days before departure.

Checking in a bag of up to 20kg costs an extra £12 each.

To check fares visit book.flythomascook.com