Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

Thanks Magpie, my daughter was the lead person and I think she has put in a claim this a.m. with Thomson/First Choice.
Will try her later to see what she's actually done, she will send me flight info so I could input that.
I quickly skimmed through Vaubin's guide but will have a closer look and pass any relevant info onto her.

Justice13075 wrote: »

The delay you had leaving Antalya for Manchester means diddly squat, it is the length of the delay when the doors are opened in Manchester. If they made up 2 3/4 hours you wont have a claim. Don't be Sarky people are trying to help you and your claim is against Freebird the airline not Thomson.

Why would the claim definitely be against Freebird? If the aircraft was "wet leased" (where an airline buys in a plane and crew to help deliver their scheduled commitments) then the liability remains with the original airline.

SallySunshine wrote: »

Claim put into Freebird, reply came back today.
Guess what?
Due to a a bird strike occurring to another of their planes which was the flight before ours which was grounded as it needed to be checked by Technical department.

The message was a bit sloppy but in other words HARD LUCK, act of God etc.

This did not happen to your flight but a previous flight - Read Vauban's guide & refer to the Finnair judgement;

"Articles 2(j) and 4(3) of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that the occurrence of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ resulting in an air carrier rescheduling flights after those circumstances arose cannot give grounds for denying boarding on those later flights or for exempting that carrier from its obligation, under Article 4(3) of that regulation, to compensate a passenger to whom it denies boarding on such a flight."

To put it simply, airlines can't use an 'extra-ordinary circumstance' event that happened on a previous flight as a valid reason for later flights being delayed.

Send them NBA & take it from there (reference Vauban's guide again).

The best way is to send an NBA to Thomson and include with it a request that they confirm (or not as the case may be) that, subject to liability they would be the correct Defendant. If they say no, you should send an NBA to Freebird asking the same question and sending them a copy of Thomson's reply. If both deny being the correct Defendant or if they fail to respond you should tell them that you will have to sue them both.
This may seem a bit long winded but you will be able to prove to the Judge that you acted reasonably in suing both.

DavidChalmers wrote: »

I have a Nile river cruise booked with Saga and we were to be flown by Thomson to Luxor on Wednesday 4th October. Thomson have now cancelled the flight. Saga switched my flight from Gatwick to Heathrow. So flight out was an earlier day and flight back was an early flight on the final day. I assumed Saga would refund the cost of travel and accommodation I had spent on the flight going from Gatwick. After all my contract was with them not Thomson. They said they were not liable because they had not cancelled the flight but have given a partial refund as a goodwill gesture. Surely if they are not liable Thomson is. If they are how would one go about claiming these costs. It seems to me wrong that Saga can duck what, to most people, would be their responsibility.

Hi David,

If I understand correctly the whole trip was booked with SAGA, but also this is a planned trip, not one that hasn't already occurred.

The majority of posts on this forum are relating to claiming statutory compensation following a delay or cancellation to a flight already taken (or cancelled).

If your whole trip was booked with SAGA & they decided to sub-let the flights to Thompson, they probably have a clause in their booking conditions (as the airlines do) that allows them to amend flight times providing they give you a certain period of notice. SAGA are still responsible for transporting you from the airport to the boat & back again on the return, so if the flight out has been moved to an earlier day, I would expect SAGA to arrange transfers & accommodation on arrival in Luxor until such time that the boat is ready to board. Also on the return SAGA will be responsible for ensuring you get to the airport on time after disembarking the boat. If you don't believe there is enough time raise your concerns with them before-hand.

However, if you booked your UK travel & accommodation for the Gatwick flight independently, SAGA's liability begins & ends at the airport with the outbound & return flights, so you can't hold them responsible because you decided to pre-book these services.

You don't say what the partial refund was made for, but assuming it was for the loss of time on your final day, depending on the amount they have offered it sounds to me like they're being reasonable, but could possibly be more helpful.