THOMSONs - Please don't anyone downgrade if asked to do so!!

AlfiestheCat

Im having an extremely hard time with Thomsons Airline (TUI). On our recent flight back from Florida myself and my partner were asked to downgrade to economy to accomodate a family of three (including one child) to enable them to sit together. There were enough seats in the cabin for everyone but due to poor planning from Thomsons the family was unable to sit together. We originally said no to the downgrade but the cabin crew were persistent and asked us to look at the seats in economy. We were told that we would get a "full refund" and we agreed on this basis.
On return home, we have been refunded only a fraction of the cost of a one way premium upgrade each. We paid £398 additional for the two of us to travel in Premium Economy (round trip). They have deducted £65.00 of that in tax. We have received £134.00 in total from Thomsons for downgrading at their request on the return leg of the journey. At no time was we ever told on the flight that tax would be deducted and, indeed, if we had known we would never have agreed to downgrade.
The words the cabin crew said to us were "full refund".
After two complaint letters to Thomsons they have failed to answer any of many questions raised by us in correspondence. They have said that they are not going to refund any more and that is the end of the matter.
Furthermore, they have provided no explanation as to why the EC regulations do not apply in this case (I queried whether it was an involuntary class change as I found the regulations online). They have provided no explanation as to what a "full refund" is. Thomsons have not offered any explanation as to why the situation arose or why it was not resolved before boarding. They have not told us why we were asked to downgrade and not anyone else.
Myself and my partner downgraded as a matter of goodwill and now we have been totally disregarded by Thomson.

Now, I am a member of a very large and well known disney forum. I posted my plight on the forum and I have obtained a massive amount of support from the community. My post has been viewed by over 8,000 members of the forum and has over 200 responses from members. As another resort I posted my disgust at the total lack of customer care from Thomsons on the Thomson Holidays facebook page. I have had a staggering response of over 135 comments all expressing their agreement with me and the fact that we should at least get what was promised on that flight that day. Thomsons replies to my complaint on the facebook page have caused outrage.
Despite all of this Thomsons are still washing their hands of the situation.
I would just like to get what we were promised.


I am just posting this to draw attention to the awful treatment that we have received from Thomsons. They are happy to take your money but are unwilling to give it back when they are in the wrong!

Obviously_the_best

As much as I like Thomson airways, I have to say Thomson, if you are reading, that this is absolutely disgraceful, so either deal with your cabin crew, and I don't mean 'retraining', or issue a refund, at least keep the tiniest bit of you pride!!!

And AlfiestheCat, I hope this is on ReviewCentre, Ciao!, TrustPilot etc.

Westin

At the risk of being Mr.Unpopular, and just giving my opinion, whilst I think it commendable that you kindly agreed to move seats to accommodate a family, the refund of £134 is i feel correct.

The offer to refund in full surely meant and referred to the flight you we just about to take and would not get the benefit from.

You presumably received the upgrade outbound to Florida. The APD taxes ex UK are terribly high. That flight sector would have been the most expensive part of the round trip Premium cabin experience. If you received this upgrade out to Florida are you not happy to pay for it?

I hope the cabin crew made up for your disappointment on the return flight. Perhaps a couple of free drinks. I can understand your disappointment. Again commend you on helping the family out ( assume they didn't pay to reserve seats) but perhaps the offer of a "full refund" was mis-understood or mis-communicated as I feel the crew would only be making the refund offer on the basis of the flight you were on.

Probably not the feedback you wanted to hear and just my view. Hope this experience didn't spoil your holiday in Florida.

P.S. - no, I don't work for Thomson, just making an observation.

callum9999

Centipede100 wrote: »

I am going to disagree with you for the simple reason that I don't believe the OP paid only for the Premium upgrade both ways but the basic fare too.

Reg 261/2004 states that in the event of downgrading the passenger is entitled to reimbursement of 75% of the price of the ticket (since it is a flight between Florida and the UK).

Now the OP alone will know what the cost of the Florida-UK leg was so it is down to the OP as to what they do next, if anything. They do have a legitimate claim to 75% reimbursement of the downgraded leg which will be more than £134 currently paid to date.

Even if you volunteer to move? (Which isn't quite what happened, but it certainly wasn't compulsory)

Bob_the_Saver

Rule 1.

Put your bum on the seat you paid for and stay there, not your problem.

Why should you have the hassle because others couldn't be ar*ed to get organised.
S*d em (at the risk of becoming Mr Unpopular #2) again!!

mynameistallulah

I agree that the communication has been poor, but I do wonder if they are right. Flights ex UK are more expensive due to the APD, so you may not get half back. Two points that it would be helpful to clarify:

* Does your original booking state how much you paid in Air Passenger Duty? This will clarify whether it is a true downgrade or not.
* Does the website give the cost of upgrades on a single sector basis (if you only book one way does it cost half)?

I am with Bob the Saver on this - once you are in your seat, don't move for anyone! I can't see why they couldn't have shuffled people about in economy.

AlfiestheCat

Thanks for your input.

I was aware of those regulations but could not get advice on whether this applied to me! I queried these regulations with Thomson who told me that the downgrade was not a "class change".

I would really love to know if the Regulations apply to me and then I will definately take the matter further.

£134.00 is a downright insult!!

mynameistallulah

Centipede100 wrote: »

They do indeed apply. And Thomsons would say that, wouldn't they?!!

We can't actually be sure of that, hence my questions above.

AlfiestheCat

mynameistallulah wrote: »

I agree that the communication has been poor, but I do wonder if they are right. Flights ex UK are more expensive due to the APD, so you may not get half back. Two points that it would be helpful to clarify:

* Does your original booking state how much you paid in Air Passenger Duty? This will clarify whether it is a true downgrade or not.
* Does the website give the cost of upgrades on a single sector basis (if you only book one way does it cost half)?

I am with Bob the Saver on this - once you are in your seat, don't move for anyone! I can't see why they couldn't have shuffled people about in economy.

1. The booking says Fare £1138.48 (that's for 4 people), "Taxes and Charges £457.44", "Premium Seats £796.00)"

2. No, theres only one price and thats for the whole journey.

mynameistallulah

OK, I have done a dummy booking and you paid £65 (each) for APD. This means that you were not downgraded per se, their premium economy is not a premium cabin. This is supported by the website offering a "premium seat" during the booking process, i.e. a premium seat within the economy cabin.

I certainly agree that you are due the £65 back. The tax you paid was part of the base fare, you had already paid that. You are not due compensation for a "downgrade" for the reasons stated above.

AlfiestheCat

Ok thanks for clearing that up. Sneaky arent they? It was definately a different cabin. It was separated by a curtain, different legroom etc, should have known there would be a loophole for them to jump through!

I read this about APD on HMRC website and cant understand how they can get away with it.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000505&propertyType=document