Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomas Cook ONLY

21yrold

We were due to travel back from Antalya Airport in Turkey on Sunday 30th October 2011 at 21:25, The flight was delayed for 5.5 hours so we are entitled to a full refund and compensation as stated by the Court of Justice of the European Union

As the flight was delayed and a plane was called from the UK to Turkey my partner had to have the day off work (proof of this is available if needed), She was due in work at 7am which was more than enough time when the arrival time in Bristol was 12am on the 31st.

We also had to pay for the departure lounge as all the seats were taken down in the terminal, aswell as being wooden chairs which we would have had to sit on for 7hours.


I look forward to your response and will answer any questions you need answered.

This was what i sent to TC on the 30th december.

I've had this reply today:

I am writing in response to your letter regarding your recent travel arrangements with Thomas Cook.

It is with regret that I note your flight with us was delayed. Whilst delays are an accepted part of air travel, I would like to assure you that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure that any disruption to our passengers is kept to an absolute minimum.

When a delay is initially identified, it is not always immediately apparent as to when a revised take off time can be secured. A number of factors have to be considered, which can vary dependent on the reason for the delay, and quite often we are reliant on outside influences, such as Airport Authorities or Air Traffic Control. Throughout, however, as soon as confirmed information is available, this is passed onto our customers as quickly as possible through our handling agents at the airport.

Although delays are rare, they can arise for a number of different reasons, and having carried out a full investigation the specific circumstances surrounding the delay to your own flight were extraordinary, despite Thomas Cook taking all reasonable precautions necessary to prevent the situation. I can see that customers were provided with welfare during the delay, in line with our obligations under EU Regulation 261/2004. As the events were defined as “extraordinary” no payment of compensation is considered appropriate in this case.

Please be assured that on-time performance is a key measure for us as a business, and we constantly review our operations to ensure we deliver the best results, and service. I would like to offer our apologies for any inconvenience you were caused on this occasion and I hope that despite this, your stay was found to be an enjoyable one.




How do i reply to them with a notice before action? do i literally just reply saying give me a explanation or i will take this to court if i haven't had a reply in 14days then i will start court proceedings via MOL?

Sorry if you've repeated it 1000 times i've looked on the 1st page but still not 100% sure.

Thanks

Hulmie

I have received a standard response from TC stating that our 11 hour delay was down to a technical Fualt which is classed as an extraordinary circumstance, there staff did everything possible and the fault was unforesson.

I did receive a payment for the bad accommodation we received whilst on holiday and the lack of accommodation we were provided during the delay. But am i right in thinking the claim for the flight delay is seperate to this.

Do i now go back to them stating that a technical fault is not classed at an extraordinary circumstance under the ECJ ruling and therefore they have 14 days to review my case and responed?

All help would be much appreciated

staylor1982

gailscotland wrote: »

I also have a child who is disabled (Autism, just diagnosed), What is the family fund and how do i go about accessing it? Sorry, know this is not directly related to Thomas Cook delay. On that subject though, I emailed them and asked to see the incident log regarding my delay for confirmation of bird strike and also questioning why it took them over 8 hrs to get replacement plane. Will update on that when get reply.

Hi there, I am sorry for the long delay in getting back to you, I have had Internet problems.

Family fund is a registerd charity who help family's on a low income to a yearly grant for things such as family holidays, white goods for the kitchen, bedroom furniture and days out and even trips to and from hospital.
Please take a look at this website by going onto google and typing family fund
It will tell you everything you need to know and what you can apply for. If you want a application form then email them your address etc and they will send you a form out.
Please also note that it can take up to 2 months for new applicants wanting grants.

badbobby

TC have returned their questionnaire, as have I, so we're off to court.

I will have to prepare my bundle, as will they, but I wonder if I can have some advice.

They have given insufficient detail of the ECs on which they are relying. If I do nothing and just prepare my bundle, then they may well provide full details in their bundle leaving me with no time to prepare anything to counter their arguments.

Should I write to them and request that they provide me with details in the next 30 days etc?

Ta

BB

21yrold

If they have sent you back the bog standard rejection letter and you're unsure if to follow on with small claims court, can you contact one of these companies to do it for you for say 20% of the compensation?

Better to get some than none at all? Is there any that people would recommend if we go down that route?

wendyjaycee

I have received a letter today explaining the technical problem, I still havent heard from the CAA so will chase them up but MCSAVE is this different to the reason they gave you?



28 January 2013

Thank you for yourfurther communication with regards to your recent travel arrangements withThomas Cook Airlines.


As per yourrequest, I can confirm that a small dent was discovered on the lower leftcorner of rear cargo door. Later the APU failed to start and thus spilt fuelbecause the ignition system was at fault. This was the First occurrence of thisfault in the recent history.



I trust my commentshave provided the required information surrounding the delay.


Yours sincerely



April Finnerty

Customer Relations Team
Customer Relations Executive

aloched

Finally Good News.
I finally recieved a compensation voucher from Thomas Cook this morning to the value of £682.00. Many thanks for all the advice and contributers to the forum, especially Centipede100 for all the hard work. I e-mailed the standard letter at the end of October and sent one more "reminder" at the beginning of this month. I will post the letter I sent if anyone wants to copy/edit it for use. Again thanks ALL.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you in connection with the above flight which I was booked onto with my daughter, on 15/10/2012.

The flight was supposed to depart from Glasgow International at 07:05 to arrive in Gran Canaria, Las Palmas at 11:40. but was delayed by over 5 hours with arrival at Las Palmas finally being complete at approx, 17:00. The original 3hrs delay was explained, on request, as a problem with the crew. The subsequent delay was explained as being due to a lack of fuel at Glasgow Airport. The further delay was accumulated by a stop-over at Belfast airport for fuel intake.

Under the EU Regulation 261/2004 (February 2005), With reference to the Civil Aviation Authority, guidlines. I am entitled to the sum of €400 per passenger, plus an expense of €50 for 2 meals and refreshment during the delay,(Appologies, I have misplaced the receipts).

This compensation calculation is based on the CAA guidelines of a Type 2 flight as the delay was over 3hrs and the cumulative distance of flight, including the Belfast diversion, was 3230Km. The compensation total I am claiming is €850. I look forward to receiving the sterling equivalent within the next 28 days. I attach a copy of the ticket.

MCSAVE

wendyjaycee wrote: »

I have received a letter today explaining the technical problem, I still havent heard from the CAA so will chase them up but MCSAVE is this different to the reason they gave you?



28 January 2013






Thank you for yourfurther communication with regards to your recent travel arrangements withThomas Cook Airlines.


As per yourrequest, I can confirm that a small dent was discovered on the lower leftcorner of rear cargo door. Later the APU failed to start and thus spilt fuelbecause the ignition system was at fault. This was the First occurrence of thisfault in the recent history.



I trust my commentshave provided the required information surrounding the delay.


Yours sincerely



April Finnerty

Customer Relations Team
Customer Relations Executive

Hi, I have checked and we were definetely on the same flight(TCX 2108 Manchester to Larnaca, due to leave around 9am), the response they gave to me is completely different to yours.PM me your email address and I'll send you a copy of the response. This really is unbelievable!!! They are apparantly going to defend my claim in full, although I've not had their defence yet. The CAA have replied though and will hopefully get back to me shortly, I'll be interested to know their view on TC sending 2 different reasons to 2 different passengers. This was TC's response:

I am writing inresponse to your recent letter to Mr Frank Meysman, our Group Chairman. As Iact on behalf of our directors in matters of customer service, yourcorrespondence has been forwarded to me for a reply.


P
I am sorry that youare disappointed with the response you have received from our CustomerRelations Department. We always try to deal with such issues in a fair andreasonable manner so your continued dissatisfaction is very muchregretted. I am sorry that you feel notall of your points have been answered. With this in mind I have taken the timeto review your file. In doing so, I have looked again at what you have said,our replies and our assessment of the issues raised.



As you are awareyour flight was delayed due to a technical issue within the fleet. All our fleet are maintained on a regular basis incompliance with legislation governing the Aviation Industry. However, as with any mechanical equipment,particularly as aircraft are such vast, complicated machines, technicalproblems can arise in between inspections. This can be likened to a car breaking down in between servicing, or MOTtests. Your delay is known as a“reactionary delay” and was as a result of a spoiler hydraulic leak on one ofour aircraft.











Technical problems such as this are highly unpredictable andcharter carriers can find themselves in difficult circumstances when it isnecessary to affect a serious repair. This is highly frustrating for passengersand crew alike, however, we do all we can to minimise delays and keep ourcustomers as informed as possible. Iwould like to apologise for any inconvenience you may have been caused.



A delay due to “extraordinary circumstances” is a delay,which could not reasonably have been foreseen. This delay has been classed ascovered by extraordinary circumstances. I do fully understand the impact ofthis delay, unfortunately, however, for the reasons outlined above, I am unableto compensate you.



Should you remain unhappy then I can only suggest thatyou pursue this matter with an independent third party such as the CivilAviation Authority.



Iappreciate that this is not the answer you were looking for, and I am sorrythat we have been unable to bring about an amicable settlement for you. I do,however, hope I have been able to provide you with a definitive response onbehalf of Thomas Cook.



Yours sincerely









Michelle Robinson

Directors’ Office

Mark2spark

MCSAVE wrote: »

A delay due to “extraordinary circumstances” is a delay,which could not reasonably have been foreseen. This delay has been classed as covered by extraordinary circumstances.

No it's not. It's a circumstance which is 'beyond the airlines control'.
One more letter and off to court.

maghater

Technical Issues

Really don't know where TC are coming from with all this Technical issues bull. Machines break down, that is why companies issue warranties when you buy something, Motor manufacturers issue warranties, conditional on servicing etc., we all know this, look after our motors, but they still have "technical issues" or break down as we call it when we ring the garage.
Your average holiday jet must have tens or maybe hundreds of thousands of components, probably manufactured by the firm that put in the lowest tender. It is therefor no wonder that the things break down. As can be seen from scanning a few forums things do malfunction, in fact it appears to happen quite often to different planes, and different airlines. In fact I would say that break downs, technical issues, call it what you will with planes is actually quite common, and therefore under no way can (or indeed should) be described as an "extraordinary circumstance". Airlines are aware of this, I am sure that statistical analysis is available to them on the reliability of their planes. The airline has choices, it can either build flexibility into its fleet schedules, allowing for spare capacity to cover "technical issues", or it can flog its planes to death, and get as much use out of them as possible. No surprise they tend to go for the latter, they are in business to make money. They therefore in my opinion have no defence against delays due to technical issues. Wallentin-|Hermann V Alitalia covers this.
I am at a loss to know where TC are coming from with defending so many cases with this blanket extraordinary circumstances, the fact that they are using the phrase so often to cover different events, rather negates the argument anyway. I like the dent in the cargo door excuse! Surely all they are doing is destroying an already heavily tarnished name.
Just my opinion, I would welcome any comments