Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomas Cook ONLY

Davidvgoliath

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments on this thread and the 'court success' thread following my defeat (well of sorts - it still cost them a packet in my view).

Looked into an appeal but I dont think this is a goer really. Further costs appear to be open ended, as you need to involve a solicitor and you need (in most cases) the district judge's permission to appeal anyway.

If anyone has a differing opinion I am interested to hear, especially from a law professional.

Good to see others still winning though, as posted above! Well done. keep it up, swamp them if you can with claims and legal processes. They will soon give up.

VOB72

Congratulations MrsW86! Did you claim for all passengers on one MCOL application or did you submit separate applications, as there seems to be no clear cut guidance in this respect?

Tjay2465

Hiya, I'm just wondering if anyone can help We were delayed on a flight from Turkey to Newcastle for 14 hours. We were taken to the airport hotel and told they had no rooms to offer us. We were given a disgusting warm ham salad sandwich and a warm can of pop, refused any tea or coffee, and given the mattresses from the sun loungers on the conference room floor. The whole thing was horrendous. We were first told that the plane was grounded in Newcastle due to a fuel leak and hydraulic problems, then we were told that the plane was fixed but they had no crew to fly it. We have complained to Thomas Cook and had the following reply

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

Initially, I would like to apologise for the disruption to your flight plans.Please be assured that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure thatany delays are kept to an absolute minimum, as we do fully understand theinconvenience and frustration these can cause.

It is not always immediately apparent as to when a revised take off time can besecured and a number of factors have to be considered, which quite often relyon outside influences, such as Airport Authorities or Air Traffic Control. Wedo appreciate the importance of communication, and I would assure you thatinformation is passed onto our customers as quickly as possible, through ourhandling agents at the airport.

Having carried out a full investigation the specific circumstances surroundingthe delay to your own flight were of a technical nature. These wereextraordinary, in that Thomas Cook took all reasonable precautions necessary toavoid the situation, and despite our proactive measures the problem could nothave been prevented. All our aircraft are maintained to a very high standard,in line with CAA regulations, however, despite these steps, mechanical failurescan arise without prior warning. These unpredictable events can be likened tothose we encounter with our own cars, despite having full service histories, orMOT’s.

In line with Regulation 261/2004 a payment of compensation would not beconsidered applicable in this case.

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

Can anyone help in lettingme know if I can claim any further for this

Oliver_Klozoff_2

Tjay2465 wrote: »

Hiya, I'm just wondering if anyone can help We were delayed on a flight from Turkey to Newcastle for 14 hours. We were taken to the airport hotel and told they had no rooms to offer us. We were given a disgusting warm ham salad sandwich and a warm can of pop, refused any tea or coffee, and given the mattresses from the sun loungers on the conference room floor. The whole thing was horrendous. We were first told that the plane was grounded in Newcastle due to a fuel leak and hydraulic problems, then we were told that the plane was fixed but they had no crew to fly it. We have complained to Thomas Cook and had the following reply

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

Initially, I would like to apologise for the disruption to your flight plans.Please be assured that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure thatany delays are kept to an absolute minimum, as we do fully understand theinconvenience and frustration these can cause.

It is not always immediately apparent as to when a revised take off time can besecured and a number of factors have to be considered, which quite often relyon outside influences, such as Airport Authorities or Air Traffic Control. Wedo appreciate the importance of communication, and I would assure you thatinformation is passed onto our customers as quickly as possible, through ourhandling agents at the airport.

Having carried out a full investigation the specific circumstances surroundingthe delay to your own flight were of a technical nature. These wereextraordinary, in that Thomas Cook took all reasonable precautions necessary toavoid the situation, and despite our proactive measures the problem could nothave been prevented. All our aircraft are maintained to a very high standard,in line with CAA regulations, however, despite these steps, mechanical failurescan arise without prior warning. These unpredictable events can be likened tothose we encounter with our own cars, despite having full service histories, orMOT’s.

In line with Regulation 261/2004 a payment of compensation would not beconsidered applicable in this case.

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

Can anyone help in lettingme know if I can claim any further for this

Wow, what a horrible experience! They just sent you a standard template letter to fob you off, everyone gets the same exact one. So issue an NBA and then you will likely have to go the MCOL route.

VOB72

Update on my claim - TC have refused mediation, despite the fact I indicated I was willing to participate. Do they usually do this?

Also, my claim now transferred to local small claims court according to MCOL. Am I correct in thinking this is the end of the line on MCOL and the next thing I receive is a preliminary court hearing date?

111KAB

VOB72 wrote: »

Update on my claim - TC have refused mediation, despite the fact I indicated I was willing to participate. Do they usually do this?

Just trying to put you off. Make sure you point out to the Judge that you tried to mediate and TC refused.

VOB72 wrote: »

Also, my claim now transferred to local small claims court according to MCOL. Am I correct in thinking this is the end of the line on MCOL and the next thing I receive is a preliminary court hearing date?

Yes you should get notification from the local Court of what they require you to send in (serve) and a suggested date. The Order may well request you submit your hearing fee.

Mark2spark

Davidvgoliath wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments on this thread and the 'court success' thread following my defeat (well of sorts - it still cost them a packet in my view).

Looked into an appeal but I dont think this is a goer really. Further costs appear to be open ended, as you need to involve a solicitor and you need (in most cases) the district judge's permission to appeal anyway.

If anyone has a differing opinion I am interested to hear, especially from a law professional.

Good to see others still winning though, as posted above! Well done. keep it up, swamp them if you can with claims and legal processes. They will soon give up.

My commiserations too. Nothing more frustrating than a judge that is incompetent. I also think that you have good grounds for appeal. It was TC's choice to send that plane, and also their choice not to send a return leg crew, knowing full well that the crew overseas were not qualified to staff this alternate plane supplied.

gorses

batman44 wrote: »

I would also suggest anyone claiming to put the time and effort in and you will find all the info you need to help you. Claims are not given to you easy you need to work on your claim. Only my suggestion as I have found a wealth on info i did not know and a few eyebrow raisers. My case is moving along nicely.

This is the bit where I'm confused. What sort of information would I need and where would I get this info from? (I've now had 2 fob off letters so am at the point of initiating court proceedings). From my perspective I know we were delayed 6hrs (outbound & in) but I do not know why. And from what I can gather I have no way of finding this out. What sort of evidence will I be expected to provide? Surely TC could just make up whatever they like and I'll be out of pocket.

Vauban

What have TC said was the cause of your delay? They are unlikely to lie outright, and the delay will be the consequence of a technical problem with one of their airplanes. Once they tell you the cause of the delay you can decide whether to take legal action or not.

OceanView238

I have just had a thought and was wondering if anyone knows the answer, we were stuck in Cancun in the Volcanic ash, although we did keep our hotel room which was paid for by TC, I never thought at the time, because TC covered the the hotel costs, but would we have a claim for flight delay compensation from TC? I tried to claim for delay from my insurance, they stated we did not have cover for Volcanic Ash disruptions, although I argued I believed this was the 1st major disruption, so wasn't aware I needed specific cover for it, they still refused?

Any help greatly appreciated.