Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomas Cook ONLY

minhug

I received this response from TC this morning


Your response is in the final stages of completion, and should be with you in the next 7-10 working days.

Yours sincerely

Judy
Customer Relations Executive

badbobby

chili2001 wrote: »

Legal cover is almost always an optional "add on" to insurance policies in return for an extra premium. As I am using a previous insurer who covered me at the time of the delay it doesn't affect my renewal costs (I'm not sure it would anyway). I don't understand about disclosing this as a claim? You mean to a new insurer? No excess is charged.

As most people pay extra for this cover they might as well use it! If your confident enough and have the countless hours to take this on yourself then good for you, but I have a very heavily pregnant partner to deal with as well so my time is at a premium!

Yes, I agree that it is probably worthwhile - i just wondered if you had been advised during your claim whether it is registered as a claim and, if so, at what level.

Be good to know.

chili2001

badbobby wrote: »

Yes, I agree that it is probably worthwhile - i just wondered if you had been advised during your claim whether it is registered as a claim and, if so, at what level.

Be good to know.

I'm sure it's in the small print somewhere but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't affect any future home insurance as I pay an extra premium to have it added to my policy. Plus I'm using a previous insurer for the claim which I was surprised they took on so easily. I only changed as I had claimed for a broken laptop and they increased my premium so I shopped around and found better cover for less (I disclosed my previous claim obviously).

online1

I submitted a claim to Thomas Cook a couple of weeks ago about a delay of 12+ hours and an extra nights stay at my own expense for a flight back to gatwick from the dominican republic.

The flight was with Mytravel in late 2007, Mytravel merged with Thomas Cook on 19th June 2007 so my claim is with Thomas Cook group/plc.

After hunting down a copy of my ticket as they requested, i then received a response to say Mytravel were taken over in 2008 and therefore my claim was invalid. After confirming to the advisor she was incorrect she was then unable to confirm when the merger took place. Their own website clearly states June 2007 so am sure i am still entitled.

The reason not to investigate further now is that they are unable to locate the flight records to determine the reason for the delay and this was needed in order to deal with the claim. As far as i am aware, i have provided all the details they needed of my flight and it is there responsibility to hold the records for this. They said that a claim should have been raised within 28 days and i may have 'extinguished' my rights to claim. I explained it has only been possible to adequately raise my claim since the ruling in Oct 2012 given passengers a right finally.

From what i have read through these posts, i am still within the 6 years to raise through MCOL/Courts and you can reclaim from as far back as February 2005.

I appreciate my flight may be further back than most. I would not be so determined to reclaim if the entire trip was not so horrendous, much spent in hospital ill then topped off with a long delay and an overnight stay at my cost.

I have just submitted my complaint to the CAA, not sure how favourable the response will be from what i have read or how long this is likely to take, varying answers on different posts.

I will pursue with MCOL if that doesn't work out as Thomas Cook seem to fob everyone off with every excuse under the sun.

Mark2spark

online1 wrote: »

The flight was with Mytravel in late 2007, Mytravel merged with Thomas Cook on 19th June 2007 so my claim is with Thomas Cook group/plc.

Was the actual aeroplane 'mytravel', or was it Thomas cook?
The claim is against the airline.
You MUST commence a court action before 6 years have passed since the date of the delay. Corresponding with the airline in the interim doesn't count for anything.

online1

Mark2spark wrote: »

Was the actual aeroplane 'mytravel', or was it Thomas cook?
The claim is against the airline.
You MUST commence a court action before 6 years have passed since the date of the delay. Corresponding with the airline in the interim doesn't count for anything.

Thanks for your reply. The actual plane was mytravel. It merged 5 months prior to the flight in question with TC, so was just another brand of Thomas Cook.

I have 8 months before the 6 year timeframe expires so will see what happens with the CAA before commencing court action.

amat_endura

TCX929, Naples to Gatwick 27/06/2008, over 3 hours delay.

I started my claim on the 12th November last year and it is still ongoing with these clowns. First I got the usual "extraordinary circumstances" excuse, then when I rebutted this and also asked for the actual reason for the delay I've had a total of 6 knock-backs telling me the case is so complicated it has taken all of this time to get to the bottom of it! Finally yesterday I got an explanation that is identical to the first one except that an EC excuse is given;
................................................
Dear Mr xxx,

Regarding your flight from Naples on 27th June 2008.

I understand that you have queried what extraordinary circumstances are in relation to payments under the ECJ ruling. I can inform you that extraordinary circumstances are situations where the cause of the delay could not reasonably been foreseen and /or prevented. There was an issue with another aircraft having a defect that required fixing and as a consequence the plane that was used to transport customers back home from Naples was delayed due to needing the aircraft. Since the delay you
experienced does fall under that remit, (we could not have foreseen this defect occurring and therefore could not prevent the knock on effect) no compensation is payable.

All information regarding a delay takes time to be confirmed. We are reluctant to give out information until we are sure of the reason behind it, as most guests do not like to be given conflicting information several times over. We have attempted to withhold information in the past, until final clarification on departure details can be given, but this does cause customers to feel that we are
not communicating with them. Similarly, we have also passed all information onto passengers, which then changes, which can give customers the impression that they are being lied to. It is, therefore, extremely difficult to get a happy medium. I am
sorry that you felt we did not offer you the information you wanted but I would assure you that details were passed on as soon as they were confirmed.

Yours sincerely

Vanessa Harding
Customer Relations Team
Customer Relations Executive
..................................

This is my reply;
...................................
Dear Vanessa

I am afraid your assertion that the delay was caused by an exceptional circumstance and is therefore not covered by the directive regarding compensation is simply untrue. Please see attached explanation. In summary, defects to aircraft are part of normal operations and not exceptional.

My first complaint was made in November and it has taken until the end of February to receive a short statement that simply reiterates the original judgement that this flight is not covered by the regulations and the legal judgement. It is covered, and I do feel very strongly that Thomas Cook are aware of this and are simply using stalling tactics. You should know that last week after not receiving a satisfactory response from yourselves I entered a complaint with the Italian authorities on this matter. I am also willing to open a case with the small claims court. Obviously this all takes time and effort, so if you are prepared to step up and meet your legal obligations in a upright and moral manner then it would make life simpler for all concerned.

I hope that you make the decision to do the right thing.

Yours sincerely
..............................

I'm a bit annoyed that I used the term exceptional rather than extraordinary but other than that I still hold out hope that this can be resolved. If all else fails there is the small claims court.

lombardo_2

Hi, I'm a newbie so bear with me.

Myself and my family experienced a 21 hour delay from London Gatwick to Cyprus on July 2010. After returning in August of that year I applied under ruling 261 for compensation. At which point I received correspondance from Thomas Cook, stating the delay was due to 'extra ordinary' circumstances, and they were currently in dispute rergarding the 261 ruling. The issue was a technical problem with the aircraft, where the part was not available locally, and had to be flown down from Manhester Airport, and would not arrive until the next day. In the end we were put on a different aircraft, with a total delay of approx 21.5 hours. They did provide overnight hotel accomodation.
Due to the ECJ ruling late last year, in December 2012 I made contact again with Thomas Cook, and also the CAA, and advised Thomas Cook that I had written to the CAA and enclosed all written and email communications that had taken place between us. Approx 2 months later I have received as an 'offer' a voucher for £1795 off a future holiday booking. This Thomas Cook are stating as their 'adhering to their obligations' under the ruling. I have replied requesting the compensation be in the form of a cheque for the sterling equivalent of 2000 euros, as there were 5 passengers in my party. I will see what happens!!

grazzzz

grazzzz wrote: »

had a flight back from Antayla to gatwick which was delayed for 15 hours and plane had to go to Stansted instead of Gatwick this was May 2009 got the standard Extraordinary Circumstances letter so have given them 21 days to pay else court.We were told the delay was cracked cockpit screen at the time however no letters confirm this .
A .DO I HAVE A CLAIM if this is the reason
B. How do i find out this was the actual reason as i can see Thomas cook are hiding behind many excuses

I got a letter back saying that they re looked in to my claim (cracked cockpit screen delay 15 hours and taken to Stansted then bused to Gatwick )
they say the incident could not be foreseen and is extraordinary
so looks like court action.

tony53708

minhug wrote: »

I received this response from TC this morning


Your response is in the final stages of completion, and should be with you in the next 7-10 working days.

Yours sincerely

Judy
Customer Relations Executive

Minhug, got the same response yesterday myself from Judy. Im sure the response will be another fob off!!