Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomas Cook ONLY

Wonderlust

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Wonderlust,

Yes you should re submit your claim.

The courts have put a stop to the false excuse of technical faults being an 'extraordinary circumstance'.

Please read Vaubans guide (just Google it) for loads of helpful information, links and template letters.

Good luck.

After sending 2 emails to Thomas Cook asking them to reconsider my original Claim, I eventually received a response offering me £570 worth of vouchers to use towards my next holiday with them. I responded by asking for cash. I received a quick response asking me to call them with my bank details to enable them to arrange a BACS transfer. Despite being on hold for 50 minutes, I am now happy to say this has now been arranged and I should have the money in my account in the next 10 days :j

Tyzap

Wonderlust wrote: »

After sending 2 emails to Thomas Cook asking them to reconsider my original Claim, I eventually received a response offering me £570 worth of vouchers to use towards my next holiday with them. I responded by asking for cash. I received a quick response asking me to call them with my bank details to enable them to arrange a BACS transfer. Despite being on hold for 50 minutes, I am now happy to say this has now been arranged and I should have the money in my account in the next 10 days :j

Well done, you got there in the end despite TC doing their best to put you off. :beer:

straightdave

Just a quick success story from a claim with no evidence.

Set up a resolver case (11th August) and got asked to supply evidence, for which I had none. As a bit of a long shot, I supplied the stamp from my passport and a copy of my airport/hotel transfers, which stated both my details, and the flight details.

Got no response for this, and kept escalating it through resolver until it reached the CEO (Peter Fankhauser), and he replied on the 24th September saying someone would look at it.

On the 30th September I received the following:

"Thank you for contacting the Thomas Cook Directors Office.

As the information regarding your booking that you have provide is limited, I cannot find a booking for you in our systems. This is due to various aspects for example where your booking was made or if it was through a third party agent. To allow me to investigate your claim further you would have to supply a booking ref or flight ticket/boarding pass as proof of travel. Until I receive this information I am sorry that I cannot offer any further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Directors Office"

Fearing I was unable to get anywhere, I started looking at the no win no fee claims people, and unable to justify giving them money, I decided one last attempt was in order and phoned Thomas Cook's customer services. Within 10 minutes (mostly navigating menus and being on hold) my details had been found (I'm guessing in the exact same system that they weren't in before), and I also had a booking number.

But, it gets better, as the resolver case meant a Thomas Cook case has been opened, I was able to pass over the reference number, and have it confirmed that I was entitled to compensation.

And, even better, I should have £1200 in my bank within 10 days. Genuinely can’t believe how easy it was.

Justice13075

Great news. The reason why you found this easy is because of all the hard work done on this forum by regular contributor's they know who they are and also the fact that solicitors have done a great good job in challenging these companies. You would of not found it so easy 12 months ago. But enjoy your compensation.

bobobski

Quick success story: I submitted a claim in September via Resolver for a 7 hour delay to Punta Cana in 2011. There was bad weather in PC which delayed the plane getting Gatwick, where it was picking us up to take us to PC.

I heard nothing via Resolver except an auto email (that took 2 months) telling me to fill out an incredibly short form: pretty much booking ref, date of flight and my bank details. Within a few weeks, I had £850 directly in my account for both passengers. It was actually a better euro exchange rate than the official rate on the day.

So my advice: don't use Resolver, it just delayed me getting to the right place on TC's website. And look into "bad weather" - if there wasn't any bad weather at the airport where you were delayed, then it's a scheduling problem by the airline, not an act of god.

Obviously I was lucky in this case and am still battling Thomson for not only a 9 hour delay but also denying the whole plane the basic right to food and water, making us stand on the (active) runway for an hour and a half and a flight attendant yelling at me for literally nothing...... But we've all gotta keep trying!

Good luck guys.

CelticStar

Just wanted to add my story to this thread so that if anyone else was on flight TCX2026 to Paphos on 14 June 2011 that my husband and I were on they will now know that Thomas Cook have granted us compensation of £580. I opened my case on 26 September and received the compensation into my account on 11 Debember. I had to escalate the claim until it reached the CEO who asked me to submit details via the Thomas Cook website. I did this and had a response about a month later saying that the compensation had been paid into my account.

Thanks to everyone on this thread who offered such invaluable advice and, of course, to Martin and the Moneysaving expert team.

endaf

Hello all, back asking for more advice (encouragement really!) regarding my long ongoing dispute with TC. long story short-flight delay of 26hrs & they are refusing to pay out as they are stating "extraordinary circumstances" due to a "power spike" they say caused by Gatwick power grid tripped out several of the planes systems. TC say in their defense that they tried to source replacement parts from Heathrow, tried to put on another plane of similar size but it was in spain & the crew were running out of their flying hours. they then state that they tried to source a new crew but failed, in all their report goes into near enough 100 pages, which to be honest has me rattled!
i have an email from Gatwick Customer Servies stating they are aware of the incident but have investigated and fond no fault from their systems & no other aircraft reported any incidents with their power systems.
TC say in their defense papers that they have reports from Gatwick stating that they are aware of problems with their power systems and talking steps to prevent an incident like this happening again.
So to be honest does anyone still think i have a realistic chance of winning this case? im planning on relying on the great info in Vaubans guide and back it up with all the previous court actions people have won against the airlines, along with this email correspondance thati have from Gatwick.
But if their report is 100% accurate, will the judge decide that TC could not have forseen the power spike incident and tried to prevent the delay as best as they could.
I have to fork out another £110 in court fees before the hearing but i dont want to throw money after bad if their case is strong.
Apologies for the long post, but i guess what im asking is for encouragement and that im still on the right track to get TC to admit their fault & pay me the compensation im entitled to.......thanks in advance.

Vauban

I think that if you really do have a letter from the airport that says explicitly that

endaf wrote: »

"they are aware of the incident but have investigated and fond no fault from their systems & no other aircraft reported any incidents with their power systems"

then that puts you in a pretty good place. There are no guarantees in the small claims court, of course, but if I were in your shoes I would push on and bring this to a head. I reckon you're in a good place. The fact that the cause of the technical problem incident may have been the responsibility of the airport isn't a problem either: article 13 of the Regulation makes clear that airlines are able to claim any compensation paid from the third party. Push on is my advice!

legal_magpie

This sounds very much like a factual dispute. Check out the Court's directions regarding documents. Both you and TC will have to disclose documents on which you rely. Once you have proved the delay ( I suspect that TC will have admitted it) it's up to TC to prove exceptional circumstances. Your email from Gatwick will help to refute their case especially if TC don't produce corroboration.

endaf

Thanks Vauban for the quick reply. Well I have an email from Gatwick stating that they are aware of the incident, have fully investigated and find no faults with their systems. I have asked them for their report and for something more substancial to show the judge but still waiting on their reply.
Section 13 you say? hmm, interesting, i could indeed bring that up with the judge, so that they could feesible still award me my compensation & just get it back form Gatwick-if they are indeed at fault.
Thanks Vauban, that little piece of info has already raised my spirits!!