Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomas Cook ONLY

DIYBaldyman

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Steve,

I believe you have a good reason to claim compensation from TC.

The incident with the door did not directly affect your flight, it was a 'knock on' from two flights earlier. Therefore it could not be an EC.

There have been cases where something similar has happened and the judge has found in the passengers favour.

TC had loads of time to make alternative arrangements for your flight back to the UK but chose the easy way out for them, not the passenger.

You could go down the DIY route by following the advice in Vaubans great guide or put your details into a couple of NWNF solicitors web site and hand it over to them.

Good luck.

Hi all,

Sorry to have to ask for help / advice again, but have just received the following email from Bott & Co regarding our flight delay (TCX7523, 14/08/15, 4hr 55min delay due to passenger breaking emergency door arming handle 2 rotations / approx 13 hours prior to our scheduled departure time);


"Good Morning

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm we have not received a response from the airline regarding your case.
Usually the next step would be to issue court proceedings however, we have investigated the circumstances surrounding your potential claim and unfortunately we have come to the conclusion that we are not able to act for you on a no-win-no-fee basis. We say this because our investigations have led us to believe that the disruption to your flight may have been caused by an 'extraordinary circumstance' and as such the airline is not liable to pay compensation.
We have received a response on a related case for the same flight. This confirms the reason for the delay which was due to a passenger breaking the emergency door arm handle.

In light of this, we aren’t prepared to pursue this claim on a no-win-no-fee basis because we believe it is very unlikely that we would be successful.

We will therefore have to close your file.

Apologies we cannot assist you any further.

Kind Regards
Claire Shallcross
Flight Delay Team
Bott & Co Solicitors"


I'm still shocked - I was of the understanding this would be an easy case for them, but they have closed my file after TC failed to respond to their LBA within 30 days (issued on 26 February).

I've been all through Vauban's brilliant guide (thanks Vauban) & have come to the following conclusions myself, but would appreciate any / all feedback before I carry this on myself;

1. We know that the delay to our flight was a ‘knock-on’ from an earlier flight (TCX7125, Lanzarote to Stansted, 13 August 2015 – scheduled arrival 16:35, actual arrival 19:43) upon which the damage was caused by a passenger, & that this ‘knock-on’ also affected flight TCX7522, Stansted to Antalya, 13 August 2015 – scheduled departure 18:10, actual departure 23:37 – no arrival information logged. These were the 2 previous rotations to our scheduled flight.

The Finnair v Lassooy ruling, 4 October 2012 refers to denial of boarding following delays caused by knock-on’s, are further delays due to knock-on incidents viewed in the same manner as denial of boarding?

2. I have discovered through reading through posts on here that at least one other flight at around the same time was delayed due to the same reason - broken door arming handle - TCX7507 – Dalaman to Stansted, 13 August 2015, scheduled departure 00:00, actual departure 03:26 – no arrival information logged – see post numbers 7482 by Chas, 7493 by tired Mum & 7494 by Keeping Motivated)

So referring to the Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia ruling, 22 December 2008.
Although the 2nd ruling refers to the frequency of problems is not in itself a factor from which E.C.'s can be concluded, surely the very fact that we know this type of occurrence is not uncommon means that we can prove that the nature of the incident IS inherent in the normal exercise of Thomas Cook Airline’s activity and is therefore NOT beyond their actual control? If that is the case, can I go on to reasonably assume that the 1st ruling will also apply meaning this incident is not covered by the concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances’?

I'm just really surprised that Bott & Co. have declined to run with it.

Thank you all so much in advance.

JPears

It may be worth calling Bott and asking if they are aware that the handle problem was not on your flight, but the flight 2 before that? TC may have inadvertently or deliberately (depending on your degree of cynicism) misled Bott about the facts.

DIYBaldyman

JPears wrote: »

It may be worth calling Bott and asking if they are aware that the handle problem was not on your flight, but the flight 2 before that? TC may have inadvertently or deliberately (depending on your degree of cynicism) misled Bott about the facts.

Thanks JPears, I will call them, but they did say in their email that they had not received a response from the airline...

Justice13075

On Bott & Co's flight delay checker they are saying you are due 400 euro each passenger. Maybe they were unaware that the damage wasn't done on your flight but a previous flight.

DIYBaldyman

Justice13075 wrote: »

On Bott & Co's flight delay checker they are saying you are due 400 euro each passenger. Maybe they were unaware that the damage wasn't done on your flight but a previous flight.

Justice, we have sent Bott & Co copies of all emails, letters & booking information, including a fully detailed explanation given to us by the cabin crew on our flight which explained everything I put in my earlier post.

As it happens I replied to Bott & Co with the same information I posted here earlier & have just received another email that says


"Good Afternoon

Thank you for your email. I have discussed this with my legal manager and we are prepared to issue court proceedings.

As the file was closed initially, please can you confirm you are happy for the case to be reopened in order for proceedings to be issued.

Kind Regards
Claire Shallcross
Flight Delay Team
Bott & Co Solicitors"

So it seems now they've taken the trouble to actually read the details I gave them they are prepared to continue. Don't suppose I'll be getting a reduced fee from them for doing all their leg-work either!! I thought they were supposed to be the "experts"??

The game continues...

Deeley91

:beer:
Had a 6 hour delay due to technical problems in August 2010. Went through Resolver and Thomas Cook requested that l send them either the Boarding Cards, Copies of the Tickets or the Original Booking receipt.... I had none of this. However by reading through other posts where people had sent copies of their passports with the county stamp, l thought l would give it a try. So luckily immigration in Tunisia had stamped our passports on the date the flight was delayed coming home, also sent a copy of the bank statement (online copy with other transactions amounts blacked out) showing the 2 payments for the holiday and as luck would have it on my old laptop l still had the confirmation email with the booking ref on!! Emailed all this over to Thomas Cook and they gave me vouchers for £1,260. This is brilliant news as had just booked a holiday with them, so took it off the balance.... Happy Days :j So a MASSIVE thanks to all you members for sharing your stories, good and bad, as it was this that prompted me to have a go. And thanks to Martin for this brilliant website :T

howticklediam

Great news, well done.

Gerard_Murphy

In jan my wife and I where delayed 9 hours for a Caribbean flight from Birmingham to Barbados.


The reason given was that the pilot had been taken ill.


I made the appropriate claim.


Today I have been told in writing that the pilot getting ill is not classified as an extraordinary event and the company could not have forseen this. This is a new ruling.


My claim has been been rejected.


This website seems to suggest that crew delay is an extraordinary event and claimable . Not sure where I go with this now?


Any suggestions and does the website Q and A need amending.


Gerard. Sheffield.

111KAB

Go to the dedicated Thomas Cook thread rather than starting individual posts please.

DIYBaldyman

JPears wrote: »

It may be worth calling Bott and asking if they are aware that the handle problem was not on your flight, but the flight 2 before that? TC may have inadvertently or deliberately (depending on your degree of cynicism) misled Bott about the facts.

:j:j:jGREAT NEWS FOLKS:j:j:j

I've just had an email from Bott & Co. advising that Thomas Cook have been in contact with them & have agreed to settle my claim.

:beer::beer:

Now I have a dilemma;

As I have posted previously, about 5 weeks after I instructed Bott & Co, they emailed me to say they weren't prepared to continue due to the response received from Thomas Cook.

As it happens, Justice13075 & JPears, you were correct, TC hadn't told Bott & Co that it was a knock-on delay - either misled or witheld information - amounts to the same thing. However, I had previously provided Bott & Co. with all of the information I had, including specific flight numbers & times / delays from flightstats, but they chose not to review it & rely only on TC's reply.

I spent 2 or 3 days reading Vauban's guide & putting together a watertight claim summary for Bott & Co., which, after reading it, they said they would continue if I instructed them to.

I didn't instruct them, instead I sent the same information direct to T.C. which has now resulted in their response to Bott & Co.

Bott & Co. are now asking me to confirm I wish to instruct them so that they can accept the claim settlement on my behalf.

After doing all the research myself, I am inclined to contact T.C. direct & tell them Bott & Co. are no longer working for me & to settle direct - don't see why I should pay Bott & Co. €532.00 (27% + 4 x €25.00, out of a total claim of €1600.00) when I did all the hard work for them.

Just looking for opinions really - what would you do?


Thanks in advance again.