Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomas Cook ONLY

Ich_2

You mean the bit where the group net debt is £788m?

maghater

stock market seam to like them shares hit a 9 month high, Must redouble my efforts to inform the Great British public what they are really like. Couldn't understand anyone booking a holiday with them
purely on their financial position, a couple of iffy reports, or bad press and the financial wolves will be dashing to get their cash back. Fingers crossed.

Ich_2

Which is why they have laid flight crew off, reduced holiday entitlements, reduced pay and are closing shops, all which keeps the money folk happy

galasteve

ok, here is where I am at right now - probably the same as many here but I thought I would put it up here in the hope some of you knowledgeable folks can tell me how to proceed.

I have sent a letter to TC regarding a delayed flight from tenerife to glasgow on 14th Oct 2011 - delay=4.5hrs
we are due 400 euro each - ten passengers altogether.

one thing to note is that it is technically two bookings, one for 8 and one for 2 but they were cross referenced in the booking notes etc. TC have assigned them to two different case numbers, however.
I have received one of the generic letters stating Extraordinary Circs and that despite their maintenance schedule etc it was an EC. They have not detailed the exact problem that caused this EC.

My questions are these:
1) should i contact the TC again or got to the CAA (or spanish equivalent) before starting court action or should I go ahead with an NBA letter?
2) Would I have to take court action twice because of the two bookings or would the court allow a ruling to be judged on both together, given the cross referenced nature of the bookings?
3) I am in Scotland so which court system do I claim through, English or Scottish?
4) The Scottish courts say small claims are up to £3000 so perhaps it would be better to split them (?)

Any suggestions much appreciated and if required I can provide any correspondence between Me & TC.

Andysatt

I have been in correspondence with Thomas cook about a refund due to delayed flights.

We were on a flight to malllorca and had to "drop off an engineer" at Menorca, then sit and wait for about 3 hours on a boiling plane in Menorca before finally setting back off to Mallorca. (We were also originally late to set off from Manchester as we had to wait for the engineer to get to Manchester!!!

Anyways, I emailed the template letter. I got the standard reply about them needing to reply in 28 days (which is this weekend). I have now got another e ail today saying that they are sorry but the have to contact the airline (thomascook) and investigate further. This may take (surprise surprise) a further 28 days! What a load of rubbish - it doesn't take 28 days for them to look on their own computer system to find out why there has been a delay to their own flight. If it does, they seriously need to update their computers and sack their IT department!!!

I am replying to this with the further information they have requested and will keep you all posted!!!

Monster59

Monster59 wrote: »

Just had an e-mail from TC offering vouchers for delayed flight in line with their obligations under Regulation 261. Have followed up with request for a cheque as have already booked this year's holiday.

Received the cheque now and banked :j thank you to everyone who has posted as advice has been really useful.

Flight was TCX 278 29 October 2008 fuerteventura to gatwick

Mark2spark

Anski wrote: »

I contacted TC about a flight back in 2007 which I did complain at the time and got no where. I was delayed 13 hours.

They have replied saying "Initially, I would like to apologise for the delay. Unfortunately, our investigations have been hindered due to your flight being taken on an airline that no longer exists. The flight in question was operated by My Travel, and whilst this
company merged with Thomas Cook some years ago, at the time it was operated independently of the Thomas Cook group.

Despite extensive investigations we have been unable to locate the flight logs of the aircraft concerned, which would allow us to ascertain the reason for the delay. In order to comply with the requirements of Regulation 261 the airline have to establish the cause of the delay, to see if compensation is applicable. Without these important documents, the delay in you submitting your claim has prevented us from being able to adequately investigate this case.

This is regrettably one of the drawbacks of submitting claims so long after a flight departure. We do indicate in our terms and conditions that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to properly investigate a complaint if we are not told about it reasonably quickly once the holiday is over. Your right to compensation may also be reduced or extinguished, should any delay in your complaint being notified during or after your Holiday, prevent us carrying out a proper investigation.


In view of the above, we are unable to assess your claim for compensation on this occasion and regret to advise that we cannot give consideration to your request. "

Any thoughts?

You write back briefly and to the point.
Dear shysters,
I have applied for the mandatory compensation payment of €xxx per person under EC Regulation 261/2004, payable for the delayed flight *number* on *date* from *airport* to *airport*.
You have failed to supply a valid reason for your non payment of this mandatory amount, and I therefore put you on notice that if you further fail to pay the amount applied for, within 14 days of the date of this letter, then I will be at liberty to commence court action without giving you any further notice..
Signed Anski

Send it addressed to the Company Secretary.

And in 14 days time apply via MCOL without further correspondence.
They won't take a blind bit of notice of you until the court is involved.

Mark2spark

Andysatt wrote: »

I have been in correspondence with Thomas cook about a refund due to delayed flights.

We were on a flight to malllorca and had to "drop off an engineer" at Menorca, then sit and wait for about 3 hours on a boiling plane in Menorca before finally setting back off to Mallorca. (We were also originally late to set off from Manchester as we had to wait for the engineer to get to Manchester!!!

Anyways, I emailed the template letter. I got the standard reply about them needing to reply in 28 days (which is this weekend). I have now got another e ail today saying that they are sorry but the have to contact the airline (thomascook) and investigate further. This may take (surprise surprise) a further 28 days! What a load of rubbish - it doesn't take 28 days for them to look on their own computer system to find out why there has been a delay to their own flight. If it does, they seriously need to update their computers and sack their IT department!!!

I am replying to this with the further information they have requested and will keep you all posted!!!

Are you corresponding with the travel agent, and not the airline?

Mark2spark

galasteve wrote: »

ok, here is where I am at right now - probably the same as many here but I thought I would put it up here in the hope some of you knowledgeable folks can tell me how to proceed.

I have sent a letter to TC regarding a delayed flight from tenerife to glasgow on 14th Oct 2011 - delay=4.5hrs
we are due 400 euro each - ten passengers altogether.

one thing to note is that it is technically two bookings, one for 8 and one for 2 but they were cross referenced in the booking notes etc. TC have assigned them to two different case numbers, however.
I have received one of the generic letters stating Extraordinary Circs and that despite their maintenance schedule etc it was an EC. They have not detailed the exact problem that caused this EC.

My questions are these:
1) should i contact the TC again or got to the CAA (or spanish equivalent) before starting court action or should I go ahead with an NBA letter?
2) Would I have to take court action twice because of the two bookings or would the court allow a ruling to be judged on both together, given the cross referenced nature of the bookings?
3) I am in Scotland so which court system do I claim through, English or Scottish?
4) The Scottish courts say small claims are up to £3000 so perhaps it would be better to split them (?)

Any suggestions much appreciated and if required I can provide any correspondence between Me & TC.

1) Only contact them again in order to comply with pre action conduct rules, ie NBA letter.
2) Two bookings, two different actions IMO, unless you are named as the lead passenger on both bookings.
You will need to name all passengers on any court claim, and I believe - IANAL - that you need letters of consent from each adult that you can act on their behalf.
3) Again, IMO, - IANAL - you should look at using Form A of the European small claims track, details in the FAQ (maybe under the suing Ryanair link)
4) Check the upper limit of claim amount and split accordingly.

MrsW86

Anski wrote: »

I contacted TC about a flight back in 2007 which I did complain at the time and got no where. I was delayed 13 hours.

They have replied saying "Initially, I would like to apologise for the delay. Unfortunately, our investigations have been hindered due to your flight being taken on an airline that no longer exists. The flight in question was operated by My Travel, and whilst this
company merged with Thomas Cook some years ago, at the time it was operated independently of the Thomas Cook group.

Despite extensive investigations we have been unable to locate the flight logs of the aircraft concerned, which would allow us to ascertain the reason for the delay. In order to comply with the requirements of Regulation 261 the airline have to establish the cause of the delay, to see if compensation is applicable. Without these important documents, the delay in you submitting your claim has prevented us from being able to adequately investigate this case.

This is regrettably one of the drawbacks of submitting claims so long after a flight departure. We do indicate in our terms and conditions that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to properly investigate a complaint if we are not told about it reasonably quickly once the holiday is over. Your right to compensation may also be reduced or extinguished, should any delay in your complaint being notified during or after your Holiday, prevent us carrying out a proper investigation.


In view of the above, we are unable to assess your claim for compensation on this occasion and regret to advise that we cannot give consideration to your request. "

Any thoughts?

This is exactly the same as the email we received a few days ago, our email response is earlier in the thread but essentially states that it is up to them to prove it was exceptional circumstances and if they can't to cough up. Haven't heard back yet, please keep us updated of your progress. Out of interest was it fuerteventura to Gatwick MYT462?
Thanks