Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

Vauban

helenm4920 wrote: »

HiI don't know if anyone can advise??


Sent NBA letter and received no response (I didn't expect one!!)


So now applied for paper forms to be sent from court. (I don't believe I can apply online as I am claiming for nine people in my party/booking).


I know I can claim 600 euros per person (mexico flight).


I need to convert the euros into GBP and not sure If I use the exchange rate at date of travel or today's exchange rate???


Also do I then add 8% interest to the figure?


Any advice would be appreciated.


Thanks

Exchange rate when you flew (there are website that give you the historic rates), and 8% pa interest from the date of flight (as a separate figure).

You sure you want to claim for nine though? Think about running one or two as a test case - the court costs will be much less, the airline pay more more inclined to settle, and once you win the airline will find it near impossible to settle with the other passengers. And you can do it online!

romanby1

Bonters wrote: »

That just about sums the whole thing up for me. I do think that the level of compensation applied by this Reg is a bit too heavy, but I certainly would not be bothering at all with mine if we'd been treated better at the time of the delay, and at least given polite service and accurate information. Instead, a paltry voucher, which the barman wouldn't accept for a bottle of wine to pass the time! We're in our 60's and so hardly drunken lager louts! I have been speaking recently to a specialist Solicitor for Bott & Co, Cheshire, who is pursuing thousands of these cases. He tells me that he has recently seen a defence drafted for Thomson by a barrister and a schoolkid could have made a better job of it. He is appalled at the way airlines are treating potential claimants and loves the fight and winning the proper compo. So be determined people, the wins are coming through and the airlines are a shambles on this issue.

I disagree with the above statement.
Where a holiday is booked as in our case 2.5 years ago we lost a whole day of our very expensive All Inclusive holiday. The 1200 Euro compensation just about covered the loss and it was a struggle getting the compensation out of Thomsons with all their stupid excuses. They paid up in the end because we were determined

bazaar_2

helenm4920 wrote: »

HiI don't know if anyone can advise??


Sent NBA letter and received no response (I didn't expect one!!)


So now applied for paper forms to be sent from court. (I don't believe I can apply online as I am claiming for nine people in my party/booking).


I know I can claim 600 euros per person (mexico flight).


I need to convert the euros into GBP and not sure If I use the exchange rate at date of travel or today's exchange rate???


Also do I then add 8% interest to the figure?


Any advice would be appreciated.


Thanks

You should maybe split the claim, might take longer to complete all once the first one is dealt with, but at least your claim will go through small claims track and keep things fairly easy. They will defend, as they have for everyone, but dont get put off by it, they do this just to try and intimidate people. Then if you get a result, just throw your remaining snowballs at em for the other passengers. Good Luck

Bonters

romanby1 wrote: »

I disagree with the above statement.
Where a holiday is booked as in our case 2.5 years ago we lost a whole day of our very expensive All Inclusive holiday. The 1200 Euro compensation just about covered the loss and it was a struggle getting the compensation out of Thomsons with all their stupid excuses. They paid up in the end because we were determined

You highlight another very valid point. Our delay was 9 hours but we still landed on the day we were supposed to and just lost a few hours and maybe one meal in the process. Your loss was considerably more, but we are both entitled to the same recompense. Although I think you could have applied straight away for something under entirely separate arrangements or holiday insurance? In any event, it's all a question of degrees but there is no provision under the EU Regulation for that aspect.

Basingstoke_Betty

Bonters wrote: »

You highlight another very valid point. Our delay was 9 hours but we still landed on the day we were supposed to and just lost a few hours and maybe one meal in the process. Your loss was considerably more, but we are both entitled to the same recompense. Although I think you could have applied straight away for something under entirely separate arrangements or holiday insurance? In any event, it's all a question of degrees but there is no provision under the EU Regulation for that aspect.

I agree on the point of 'question of degrees' - our claim is for an 18 1/2 hour delay which involved being flown to a completely different country for 10 hours and a 5 hour hotel stop along the way - 600 euros each just about covers the original cost of our flights and seems a fair compensation.

To claim compensation for a 4 hour delay within Europe when your tickets may only have cost £50 pp in the first person is a bit cheeky. (This is just an example, not referring to anyone specifically) - I think the compensation should be the cost of your tickets - thus getting refunded for a service that you did not receive.

But if this is the only route available to punish terribly poor customer service then it's the only route you can take.

Vauban

Basingstoke_Betty wrote: »

I agree on the point of 'question of degrees' - our claim is for an 18 1/2 hour delay which involved being flown to a completely different country for 10 hours and a 5 hour hotel stop along the way - 600 euros each just about covers the original cost of our flights and seems a fair compensation.

To claim compensation for a 4 hour delay within Europe when your tickets may only have cost £50 pp in the first person is a bit cheeky. (This is just an example, not referring to anyone specifically) - I think the compensation should be the cost of your tickets - thus getting refunded for a service that you did not receive.

But if this is the only route available to punish terribly poor customer service then it's the only route you can take.

We can debate the rights and wrongs of this Regulation - and the anomalies and inconsistencies (or rather imperfect consistencies!) it throws up - forever. I was delayed by over 24 hours in Egypt, and my family of 5 put up in a double bedroom meant for 2 people: it was all a bit of a nightmare, made worse by the fact that I had a transatlantic flight booked work for the following Monday (so had four hours sleep after finally returning home before leaving for the airport again). A four hour delay doesn't really compare.

But none of this is really the point. The regulations are designed primarily to act as an incentive to airlines to improve their performance, and offer some uniform compensation to passengers for the general inconvenience. As Aedus remarked the other day, there is a good argument for reforming the regulation along the lines of the Commission's proposal, to make compensation focus on the longer delays. At the moment, if you're definitely going to be over three hours late, there's no incentive for the airline not to stick you on the following day's plane - because three hours or twenty-four attracts the same penalty.

However, I refuse to entertain all discussions about the morality of claiming so long as certain airlines continue to mislead and frustrate their former customers in exercising their legal entitlement. As a former employee of one airline told me, he had to tell an old and vulnerable man that his compensation was being reduced by 50%. There was no legal basis for this of course, but the pensioner accepted the reduction in his compensation in good faith. How is that anything other than disgusting?

ftd83

Just received the allocation questionnaire from Thomson back. I ticked yes to mediation on my form but didnt really want to however thought this would show some willing to the court.

Needn't have worried as Thomson have ticked no in their form so bring it on in court. Hopefully another bit of ammunition for me to use as they have ignored all my original complaint letters too apart from one. Interestingly they have listed 2 witnesses but no details of who these people are. I'm assuming they are going to try to get some engineer to say the part was broken on the plane. Not convinced this will alter anything as the regulations are pretty clear on technical faults and extraordinary cicumstances.

Anyone have any experience on dealing with their 'witnesses' and who they might be?

romanby1

ftd83 wrote: »

Just received the allocation questionnaire from Thomson back. I ticked yes to mediation on my form but didnt really want to however thought this would show some willing to the court.

Needn't have worried as Thomson have ticked no in their form so bring it on in court. Hopefully another bit of ammunition for me to use as they have ignored all my original complaint letters too apart from one. Interestingly they have listed 2 witnesses but no details of who these people are. I'm assuming they are going to try to get some engineer to say the part was broken on the plane. Not convinced this will alter anything as the regulations are pretty clear on technical faults and extraordinary cicumstances.

Anyone have any experience on dealing with their 'witnesses' and who they might be?

It might not get that far Thomsons caved in in my case

aytch

HI
could you give me contact details?
Thank you

Bonters wrote: »

Yes, I have. It's been a bit of a rocky road, but I'm getting there. They firstly rejected my claim on the basis of weather, which actually did not affect my flight. However, I happened upon a guy I've met a few times at boxing events, and it turns out he's a lawyer who is specialising in this stuff at present. He took up my cause and had a look. He's confident it should be a goer and has taken it up personally, also moving mine to the top and it's going at a pace currently. Lucky find really, the no win no fee companies are not always all they should be and they will stick to a strict percentage guide in deciding which cases they accept. Mine did not satisfy that percentage first off but it's become a case of not what you know but who you know! Shouldn't be that way, but I argued with their original decision (politely, you understand) but they wouldn't budge. Now, with the help of my lawyer friend (and the promise of loadsa beer at the next event we meet at), I've re-registered my claim, it's immediately accepted and all the paperwork's about done. They end up keeping 27% of the award if successful plus 25 Euros per person admin fee. It's a hefty chunk, I know, but I'd rather have their muscle in my case than take it myself. AND he may be able to negotiate me something off the 25 Euros per person, but no promises. Nudge, wink. Another thing with this firm, they pay all Court fees and do not ask me to pay them, which is fairly unusual I believe. I'll gladly update with any progress.

Bonters

aytch wrote: »

HI
could you give me contact details?
Thank you

Certainly - I've sent you a Personal Message :beer: