Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

madrayakin

Hi, I have been reading the posts in this thread but I can't find anything specifically relevant to my own situation:

I wrote to Thomson to claim compensation for a delayed flight in September 2011 from Leeds Bradford to Palma. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 14.05 however our plane flew to Gatwick without any passengers to fly some passengers from Gatwick to Cancun whose plane had a bird strike. The announcement made at the airport said our flight was delayed for 'operational reasons'.

Most of the passengers from Leeds who were scheduled on that flight (including myself) were taken on a coach to Manchester for a flight at 21.00 that night. I think the remaining passengers were bussed down to Gatwick to go on a flight from there. Before boarding the new plane in Manchester the pilot explained what had happened. It was clear at the time from the explanation that there was no fault with our scheduled plane.

I have tried to look for the time we arrived in Palma on the Flightstats website but it says the status of our flight is 'Unknown' and then gives the following explanation:

"General Flight Notes:
We have one or more data sources for this flight, but we encountered a technical problem while trying determine the final status."

I do not therefore know what time exactly we arrived in Palma (we were very tired by this point!) but as we did not take off until more than 3 hours after our scheduled flight I believe I am entitled to compensation.

I have written to Thomson who are claiming extraordinary circumstances. The letter they have sent is factually incorrect as they state that the aircraft we were scheduled to travel on experienced bird strike when there was no problem with our plane whatsoever. They state the following:

"Your flight was delayed as the aircraft you were scheduled to travel on experienced a bird strike, which led to damage to the aircraft which need to be repaired. This led on to a knock-on effect on our Thomson fleet which subsequently led to your delay."

The letter then goes on to claim that it is extraordinary circumstances, not paying out, etc etc.

I am now considering small claims court and sending the 14 day NBA letter. I am going to point out that our own plane had no issues and ask them for proof of the alleged circumstances and evidence as to how this contributed to the delay on my flight. However I am slightly confused as to whether my claim should be for delayed flight or for denied boarding. I am leaning more toward delayed flight since our 'flight' did not actually depart from Leeds, just the plane took off to cover a different flight. However I am not sure how going from a different airport affects things in terms of a delay. I think the flight we eventually went on from Manchester had the same flight reference as our original flight, which would suggest it is a delay.

I did not have my boarding pass any more, and think that Thomson will try to use this in their defence if it goes to court. Do you think I should put a subject access request in with Thomson first to get proof that we checked in? Also I was considering, since Thomson delay things so much, whether there would be anything to be gained from a Subject Access or FOI request with the airport. Or should I just go straight to the NBA letter now?

I'm pretty sure we have a strong case but that Thomson are just using the circumstances on another plane to avoid paying out. If anyone could help with my queries above that would be great.

rajivsingh100

There has been some discussion about whether every claimant's name must appear in the claimant box with most people saying that it must.
Thought I d share my experience- Unfortunately my court application only has my name in the claimant box but the statement clearly state both my and my wife's name and we are claiming for two lots of compensation.
Spoke to the court people and they reassured me that I dont need to re-apply if it is clear in statement that there is more than just one claimant.
So I dont think that people need to send lots of re-applications.

Incidentally, I filled in for the mdiation to show willing but there is no way, judging by other comments, that this will happen. Does anyone have advice on what to do next or if someoen phones to mediate? what should we be saying?
Thanks

David_e

Orange_Smartie wrote: »

I sent one Claim Form (3 copies of) with all 5 claimants listed on the form. I sent in 1 fee (you pay a fee based on the value of the total claim). I also sent in notice of Litigation Friend for both of my children.

Thanks for the clarification. That seems the way to go.

zzx

jfboyo88 wrote: »

Advice required....I am claiming compensation,from Thomson(First Choice)for a delayed flight in 2007.In all the correspondence I have received from Thomson to date,they have not claimed that there were exceptional circumstances but have only claimed that the claim is outside their two year limitation.Can they add the exceptional circumstances at a future date despite the fact they have not used them before?.The flight was cancelled for 24 hours because they had no crew available!! I have involved the CAA as well. Just waiting for responses. Thanks in advance.

Yes they can Originally in my case they quoted 2 years and air traffic control delay. This was in the court papers and signed as a statement of truth. When I saw this I used a consultant to track down the airport manager at the time (2010) This cost me £300 but I thought it worth it as it destroyrd Thomsons defence. Once they saw that I had an expert witness they claimed that the ATC defence was an error and that they were dropping the 2 year limit defence but now claiming ECs for a tech fault. They will not reimburse the £300 I spent to disprove their original defence.

isnt it amazing they treat their customers this way?

romanby1

13pinewood wrote: »

My claim for flight delay compensation to Thomson Airways for a flight in January 2011 has been rejected because it is more than 2 years ago. The claim is now in the hands of CAA.

If you had taken the time to read the sticky's and other posts on this site you would have seen the 2 year rule is a smokescreen. The CAA is a complete waste of time.
If you are serious an NBA (Do the research for the definition) with a 14 or 21 day response time.
If you want the compensation you have to put in the time. Just realise your time costs nothing theirs costs a small fortune.

richardw

rajivsingh100 wrote: »

......Spoke to the court people and they reassured me that I dont need to re-apply if it is clear in statement that there is more than just one claimant.
So I dont think that people need to send lots of re-applications...

That'll keep the airline's solicitors happy.

If they aren't named in the claimant box then they aren't claimants.
It is as simple as that.

tr54vrs

Hi,

I sent my initial claim letter to Thomson on 3/07/13 and have yet to have any reply from them on the matter.

What should my next steps be?

I'm aware this info will already be posted within this forum so apologies for covering old ground but I have no time to work through the full forum.
many thanks in advance

richardw

tr54vrs wrote: »

... I have no time to work through the full forum...

If you don't have tenacity or time, it's perhaps time to give up and focus on enjoying your everyday life.

bazaar_2

tr54vrs wrote: »

Hi,

I sent my initial claim letter to Thomson on 3/07/13 and have yet to have any reply from them on the matter.

What should my next steps be?

I'm aware this info will already be posted within this forum so apologies for covering old ground but I have no time to work through the full forum.
many thanks in advance

you dont need to go through the entire forum, just the one relevant to your airline. This isnt an easy exercise, so you have to put in a bit of work.

MissMGB

Hi everyone,

Haven't posted before but have read all the thread and just wanted to say thanks for all the good advice. We were delayed over 9 hours on a Thomson flight from Majorca to Aberdeen last October with our baby. Attitude from the Thomson reps was disgusting, they wouldn't even leave their desk to tell us each time the flight was knocked back, the only information we got was from the departure boards.

After writing to Thomson and CAA and jumping through all the hoops requested I was getting nowhere so started doing some Internet research. Stumbled across this forum, made a small claims court application (Scotland) and after rejecting their initial offer I have accepted an out of court settlement for full amount owed plus interest plus court fees so over £1000 in total.

So those of you who are thinking of taking legal action should get on and do it!