Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

JPears

phil70 wrote: »

Return flight from Cancun to Manchester on 1st Nov 2013 was delayed 20 hours. Thomson eventually (8 hours later) transferred approximately 600 plus passengers from 3 x Thomson flights to a hotel in Cancun for an extra night. Informed by reps in airport that flight information hadn't been received by the American Authorities and therefore all Thomson flights were delayed until the following day. After sending a letter to Thomson requesting compensation as per this web site, i received yesterday a letter from Thomson stating that the French company (SITA) who process flight information failed to forward the correct details onto the American Authorities, therefore we were denied access in US Airspace. To this end Thomson have said that this falls into the Extraordinary Circumstances and therefore have rejected our claim for compensation. They have however sent a cheque for £100 per passenger as way of goodwill. Can anyone on this forum offer advice in respect of our options and next course of action?

In essence, Thomson use a third party for their flight operations, they messed up so Thomsons can seek damages from them. This is not EC as it was an operational choice by them to use a third party. That choice was in their control.

scorpiouk

@JPears - Think we were on the same flight.. Mind if I PM you..

Afternoon all..

Need a second view on this, many thanks for having a look..

Flight delayed Mexico to the UK 19 hours.
Told the delay was the USA needed to check passport details before we cross their airspace.

Only 2 UK bound aircraft were effected. All other airlines operated in and out with no issues.


Sent a letter asking for compensation on arrival home. Response was no.. Told that a 3rd part in France failed to transmit the details to the American's before we could fly.. (Computer failure)

I replied, said they should have system in place for dealing with computer failures etc. As such its not extraordinary, its a requirement of all airlines to collect and transmit API.. Gave them 14 days to pay up.

Letter just arrived back, again saying no. Its "extraordinary circumstances". This time they say its the "failure of a 3rd party checking system. As this is not something under our control compensation is not due"

What do people think?
To me there should be a system in place for transmitting information, and a way to work should it be down.

At the airport we were told it had been transmitted once they had "recaptured the information" but the USA wanted more details. They handed out from to 30 passengers collecting more details. These where then faxed back to the USA. Not sure I even believe this now.. They may simply have been collecting information they lost.

Worth going to the small claims court?

thanks again

JPears

scorpiouk wrote: »

@JPears - Think we were on the same flight.. Mind if I PM you..

Afternoon all..

Need a second view on this, many thanks for having a look..

Flight delayed Mexico to the UK 19 hours.
Told the delay was the USA needed to check passport details before we cross their airspace.

Only 2 UK bound aircraft were effected. All other airlines operated in and out with no issues.


Sent a letter asking for compensation on arrival home. Response was no.. Told that a 3rd part in France failed to transmit the details to the American's before we could fly.. (Computer failure)

I replied, said they should have system in place for dealing with computer failures etc. As such its not extraordinary, its a requirement of all airlines to collect and transmit API.. Gave them 14 days to pay up.

Letter just arrived back, again saying no. Its "extraordinary circumstances". This time they say its the "failure of a 3rd party checking system. As this is not something under our control compensation is not due"

What do people think?
To me there should be a system in place for transmitting information, and a way to work should it be down.

At the airport we were told it had been transmitted once they had "recaptured the information" but the USA wanted more details. They handed out from to 30 passengers collecting more details. These where then faxed back to the USA. Not sure I even believe this now.. They may simply have been collecting information they lost.

Worth going to the small claims court?

thanks again

Erm My flight was Jet2 Leeds to Chambery Feb 2011... 6 hour delay

didi4

Hi
Just some advice please...

Received Defence papers from Thomson for flight delay of over 4 hours in 2012.
They are including
Wallentin-Herman V Alitalia as part of their defence, and
they have included details of another flight we never took.

They are asking us to prove we were on the flight.

Am I entitled to ask them for information of:
*other claims in respect of the same flight?
*how many times '0 ring damage' has occurred on their aircraft and an engineer's log?
*details of the flights of this plane prior to our delay?

Any advice much appreciated

David_e

didi4 wrote: »

Received Defence papers from Thomson for flight delay of over 4 hours in 2012.
They are including
Wallentin-Herman V Alitalia as part of their defence, and
they have included details of another flight we never took.

How have they quoted Wallentin to support their case?

What have they said about the other flight?

didi4 wrote: »

They are asking us to prove we were on the flight.

Plenty of stuff about this on the forum. If you have anything at all from the time (booking information, tickets, etc.) that should suffice, otherwise you can use SAR under Data Protection Act. It's only ever going to be an issue if you get to court. You know you were so proceed on that basis.

didi4 wrote: »

Am I entitled to ask them for information of:
*other claims in respect of the same flight?
*how many times '0 ring damage' has occurred on their aircraft and an engineer's log?
*details of the flights of this plane prior to our delay?

You can ask but I suspect that they will stonewall you. You should be able to get the information if you end up going to court.

In terms of the legal arguments, I would suggest that you are maybe dignifying their defence by seeking to argue in kind. Don't forget the basic legal points. I posted this a while ago which may be of interest:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63704354&postcount=4238

chezza2524

Just another quick question,

I am preparing my court bundle at present and was wondering if I can use the information I got from flight stats about my flight? because that suggests that the airline knew about the fault about 6 hours before I was due to fly.

Cubatony2002

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can clarify a couple of points:

1 - Thomson have requested a stay until the Huzar appeal. Will the stay be granted or refused before the court date or will it be granted (as I suspect) on the day? As I have to take the day off work without pay for the court date this obviously impacts me financially.

2 - Can I request that the court asks Thomson for details about other claims for this flight? I did ask Thomson in correspondence for details of whether there had been any other claims, if they had been subject to court proceedings and (if so) details of case numbers, the court dealing and the outcome of other cases. Thomson did not reply to my request.

Regards

Cuba T

JPears

Cubatony2002 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can clarify a couple of points:

1 - Thomson have requested a stay until the Huzar appeal. Will the stay be granted or refused before the court date or will it be granted (as I suspect) on the day? As I have to take the day off work without pay for the court date this obviously impacts me financially.

2 - Can I request that the court asks Thomson for details about other claims for this flight? I did ask Thomson in correspondence for details of whether there had been any other claims, if they had been subject to court proceedings and (if so) details of case numbers, the court dealing and the outcome of other cases. Thomson did not reply to my request.

Regards

Cuba T

1. Have Thomson requested a stay using the official forms, not just a written letter? Have they contacted you to request a stay? If not I would contact them to say you will be seeking loss of earnings if court attendance is required for the stay. Or you could submit a statement, if you are objecting instead o attending, as given current evidence, a stay is likely.
I would contact the court and see if they know what is likely, explaining your potential loss of earnings. For some people that is a big whack, especially if self employed and running a business.
2. If you have requested it in the Allocations Questionaire, they should provide information. Frequently they don't (jet2 didn't in my case) but Judges don't seem bothered by this despite the facts are ones you require and maybe relying on.

Callmac

We had a 19 hour delay coming back from Cancun last month Thomson when I contacted them offered £100 each as a 'Goodwill gesture' I sent the cheque back quoting the new regulations, they have come back and said these aren't relevant as these fall into EC.

There was no problem with the plane, they failed to notify the Americans with details of who was on the plane, they are saying this was a third party fault and the system failed, and they can't be held responsable.

My argument is all other planes took off, they should have had a contingency plan in place, they should have known for some time before the flight, who was on board. or are they right?

CobyBenson

Callmac wrote: »

We had a 19 hour delay coming back from Cancun last month Thomson when I contacted them offered £100 each as a 'Goodwill gesture' I sent the cheque back quoting the new regulations, they have come back and said these aren't relevant as these fall into EC.

There was no problem with the plane, they failed to notify the Americans with details of who was on the plane, they are saying this was a third party fault and the system failed, and they can't be held responsable.

My argument is all other planes took off, they should have had a contingency plan in place, they should have known for some time before the flight, who was on board. or are they right?

I think you should definitely stick to your guns on this one.

I can think of no better example of an event that is entirely within the control of the airline and as such this is not extraordinary.