Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

legal_magpie

Assuming that the claim is for less than £10,000 you would only be liable to pay Thomson's costs if the Judge thought that you were guilty of unreasonable conduct. This is very rare. Apart from this, the worst is that you might have to pay their witness expenses but only after a full hearing.

MattB15

Hi, I've recently had a claim rejected by Thomson, citing a French air strike. My issue with this is that beyond checking if there was a strike on this day I have no information to tell me whether this response is genuine. Is it worth pursuing and do they need to provide me with any evidence? (So far they've ignored my subsequent correspondance)

My delay was nearly 8 hours and was an early morning flight so unless the plane was literally stuck in France I can't see that would be the sole reason.

richardw

MattB15 wrote: »

....checking if there was a strike on this day.....

Was there?

Vauban

legal_magpie wrote: »

Assuming that the claim is for less than £10,000 you would only be liable to pay Thomson's costs if the Judge thought that you were guilty of unreasonable conduct. This is very rare. Apart from this, the worst is that you might have to pay their witness expenses but only after a full hearing.

I don't think I have read of anyone having to do this so far, even those who lost.

You do pay the court fees of course, which are about £200 or so - depending on the size of the claim.

If that's too scary/much, think about a NWNF.

Vauban

MattB15 wrote: »

Hi, I've recently had a claim rejected by Thomson, citing a French air strike. My issue with this is that beyond checking if there was a strike on this day I have no information to tell me whether this response is genuine. Is it worth pursuing and do they need to provide me with any evidence? (So far they've ignored my subsequent correspondance)

My delay was nearly 8 hours and was an early morning flight so unless the plane was literally stuck in France I can't see that would be the sole reason.

What day was it? People might be able to help if you told them.

MattB15

Vauban wrote: »

What day was it? People might be able to help if you told them.

There was a strike on the day; 27th May 2010. My point was can they use this as a blanket excuse for all delays without expanding on why this impacted my flight.

Ich_2

My point was can they use this as a blanket excuse for all delays without expanding on why this impacted my flight

If the flight was routed across the affected ATC control zones, probably.
But you don't give much information as regards route etc.

MattB15

Ich wrote: »

If the flight was routed across the affected ATC control zones, probably.
But you don't give much information as regards route etc.

Flight Details:

Leaving:
Thomson Airways TOM2468
Depart:
Manchester Thu 27-May-2010 11:05
Arrive:Lanzarote Thu 27-May-2010 15:20

Delay: 7 hrs 49mins

Ich_2

Arrive:Lanzarote

So if all or part of French airspace is closed the possible routes are via Ireland on over the ocean to destination, or over Europe
This depends on the aircraft and load as to it having enough fuel capacity (bear in mind that often the more load the less fuel can be carried, Lanzarote is/was difficult owing to restricted runway length so aircraft weight can be restricted) range to make that journey. The other factor is the capability of the aircraft to reach land safely in the event of an engine failure, also would airports be open in France in the event of such a emergency.

The alternate of going via Belgium to Italy and the across the Mediterranean uses French airspace.

Which ever they chose extends flight times and leads to delay anyway.

Or, because of the "knock on effect" rulings are the airlines starting to cancel in these circumstances as these are exempt under the regulations, rather than risk delays on the next days which would mean they need to pay compensation (if they paid it anyway!!!)

Mark2spark

One for a NWNF firm IMO Matt, too difficult for you to prove really. To get the info to prove it in court I mean.