Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

DorisTrousers

Hi,

As a reminder, I had a nigh on 25 hour delay on a flight back from Sanford in August. I wrote and e mailed Thomson, but never got any reply. Subsequently, after 35 days or so had passed, I e mailed them again, this time copying in David Burling. I got a quick personal reply, and have now received this letter, which I will shorten as much as I can.

"Having checked our internal reports about your flight delay, I can see this was due to an engine failure during flight of one of our aircraft. This had a scheduled knock on effect to your scheduled flight to Manchester. We had to source another aircraft from within our fleet to fly you back to the UK.

As confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") in the judgement on Nelson v Lufthansa and C629/10 TUI, British Airways, Easy Jet and IATA v United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, the question whether a specific delay triggers an obligation to pay a proscribed amount of compensation pursuant to Article 7 of the Regulation requires consideration as to whether the long delay is a result of extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. It's important to note that the "all reasonable measures" test applies to the occurrence of the EC not the delay that may have been its effect.

Plainly speaking, a small number of passengers may be entitled to compensation.....

However, if the cause of the delay was not the airlines fault (i.e. the result of extraordinary circumstances), there is no requirement to pay that compensation.

In the case of your flight, the cause of the delay was a delay to another aircraft caused by "unexpected flight safety shortcoming"....

To some there is a fundamental misunderstanding around whether technical problems can constitute extraordinary circumstances with many believing that no technical problems can fall into that category at all. This is simply not true, as confirmed by the CJEU itself; their decision of Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia provides some clarity"

The rest simply repeats itself again but the end result is, basically, tough. We ain't paying.

Any tips on what to do now? I am quite prepared to go further with it, there were 7 of us on my booking so the potential return is obviously very significant. I have looked at Vauban's guide, so should I write back, as per 5.5 of the guide, and give them a chance to reply, or should I just go straight to NBA?

111KAB

DorisTrousers - you have a valid claim which will probably require a court claim however before submitting suggest you read the Huzar thread.

DorisTrousers

Thanks 111KAB.

Is this what I'm looking for, in your opinion?

"In July, Judges in the Huzar case ruled that technical problems are not considered an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ and therefore airlines must still pay compensation when a long delay is caused by a technical problem."

austin9658

DorisTrousers wrote: »

"In July, Judges in the Huzar case ruled that technical problems are not considered an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ and therefore airlines must still pay compensation when a long delay is caused by a technical problem."

It is not finalized yet.

dblue75

Hi all, looking for a wee bit more advice on update of my claim.

Our flight to Cancun was delayed around 6 hours from LGW on 26/08/14. We were informed by text less than 24 hours before travel, and there wasn't an issue with our flight it was an earlier flight that had an issue ( not sure of issue ) but caused a knock on effect to a few flights to the Caribbean, Mexico, Dom Rep, Aruba and Jamaica.

I am sure I read somewhere a knock on effect caused due to an issue with earlier flight is classed as operational and NOT covered under exceptional circs ???

Anyway put my claim in via email 10/09/14 and Thomson state give us at least 28 days to reply. I called them this morning to be told, my complaint has been passed to them on 23/09/14 and is currently with a new team set up called Denied Boarding Team to now consider compensation for me. Thomson rep stated if it has been passed to them then there is a case for potential compensation and that will take up to 56 working days from 23/09/14.

Has anyone heard of this ??? or point me in the right direction ? Or should I expect the thanks but no thanks letter ???

Vauban

dblue75 wrote: »

Hi all, looking for a wee bit more advice on update of my claim.

Our flight to Cancun was delayed around 6 hours from LGW on 26/08/14. We were informed by text less than 24 hours before travel, and there wasn't an issue with our flight it was an earlier flight that had an issue ( not sure of issue ) but caused a knock on effect to a few flights to the Caribbean, Mexico, Dom Rep, Aruba and Jamaica.

I am sure I read somewhere a knock on effect caused due to an issue with earlier flight is classed as operational and NOT covered under exceptional circs ???

Anyway put my claim in via email 10/09/14 and Thomson state give us at least 28 days to reply. I called them this morning to be told, my complaint has been passed to them on 23/09/14 and is currently with a new team set up called Denied Boarding Team to now consider compensation for me. Thomson rep stated if it has been passed to them then there is a case for potential compensation and that will take up to 56 working days from 23/09/14.

Has anyone heard of this ??? or point me in the right direction ? Or should I expect the thanks but no thanks letter ???

I think you need to be patient - it's only four weeks since you first made your claim. 56 working days is a couple of further months, and if you get your claim settled within three months (and there's no point speculating whether Thomson will come good or not - though a knock on effect is harder to defend) then that's a pretty good result. Many folk wait a lot longer than that!

dblue75

I am being patient, just wanted an update as they hadn't responded. I was actually seeking info as in; had anyone heard of this new team set up to deal with potential claims ? or had any dealings with them, success/failure letters ????

Jerry2014

Just back from Court. We are claiming for a 6 hour 30 minute delay last December. There was a technical defect with a previous flight rotation, but not our aircraft. Crew out of hours was the reason for the delay.

Thomson had instructed counsel who informed me Thomson were requesting a Stay (based on Huzar). Counsel presented me with a long document 15 minutes before the hearing. I asked when he received this instruction and he said yesterday.

I explained I would contest the Stay, as it was my case that the delay was due to operational reasons not Extraordinary Circumstances.

The hearing was much more formal than I expected. Thomson's Counsel spoke first to apply for the Stay. the District Judge was familiar with the Huzar case and the large number of cases on hold. Then I was given the opportunity to speak.

I explained it was my first time in court, and I had just 15 minutes previously been presented with Thomson's request to Stay even though they had sent it to their Counsel the previous day. Then I outlined my objection.

The District Judge then Ruled. The Stay was allowed because the Court's hands were tied. However the DJ took a dim view of the Defendant wasting the Court's time with a hearing when the application for a Stay could have been made weeks ago when the Court date was set. As a consequence we were awarded £96 costs for attending (2 of us) to be paid within 21 days.

Now we join the wait for Huzar.....

stejones

Does anyone know the name and full address for the issue of proceedings against Thomson.

I have Wigmore House address at LU2 9TN, but is this correct?

Do we issue against

Thomson PLC?

Tui Travel PLC?

The Ceo of Thomson?

Our Flight was with Thomson and booked with them. Searched on here can't seem to find any address information.

Any help appreciated please.

Vauban

Jerry2014 wrote: »

Just back from Court. We are claiming for a 6 hour 30 minute delay last December. There was a technical defect with a previous flight rotation, but not our aircraft. Crew out of hours was the reason for the delay.

Thomson had instructed counsel who informed me Thomson were requesting a Stay (based on Huzar). Counsel presented me with a long document 15 minutes before the hearing. I asked when he received this instruction and he said yesterday.

I explained I would contest the Stay, as it was my case that the delay was due to operational reasons not Extraordinary Circumstances.

The hearing was much more formal than I expected. Thomson's Counsel spoke first to apply for the Stay. the District Judge was familiar with the Huzar case and the large number of cases on hold. Then I was given the opportunity to speak.

I explained it was my first time in court, and I had just 15 minutes previously been presented with Thomson's request to Stay even though they had sent it to their Counsel the previous day. Then I outlined my objection.

The District Judge then Ruled. The Stay was allowed because the Court's hands were tied. However the DJ took a dim view of the Defendant wasting the Court's time with a hearing when the application for a Stay could have been made weeks ago when the Court date was set. As a consequence we were awarded £96 costs for attending (2 of us) to be paid within 21 days.

Now we join the wait for Huzar.....

Sorry you had a wasted day - but hope the experience was interesting enough. At least you got your costs - as well as the satisfaction of costing Thomson their legal fees as well. What a bunch!