Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

michaelbella

Just an update on my claim.

Yesterday a cheque for £632/€800 came through the post from Thompson for hour (almost) hour delay.

Sent the claim off mid September. Received an email around a month ago letting me know they're still looking into it. And the letter came through yesterday.

Pretty painless and took around ten weeks from sending the letter.

Massive kudos for the template!

n-mander

Hi I have a query about the interest and exchange rate in claims. I have rejected a letter and cheque explaining why I think it should be £230 more. They have asked for the cheque to be returned and they will advise the court to proceed with directions.

I filed a claim in July 2013 and in the particulars of claim I did not specify interest was to be added however on the general notes it refers to costs and interest. Is this sufficient to pursue them for interest?

My claim used an exchange rate at the date of claim however their response to my counter offer said that the court will apply an exchange rate on the date of settlement. What legal basis should I quote to reject this argument?

I look forward to any help and advice - even if it is to say that I should accept the £1050 cheque in settlement.

JPears

n-mander wrote: »

Hi I have a query about the interest and exchange rate in claims. I have rejected a letter and cheque explaining why I think it should be £230 more. They have asked for the cheque to be returned and they will advise the court to proceed with directions.

I filed a claim in July 2013 and in the particulars of claim I did not specify interest was to be added however on the general notes it refers to costs and interest. Is this sufficient to pursue them for interest?

My claim used an exchange rate at the date of claim however their response to my counter offer said that the court will apply an exchange rate on the date of settlement. What legal basis should I quote to reject this argument?

I look forward to any help and advice - even if it is to say that I should accept the £1050 cheque in settlement.

If you did not claim interest in your intial submission to court eg N1 or MCOL online, it is unlikely you can restrospectively claim it and I suspect that a judge will not look favourably on a case that is simply there due to an interest claim.
The date for excahnge rate is a tricky one - there are several camps - rate at time of delay, rate at initial court submission, rate at time of settlement - none seem to have a definitive correctness!
You should get your court costs back from the airline, if not any unclaimed interest.

MasterPoo

Hi All,

I've heard a big fat NOTHING from Thomsons. I emailed initially and then sent a letter recorded mail, still waiting for some acknowledgement of receipt. I will start the ball rolling next week as the 14 days to reply to NBA letter will be up Tuesday.

Happy to hear some of you have received your monies! YAY

Ruggy1

Ruggy1 wrote: »

My claim is in respect of delayed flight TOM 093 on 1st August 2013 from Cancun to London Gatwick with the scheduled departure time of 16:15 hours (Cancun time). This flight departed 22:50 hours late. I have filed a small claims application in the County Court and we have just exchanged Directions Questionnaires.


Thomson rely on unforeseen and unavoidable technical faults, namely 'bus isolation faults'. At the time of the original delay, and prior to boarding, the Captain advised that a problem with the plane’s air conditioning system was the cause of the delay. No mention was made of “bus isolation faults” or any other power supply issue.


We were put up overnight in sub-standard accommodation. We were transported back to the airport the following day and told that our flight would was scheduled for departure at mid-day (Cancun time). The Captain reappeared and told us that he had never been so embarrassed in his whole life as he explained that the plane was ready to go, but now had no food. He said that they had been promised catering from local suppliers by mid-day, but that this had not yet arrived.


We finally departed some 23 hours late. On the plane, the First Officer told passengers that the catering had been on the plane, but the local staff had claimed that it had thawed out and was unusable. He said that he believed that it had been stolen by the local Mexican staff. He explained that technically the plane had been ready to fly at midnight (Cancun time). The whole of the 15 hour delay therefore on that second day, 2nd August 2013, was due to the loss of the food on the plane and nothing to do with the original cause of the delay, whatever that may have been.


I put my case to the Civil Aviation Authority and they have written to me confirming that they had advised Thomson that they cannot rely on the ”extraordinary circumstances” exemption under the Regulation and should pay the compensation that we have claimed.


Apologies for the lengthy post (I have edited it down honest!). Thomson's customer care has been woeful, actually, based on my experience, they just don't care. I would be grateful for any advice that may help me in my case and will post updates.

Hi, Just wanted to let you know the outcome of my claim. My case was stayed as a result of Huzar etc. Had a letter today with a cheque from Thomson of £1574.26 as full and final settlement. It helped to know that that there was a community out there all working through the same issues. Thanks everyone and good luck!

MrsChewy

Have received notice from Manchester CC that Thomson have 28 days to settle unless they advise the court why the defence should not be struck out. On this basis I am expecting a cheque soon but wondered if anyone knows about the hearing fee. If you settle before the hearing the fee is refunded however, I have already attended court, Thomson didnt attend and the case was stayed. Does this mean I have used my hearing fee.

With regard to interest if your claim included interest and Thomson sent you a cheque without any interest I cant see why you would accept. Would I be right in thinking that if you went back to court the Judge would probably order some interest (possibly not 8% but they may do) and costs and therefore it would be worth persuing especially if your claim is a number of years old. For example interest on my claim is over £1,000.

gloriatabby

:mad:It appears that, although Thomson now have no defence, they are still trying to get away with underpaying people in the hope that people either can't work out what is due or are so fed up with the years of waiting that they'll settle for anything. It also looks as if lately, rather than contact people to negotiate, they are just sending cheques with no detailed info about how the figure is arrived at and in cases where the claims go back a while and there have been court costs often just not paying what they should.
I would suggest that, because not continuing to court will be less costly for them, nobody should be accepting less than they are owed and I would have thought the courts would take a dim view of them trying to underpay. Negotiation aimed at compromise should have taken place long before it got to this point

JPears

MrsChewy wrote: »

Have received notice from Manchester CC that Thomson have 28 days to settle unless they advise the court why the defence should not be struck out. On this basis I am expecting a cheque soon but wondered if anyone knows about the hearing fee. If you settle before the hearing the fee is refunded however, I have already attended court, Thomson didnt attend and the case was stayed. Does this mean I have used my hearing fee.

With regard to interest if your claim included interest and Thomson sent you a cheque without any interest I cant see why you would accept. Would I be right in thinking that if you went back to court the Judge would probably order some interest (possibly not 8% but they may do) and costs and therefore it would be worth persuing especially if your claim is a number of years old. For example interest on my claim is over £1,000.

Re hearing fee - suggest you ring the court and find out if they refund you or if Thomson have to pay.
Re Interest - time to let Thomson start haggling a figure, starting maxed out and work down. I think if the defence is struck out Judge/court may award you interest as you have claimed it. You could be tardy in your response to Thomson if they contact you, so the 28 days runs out anyway, before a settlement

Goagoer

MrsChewy wrote: »

Have received notice from Manchester CC that Thomson have 28 days to settle unless they advise the court why the defence should not be struck out. On this basis I am expecting a cheque soon but wondered if anyone knows about the hearing fee. If you settle before the hearing the fee is refunded however, I have already attended court, Thomson didnt attend and the case was stayed. Does this mean I have used my hearing fee.

With regard to interest if your claim included interest and Thomson sent you a cheque without any interest I cant see why you would accept. Would I be right in thinking that if you went back to court the Judge would probably order some interest (possibly not 8% but they may do) and costs and therefore it would be worth persuing especially if your claim is a number of years old. For example interest on my claim is over £1,000.

I also received notice that Thomson needed to notify the court why their defence should not be struck out (Thomson's only defence in my case was the 2 year rule)
Thomson have now asked for, and been granted, a stay until late January with a view to reaching settlement. I'm not sure what the point of this is (I haven't heard anything from Thomson) They have no defence at all and appear to be just delaying things for the sake of it.

legal_magpie

At the risk of playing Devil's advocate yet again, reading between the lines, this probably means:
1. Following Dawson, we are stuffed in those cases where our only defence was that the claim was out of time
2. Following Huzar, we are also stuffed in those cases where we were arguing on extraordinary circumstances (with or without the 2 year point)
3. We have (say) 10,000 outstanding cases in category 1 and 10,000 in category 2 (may be many more) which we now want to settle.
4. We can't settle 20,000 cases all at once and need time.

I'm sure you'll agree that, whether or not they have brought this on themselves, the backlog has to be cleared in a sensible fashion. It would be wrong to prioritise a particular case just because the claimant shouts the loudest. Likewise, there is little point in running up further costs if (as seems likely) they are going to settle most if not all of these cases.

So a stay does make sense provided, of course, that you insist on getting the full amount of interest calculated up to the date of payment. While you could write to the Court and object there isn't a lot of point.

So while I have no sympathy with Thomson, it seems pretty clear that you will win. Remember you don't have to accept their first offer and if it isn't settled by the end of the stay period, you should ask the Court to list the case for hearing.
JJ