Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

af2909_2

mj82 wrote: »

Hi I just returned from Dalaman on 10th October 2014 and experienced a 16 hr 25min delay. The pilot told us this was due to some kind of hydraulic failure. They had to fly someone over from Luton to fix it.

We also got a letter on our return from thomson saying it was "technical fault".



This sounds similar to the fault we had - what exactly did you say about the Huzar case? I haven't sent my initial letter to them yet - have just been gathering as much info as I can before I send it, and was going to ask if it was worth mentioning it as I know the case is to be heard in Supreme court soon. Any pointers would be great.

I have used the template letter. There were 5 in my party (should have been 6 but 1 person didn't travel) so a decent amount if we are successful (I am expecting court and a long process!)

Hi

Sorry I haven't been online in months, I said that whilst we understand that a hydraulic fault caused the delay, in JET2 V Huzar the judge stated that mechanical faults are not classed as exceptional circumstances

Mrs_Optimist

Views on our Thomson flight from Tenerife yesterday please. We should have taken off at 7.40pm - actually took off at 12.35am - 5 hour delay! Initially told it was caused by severe weather - fair enough we thought, we knew there had been snow in the UK - BUT the Captain actually informed the whole aircraft that the plane had actually been sitting on a runway at Geneva airport! There was no problems with take off and landing at that airport but the snow was so bad that they made the decision to keep the plane there for at least 4 hours in the hope that their passengers could get to the airport to catch the plane - 42 people were actually left behind. Then further delay because of crew operating hours so crew had to be persuaded to work on. Someone made the decision to delay our flight so that the plane could wait around for several hours to pick up passengers from a different airport in Geneva.


So no technical fault, no adverse weather that affected the plane taking off or landing, just that passengers could not get to and from the airport.


Is this a valid claim for compensation? We were all given a voucher for 8euros, which wasn't even enough to buy a meal and drink at the airport thankfully we still had money with us to make up the difference.


The delay meant a 5 hour delay and instead of arriving home at midnight, we actually didn't get in until 4.50am. Thoughts appreciated.

Goonie

Christmas Eve I received a letter from Thomson to my old address and was pleasantly surprised to find an offer of compensation of €600 each for me and my partner. Merry Christmas


I'd sent an NBA in October and a further letter in November after the Supreme Court decision, I hadn't actually commenced court proceedings.


For anyone interested it was for flight TOM773 on Friday 13th June 2014 from Sharm el-Sheikh to Manchester with a scheduled departure time of 22:30 so for anyone else who was on that flight, keep pushing Thomson.


Thanks for all the helpful info and guides, templates, etc on these forums.

Sessy

I too received a cheque last week fro Thomson for £946.60 for a 3 hour delay. More than the cost of the holiday, I'm so pleased. I sent just one letter with a scan of boarding passes and waited

Iiyama

Hi All

Some guidance appreciated as Thomson have rejected my claim for compensation. I will cut and paste my letter to them below and I would appreciate some advice on this matter.


We wish to write to you regarding our appalling treatment by Thomson Holidays during our delayed flight TM1105 coming from Funchal airport in Madeira back to ****** on the 20th October 2014.
We were collected as planned on Monday 20th October 2014, on time by the taxi and taken to the airport with no mention of delays or flight cancellations at the hotel.
On arriving at the airport at 10am we checked in fine and again no mention of delays or flight cancellations. Once through we went up onto the roof and could see that there were no aircraft on the ground at all (I have photographic evidence of this). At this point we noticed that the departure lounges were not only extremely busy but tannoy announcements were starting to tell passengers of delays as were the boards.
There were no seats to sit on due to overcrowding. So we along with hundreds of others we sat on the concrete floor on the roof - totally unacceptable!
We did see our Thomson rep (around 12.15pm)while sat on the roof who said that the flights are delayed due to bad winds. My wife asked what will happen and we were told that Thomsons will look after us and we will be fine. We never saw a single Thomson rep again until (around 19.15) when we were been hoarded onto coaches to take us to a hotel - totally unacceptable!
The regulator has very clear guidance for passengers that are delayed and I quote:
In the event of long delays (two hours or more, depending on the distance of the flight), passengers must in every case be offered free meals and refreshments plus two free telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails;
- if the time of departure is deferred until the next day, passengers must also be offered hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the place of accommodation;
- when the delay is five hours or longer, passengers may opt for reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket together with, when relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure.
By 17.00 no offer of food or drink had been made by Thomsons. Passengers travelling with other providers or airlines where offered food vouchers or refreshments. We queued for one and a half hours for a sandwich and drink. However, the staff said that they were not instructed to give Thomson passengers free refreshments and we had to pay. - Totally unacceptable and out with regulator protocols!
Throughout the delay at the airport passengers with other airlines were informed either over the tannoy system or by their holiday reps that were highly visable that there flight had been cancelled. They were given clear information that there would be no departure that day and that they would be put up in a hotel. Thomson passengers were only told repeatedly over the tannoy that the flight was delayed and no Thomson reps were visible after 1pm- Totally unacceptable!
The airport was dangerously overcrowded with people lying on floors, staircases and other areas impeding the safety of others and breaking several Health and Safety protocols. - Totally unacceptable!
My wife and I were becoming exhausted and distressed at not knowing what was going to happen. We needed to inform family, work etc in the UK and my mobile phone battery was almost flatwith no information coming through from Thomsons. - Totally unacceptable!
Eventually I think around 18.00 via a tannoy announcement while queuing for food we heard that the flight was cancelled. No further information was forthcoming. - Totally unacceptable!
Around 18.45 we found a Thomson help card and I sent a text asking what was happening and what we needed to do. The reply was go to your gate and they will give you the information for your hotel. We went to the gate and were told they knew nothing - Totally Unacceptable!
At some point after 19.15 we were told which gate to go to. When we got to the gate it was chaos and extremely dangerous. The same gate had two airlines boarding (yes some operators did fly!) and passengers from three cancelled flights all through one gate. People were pushing and shouting. Tempers of passengers that had waited for Thomsons to do something for over 9 hours were starting to show. If there had been a fire or somebody had fallen I fear to think what could have happened. I could list the breaches to the Health and Safety act that were broken! - Totally Unacceptable !
Once outside and greeted by Thomson rep (only one seen for at least 6 hours) People were angry and hostile. All the reps could say was we are sorry. They were not answering passengers concerns or offering an explanation - Totally Unacceptable!
Once on the coach and exhausted we were taken to a hotel and supplied with a meal and a room. Eventually we flew out late morning on the 21st October 2014. The flight crew and pilot were appalled at our treatment by Thomson and said that they would escalate this to management.
My wife and I went on holiday to relax and have a break from our extremely busy workload. The farce at the airport ruined any benefits the holiday gave us and I hold Thomson fully accountable for this distress. I insist on a full refund of the total cost of the holiday £1602 plus compensation for the level of distress and inconvenience.
We fully accept that the weather was the reason for the delay. However we do not accept:
• The appalling lack of communication from Thomsons
• The dangers presented at a heavily overcrowded airport as more people were checking in
• The breach of passenger rights
• Health and Safety breaches at airport
I look forward to a full response within 14 days.

111KAB

Iiyama - fear you are flogging a dead horse. If you have receipts your legitimate expenses for food/drink should be reimbursed. Delay was as a result of inclement weather so no compensation due.

Iiyama

111KAB wrote: »

Iiyama - fear you are flogging a dead horse. If you have receipts your legitimate expenses for food/drink should be reimbursed. Delay was as a result of inclement weather so no compensation due.

Always worth checking. Hence I came on here. The way Thomson treated everyone at the airport was appaling.Thanks for taking the time to reply.

legal_magpie

I'm afraid that your treatment is fairly typical of the way in which Thomson behave. The main problem is that the reps at the airport don't have authority to wipe their own noses and are usually as much in the dark as the passengers when something like this happens. Regrettably there isn't a transport ombudsman so there's little you can do except complain. You could try a small claims case claiming damages for distress and inconvenience but I wouldn't hold out much hope except as nuisance value

dan12345

dan12345 wrote: »

Well tomorrow is the deadline in my unstayed Bott and Co case for Thomson to file a defence. Any views on what I may hear (hopefully) tomorrow?

I just wanted to add that an earlier poster commented on Bott and Co dragged their feet with filing at the court.

In our case they acted very quickly; I guess they may prioritise on the size of the claim?...we were 5 travellers, long-haul with the longest delay, hence 27% of a big claim for Bott. Anyone else think this may be what they are doing?

Dan

A quick update, Bott agreed an extension for Thomson to settle or file a defence....the new deadline being today......guess what?.....nothing whatsoever from Thomson.

Bott received another list of settlements from Thomson in the last couple of days and we are not in that either. Even the chap at Bott thought it was odd of Thomson to ignore the court. Bott say they will ask for judgment which I guess will go in our favour but they certainly aren't making it easy.

Dan

MGOR

MGOR wrote: »

It is a lot of money! Would pay for another holiday. My niggle is that it's fighting over a question of interpretation of what date to use for calculation of currency exchange. To my mind it makes sense it should be the date of delay but as discussed on here before it is unclear. No doubt if the exchange rate at the date of delay was in Thomson's favour they would use that. Something to mull over whilst having a congratulatory drink tonight.

Regardless of my decision at least payment has arrived. Thanks to all who have helped and advised especially Vauban, Centipede 100 (where are you?), J Pears,Mark2Spark,legal magpie and many others.

For anyone considering making a claim go for it. There is plenty of advice on here albeit a lot of reading. A lot of people have spent time and effort to come up with answers so before asking questions search the forums as the chances are someone will have had a similar issue. I am not sure anything new can now develop but having followed the Jet2 forum you never know!

Finally to Thomson as I am sure you follow this forum consider this. You have annoyed a lot of previous customers with your attitude. I for one have not used Thomson now for 4 years after generally travelling with them in the past and will be very reluctant to do so in the future. That's a customer (family of 4) you have lost. Ask yourselves if I have that view how many other customers have you lost? You might not care but it is an approach you may come to regret in future years if customers vote with their feet and use alternatives. There are companies out there who at least seem to be doing the right thing. In the past I had a 48 hour delay in Grenada (such hardship!). The airline Virgin looked after us and even provided a taxi from Gatwick to Manchester for us as we missed the connecting flight. We got 'airmiles' as compensation which was sufficient to fly again with them to Grenada. Would I use them again despite the delay - absolutely because of the way they dealt with it. That's a lesson on how to deal with delays.

After careful thought reluctantly I have accepted the Thomson offer. I couldn't be bothered with the aggravation after all this time. We'll done Thomson nice gain and a short term 'win'. Long term who loses? I am booked for this year. Another year without using Thomson products. That's 4 years now. Thomson probably don't care about losing 4 customers. But if others share my view what is it costing Thomson long term in loss of custom and goodwill? Who knows we will never know the answer but I recall their passenger numbers were down last year (I maybe wrong)and they blamed the economy. Finally thanks once again for all the help on here. Happy New Year and don't give up.