Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

Tyzap

trevmass wrote: »

please read the letter below i had from thomsons,and then let me know if i am due compensation.
thanks. trev.

As with any part in a complex machine,aircraft parts have a certain life expectancy.and during this life expectancy,the part is mostly likely to experience problems when it is first installed and when it is nearing the end of its life.unfortunately,in this case,a part which was not expected to fail was found to have failed during routine maintenance.
it is clear that failure of a part outside of its life expenctancy is not inherent in the opoeration of an aircarrier and is actually quite unsual.as these were entirely unexpected and outside of our control their is no entitlement for compensatin for the delay.

Hi Trev,

What was the date on the letter?

munchie63_2

Tyzap wrote: »

Hi Trev,

What was the date on the letter?

IMO the airline are taking the mickey with that letter. they're trying to say, using long words that are basically confusing gibberish, that parts experience problems when first fitted AND at the end of their lifespan. 2 things to consider here - If they're new surely they should work properly otherwise why install them, and secondly, if they expect the part to go wrong 'at the end of its lifespan' why not replace them sooner.

dingleburger

After 3 years of fighting, Thomson have finally paid up for our delayed flight. I ended up sending an email which included a LBA/NBA to David Burling, the CEO of Thomson. I received a cheque for just over £2100 for seven passengers. About bloody time.

Saying that. the cheque was actually sent to the company I booked the holiday through.

Hustler11

In December 2012, I logged a claim for a delay of a flight to Majorca in July 2007. In March 2013 I received a response from Thomson advising my claim had been rejected as it was more than 2 years since the delay.


Following their reply, I started the process of claiming the amount due via the Courts. Court paperwork was lodged and in November 2013 Thomson requested a stay in proceedings to await the outcome of the Dawson v Thomson Airways Ltd appeal case.


Following judgement in Dawson's favour in June 2014, I awaited further correspondence from Thomson to agree settlement of the claim. When nothing had been received by the end of the year, I wrote to them requesting settlement. I chased them following no reply in February 2015 and at the same time contacted the Court to establish the position. They had inadvertently incorrectly filed the papers and quickly arranged for the case to be progressed via the local court.


On the 20th March 2015, I received a letter dated the 28th January 2015 enclosing a cheques dated the 12th March 2015 in settlement of my claim. As there was no breakdown with thin the letter, I rang Thomson Customer Services for a breakdown of the amount received. I was advised that the amount related to €400 x 2 plus £95.00 court fee.


My original Court Claim Form request Statutory Interest on the amount due and as this had not been included, I emailed Thomson to request interest for 2 years on the compensation amount - 2 years from claim rejection letter in March 2013 to the receipt of the cheque in March 2015.


Pending receipt of their response I have not banked their cheque as this could be seen as acceptance of their initial offer/payment.


I have today received an email from Thomson advising that as "EU Regulation 261/2004 is an award payment and not a debt or damage payment and therefore we will not be prepared to pay interest on these claims"


Are Thomson right in not paying the interest I have claimed? I have not yet advised the Court of the payment I have received from Thomson as I am prepared to pursue the interest claim if it is valid.


Does anybody know whether I can claim the interest I have requested or whether Thomson are right in not paying it as they have stated?

pindro

Hi there just thought I would share my experience of claiming.

I was on flight TOM4534 on 24/09/2010 from London Gatwick to Tenerife Sur. Flight was over 6 hours late. The cabin door wouldn't close properly so we all had to disembark and wait for a replacement part to be brought from Heathrow to Gatwick.

Anyway, I tried to claim back in 2013 and swiftly got the standard 2 year response letter back from Thomson.

Lodged a complaint with the CAA who were less than useless and agreed with Thomson saying it was out of the airline's control.

I thought that was that and I would never win.

Then I found this forum and the template letter after reading about the court rulings over the 6 year timeframe and 'exceptional circumstance'.

Thought it wouldn't hurt to give it another go so fired off another letter. This time they said the delay was caused by a manufacturing fault and so was not their problem and tried to fob me off again.

As luck would have it I then found a fellow passenger on here who had used Bott&Co to win their case. So another letter fired off, this time threatened them with legal action and dropped the Bott&Co name in a few times......... chased the letter up the other day with a phone call and low and behold apparently I have a cheque on the way.

Guess it pays to be persistent.

Don't let them fob you off, keep pushing and if all else fails start court action against them.

Tyzap

munchie63 wrote: »

IMO the airline are taking the mickey with that letter. they're trying to say, using long words that are basically confusing gibberish, that parts experience problems when first fitted AND at the end of their lifespan. 2 things to consider here - If they're new surely they should work properly otherwise why install them, and secondly, if they expect the part to go wrong 'at the end of its lifespan' why not replace them sooner.

The more people they confuse the less claims they receive, so it is a tactic that they use. They don't like black and white, they like things to be grey. Please don't take everything they say too literally cos it's all smoke and mirrors.

I asked for the date on the letter because I suspect that it could be a few years old and the law has been clarified significantly recently.

smartly

I have today received an email from Thomson advising that as "EU Regulation 261/2004 is an award payment and not a debt or damage payment and therefore we will not be prepared to pay interest on these claims"

It's not an award it's compensation.

What did the court award? Did it include your interest claim?

munchie63_2

smartly wrote: »

It's not an award it's compensation.

What did the court award? Did it include your interest claim?

its an interesting one....the airline have given you an 'award'....did they throw in a trophy too

Looking through the posts it seems judges tend to award interest on to any payments but did you go to court or have the airline just settled your claim following letters etc ?

legal_magpie

munchie63 wrote:

Looking through the posts it seems judges tend to award interest on to any payments but did you go to court or have the airline just settled your claim following letters etc ?

To clear this up:

1. If Court proceedings aren't issued and the airline pays up after correspondence (regardless of how long it's gone on) you aren't entitled to interest

2. If Court proceedings ARE issued, and you didn't claim interest at the start, you aren't entitled to interest unless you amend your claim to include it before the hearing (unlikely)

3. If proceedings are issued for a fixed sum and you claim, interest at, say 8% p.a. and you get judgment in default, you will
get interest at 8%

4. If proceedings are issued and you claim interest and win your case at a hearing, the judge will give you interest but not necessarily at 8%.

Hope this helps
JJ

Hustler11

Legal Magpie, many thanks for your reply.


We have received a letter from the Court setting a date for a hearing but we haven't either paid the hearing fee of £170.00 or looked to move to mediation as suggested as an alternative, so I guess we are not entitled to any interest.


Thanks once again for clarifying the position.