Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

StanVanDamn

I have today received a reply from Thomson but not 100% sure on what to do next.

This is the excuse they have used to defend the claim;

"In-case of your flight, the cause of the delay an "unexpected flight safety short coming" arising from the discovery of a technical defect that doesn't fall into the category of something that was or ought to have been discovered during routine maintenance.

The reason given at the time for our 24 hour delay was " the aircraft due to operate your flight suffered a technical problem before departure. An engineer was required from the UK with parts for the fix. The flight was operated at the earliest opportunity the following day."

I am reading on the forum that I need to send a NBA letter is this the next step? I am not sure whether I would have the time and know how to take this to small claims court and am wondering whether there Is a point in sending this?

Should I be writing to the CAA?

bazaar_2

StanVanDamn wrote: »

I have today received a reply from Thomson but not 100% sure on what to do next.

This is the excuse they have used to defend the claim;

"In-case of your flight, the cause of the delay an "unexpected flight safety short coming" arising from the discovery of a technical defect that doesn't fall into the category of something that was or ought to have been discovered during routine maintenance.

The reason given at the time for our 24 hour delay was " the aircraft due to operate your flight suffered a technical problem before departure. An engineer was required from the UK with parts for the fix. The flight was operated at the earliest opportunity the following day."

I am reading on the forum that I need to send a NBA letter is this the next step? I am not sure whether I would have the time and know how to take this to small claims court and am wondering whether there Is a point in sending this?

Should I be writing to the CAA?

Stan, yes its a NBA, they are knocking most people back and using these delaying tactics with unreasonable excuses, your NBA will ask specifically what the reason they are claiming was for the delay, if they dont respond or come up with more BS, then the only way is to start proceedings. It is also worth a try to send a complaint to CAA, but this wont be a quick responce from them, Im still waiting after 3 weeks.
Read up a lot on the court route, because youll need to have a good watertight case for your claim. Im surprised no one hasnt offered up more on this side of it, ( unless Im mistaken). Each case is different, but the gist of this is to use case law to defeat Thomson. Im still going over my POC after 3 or 4 weeks.

romanby1

StanVanDamn wrote: »

I have today received a reply from Thomson but not 100% sure on what to do next.

This is the excuse they have used to defend the claim;

"In-case of your flight, the cause of the delay an "unexpected flight safety short coming" arising from the discovery of a technical defect that doesn't fall into the category of something that was or ought to have been discovered during routine maintenance.

The reason given at the time for our 24 hour delay was " the aircraft due to operate your flight suffered a technical problem before departure. An engineer was required from the UK with parts for the fix. The flight was operated at the earliest opportunity the following day."

I am reading on the forum that I need to send a NBA letter is this the next step? I am not sure whether I would have the time and know how to take this to small claims court and am wondering whether there Is a point in sending this?

Should I be writing to the CAA?

Forget the CAA they will not help.
You are getting a variation of the standard "Put off" reply.
Google Small Caims Court and read as much as possible. There are also Justice Department pages with PDF files laying out the SCC procedure.
There are also sample NBA online letters you can crib and alter to suit your case.
If you go ahead be prepared for the usual Bovine Excrement excuses.

hopeitflys

Hi I thought I was getting somewhere with my claim, had got to the NBA stage and was just waiting to come back from holiday(arrived back yesterday) before submitting Court forms. Have now received letter stating that Thomson sub chartered the delayed flight and to raise my claim with Thomas Cook. All previous correspondence never mentioned Thomas Cook. The flight was a TOM number etc. I have no confidence in Thomson giving me the full details of the delay although I do have it in writing that it was a technical problem.
I believe Thomson are trying to blame Thomas Cook for something that was their problem.
I have no doubt that Thomson will not tell me when they sub contracted (i have emailed them for the full details)the plane which I believe will be the important point in this case Should I continue to issue Court action against Thomson or can I put in a joint action against both Thomson and Thomas Cook and then let the Court decide who should pay. Thanks for any feedback.

Vauban

hopeitflys wrote: »

Hi I thought I was getting somewhere with my claim, had got to the NBA stage and was just waiting to come back from holiday(arrived back yesterday) before submitting Court forms. Have now received letter stating that Thomson sub chartered the delayed flight and to raise my claim with Thomas Cook. All previous correspondence never mentioned Thomas Cook. The flight was a TOM number etc. I have no confidence in Thomson giving me the full details of the delay although I do have it in writing that it was a technical problem.
I believe Thomson are trying to blame Thomas Cook for something that was their problem.
I have no doubt that Thomson will not tell me when they sub contracted (i have emailed them for the full details)the plane which I believe will be the important point in this case Should I continue to issue Court action against Thomson or can I put in a joint action against both Thomson and Thomas Cook and then let the Court decide who should pay. Thanks for any feedback.

This is going to be really messy. But the regulation is clear:your claim can only be against the company that operated your flight. If Thomson subcontracted this to TC at the last moment, you have no claim against Thomson.

You need to write to TC with all the details. But this does set you back to square one, and - as you say - you risk both companies giving you the runaround. What a pain!

hopeitflys

Thanks Vauban, I have just emailed Thomas Cook all the details and will await their reply . As you say this is really messy but I will keep trying.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

My N1 against Thomson was deemed as served on 10th. The letter from the court says they have until 23rd to acknowledge. I am sure they will and also fully intend to defend the case.

Who is further down the path than me and has anyone received a defence from Thomson who was delayed more than two years ago.

I would be really interested to see the defence as I have a hunch there might be a copy and paste effort in this basically heralding the Montreal Convention and how a claim of two years is not valid.

If this is the case I can prepare early for their response and hopefully get the allocation questionnaire sent off as soon as possible.

Can anyone confirm if Thomson are dragging the process out; by acknowledgeing service and filing a defence on the last possible moment.

romanby1

hopeitflys wrote: »

Hi I thought I was getting somewhere with my claim, had got to the NBA stage and was just waiting to come back from holiday(arrived back yesterday) before submitting Court forms. Have now received letter stating that Thomson sub chartered the delayed flight and to raise my claim with Thomas Cook. All previous correspondence never mentioned Thomas Cook. The flight was a TOM number etc. I have no confidence in Thomson giving me the full details of the delay although I do have it in writing that it was a technical problem.
I believe Thomson are trying to blame Thomas Cook for something that was their problem.
I have no doubt that Thomson will not tell me when they sub contracted (i have emailed them for the full details)the plane which I believe will be the important point in this case Should I continue to issue Court action against Thomson or can I put in a joint action against both Thomson and Thomas Cook and then let the Court decide who should pay. Thanks for any feedback.

You say the flight was still a Thomson flight number.
Go to Citizens Advice or do as we did join Holiday Which, it is well worth the money if you have holiday problems and the magazine is excellent. They will give you good legal advice free.
We had a similar problem where a plane had to be hired. We were given overnight accommodation food and we were also given a full refund of our tickets from Barbados even though this occurred before 261/2004 came in.

romanby1

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

My N1 against Thomson was deemed as served on 10th. The letter from the court says they have until 23rd to acknowledge. I am sure they will and also fully intend to defend the case.

Who is further down the path than me and has anyone received a defence from Thomson who was delayed more than two years ago.

I would be really interested to see the defence as I have a hunch there might be a copy and paste effort in this basically heralding the Montreal Convention and how a claim of two years is not valid.

If this is the case I can prepare early for their response and hopefully get the allocation questionnaire sent off as soon as possible.

Can anyone confirm if Thomson are dragging the process out; by acknowledgeing service and filing a defence on the last possible moment.

SNAP
Our case sounds to be similar to yours.
In our case they sent the defence back to the court by email on the last day. A load of hogwash and obviously copy and paste all quoting the Montreal Convention.
We have sent the Allocation form back, is on the file and await a hearing date.

Orange_Smartie

Has anyone had a defence yet from Thomson trying to limit the claim to two years from a delayed flight?