Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

percypoppit

Ok Ive had my letter at long last and no surprise they don't want to compensate. Here is what it says (I have left out the standard bitas that make the letter lengthy and supposedly to 'scare' me)

I can see that you experienced a flight delay of 5 hours and 5 monutes. The dealy was partly due to a reactionary delay from the previous flight in CUN, caused by water leak. Further to this, before take off, there was an issue with the emergency light battery. A replacement part had to be sourced before departure. The aircraft cannot legally deaprt with any of the sdafety features inoperable. Neither delay was due to poor maintenance or could have been avoided. Both of these would be classed as extraordinary circumstances'.....

Cited Nelson and Lufthansa and C629/10 TUI, Bristihs Airways, Easy Jet v United Kingdom CAA.

'In the case of your flight the cause of dealy was in reaction to a delay to another aircraft caused by "an unexpected flight safety shortcoming" arising midflight.'....but it flows from that conclsuioon that a problem that arises outside of regular maintencance and which is not the result of poor maintenance can't be inherent in the operation of an air carrier and therefore will be extraordinary circumstances.....In the case of fault to the aircraft which delayed your flight the technical problem occurred while the aircraft was in flight. As the defct in question was not something that either ought to have been detected during routine maintenance or which occurred as a result of failure of thomson to implement a satisfactory maintencane scheme or fail top implement that scheme appropraitely the failure in flgiht was entirely unexpected. Therefore, the circumstances are not of a kind which would fall outside of the defination of Extraordinary circumstance and compensation is therefore not payable.'

What di I do now please???

P2258

Hi There,

im wondering if anyone else has had the same problem as me:

I started of my claim back in Nov 2012, and after all the letters and forms, finally recieved the response from TUI/Thomson Airways.
I wont type out the whole letter, but the following paragraph is what they said:

"The European Court Of Justice has confirmed that, as the regulation does not say how long passengers have to bring their claims, we need to look at our National Law. The Supreme Court in the UK has said that claims to do with "international carriage by air" are subject to the framework of the Monreal Convention which provides that claims need to brought within 2 years. We, therefore, cant consider claims for flights that were delayed more than 2 years"

Do I still have a case for compensation, or do I have to accept that this is correct and they do not have to pay out?

Ive tried reserching this but cannot find anything concrete.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

VT82

Centipede100 wrote: »

Send your NBA and follow up with a legal claim. If you don't want to do it yourself, employ a nowin, no fee claims company.

I have read the three FAQs I consider to be applicable to the '2 year time barring' response from Thompson:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57059483&postcount=2321

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=59667671&postcount=215

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57110269&postcount=2634

Following this advice, I haven't got the willpower to do it myself when it could take up to a year, and my claim would only be for 500EUR. This is following Centipede100's warning about the dedication needed. It's galling, as I normally would like to fight myself, but I'm being realistic on this one.

Can anyone therefore recommend a decent no-win no-fee company, that would be interested in a 500EUR claim? In particular, it would be nice if the company took over from where I left off, rather than starting again from scratch, as my delay is nearly hitting the 6 year threshold. Or do I just pick the top Google result?

TIA

111KAB

P2258 wrote: »

Do I still have a case for compensation, or do I have to accept that this is correct and they do not have to pay out?

Ive tried reserching this but cannot find anything concrete.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Double posting but look here >
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4489367

111KAB

VT82 wrote: »

Can anyone therefore recommend a decent no-win no-fee company, that would be interested in a 500EUR claim? In particular, it would be nice if the company took over from where I left off, rather than starting again from scratch, as my delay is nearly hitting the 6 year threshold. Or do I just pick the top Google result?

TIA

Too early to recommend anyone I feel but Flightmole seem genuine.

kawasakizx

Just to give you further information regarding our position, we are acting on the basis of expert legal advice provided by a pre-eminent aviation law QC who has advised us that claims relating to delay, whether under EU regulations or otherwise, must be brought within two years according to domestic law. European case law confirms that it is domestic law that should dictate the time limit and we are, therefore, confident that we are adopting the correct legal position.
just had this letter sent to me .
my flight was delay for 4 hours and 35 mins while we were in cancun in 2008 .were do i stand kind regards kawasakizx

suzy_g

I told Thomas cook about a couple of hours delay at the airport then a six hour delay stuck on the runway before a 10 hour flight to the Dom REP here is there response.........

I am writing in response to your letter regarding your recent travel arrangements with Thomas Cook and thank you for your patience while we waited on a reply from the airline.
It is with regret that I note your flight with us was delayed. Whilst delays are an unfortunate part of air travel, I would like to assure you that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure that any disruption to our passengers is kept to an absolute minimum.
When a delay is initially identified, it is not always immediately apparent as to when a revised take off time can be secured. A number of factors have to be considered, which can vary dependent on the reason for the delay, and quite often we are reliant on outside influences, such as Airport Authorities or Air Traffic Control. Throughout, however, as soon as confirmed information is available, this is passed onto our customers as quickly as possible through our handling agents at the airport.
Although delays do occur on occasion, they can arise for a number of different reasons, and having carried out a full investigation the specific circumstances surrounding the delay to your own flight were of a technical nature, which were extraordinary, despite Thomas Cook taking all reasonable precautions necessary to prevent the situation. All aircraft can experience technical problems that are totally unforeseen, despite all reasonable attempts to ensure they are maintained to a good standard, in line with CAA regulations. These situations can be compared to the maintenance of your own car, which can break down at any time without prior warning, regardless of its service history, and would be considered completely beyond the owners’ control.
I can see that passengers were provided with welfare during this time, which was deemed appropriate for the length of your delay. It is with regret to inform you that we will be unable to consider any claims for compensation as a result of the delay to your flight.
Please be assured that on-time performance is a key measure for us as a business, and we constantly review our operations to ensure we deliver the best results, and service. I would like to offer our apologies for any inconvenience you were caused on this occasion and I hope that despite this, your stay was found to be an enjoyable one.



So what the next thing to do??

kimbo_15

droylie wrote: »

Dear all

I posted on the main forum but just to let you know that I was due to go to court last Thursday and Thomson agreed to settle out of court for a delay from 2010. Thomson agreed 400 euros each (2 of us) and court costs. My ex-husband is a barrister and he did the claim for me and I am happy to email anyone a copy (it quite lengthy).

This was despite Thomson saying it was 'extraordinary' circumstances (it wasn't) and lying over the distance from Manchester to Palma (to try and get the lower amount). My case was put on hold in 2010 but I didn't give up!

Kerrie :beer:

Please can you send me a copy.

Many thanks

Orange_Smartie

droylie wrote: »

Dear all

I posted on the main forum but just to let you know that I was due to go to court last Thursday and Thomson agreed to settle out of court for a delay from 2010. Thomson agreed 400 euros each (2 of us) and court costs. My ex-husband is a barrister and he did the claim for me and I am happy to email anyone a copy (it quite lengthy).

This was despite Thomson saying it was 'extraordinary' circumstances (it wasn't) and lying over the distance from Manchester to Palma (to try and get the lower amount). My case was put on hold in 2010 but I didn't give up!

Kerrie :beer:

Great result!! Can I have a copy please?

Orange_Smartie

Can anyone help me with this?

I need to know whether I claim in euro's on the claim form for the Court.

Also, there were 5 passengers in my party. Do we all claim on the same claim form? Two are under 16 years of age, so presumably I claim on their behalf?

Any guidance would be much appreciated as I want to submit claim by the end of the week.