Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

bagand96

I still struggle to see why Thomson get away with it? If that was any other form of contract (because thats what a package holiday is) they would be responsible? But hey ho.

Thomson are not getting away with anything. The EU law is clear, you claim against the operating airline. You may feel that Thomson are liable but that is not the case. Volotea are.

Your flight was a Volotea flight with a VOE flight number. When you book Thomson holidays from Southend they tell you Volotea will operate the flight.

If the flight had been on Thomson Airways, on a TOM flight code, your claim would be with Thomson Airways (point of note here as well - it would be Thomson Airways liable - not Thomson Holidays. Same name, same group, but different companies). This is perhaps where the confusion with the CAA came from? Did you explicitly tell them you were on a Volotea flight?

Anyway, the rest of the advice here is sound. Claim against Volotea, following the various guides here. It may be a long road, t may well be quite complicated with an airline based in Spain. But as you say you are entitled to it.

gregb

Yes the CAA were informed. It was all in black and white and they provided the link to CEDR, so that's the route i went.
But thanks for clarifying. I'll start the process rolling over the weekend

inspireme247

Hi

I created a ticket on CEDR against TUI due to over three hours delay on the flight turning back home after the pilot was seriously ill.

I have got a response from TUI who denied the compensation due to the extraordinary circumstances under Regulations 261/2004.

Their letter can be seen below, it sounds like I don't have a good case unless you think I still should have compensation? It states:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your flight delay claim.

In a limited number of circumstances Regulation 261/2004 of the European Union now entitles some affected customers to a payment when their flight is delayed over three hours on arrival.

In light of the Supreme Court ruling on 31st October 2014 we have investigated the claim for flight TOM7106 East Midlands to Zakynthos and our delay handling logs show that the flight was delayed due to the first officer becoming unwell after departure, and required hospital treatment. A replacement was crew member was found.

So as to help both customers and airlines, the European Commission has recently published draft guidelines as to what amounts to extraordinary circumstances. This list was prepared with the assistance of the various national bodies responsible for regulating the aviation industry across Europe.

In this draft, the Commission has intimated that the following would be considered extraordinary circumstances:

16. Passenger or crew member becomes seriously ill or dies on-board at short notice before the flight.

An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it can prove that the delay is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even
if all reasonable measures had been taken.

The circumstances surrounding the delay to your flight are classified as extraordinary circumstances under Regulation 261/2004 of the European Union. For the reasons set out above, the claim for compensation of £707.66 pursuant to the Denied Boarding Regulations is denied.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.

inspireme247

I've posted my case against TUI via https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5785953

Please can I have your opinion?

jpsartre

As far as I know, the draft they refer to is made by the CAA, not the European Commision. You can find (non-binding) court rulings that claim crew illness is non-extraordinary and some that reach the opposite conclusion. It's a grey area and in these cases, the relevant question is usually going to be whether the airline took all reasonable steps to prevent the delay.

inspireme247

And also on the extraordinary circumstance it states short notice BEFORE the flight. But the pilot was seriously ill ON the flight while they were flying. So we had to fly back. So I don't think they have met the criteria because the pilot were already flying the flight. Do you agree with this?

jpsartre

No, the fact that it happened after departure makes it more (not less) likely that the resulting delay is extraordinary IMO. But again, there are judges of the opinion that illness is non-extraordinary as it is an inherent part of running an airline. If you go to small claims court you just have to cross your fingers you get one of them

sclare

There is absolutely nothing that the airline could or should have done to prevent this delay. Consequently they will not be found responsible for it. It's just about the clearest example of an exceptional circumstance that I can think of.
I hope the pilot was okay.

JPears

Agreed. A rare EC IMHO.

tiddles93

Definitely extraordinary circumstances, I sincerely hope the 1st officer recovered.