Flight Delayed over 32 hours - Compensation?

Shazanddan

18/1/13 - We were due to fly from Birmingham to Tenerife 11.10am on the day the snow arrived

Basically the short story is that our departure was delayed 32hrs & 50 mins.

We boarded a snow covered plane at 11am on 18/1 for a departure time of 11.10am. We were told that we would be late departing as they would need to sweep the snow from the plane & de-ice it.

Then we were advised the runway was closed 12.00 - 3pm for the runway to be swept. We were given a drink on board before disembarking the plane at 3pm, as the runway was now closed til 6pm.

The runway actually re-opended at 6.08pm (just over 6 hours), but at this time we were given a £5 Thomson voucher & told our flight had been rescheduled for 8pm the following night & we were sent to a hotel for the night.

Other flights (including another one to Tenerife) left that night after the runway re-opened.

I know they will probably claim exceptional circumstances, but it was January & as forecasted, it snowed.

Due to the snow we left home 3 hours earlier than we would normally have to & all the other passengers arrived, checked in on time. When we got to the gate, our plane was far from ready.

I accept the runway was closed for 6 hours, but was a 32 hour delay the best they could do?

Do we have a cause to claim compensation from Thomson? If so, what could we expect to receive?

richardw

What was your original flight number and the flight number you actually travelled on?

Shazanddan

The flight number for 18/1 & 19/1 remained the same TOM 7548

richardw

Thanks for clarifying the flight was delayed and not cancelled.

That's very serious poor performance from TUI Thomson.

Yes the snow was bad for a few hours.

The EU reg EC 261/2004 talks about extraordinary circumstances despite 'reasonable measures' so there's an argument that they didn't take reasonable measures to fly you when the snow ended.

TUI were instrumental in the appeal to the Sturgeon judgement so they detest this regulation, so it won't be a picnic doing a small claim against them, do you have legal expenses cover with an insurance policy or premium bank account that you could get legal assistance with?

It appears your flight was sacrificed in favour of others to minimise claims from their fights from BHX around the same time.

If it was a true package holiday consider a claim under the package travel regulations.