Thomson rejection claiming national law

Ihateflightdelays

I suffered 2 flight delays of 7 hours to and from Mallorca in 2009 with Thomson which ruined my holiday and have never flown with Thomson since as they responded very badly to my original complaint letters. Having seen the new regulation saying I can clain compensation for flight delays up to 6 years back, i sent Thomson the standard letter requesting compensation.

Having waited over a month for a response, they have now responded rejecting my claim on the current basis:

"The European Court of justice has confirmed that, as Regulation doesn't say how long passengers have to bring their claims, we need to look to our national law. The Supreme Court in the UK has said that all claims to do with "international carriage by air" need to be brought within two years. We, therefore, can't consider claims for flights that were delayed more than two years ago".

Are they blatantly lying to try to fool people into not pursuing the claim further or is this actually correct? i don't understand how this could be correct if other airlines have paid back for more than 2 years ago.

Any advice from anyone, anyone succeeded with claims with Thomson?

My next plan is to write to the CAA as all the advice on this website suggests I have a valid claim - I should be eligible for €1000 for me and my sister who travelled.

Needless to say however I will continue my quest not to waste any more of my money on this company!

Mark2spark

It's all explained already on the Thomson thread.

JUMPER

I to am pursuing compensation from Thomson regarding a return flight from Pathos International Airport to Gatwick during November 2007
My wife and I were returning to the UK following a holiday at the Aliathon Village, Pathos, booked with First Choice Holidays.
The return departure date was 20th November 2007 but the departure was delayed for over 3hrs, maybe 5hrs, due to a technical problem with the aircraft, still in the UK.
A replacement aircraft was flown out, presumably from Gatwick ,to return all the passengers back to the UK.
When we arrived back at Gatwick on the 21st Nov 2007 we spent a disturbed night in the arrivals lounge as scores of happy Croatian football supporters were celebrating beating England 3-2 at Wembley, knocking them out of qualifying for Euro 2008.
We subsequently had to pay out to alter our departure back to Devon with National Express.
On our return I contacted First Choice Holidays for some compensation who informed me that it was not there problem but that of the airline ( Although First Choice Airways, I assumed, belonged to First Choice Holidays ! )
If any of the other persons who stayed at Aliathon Village at that time and were involved with the delayed flight it would be helpful to hear from them.
Currently Thomson are saying that the incident was over 2 years ago and are quoting the Supreme Court, UK and disregarding the European Court of Justice ruling as mentioned by "Ihateflightdelays"
forum member
Thanks, in advance, for any assistance given in this matter.

slgengland

i am doing the same with a 4.5 hour delayed flight from bodrum in 2009. Thomson sent me a letter saying the incident was over 2 years ago - any advice

blondmark

slgengland wrote: »

i am doing the same with a 4.5 hour delayed flight from bodrum in 2009. Thomson sent me a letter saying the incident was over 2 years ago - any advice

Yes; go to the Thomson thread.

Mark2spark

I have done a new dedicated thread to this question, with answers and links.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4489367

Ihateflightdelays

Thank you Mark2spark, the new thread is a lot clearer and allows me to take this a step further now. I can't believe they can get away with something like this, i will definitely go straight to the CAA.