Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

richardw

Out of interest, What was your my travel lite flight number?

It may of had a TC flight number.

Even so, I think my travel lite was an Airtours brand which was taken over by TC and didn't go bust, so appears TC may well be responsible to respond to your claim.

vjhicks

Letter off Thomson stating that as both my delays (there and back) were a result of "in air technical problems" (resulting in us having to turn back and land at Gatwick on the way there and a replacement plane sent on the way home) we are not entitled to compensation as the technical issues were "exceptional circumstances". I know this is complete twaddle but I don't know what to do next. Call home insurance and get legal team to deal with it or use one of these online claim companies!?! I am shaking I'm so mad!:mad:

Ningle

I've only just registered for the site to come in and post this, so please excuse how new I am to all of this. Any and all help gratefully received

My husband and I have just returned from a holiday in St Lucia. We were booked through British Airways as one journey but as there are no direct flights, we travelled from Glasgow - Gatwick, Gatwick - St Lucia. No problems to way out, it's the return flights that had problems.

We were due to leave St Lucia on Mon 10 Dec at 2025 hrs (0025 GMT). After check-in we were informed the flight was cancelled so to return to check in desk. Long story short, absolutely shambolic and no help whatsoever, we got ourselves back to our hotel and got a room. We were informed that BA take care of all bills so didn't have to pay for the room or the all-inclusive food & drinks (no probs there).

No info all day, the hotel told us to keep coming to reception to hear anything. We finally got told at about 1730 hrs that our flight was going to go that night and we should get ready for pick up around 1830 hrs. At check-in they refused, despite us challenging a number of times, to check our bags in through to Glasgow. We were told all bags were coming off at Gatwick. We were informed that the departure time was 2145 hrs (0145 GMT), arrival 0955 GMT. As our connecting flight was 1135 hrs we would have plenty of time to get us and our bags on.

Flight didn't leave St Lucia until 2250 hrs (0250 GMT) and we arrived at 1100 GMT.

Of course, as we anticipated at the check in desk at St Lucia, despite us going as quickly as we could until the time ran out, we missed the connecting flight. Next flight to Glasgow not until 1735 hrs.

We asked if we could please get into one of the lounges or something as by this point we really needed some sleep, food etc. Despite a couple of phonecalls we were told no, no room so we'd just need to hunker down for the afternoon. No other help or assistance was given for food or anything.

We arrived onto the 1735 flight to Glasgow, finally arriving around 1900 hrs. (incidentally, we met a couple on this flight that hadn't had the 24 hours original delay but that A) had their bags checked in right thru from St Lucia to Glasgow and had been in the BA lounge at Gatwick after just walking up and asking to get in after saying they'd missed the connecting flight. I think it was at this point my husband tipped over "that line!" lol)

Having looked at the complaints/compensation I understand we are entitled to the 600 euros each for the original flight cancellation.

My question is, are we entitled to anything for the second flight delay of 1hr 5 mins that caused us to missed the connecting flight to Glasgow and the 6 hour wait in Gatwick?

sorry for length of post as didn't know what info to give

Thank you for any advice

richardw

vjhicks wrote: »

Letter off Thomson stating that as both my delays (there and back) were a result of "in air technical problems" (resulting in us having to turn back and land at Gatwick on the way there and a replacement plane sent on the way home) we are not entitled to compensation as the technical issues were "exceptional circumstances". I know this is complete twaddle but I don't know what to do next. Call home insurance and get legal team to deal with it or use one of these online claim companies!?! I am shaking I'm so mad!:mad:

Sturgeon clearly says they aren't 'extraordinary circumstances', see earlier in this thread.

You could write back clearly stating this and requesting compensation see letters before action LBA, earlier in this thread.

It appears Thomson are unlikely to give in and simply write you a cheque. If you pursue a small claim and it is likely to stress you out during your every day life perhaps look into legal expenses cover with your insurance policy for peace of mind.

richardw

Ningle wrote: »

...We were due to leave St Lucia on Mon 10 Dec at 2025 hrs (0025 GMT). After check-in we were informed the flight was cancelled so to return to check in desk. ...

http://www.thebasource.com/b777-200er-g-viiv-st-lucia-technical-issue/ mentions your flight

"British Airways Boeing 777-236ER G-VIIV operating BA2159 London Gatwick – St Lucia – Port Of Spain terminated at St Lucia today due to a technical issue. The return BA2158 was cancelled."

So appears compensation is due.

BA should have offered you care at LGW in accordance with http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004R0261:EN:HTML

Article 9
Right to care
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge:
(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;

irisradford

richardw wrote: »

So they haven't yet denied your claim and muttered 'Extraordinary Circumstances'?

Haven't actually had a proper reply yet - just an acknowledgement to my initial e-mail. No answer at all to the recorded delivery letter.

huggybuny

Sent my claim to Thomas Cook from the templete, got the standard reply letter back from them today quoting the 28 day rule that most people are recieving now, I was thinking of emailing them directly to challenge this and wondered if anybody has an email address for them or would you continue with a letter trail if you already have begun this way ?

Thanks

Huggybuny

Ningle

sorry, I don't know how to do the proper quote bits.

The first official information about the cancellation and any apology by BA was by the captain on the returning flight when we were sitting in the plane at St Lucia. He came on and acknowledged that we this was the first information we'd been given and that it was due a back up battery or power unit system not working properly so despite working on it, a new part had to be flown in from the UK, arriving that afternoon on the daily Gatwick-St Lucia flight. So, a technical issue with the plane.

I'm not sure what time the replacement flight was ever officially scheduled to depart on, a time was never given to any of the passengers so I don't really know how long we were officially delayed. The daily flight leaves at 2025hrs. On the delayed departure time we were given on arrival at the airport of 2145 hrs it took off 1 hour 5 minutes later at 2250hr. If we had caught the connecting flight we should have arrived in Glasgow at about 1305 instead we arrived six hours later at 1905.

As for flight numbers, both our original flight (10 Dec) and the replacement one (11 Dec) had the same number BA2158. It seems they use the same ones every day, hence huge confusion when the two flights checked in, departed and arrived with baggage reclaim at the same time!

wireontour

I wrote to American Airlines 6 weeks ago and havent heard anything, has anyone else had any experiences with AA?

Thanks:)

dino25uk

Hi all, Jet2 flight was delayed in July this year and have been pursuing them for compensation. Sent an NBA on Monday and received this reponse today.:
"Thank you for your letter received by us on 10/12/2012
I understand from your letter that you wish to recosider your previous correspondance regarding a flight delay with a view to claiming compensation under EU regulation 261/2004.
We only retain correspondance for a limited period and in addition, we have a new IT system and Customer Care process when dealing with flight delays. We would kindly ask that you re-submit your claim in writing to the above address, we will subsequently send you an acknowledgement to say this has been received, investigate your experience and issue a full reponse in due course. Please note along with your original correspondance, your claim must include the following information.
Passenger Names
Booking Reference
Date of Travel
Flight Number
Copy of booking reference or boarding pass.
Thank you again........."

Now I know this is a stalling tactic, as all the information except for a Copy of the Booking Reference, has been included in all correspondance. However, I am not unreasonable, they've got one more chance before I start court proceedings.

Good luck to everyone else with their pursuit of their claim.