Rights when tour company fail to get you to airport meaning we missed flight

dawyldthing

£355 is rediculous for a taxi to East Midlands. Definately should have been less than half of that. How did the other 170 people get back as it's a lot of people if all went in a taxi

shaun_from_Africa

dawyldthing wrote: »

£355 is rediculous for a taxi to East Midlands. Definately should have been less than half of that.

You would get a taxi for half of what the OP paid but only if you used one of the off airport taxi services.
If you didn't know the number for one of these and you used one of the airport taxis, £355 isn't too unbelievable.

I live about 4 miles from Gatwick and if I use a Horley taxi firm the charge is £8 but an airport taxi charges £17.50 for the same journey.

I've just done a quick check on the LGW airport taxis and if I was to pre-book LGW to East Midlands they want £259 and I would expect a "walk up" fare to be considerably higher.

MikeMouse

This one isn't clear - if the coaches were sold as transfers by the tour operator then I would pursue the tour operator for the taxi fare. The fact that they promised a rep at Gatwick to meet the flight suggests they believed they had further actions to get people home once the flight landed but they didn't happen.

Its not uncommon for travel companies and insurers to both be liable and each refer you to the other for the claim.

The taxi is expensive but in the absence of another way of getting there they should pay it.

Blackpool_Saver

Overnight hotel, cheaper transport next day?

PeacefulWaters

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Overnight hotel, cheaper transport next day?

Possibly. And it does depend upon the size of the party.

But then a claim against the tour operator for a hotel, 2 x a day's wage for work missed and 2 or more walk up train fares the next morning could easily exceed the same night taxi fare.

bagand96 wrote: »

I'm not sure if the flight delay compensation board will be much help.

I'm thinking more about the wider application of EC/261 beyond non-weather related delays. And the basic requirement to get the passenger back to the airport on the original booking.

I guess the tour operator are referring you to the insurer because the problem was caused by weather. which to be fair to them is beyond their control. They already layed on an extra chartered flight (at significant cost to themselves no doubt).

The tour company still have responsibilities - dumping people at the wrong airport late at night isn't exactly reasonable. The cost to them isn't relevant. The situation is a risk of their business.

If this was indeed the extreme weather in France, it was well documented in international news and well beyond the tour operators control.

But other things were within their control.

Pollycat

J_E_Foster wrote: »

Travelling with two young children four bags and two sets of skis and being dumped at Gatwick at 10pm on a Sunday night didn't leave us a lot of options.

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Overnight hotel, cheaper transport next day?

But that option may have meant missing a day off work for both parents plus a day off school for 2 kids.

No work and possibly no pay (plus a school fine) may have been a more expensive option than paying for the taxi.