Thomson flight delay compensation debacle - advice sought

barnsleyman

Firstly apologies if this is like war and peace:
In Sept 2013 I submitted a claim for compensation with Thomson for a flight in April 2008, therefore within the 6 year limit. During numerous correspondence Thomson continued to state that it only had to consider claims going back 2 years. Following the Supreme Court judgement in Oct 2014 Thomson said that they would finally look at my claim. Yesterday I received a letter from Thomson saying that the flight was delayed due to bad weather at Doncaster Airport on the morning of my flight and as such "extraordinary circumstances" beyond their control. I dispute this 100% as I remember the day well and it was a fine clear day. Unfortunately, despite me bringing my claim to Thomson within the 6 year limit I am "out of time" for submitting a claim via the small claims court (also 6 years). I was not aware that there was a time limit on small claims until it was too late. Thomson have acted terribly throughout my claim and I am disgusted by their antics. I have two questions:
(1) Is there any way of obtaining the real reason why a flight was delayed. I assume airlines must have records but are they freely available to members of the public. I considered a Freedom of Information request but think it is not suitable as Thomson is not a public sector body.
(2) Is there any way of obtaining historic weather data? (ideally free of charge) eg Doncaster Airport 16th April 2008 - approx 07.00hrs. I have enquired with Met Office and they may be able to assist but they charge between £75 and £200 (plus vat).
Finally, the flight in question was TOM4627 - date 16/04/2008 depart time 07.00hrs Doncaster to Tenerife. Has anybody else made a claim regarding this flight? If Y, how did you get on?
Any help gratefully accepted.
Kind Regards

Caz3121

should have posted on the Thomson thread
Vaubans guide in the sticky gives details on flightstats which will allow you to check the other flights at the airports on that date
Not sure why you want to do all this given that the flight was over 6 years ago. Even if you can prove the weather was not the affect, you still cannot force Thomson to pay by going to court so you are completely wasting your time

Any airline is going to reject claims for flights over 6 years ago, you cannot claim through the courts so best just to forget it and move on

Tyzap

Caz3121 wrote: »

should have posted on the Thomson thread
Not sure why you want to do all this given that the flight was over 6 years ago.

Perhaps Barnsleyman is so frustrated at the way he has been treated, which resulted in the loss of any possible compensation, that he would like vent his anger at the CAA.

If he could prove that he was lied to about the reason for his delay he could register a complaint about this with the CAA.

Obviously this would not gain him the compensation he may have been due but it may bring him some satisfaction and help others too.

Mark2spark

Although I agree with the frustration, it's probably time to just walk away, I very much doubt that the CAA will do anything. They have enough evidence now that airlines are still lying to people and flouting the law, yet they remain passive.

Like the airlines facing no punishment for flouting the law, there's also no punishment for the CAA for failing in it's duty as the regulator for the public interest.