Flight Delay: Claim insurance or Thomsons first?

cogiebear

Hi, I am not sure what to do first with regards to my flight delay. If I should try for refund for seats choice that wasn't fulfilled, against Thomson for delay or to my own travel insurance.


Here are the Facts regarding my delay:
Travelling with Thomson on an All Inclusive package holiday to Cancun, Mexico. Myself and my Husband were delayed by 8 hours and 50 minutes due to a "technical issue" (due to arrive on the 18th October at 0630 hours and actually arrived at 1520 that day). Once on the plane the pilot told us that there was a part on the other plane were not working so another plane had to be sent, hence the delay. This was a different style of plane from the plane we were originally due to fly on. On the day we were due to fly out, we were given passes to stay at our hotel in Mexico and received drinks and food that day at the restaurants in the Hotel. Thomson paid for the passes so we didn't have to pay out any money for food or drink.


I have read the posts on here and I think I can claim against Thomson due to the delay, my travel insurance and for the seat choice we didn't actually get on that flight.


I want to claim against them for the delay. But also want to get them to give me the money back for the return part of the journey, that I paid for the seat choices I made when I booked the holiday. As they had to send a different plane for us, they just allocated seats, so we didn't get the 2 that we had chosen. Also when I read my travel insurance it says that it will cover us if we are delayed over 3 hours due to flight delays and will pay out £25.


Who do I claim against first? Do I need to claim against my insurance within a certain time period, can't see a definite answer to this on their website - Debenhams insurance. I have annual travel insurance (that is still active until Sept 2016) and if I claim against my own Insurance does that hinder the claim I will make against Thomson? Also finally when do I contact them to ask for a refund of the cost made to choose our return flight seats?


I have kept our boarding passes and I took photos of the flight departure and arrival screens as extra proof of the actual departure and arrival times. Also I kept a letter that was handed out at the airport in Mexico that said that the delay was due to a technical fault and that an alternative aircraft was being used.


Sorry for such a long message, wanted to give all facts so you guys could see the whole situation. Not had to make any claims like this before.


Thanks you very much in advance.


Linda

Caz3121

you have 3 claims and best to keep them separate
1) claim for delay €600 per person under EU261...you can read Vauban's guide and the Thomson thread re how to claim
2) claim for seat reservation assuming you paid for a specific type of seat that was not given...eg an emergency exit or a premium seat. If you booked 2 seats together in row 12 and still got 2 seats together in row 16 and they are the same seat type then I do not believe a refund is due as there will be a statement that will say seat numbers cannot be guaranteed. If you paid for 2 seats together in row 12 and got 1 in row 20 and 1 in row 11 then you should be able to claim refund as you paid for 2 seats together
3) travel insurance £25...makes no difference to the EU261 claim so can be claimed at any time (I expect they may pay up before you even get a response from Thomson)

cogiebear

Hi Caz, thanks so much for your help and advice.

Linda :-)