Canceled Flight

Craigyh

12 off us have booked a package holiday in Cyprus in December due to fly from Birmingham. This morining we have had a letter from Thomson saying that the flight has been cancelled and that flights are available from Brum in Nov & Jan if we'd like to fly then (no mention if accomaddation is available), otherwise we can fly from Gatwick. I find this a disgrace and how do we stand with this, can we claim compensation of the cost of transport down to London?

richardw

Have a good read of the terms and conditions, the distance between BHX and LGW, might just be within the limit that they start to pay travel costs.

dmg24

Legally, you cannot claim 'compensation'.

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=4410

Under EU law you are entitled to
A refund of the full price you paid for your ticket within seven days for the part or parts of your journey not made (and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to your original travel plan) and a return flight to the departure airport as soon as possible.
or
Re-routing to your final destination as soon as possible or, if you agree, at a later date. (If the airline flies you to another airport in your destination city then they must pay for the transfer to the airport you were booked for or to another close-by point of your choice)

You may have other rights under Thomson's own t & c's.

rm84

This happened to us last year - our flight to Portugal from BHX was cancelled and we were given the option to book an alternative holiday or go from Manchester. We really didn't want to fly from Manchester so we went and spoke to the travel agent and debated over alternative holidays, but when we couldn't find anything we asked if they could cover the cost of our travel to Manchester because it was so inconvenient (coach ride at 3am - nice). We were quite 'firm' about it and the travel agent spoke to her manager and they agreed to pay our coach fare.

Btw, in terms of other 'compensation,' upon reading the small print of the brochure our hol was taken from (JMC) they had a sliding scale of compensation that you can claim when they make changes to travel within a certain time period. I don't know about your company but JMC didn't pay anything worth claiming until it gets within about a month of your date of travel.

So in short - push the company (be polite but firm!) to cover your travel. It will cost you extra travelling time, but hopefully no extra money. I can totally sympathise because we were really upset on the day we found out too. However, once we'd had a chance to think about it, we realised it wasn't the end of the world. It's not ideal, no, but don't let it ruin your holiday.

Hope this helps.

bagand96

According to Thomson's terms and conditions, you are entitled to:

- Accept the change of airport
- Accept the change of date
- Cancel the holiday with a refund of all monies payed

You are also entitled to compensation, like rm84 said, but its on a sliding scale. From Thomson:

These scales are based on how many days before your booked holiday departure we tell you of a major change. See also the 'Important note – events beyond our control’.

Period before departure when a major change is notified - Compensation payable per person
More than 56 days £0
55-29 days - 10
28-15 days - £20
14-8 days - £3
07-0 days - £40

So, your entitled to no compensation I'm afraid. The full Thomson terms and conditions can be found here http://www.thomsonbeach.co.uk/th/beach/viewTermsAndConditions.do?brochureId=TH44#7

However, give them a call and try and push them for costs to Gatwick, or see if any other airports are available (East Mids, Luton may be easier?). Be polite over the phone with them, but hold your ground and you never know. Just because they say they won't pay, doesn't mean you can't persuade them!

budgetflyer

or
Re-routing to your final destination as soon as possible or, if you agree, at a later date. (If the airline flies you to another airport in your destination city then they must pay for the transfer to the airport you were booked for or to another close-by point of your choice)

It would not be unreasonable to ask for payment to cover costs of getting to Gatwick.Thomsons may disagree but it may swing it by quoting the full reg as posted by dmg24
The EU rules are so vague its really hard to be certain what you really are entitled to.
I would also check what other flights are going from Brum andsuggest if they could transfer onto one of those.
The more options you give them, the easier you make it for them to accommodate you

dzug

Under the EU rules there's nothing I''m afraid - as they have given more than the necessary notice of the cancellation (2 weeks I think) they don't kick in.
Anything you do get will be from the tour operator either under their T&C or ex gratia.

dmg24

budgetflyer wrote: »

It would not be unreasonable to ask for payment to cover costs of getting to Gatwick.Thomsons may disagree but it may swing it by quoting the full reg as posted by dmg24
The EU rules are so vague its really hard to be certain what you really are entitled to.
I would also check what other flights are going from Brum andsuggest if they could transfer onto one of those.
The more options you give them, the easier you make it for them to accommodate you

But the Regs do not cover that! They cover the destination of travel i.e. Cyprus, not the airport of origin.

What is reasonable and what someone is legally entitled too are two very different things.

dmg24

dzug wrote: »

Under the EU rules there's nothing I''m afraid - as they have given more than the necessary notice of the cancellation (2 weeks I think) they don't kick in.
Anything you do get will be from the tour operator either under their T&C or ex gratia.

The rights quoted above apply at any time, there are further rights for flights cancelled within two weeks of departure.

dzug

dmg24 wrote: »

The rights quoted above apply at any time, there are further rights for flights cancelled within two weeks of departure.

That's not how I would read article 5 - but it is a little ambiguous....

Does (i) apply to 5 a b and c or just c?

dmg24

dzug wrote: »

That's not how I would read article 5 - but it is a little ambiguous....

Does (i) apply to 5 a b and c or just c?

I have got the information from the Air Transport Users Council, so I don't know the relevant sections. There is an excellent summary of the rights here:

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=4407