Thomas flight downgrade advice.

Anna111

Hi
My partner recently flew Thomas Cook (flight only) reign from Manchester to Orlando.

We booked ‘premium’ as it was slightly bigger seats, more baggage etc. Seats were also prebooked

All was fine on the way out.

On the way back, when on the plane he noted that it was an economy seat, nothing had been said to him at check in- baggage check etc.

When everybody was on board there was an announcement saying only one grade of seat on this flight.

When back he telephoned TC. Who said they would just refund him the difference and said this was £100.

He said he was not happy so they said they would look into it.

He’s revived an email saying, they have dealt with complaint properly and he is entitled to £100 and to escalate it he needs to get in touch with Alternative dispute resolution approved by the CAA.

Has anybody any experience of this and some advice please?

Thanks in advance
Anna

waamo

He has had a full refund. What else does he think he should have?

bagand96

EU 261 Legislation covers this:

Article 10

Upgrading and downgrading

1. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class higher than that for which the ticket was purchased, it may not request any supplementary payment.

2. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, it shall within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), reimburse

(a) 30 % of the price of the ticket for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less, or

(b) 50 % of the price of the ticket for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, except flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres, or

(c) 75 % of the price of the ticket for all flights not falling under (a) or (b), including flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments.

Orlando - Manchester is around 6800km, so definitely falls under (c) 75% of the price of the ticket.

This might not be as much as it first sounds. Obviously, the outbound was fine so it is only the inbound that counts. Also, the legislation says "price of the ticket", which actually might not be very much, as a big proportion of the cost of long haul flights can be taxes and surcharges. They might be near with their £100, but to be sure you'd have to look at the invoice.

jpsartre

Are premium seats on TC actually considered a different cabin class or simply better seats in economy? If the latter, downgrade compensation wouldn't apply.

mattyprice4004

Not sure I follow the issue - they’re paying the difference.
I think that’s a reasonable solution - you can’t expect a full refund for that leg because he still travelled.

malkie76

jpsartre wrote: »

Are premium seats on TC actually considered a different cabin class or simply better seats in economy? If the latter, downgrade compensation wouldn't apply.

I had the same thought, but from memory they are ticketed differently, and indeed charged more APD for that cabin. Hence should get 75% back via EU261.

Anna111

Thanks all.

There are a couple of issues
1. He didn’t get the service he paid for and looking at various flights the difference in cost for economy and premium varies flight from flight between £100 and £500. We don’t know what the actual difference was for the flight booked

2. Poor customer service nothing was mentioned at any point until he was sat in the seat.

Usually on occasions like this they will offer something for the inconvenience.

We will look into the advice above.