Tui refusing to let my wife on her flight, boarding cruise passengers instead

The_miser_2

This was not the evacuation of Singapore..... TUi was able to reschedule flights & re-book passengers all well in advance, this was a planned event yet they chose not to inform those passengers. It is this failure that renders them culpable, in these dire times especially so, as they have a duty of care towards their passengers. Tui could handle the logistics and administration why not a simple e-mail to the passengers whose flights they had rebooked?
 It is this negligence which has made a bad situation worse. Airlines have spent decades avoiding responsibility, ripping off customers doing everything they can to avoid genuine claims and accepting responsibility when they screw up, so if my tack seems self-centred and selfish in light of current events then so be it.
As for travelling to the hotel on her own, we have extensive experience of Jamaica, not just as tourists. My wife as a woman travelling on her own was unwilling to take a strange cab to an unknown destination, Montego Bay has a reputation for and a very high incidence of robbery, rape and murder ( and these are desperate times, expect that rate to rise). She had her luggage, money and all personal effects and as she felt vulnerable and unsafe.  As no transport was provided, the Rep could have offered or directed her to a safe taxi service but chose to run off instead.
 My wife was there, she made the judgement call and chose to take what she considered the safer option and opt to be picked up by a colleague who she stayed with.
 I am proceeding with both insurance and  EC261 claims, and letter of complaint to TUi

bradders1983

I doubt you will get anywhere, but if that makes you feel better, good luck.

Jumblebumble

Westin said:

"Do I submit the insurance claim now (Columbus Silver Single Trip)" - No
" wait until she gets back (if she does)" - Yes and of course she will.
" or notify them of the ongoing situation? " - No, they are busy with other matters.

Calm yourself. Take stock.  Things happen.  Travel disruption is unfortunately happening at the moment. Your wife will be home shortly and hopefully can take control of you.

I will take the charitable view that TUI did not kick the OPs  wife off despite the fact that they had sold her a ticket in order to allow their more profitable future customers to get home sooner 
GNER railways did this kind of thing  a few years ago
Trains were delayed and terminated at Finsbury Park and they let one train  stay delayed for several hours as there was no more compo for the people trapped after 1 hour but let all other trains through so they did not have to compensate those passengers

The_miser_2

I fail to see why there should be any issues with the insurance & delay claim.
Simply put, my wife's scheduled flight was delayed for 2 days by TUi, this was preplanned by TUI as their records show.
The scheduled flight departed with a different group of passengers than those who had booked that flight (those off a cruise ship).
They failed to inform the passengers of this delay, and to date have not officially informed them of the reason for the delay.
They could have put the cruise ship passengers in the hotel for 2 days and flown them out on the later flight instead of the action they took so maybe Jumblebumbles observation has some merit.

The other part, the complaint about the lack of information etc... May, or may not yield results, I agree this may be the case.

gary83

The_miser_2 said:

 My wife was there, she made the judgement call and chose to take what she considered the safer option and opt to be picked up by a colleague who she stayed with.

did your wife’s colleague charge your wife for allowing her to stay with her? Did she charge your wife for picking her up from the airport?

I don’t see that you can expect to be paid compensation for accommodation after your wife turned down the offer of a hotel that had been provided & she chose to stay with a friend instead. 

The_miser_2

gary83- This is the discussion to be had with TUi,  hotel accommodation was offered but a means of transportation there was not,  the request for the Rep to advise on a trusted method of transport (my wife would've paid the cost and claimed back later) was ignored,  so was the offer reasonable or not?
Let's see what they say, shall we.

gary83

The_miser_2 said:

gary83- This is the discussion to be had with TUi,  hotel accommodation was offered but a means of transportation there was not,  the request for the Rep to advise on a trusted method of transport (my wife would've paid the cost and claimed back later) was ignored,  so was the offer reasonable or not?
Let's see what they say, shall we.

I’m confused, now your saying if the rep could have told your wife the name of a reputable taxi company she’d have happily gone to the provided hotel and stayed there? Earlier in this thread you said your wife refused to go to a hotel  for fear of coranavirus?

The_miser_2 said:

 My wife refused to go to the hotel as due to the coronavirus situation she did not want to closeted with a mass of people so we arranged more suitable accommodation with a colleague.

 Probably best you get your story straight before you start asking for compensation, other than the amount you feel is due for distress how much did your wife’s colleague charge her for picking her up and allowing her to stay with her? How much is her out of pocket expenses? Did she get a receipt from her colleague for these expenses you’re due?

The_miser_2

Naturally, my was worried about the coronavirus situation and didn't particularly want to go to a hotel (who would). But If she had the opportunity to go and check it for herself it may have been OK or not (if not she would not have stayed there) as it is she didn't get that opportunity.
 All TUi had to do (considering they had planned this several days before) was lay on a coach to take the passengers to the hotel, failing that advising of a safe transport alternative, is this an unreasonable request?
The facts in full are what TUi will receive, If TUi accepts that we have grounds for further action, of course the receipts will be provided, she stayed with a colleague who had to be compensated, not a friend who did this as a favour.
I have asked for advice on claiming for the flight delay ( it seems pretty straightforward that TUi had delayed her flight home by 2 nights) and signalled that we intend to ask TUi for further compensation due to the way they mishandled this matter, (which is what is generally advised when further costs and distress are involved ) yet it seems that many of the responders to my query think this is somehow wrong, why?
When has an airline ever taken personal circumstances of loss and dire circumstances into account when they have shafted their customers (unless under pressure from consumer groups or legal action)?
Why then should I not make this perfectly reasonable claim despite their current situation?

gary83

Tui cancelled or took her off the flight - your perfectly entitled to submit a claim for the delay. Tui has to provide accommodation, they did that, your wife chose not to accept it.

 I agree it’s bad that they didn’t provide transport & in your situation I’d be annoyed with that & claiming the costs incurred for the journey.

Whilst it’s not a nice situation your wife was perhaps fortunate that she was on an island that was familiar to her & not in a completely alien environment, after all she knew it “better than a tourist” and sourced her own accommodation, but that was her own choice. why should TUI, who have already booked her a hotel now pay out more money because she decided to stay somewhere else? They’d be paying to accommodate her twice.

hypothetical situation, same happens to me at Heathrow, the airline puts me up in say a  Heathrow area holiday inn, but I had to find a taxi there. If I ignored that & just went somewhere else would I expect my bill taken care of anywhere I chose, would that be reasonable? 

How much do your & your wife think her distress was worth? What figure should you or TUI put on it? 

My final point is whilst I think it would naturally be a worrying or anxious time, I find it slightly odd that you were on here, before she even landed back in the UK and your main concern appeared to be how you could claim for her distress. I’d like to think in a similar situation I’d be more concerned with my girlfriend getting home & her wellbeing & worry about any potential distress claim windfall later.

 

The_miser_2

gary83, Thanks for the analysis. I have not and am not putting a figure on my wife's distress, we are not after a windfall. What we are is extremely annoyed with TUi for failing to notify my wife of the rebooking resulting in the wasted journey to the airport and the way their Rep handled the situation. They have a duty of care towards their customers and in this, they have failed miserably.
 If TUi decides to offer something by way of apology, goodwill, compensation, call it what you will, I think that would be fair.
 As I mentioned before, the accommodation issue is a discussion we will have with them, taking a cab from Heathrow is a far cry from taking a taxi in Montego Bay.
I think you need to reread my OP, I did not mention claiming for anything,  I wrote that  'she needed to get on the plane'. 
 I posted because I was desperately hoping for someone to give me advice as to how I could get her on her scheduled flight.  I had been trying to contact TUi from here (UK) and was finding it impossible, I had hoped someone on the forum might know of some other way I could contact someone higher up in TUi so I could resolve the situation and get her on the flight.
She was due back on Wednesday  (18th March), her work involves highly vulnerable people and she was due to help implement protocols relating to the current situation later in the week, hence the need to get back urgently. 
Once we realised once she couldn't get on the flight I had to inform her team so they could move on without her and she did what she was able to remotely.
It was only after we discovered what TUi had done was preplanned that we decided that it was unacceptable and began considering what action we could take, see my second post.
As to my first concern being with my wife's getting home & her wellbeing, how could you think otherwise? If she had not been able to get on the rebooked TUi flight on Thursday she would have been flown home by charter on Friday, there is absolutely no way I would believe TUi if they offered her another flight and would not take the risk of leaving her stranded.
 Now getting the cost of that flight back from TUi would have made an interesting thread!