What are our rights regarding unscheduled overnight stop Cancun to Gatwick

interstellaflyer

Last Tuesday we got on TOM49 Cancun to Gatwick, the flight was due to be just over 9hrs, about an hour of so in to the flight the captain read the riot act because someone had been smoking in one of the toilets, all seemed good for the next 3 hours then we could feel the aircraft decending and the flight tracking was blocked, the captain then announced that we were being diverted to Bangor, Maine due to a couple of people fighting, bear in mind we were in Premium and the disturbance was in economy so knew nothing of what went on prior to the captian announcing the diversion. A male had physically assaulted a female, the female was apparently the person who had been smoking earlier in the flight and it is thought that the male and female were known to each other,  passengers sat near them have said they were both visably drunk and it would seem the the flight attendants were aware of this when the boarded.

The flight landed at Bangor and this is where the chaos begins, the aircraft parked in the middle of the apron and the police entered the aircraft via the front door so we could see all the toing and froing, after about 10 min of the police entering the aircraft, the male was led out in handcuffs, the female followed about 10 mins or so later but did not apprear to be handcuffed, due to police taking statements and other stuff like taking on more fuel (they fueled up with passegers on the aircraft, didn't think this was allowed) we had been on the ground about 2 hours, it was onvious to me that the crew were going to run out of hours if anything else happened, and it did, there was a power outage at the airport afecting ATC and some of the taxi lane lights so the aircraft had to be led to the runway by a 'follow me' car, once we reached to runway we apparently had to wait for a landing aircraft, we waited a good 10 minutes for that aircraft so I'm not sure if that was an excuse for us being delayed for other reasons, the captain made a few anouncement s regarding having issues with the flight plan, eventually the captain said they were going to run out of hours and were trying to get us to Canada and get us some hotel accomodation this was due to visa requirements, this didn't happen and we eventually ended up taxiing back to a stand, the airport was not equiped to handle a 787 and they messed arround for the best part of an hour trying to get the jey bridge to reach rather than just getting some steps (which is what the ended up doing)

Once off the aircraft we were all held in an immigration lounge with literally nothing except 2 broken vending machines and a water fountain, not enough seats for everone, eventually they did bring some millitary camp beds, though not enough and something to eat (a flapjack).  It wasn't until about 6am (new shift) that actuall food, tea, coffee and bottled water started to appear, in total we spent 17 hours in that immigration loungebefore eventually an fresh crew was flown in and we were on our way again.  From what we understand from media reports, it would seem the 2 people responsible for the diversion were released the next day and found their own way back to the UK, this is a bit of a kick in the teeth given what we (the other nearly 300 passengers) went through.  TUI gave us all a £10 food voucher when we got back to Gatwick and my daughter received an email from TUI offering £200 per person vouchers off next TUI holiday, not sure if this is fair compensation, bear in mind I'm pretty sure that legally we were entitled to a hotel room.

Voyager2002

You were entitled to "care" during the delay, and had you found your own food and hotel rooms then TUI would have paid for them. Obviously there were no facilities accessible to you without passing US immigration, and without a US visa/ESTA clearing immigration was not possible. TUI therefore have zero liability for their failure to provide what was simply not available.

The question of compensation is perhaps more promising. If the two trouble-makers were indeed obviously drunk at the beginning of the journey they should not have been allowed to board, and so one could argue that the entire misadventure was therefore TUI's fault. 

Hoenir

Voyager2002 said:

The question of compensation is perhaps more promising. If the two trouble-makers were indeed obviously drunk at the beginning of the journey they should not have been allowed to board, and so one could argue that the entire misadventure was therefore TUI's fault. 

Not unknown for people to bring duty free purchases onto a plane and consume them. 

Ayr_Rage

When is a person too drunk to fly?

It's always a judgement call and the handling agents and TUI staff obviously didn't think they were so drunk they required offloading.

I've see this reported in several media outlets and the crew seemed to have done their best in very awkward circumstances with you all being stuck airside and unable to enter the US.

PS. Refuelling with passengers onboard is allowed with certain caveats.

DullGreyGuy

interstellaflyer said:
stuff like taking on more fuel (they fueled up with passegers on the aircraft, didn't think this was allowed) we had been on the ground about 2 hours, 

You thought wrong, there are several types of jet fuel, the two most common can be done whilst passengers are on board subject to a few other conditions

interstellaflyer said:
 my daughter received an email from TUI offering £200 per person vouchers off next TUI holiday, not sure if this is fair compensation, bear in mind I'm pretty sure that legally we were entitled to a hotel room.

What part of it do you think was TUI's fault? 

If you dont have papers to get through immigration they can't make a hotel come to you. It all sounds fully out of their control and better everyone travels safely than anything else. 

interstellaflyer

Voyager2002 said:

You were entitled to "care" during the delay, and had you found your own food and hotel rooms then TUI would have paid for them. Obviously there were no facilities accessible to you without passing US immigration, and without a US visa/ESTA clearing immigration was not possible. TUI therefore have zero liability for their failure to provide what was simply not available.

The question of compensation is perhaps more promising. If the two trouble-makers were indeed obviously drunk at the beginning of the journey they should not have been allowed to board, and so one could argue that the entire misadventure was therefore TUI's fault. 

Hi, thanks for the reply, there were some people on the flight with valid ETSAs and the couple behind us certainly did, the flight attendants were asking people and trying to get numbers, however in the end it made no difference, the Americans wanted to keep us all together and to be fair given it wasn't a major airport, I doubt there was much in the way of hotels,  There is a question as to why we didn't divert to a Canadian airport in the first place Quebec wasn't that far away, we were in Canadian airspace when we diverted, I know it comes down to hindsight but if we'd landed at a different airport We'd have more than likely got back on our way and home within the crews legal hours.

interstellaflyer

DullGreyGuy said:

interstellaflyer said:
stuff like taking on more fuel (they fueled up with passegers on the aircraft, didn't think this was allowed) we had been on the ground about 2 hours, 

You thought wrong, there are several types of jet fuel, the two most common can be done whilst passengers are on board subject to a few other conditions

interstellaflyer said:
 my daughter received an email from TUI offering £200 per person vouchers off next TUI holiday, not sure if this is fair compensation, bear in mind I'm pretty sure that legally we were entitled to a hotel room.

What part of it do you think was TUI's fault? 

If you dont have papers to get through immigration they can't make a hotel come to you. It all sounds fully out of their control and better everyone travels safely than anything else. 

From what I understand, one of the flight attendants ammited knowing the 2 passengers were drunk when the boarded the aircraft, I'm not blaming TUI entirely, however once on the ground the whole thing was a comedy of errors, we wern't that far from Quebec where there would be facilities for larger aircraft (something Bangor was not equiped for) and there would be no visa issues.  

I m ust admit I was pretty chill about it all until it was reported that the perpetrators got away scott free it would be nice to see some sort of civil action taken against the perpetrators.

Hoenir

interstellaflyer said:

I m ust admit I was pretty chill about it all until it was reported that the perpetrators got away scott free it would be nice to see some sort of civil action taken against the perpetrators.

Matters will be dealt with quietly and effectively without fuss. 

bagand96

interstellaflyer said:

TUI gave us all a £10 food voucher when we got back to Gatwick and my daughter received an email from TUI offering £200 per person vouchers off next TUI holiday, not sure if this is fair compensation, bear in mind I'm pretty sure that legally we were entitled to a hotel room.

You're correct UK261 does entitle you to hotel accommodation.  However UK Legislation cannot override US Law on US soil.  It's entirely up to the US Authorities who they let in to their country and on what terms.  As an unplanned diversion  it's likely that initially the entire flight did not meet their entry requirements.  Allowances can be made in certain situations to help a situation, but again those decisions rest with US Authorities - leaving everyone in the secure transit area was likely the easiest option (for them). 

interstellaflyer said:

Hi, thanks for the reply, there were some people on the flight with valid ETSAs and the couple behind us certainly did, the flight attendants were asking people and trying to get numbers, however in the end it made no difference, the Americans wanted to keep us all together and to be fair given it wasn't a major airport, I doubt there was much in the way of hotels,  There is a question as to why we didn't divert to a Canadian airport in the first place Quebec wasn't that far away, we were in Canadian airspace when we diverted, I know it comes down to hindsight but if we'd landed at a different airport We'd have more than likely got back on our way and home within the crews legal hours.

It's easy in hindsight to say that better decisions could have been made.  But faced with a difficult, unplanned, and unpredictable situation the Captain/Cabin Crew/TUI Operations all had decisions to make.  Nobody would have deliberately put the passengers in that situation, and would have made decisions in good faith.  A lot continued to go against everyone after landing in Bangor - much of which wouldn't have been foreseen at the time.

You've mentioned there was talk of continuing to Canada where entry may have been easier (it's still a country with strict requirements and ETA process) and hotels available.  You also mention cabin crew asking passengers if they possessed US ESTA.  This all suggests that TUI were at least trying to find solutions - even if ultimately they ran out of options.  The aircraft taxied for departure so it's not like they gave up.


On compensation - TUI will certainly claim that passengers breaking the law, causing a disturbance, forcing a diversion, subsequent airport and ATC power issues all add up to extraordinary circumstances meaning compensation isn't payable.  Personally I'm not sure how successful you'll be in trying to claim it was TUI's fault because they had intoxicated people onboard - but there's nothing stopping you putting in a claim.

If you haven't already you can raise a complaint with TUI, it may at least persuade them to up their goodwill gesture.

sheramber

It probably was not the pilot's choice where to land. He would be directed  to an  airport.

Landing at Bangor may have caused least disruption to existing flights going in and out of other airports.

the couple concerned would have to pay their own flights home

TELLIT01

Voyager2002 said:

The question of compensation is perhaps more promising. If the two trouble-makers were indeed obviously drunk at the beginning of the journey they should not have been allowed to board, and so one could argue that the entire misadventure was therefore TUI's fault. 

As the OP was up in the posh seats they don't have any direct knowledge that the passengers were drunk when they got on the plane, only hearsay.