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Going to be a 15 hour delay on Thomson flight - what to do?

Angel80_2
Posts: 10 Forumite
I found out earlier today from the Thomson departures web page, that their flight TOM3847 Gatwick-Cancun tomorrow (Sunday 20/01/08) is due to be over 15hrs delayed. Gatwick and Cancun airports still say it's on time, so it will be interesting to see what excuse Thomson make in the morning.
Thomson haven't bothered phoning to say this, yet they've known at least all afternoon (since the plane is delayed getting to Gatwick). It was just past 10pm when I found out, but I can't speak to anyone until 10am as they are closed.
I could book a flight with Delta for £500rtn on their website now, but I don't know if Thomson will give me my money back for the flights I've already paid them for, so fear I have to wait until the morning (when it will be too late to book Delta).
I'm concerned about the hotel booking as well from some of the wording on their website. Instead of arriving at 3:15pm on Sunday it will now arrive at 6:20am on Monday morning which is the good part of a day from a 7 day holiday which cost £1400. Surely they should at least refund £200 (1/7th of £1400), but their website reads as if I have to go through the travel insurance which only covers £30 for expenses due to the delay (Insure and Go).
As I'm not expecting good things from Thomson, can anyone tell me what rights I have and how to handle the situation?
Thomson haven't bothered phoning to say this, yet they've known at least all afternoon (since the plane is delayed getting to Gatwick). It was just past 10pm when I found out, but I can't speak to anyone until 10am as they are closed.
I could book a flight with Delta for £500rtn on their website now, but I don't know if Thomson will give me my money back for the flights I've already paid them for, so fear I have to wait until the morning (when it will be too late to book Delta).
I'm concerned about the hotel booking as well from some of the wording on their website. Instead of arriving at 3:15pm on Sunday it will now arrive at 6:20am on Monday morning which is the good part of a day from a 7 day holiday which cost £1400. Surely they should at least refund £200 (1/7th of £1400), but their website reads as if I have to go through the travel insurance which only covers £30 for expenses due to the delay (Insure and Go).
As I'm not expecting good things from Thomson, can anyone tell me what rights I have and how to handle the situation?
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Comments
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How ironic that in October last year, we were delayed in Cancun on the same flight! Except our delay was 24 hours in resort. We got a phonecard from thompsons (thats it) but claimed on our travel insurance.
Not much you can do I'm afraid. It worked out well for us as we had an extra day on holiday, but you lose a day of yours
Sorry, not much you can do, but do enjoy your holiday when you get there.July Win: Nokia 58000 -
You have the right to be looked after at the airport during the delay.
Once you have been delayed 5 hours you can cancel and get a refund of the airfare. Only. No compensation, no payment for cancelled accommodation.
If it's a package holiday things will be slightly different - it's not clear from your post whether it is or not.0 -
you must go to the airport as if the flight was on schedule otherise yo will be regarded as a no show and holiday probably cancelled.0
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Does your insurance offer any compensation for delays?0
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I am on this flight next Sunday 27th. Just so I have an idea of punctuality, does anyone know where it has flown from before going to Cancun?
And as I have a Thomson package, how late does it have to be before I can claim a full refund? Thanks.0 -
Well as an update, we are now in the Hilton Airport Hotel (very nice, but not the All-Inclusive Carribean beach resort we should be in) and the delay is going to be 21 hours (so far). Yes we have a package, flights & hotel all through Thomson.
BAA's flight information said the flight was on time and the check-in desks were open so we went and checked in hoping it would be okay. When we got to check-in at 8:45am (not too early as we still had our suspicions), the airport staff took our bags and checked us in. They said there would be a delay, gave us a £5 voucher and told us to come back at 10:20am (the time the flight should have left) when a Thomson Representative would be there to speak to us and know what delay there was. I spoke to a very helpful gentleman from the airport and asked when they knew about the delay (as I knew last night), and he said yes they've known about this since yesterday but haven't done anything about it, we can only relay what they tell us.
This was very annoying as if I'd been able to speak to someone I could have cancelled and arranged alternatives and would be in Cancun by now. There was also a Thomas Cook flight 20mins later that wasn't completely full that you would think they would have moved some passengers on to. But apparently they don't do this - I guess not if they can't even be bothered to make phone calls on a Saturday afternoon to tell people (why they take phone numbers then I don't know).
It was about £30 more expensive to book through Expedia and have separate flights (with Delta instead of Thomson) and the same hotel. But sadly it's too late now. Anyone reading this, should really consider doing so. I didn't realise but even with a transfer (as you have to do with Delta/Continental/AA) the flight time actually works out shorterand they have lots more planes so wouldn't treat you how Thomson do.
Anyway, at 10:20am no one from Thomson showed up. Their phone lines which opened at 10am also weren't being answered; a recorded message said there was a 25min wait but after nearly an hour I gave up.
Some passengers by this point were going mad with the airport staff, which really wasn't fair. I simply wanted to speak to Thomson to see what I could do as I am rendezvousing with my son who arrived in Cancun yesterday and we will only be there for a week (now 6 days if all goes well in the morning).
We were told by the airport staff that Thomson have just found out there is a 17 hour delay because of the plane being delayed leaving Barbados. Exactly as I suspected they said they only just knew about it. Although only in writing and through the airport staff so still no one to speak to.
We were told to come back at 1:30pm, and they would take us to lunch at a hotel. When we arrived at 1:30pm still no Thomson staff, the airport staff told us to collect our bags through customs and we would be put up in a hotel for the night and the flight will now leave at 7:15am tomorrow morning.
What has annoyed me most about this whole experience, is not being able to speak to Thomson all day to discuss what alternative arrangements we could make. They really don't care less, and wont even admit they knew about the delay yesterday (but I have the proof). Clearly they don't realise it's listed on their website ... albeit hidden 3 clicks down ... Flights / Flying with us / Arrivals (which is also departures).0 -
I've just found this thread by the Cabin Crew and Thomson rep in Cancun about the same flight on 28th November and as ethansmum mentions they did the same in October, so clearly this is a regular thing for them.
Read this thread, it's really quite disgusting, especially where the rep says "We had them standing in line for about 30 minutes waiting for the check-in desks to open (just to !!!! them off even more)"
http://www.cabincrew.com/ccnetwork/printer_friendly_posts.asp?TID=268420 -
Guess what.
This flight is delayed again today 27/01/08. I phoned thomson today and got nothing positive from them.
How are they allowed to get away with this? surely they have broken the contract with the passengers as they are not flying on the time advertised and sold to the passengers,
I will be on this flight in a couple of weeks,if its delayed again i am going to print out all the imformation i have on the delays for this flight,then i am going to get the office of fair trading involved and the newspapers,
This treatment is just not good enough, i bet it it would not happen if you paid for the holiday after the holiday was over.0 -
I am on this flight next Sunday 27th. Just so I have an idea of punctuality, does anyone know where it has flown from before going to Cancun?
And as I have a Thomson package, how late does it have to be before I can claim a full refund? Thanks.
My travel insurance will give a full refund if I decide not to go after a 12 hour delay due to (amongst other things) mechanical failure of the aircraft.
Whilst 'someone' in Thomson obviously knew about the delay the day before, it's not a monolithic organisation where everyone knows everything. It's quite possible that the checkin staff at Gatwick knew nothing until they came on duty - and then not the full story.
Main problem is that they have no/too few backup aircraft for when things go wrong.0 -
My travel insurance will give a full refund if I decide not to go after a 12 hour delay due to (amongst other things) mechanical failure of the aircraft.
Main problem is that they have no/too few backup aircraft for when things go wrong.
things are wrong because this is the second week in a row that this flight has been delayed, today by over 3 hours.
if its down to mechanical failure this plane should not be flying as last week the total delay was 21 hours.
people are not willing to be sat in a departure lounge wasting valuable holiday hours.0
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