Compensation for delayed flights Discussion Area

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  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,534
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    fezz wrote: »
    Hi, I read the FAQ first and couldn't see any mention of this 2 year time period, all I can see if the 6 years. Can you give me a direct link to this please? The Airline is Thomson Airways, it was First Choice.

    Their response to me said:


    The European Court ofJustice has confirmed that, as the Regulation doesn't say how long passengershave to bring their claims, we need to look at our national law. The SupremeCourt in the UK has said that all claims to do with "internationalcarriage by air" need to be brought within two years. We, therefore, can'tconsider claims for flights that were delayed more than two years ago unless EURegulations was mentioned at the time.


    Is that correct?

    Thomson thread is here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4384699 you will see there a lot of people that have been told 2 years and the responses
  • Hi all
    I'm hoping for a bit of advice we have just arrived home a day late from our holiday
    We were due to fly Sunday 23rd at 12:50 on arrival at tenerife airport everything seemed fine we approached the boarding gate and were told via screen flight was delayed, at 1.30 we were given a tannoy message informing us that we would be updated in half an hour, this continued until approx 4.30 when the pilot came to inform us that the problem was a technical fault and that he was unable to give us any information other than that there were engineers looking at the fault.

    We were given vouchers for food whilst we waited.

    At approx 6pm the flight was cancelled and we were transferred back to hotels with still very little information on when we would arrive home. At no point did a representative from first choice/ Thomson approach us for guidance or support until we were outside with baggage getting on a bus
    On arrival at the hotels a rep told us that they were flying an engineer and a part in from the UK and we should fly the following day and to be ready at 8.30. This then changed to 9.30

    We got picked up this morning Monday 24th at 9.30 and flew home at 12.50. This should have been 12.30

    I've been researching and as far as I can see we are entitled to claim from the airline. As the delay was not 'extraordinary circumstances' I.e volcanic ash or a terror alert. What is more annoying is that we feel the airline should have been more than equipped to deal with the fault

    Basically can anyone advise us what to do? Do we claim from the airline? Or our travel insurance? My husband has had to take a days unpaid leave from work

    Thanks everyone for reading
  • I was one of a party of 4 on this flight. On arrival at Gatwick we were handed a letter "for insurance purposes" which states :

    "The aircraft due to operate your flight suffered a technical problem on arrival into Tenerife and engineers and parts were required from the UK to rectify the fault. As a result the crew exceeded their legally permitted working hours and were required to take rest before operating the flight back to Gatwick. The flight was therefore operated at the earliest opportunity the following day. Total length of delay 23 hours 58 minutes"

    This description is at odds with what we were told - an airport announcement that the flight was CANCELLED, as indicated above.

    In a call back from Thomson's UK based support team at 15:47 I was told that they had been informed by the duty office that the flight had been cancelled.

    The Thomson reps' line on our coach and at the hotel was that they were acting in accordance with "airline welfare".

    On collection this morning we were advised that we would each be issued with a 6 euro voucher at check in ( having each being given an 8 euro one the previous afternoon. Before pushback we were told by the flight deck that repairs were completed around 0100. During the flight we were told by a member of the cabin crew that they had remained on the aircraft for five and half hours before being released....which would loosely represent the time before the plane's arrival at TFS from Gatwick and the time the cancellation announcement was made.

    So... do we claim from the airline in accordance with EEC regulations or through our travel insurance or both ?
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,534
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    Basically can anyone advise us what to do? Do we claim from the airline? Or our travel insurance? My husband has had to take a days unpaid leave from work

    Try locating the thread for your airline http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4552743
    Start at the FAQs on the first page
    The claim for EU compensation is from the airline (but you may also be able to claim something from your travel insurance...sometimes £20 for 12 hour delay etc, you need to check your policy)
    Airlines are not responsible for consequential losses like lost wages so you need to see if there is anything in your travel insurance for this
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,534
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    bluemoon55 wrote: »
    So... do we claim from the airline in accordance with EEC regulations or through our travel insurance or both ?

    EC compensation is claimed from the airline. You may have something within your travel insurance that enables you to claim (normally a nominal sum) from them, you would need to check your policy
  • maghater
    maghater Posts: 349
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    bluemoon55 wrote: »
    I was one of a party of 4 on this flight. On arrival at Gatwick we were handed a letter "for insurance purposes" which states :

    "The aircraft due to operate your flight suffered a technical problem on arrival into Tenerife and engineers and parts were required from the UK to rectify the fault. As a result the crew exceeded their legally permitted working hours and were required to take rest before operating the flight back to Gatwick. The flight was therefore operated at the earliest opportunity the following day. Total length of delay 23 hours 58 minutes"

    This description is at odds with what we were told - an airport announcement that the flight was CANCELLED, as indicated above.

    In a call back from Thomson's UK based support team at 15:47 I was told that they had been informed by the duty office that the flight had been cancelled.

    The Thomson reps' line on our coach and at the hotel was that they were acting in accordance with "airline welfare".

    On collection this morning we were advised that we would each be issued with a 6 euro voucher at check in ( having each being given an 8 euro one the previous afternoon. Before pushback we were told by the flight deck that repairs were completed around 0100. During the flight we were told by a member of the cabin crew that they had remained on the aircraft for five and half hours before being released....which would loosely represent the time before the plane's arrival at TFS from Gatwick and the time the cancellation announcement was made.

    So... do we claim from the airline in accordance with EEC regulations or through our travel insurance or both ?
    You should have a pretty good case, firstly technical problems don't normally count as ecs. Then if they are ecs they should only apply to a particular aircraft on a particular day, and finally Eglitis v latvijas rules that airlines should be able to organise its resources in good time to be able to ensure the operation of the flight after ecs have ended. I would contact the airline, using the template letter set out in the FAQs
  • greigster
    greigster Posts: 80 Forumite
    edited 26 June 2013 at 7:27AM
    I have been trying to get compensation from Thomas Cook and fortunately I have been able to pass on the relevant details over to a solicitor via legal expenses cover on my house insurance.

    A quick resume:-
    We had booked a holiday package with Thomas Cook for 3 weeks in Goa, India.
    The flight going out from Gatwick on 4th Dec 2012 was delayed by more than 4 hours resulting in a delay of arrival at Goa by 4hours and 37minutes.
    We were informed by the airline desk that our plane had been stuck in Cancun, Mexico the previous day which made it late arriving at Gatwick to take us to Goa.
    This is the reply that my solicitor has received from Thomas Cook:-

    Thank you for your letter dated 23rd April 2013 in respect of the above clients.
    As you have set out in correspondence, on 23rd October 1012, the European Court of Justice, in the matter of TUI & others-v-CAA, confirmed that their earlier decision in the joined cases of Sturgeon-v-Condor Flugdienst GmbH (Case C402/07) and Bock-v-Air France SA (Case C432/07). Despite EC Regulation 261/2004 not expressly providing that compensation is payable in the event of delay to flights, this clarified that compensation is indeed applicable in instances where the arrival of a flight is 3 hours or later than the scheduled time of arrival into the intended destination.
    We have liased with our airline in relation to the cause of the delay to your clients flight. Acording to out official log, we can confirm that the arrival of your clients flight was delayed by a total of 4hours and 37minutes.
    Whilst the delay was 3 hours or more, the right to compensation is still subject to the derogations to liability set out at Recitals 14 and 15 of the Preamble to EC Regulation 261/2004. We can confirm that the delay to your clients flight was due to unforeseen actions of a third party. The aircraft's previous rotation was to Mexico and on the inbound flight, the aircraft was held by Mexican authorities due to a change in local government and subsequent administrative errors. This situation could not have been foreseen and regrettably, we were unable to reduce the impact of this situation on the delay time of the following flight.
    Upon careful consideration, it is our firm view that the circumstances that caused the delay to your clients flight could not have been foreseen or forestalled and consequently, we regard this matter as extraordinary for the purposes of EC Regulation 261/2004. Acordingly, we will not be making an offer of compensation to your client in respect of this matter.
    We trust we have clarified our position.

    Yours faithfully

    SR
    Litigation Executive.

    Could anyone advise me as my solicitor thinks that if Thomas Cook can prove the above, "it may be something that is classed as extraordinary circumstance and therefore she believes the claim will fail if I proceed.

    Thanks for any help.
  • maghater
    maghater Posts: 349
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    Quite simple Greigster, go on flightstats, if all the flight departures were delayed by 4 hours or so then viva la revolution and you wouldn't have a case. If as I suspect it was only Thomas Cook that were delayed and fell foul of the new order, then they don't have a case. Most likely scenario is that the regs had changed, and some one at TC high command didn't pass the message on.
  • greigster
    greigster Posts: 80 Forumite
    Thank you both to Centipede100 and maghater. I have looked at the flightstats and although the Cancun to Gatwick flight was delayed by 6 hours, it should have landed at Gatwick at 1.30am on 4/12/12, it did in fact land at 7.23am on the 4/12/12 but our flight was not due to depart until 8.30am so that does not answer why we were delayed for over 4 hours?
    The only other Thomas Cook flight that came in to Gatwick, was a flight from Cuba with a delay of 290 minutes which arrived at Gatwick at 11.23am which would fit in with our departure of 1.03pm
  • ash28
    ash28 Posts: 1,789
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    Ouzoman wrote: »
    Hi all seasoned travellers.
    Am I being conned?
    On Thursday evening 20 June I was informed by my tour operator that my flight, due to leave a Greek Island on Friday 21st at 16.15, arrive UK 19.20, had been 'rescheduled' to leave at 22.20 and arrive UK at 01.15. Same flight number.
    The 22.15 flight was delayed and left at 01.10 , NB < 3hrs after 22.20, and also arrived in UK < 3hrs after 01.15.
    However, my actual departure time was 9 hours after my original schedule, as was my arrival.
    I was given <24hrs notice of this chaotic scenario.
    Will the operator try to claim that
    a) my original flight was not cancelled it was 'rescheduled' and also a reschedule does not constitute a delay.
    b) my rescheduled flight was delayed < 3hrs.
    As I see it my original flight was cancelled, they did not have a plane and had to find another one, and I got home 9hrs late.
    Is this and open and shut case for compensation or do I fall foul of the neatly engineered loophole using the 'rescheduled' wheeze?
    Help please. I cannot find this particular 'rescheduled' scenario explained anywhere.
    Yamas

    I think I was on the same flight as you........we also wondered if they would say the flight had to be rescheduled.......if I remember they told us the delay was caused by aircraft rotation (an aircraft route, a sequence of connected flights that are served by an aircraft), I think in reality they didn't have an aircraft in the right place at the right time as the passengers due to fly out on holiday on the flight that would be our return flight were taken by bus from Birmingham to Manchester and weren't told until they got to Birmingham to check in.

    I was going to try for compensation, especially as they didn't even offer us a drinks voucher let alone anything else during our 9 hour delay. I don't hold out much hope of getting anything from them though.

    We originally chose to holiday with Olympic for 2 reasons, 1. the cost and 2. the flight times.....we had a 2 hour drive once we got to Birmingham and at 4:30 in the morning and with no sleep it was not a pleasant prospect.
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