Yes I think everyone needs to take a step back and think before posting. One of our T&Cs

3. Show respect and courtesy to all other users

Further personal attacks will be deleted.
Lets get this thread back on a positive track please

I sugest taking out all the non helpful comments instead of it being locked as I for one would like to see how this pans out and hope the OP comes back to let us know!
I include my own posts in the above statement too!

Stevebell..
thank you!!! its good to know we're not alone..(not that its good it happened to you, but you know what i mean!!)

this was our first holiday in 3 years and we saved hard for it ..my hubby is in the forces so is rarely home... we needed proper family time together..no stress.. just chill out together and enjoy what little time we have together as a family....what we got was a nightmare... there was 4 of us on this holiday..we have 2 daughters... (if it had been their case gone missing , we would have been on the next flight back!! )

Not all families are fortunate to be able to travel together to the airport..hence not being able to share suitcase spacemy hubby had been away 3 months proir to meeting up at the airport..

since there was no clothes as such to buy only t shirts, and what few toiletries we could buy we spent £50.80 and the first £50 is excess, so we could claim 80p on the insurancewhich really wasnt worth the wasted phonecall to the insurance.

putting it another way...

if you went to a restaurant ordered fillet steak and they brought you a beef burger but still wanted fillet steak price.. would you pay for it!!! i think not! you'd send it back ..so why should we pay for a holiday if it wasnt what we paid for!!! thats the way i look at it... and if you dont agree so be it!!!

Pauline

pauline i see your point and totally sympathise with you and hope you get some decent compensation, im shocked by some of the uncaring responses you have had, sadly when you need advice and help some people arent very helpful with their responses, i had a few similar responses to a thread i did trying to help my daughter when her xl flight was cancelled, sarky remarks are not want you want to hear,you need constructive advice, help and kind words . i wish you good luck and please let us know the outcome as this helps anyone else when this sort of thing happens again

Hi Pauline,
I can completely appreciate how awful it must have been to be without a suitcase for 5 days, and I agree its not acceptable for the case to be waiting at the airport for 2 days with no-one bothering to collect it.
I believe holiday companies usually allocate 60% of the holiday cost to the flight and the remaining 40% to the accommodation, so you could quite justifiably claim for 5 days worth of the 40% (about 14% of the total cost which works out at about £560). I would have to admit that claiming for more than this is a bit unreasonable as you did have the holiday you paid for for 9 days if you see what I mean.
Please speak to Ros, I think she will be in the best place to help you as it sounds like the tour operator doesn't really want to know.
Good luck and please let us know how you get on

Hi again, we started our claim at full costs with letters via legal assistance. However, in time we did come to a settlement that was acceptable to both parties before it went to court, the figure was just short of the full holiday price, it did take the best part of a year though and there was many forms exchanging hands. It is worth going for it, you may not get the full amount but by the time it gets to the court stage you can bet your life it will be a lot more than a big fat xero Another point, don't worry about the TO thinking you are ''gready'' if we all settled for less than best we would all have to put up with shody holidays, hit them were it hurts, in their pockets I have no shame in getting back what I was owed for a wasted holiday and should it happen again I would do the same.

wishing you good luck with your claim
chazy

Sorry that should read ZERO

I believe holiday companies usually allocate 60% of the holiday cost to the flight and the remaining 40% to the accommodation,

Well they might try it on, but depending on circumstances a court won't of necessity take that view.

I agree with Chazy. If they ruin your holiday, hit them where it hurts - in their pockets.

Peter

Sometimes I feel ashamed to be a member of this forum. People come on here for help and advice at a time when they are stressed out and the last thing they need is someone rubbing their hands with glee over their apparent stupidity and crowing that they wouldn't have done this or that or would have done things differently. At times I have noticed a pack mentality on here and on a few occasions recently I have wanted to contribute to a discussion but felt better of it. Is this really the spirit of Holidaytruths ? Personal attacks from behind your computer are cowardly and are against the Terms and Conditions of posting as far as I'm aware.

I think we are seeing too much of this on this particular forum and I am asking the Mods to be more proactive in stopping this sort of behaviour in its tracks early on. Healthy debate and difference of opinion is good but what I have been witnessing lately is shameful.

Actually some of us were just giving a few hints and tips about packing a few items of clothing in hand luggage should the worst happen. All that did was cause the original poster to be rather rude about being organised. We thought we were being helpful for a future trip. You just can't win.

Pippa

As said before, any further posts from anyone that breaks our terms and conditions will be deleted.

Hi Pauline

I am really sorry to hear about your experiences. Personally I would be feeling the same as you and would pursue the matter.

I had similar experiences on joining this web site due to a problem I had with Direct Holiday where a number of posters belittled me and scorned me for the problem I was having saying that I was unreasonable for being unhappy. Some of the responses were not very nice at all. I had searched the web looking for a place to find help and a bit of sympathy and was very disappointed by some of the responses I got. Though not all posters were like this some did offer good advise and kind comments.

I still pursued my case and found out these negative posters were completely wrong and I did have a case that resulted in me being refunded all costs of my holiday. Not only were they rude to me but if I had listened to them it would have cost me thousands of pounds.

If I don't have anything constructive to add I wouldn't post and just don't understand why posters feel it necessary to make such negative comments. It goes against the ethos of what I expected this board to be about.

Stick to your guns and be persistent. If you feel that there is a case to be answered you must go on with it. In your situation I would feel the same and I do not feel you are being unreasonable. If people don't stand up and make these companies accountable for when things go wrong the just perpetuate this sort of treatment to customers. Yes things go wrong but I feel that the travel industry could be much better in responding to these circumstances when they do arise.

Hi Pauline

I agree with Battery Chicken,if we just put up with the problems the Travel companies have no incentive or need to treat us as they would wish to be treated.In my opinion there was a complete lack of customer care and they should be made to pay.

Some of the comments you received could help other people lessen the impact of their case not arriving but didn't appreciate the full facts that applied in your case,so seemed to be unsupportive.

I cannot see how the price of the flight should be taken off the overall cost of your holiday before compensation is negotiated because there is no point flying anywhere if you have no clothes to wear when you get there.I would hope to get back 5/14 of the total cost of my holiday plus some extra for all the stress that was caused.

Good luck with your fight.

I agree, but the problem is the Travel operators don't.
Many of the people on the forum have been around a long time and are reflecting their knowledge of previous similar occurrences.
Unfortunately many people do not let us know the outcome, so despite our personal views it is not worth getting the person's hopes up, only to be dashed later.
Apart from that, the negative responses can actually be good:
Thinking of a suitable reply to a forum post can be done over time whereas in a conversation with a TO, you may be wrong-footed, but not now as you have the reply ready!

A couple of things for posters to remember:
There is no inflexion in the written word and so you cannot use it to convey meaning.
If something can be read the wrong way, it will be.

I reread my posts several times in the hope that I haven't accidentally left something in that can be construed as rude, but still somehow manage it. However knowing many of the writing styles, what people offer as advice is often being read the wrong way and taken as an offensive attack when there is no malice intended at all.

Being called ''PLAIN GREEDY '' is a personal attack and offensive in anyone's book and if that had been a response to one of my newbie posts I would have been out of here for good. I agree negative responses or put another way, something you didn't expect or want to hear can be upsetting but at the same time perhaps these remarks are constructive in that they make you think your approach again. However, there is just no excuse for ''that's plain greedy'' remarks under any circumstances, it is offensive and adds nothing to the answer the the original topic and that is why I brought it up in the first place. I thought the treatment of newbie posts was and is getting pompus and offensive, I have seen this a few times of late {the poster often does not return, which is sad and wrong} The mods have said they will take care of such posts and I hope they will otherwise what is the point of having a help forum that just frightens newbies wanting help away. I like some others have said are sick and tired of the ''what an idiot'' and ''what do you expect'' posts. these are becomming more and more frequent. People should step back and think how they would feel being new here, having problems and wanting help, a little bit of compassion goes a long way.

chazy

Whilst this discussion is interesting, may I ask all to stay on topic and give advice to the original poster.

Thanks

MarkJ HT Mod

Hi Pauline - you clearly feel that you have been treated badly by the travel company, so do persist in your complaint - if you are successful - great! - if you fail - well at least you've tried.
Regarding the unhelpful posts. I will give you the same advice I used to give my staff - When people are being rude and displaying unacceptable behaviour, remember that you are only in contact with them for a short period -whilst some poor devil has to live next door to them! All best - Jenny x

Please remove Mark if considered inappropriate. Jenny x

Hi
With regards to comments from original poster about staff at airport not loading her luggage ,(as if they did it on purpose!).
Background, there are thousands and thousands of cases go through the belt system under the airport evry hour of every day. Bags inevitably go missing, computer lasers sometimes 'tip them onto the wrong chutes etc, ending up in wrong areas. some fall off the trucks en route to aircraft etc etc. It happens, it always has and always will, unless u were to personally escort your case to the plane and load it, other than that the last u see of it for some hrs is at check, then it goes off on it's own journey eventually ending up at aircraft, a complex process some may not realise

It makes perfect sense, especially now, to split all luggage, in case this happens. If u travel separate to airport, go to one side when u get there and move some bits about, it is worth it!!

that is advice, many already follow it, others simply don't think about it,

No need to respond in any other way than a thank you!!(for the advice)

ps did u know the bag was at the cuban airport. I would have walked to get it if I knew it was there!!!

With regards to comments from original poster about staff at airport not loading her luggage ,(as if they did it on purpose!).

Well, according to Thomas Cook, in writing -

due to lack of space on the plane it can be expected that some cases dont go!!!!!!!!!

That rather makes it a different ball game, that suggests a different story to MikeBravo's, and to add insult to injury -

well im sorry but it cost me an extra £100 just to increase my luggage allowance so why sell it if they cant take everyones case!!!

I say go for the jugular, a court will take Thomas Cook apart!

Peter

PS. As for not being able to get replacement clothes etc, I'm an old Soviet Union hand, and Cuba is likely to be much the same. Clothes in particular were very difficult to get.