Over the last 6/7 months we have been involved in many exchanges of correspondence with Thomson and ABTA reference the nightmare start we had to our holiday.

Thomson are not going to offer any gesture of goodwill or any compensation and have suggested if we feel strongly enough about the issue to take up the matter in the courts, however I thought I would seek some advice first. I do not want to chance needed money if they are not to blame or responsible.

Replacement Pilot

When we arrived for our evening flight from Exeter to Majorca we were informed it could be 1 hour late, but word soon got around that this was caused by a delay first thing in the morning and that the pilot would not be able to fly us as it would have taken him over his permitted 11 hours. Thomson knew this first in the morning but did not attempt to get a replacement pilot until late in the afternoon. The replacement pilot had to be brought down from Gatwick, but instead of flying him down (obvious choice) they decided to drive him down, which meant a 5 hour delay for us and not the suggested 1 hour.

Dodgy Plane

Eventually 5 hours late we boarded the plane, only to be sat there for a further 45 minutes not being told anything. Eventually the pilot announced that due to the delay we had to wait for a new flight plan to arrive"¦. From Germany of all places!!

When the Flight Plan eventually arrived, there was another delay and then the pilot advised us there was another problem"¦.. One of the computers was not working, so he was going to try in his own words do like we would do to our home computers, i.e., "turn it off and turn it back on again and hope that it fixed it". This did not fill any of us with any confidence and there were a few at the back of the plane who got quite worried and started to panic.

Re-booting the computer did not fix the problem. He then decided he had to power off the plane completely; all of this with everyone still on the plane. Now I am no H&S Expert but just knew sat on a fully fuelled plane in complete darkness was not right. Obviously he wanted to save any further delay by off loading us all but when it comes to safety there should be NO shortcuts.

After this also failed he eventually had to get an engineer in to fix it, we eventually took off 7 hours late. Everyone was very tired and stressed what a start to a hard earned holiday!!

Dodgy Coach Transfer

We eventually arrived at Palma airport, but there was not a Thomson rep anywhere to be found.

After a very long wait for our luggage, we eventually found our way to the coaches but once again no Thomson rep could be seen anywhere. Nobody was able to find our Coach, but eventually one of the others from our flight tracked down a Thomson rep who informed us we were on coach number 111. The reason we could not find it was because we were actually to be put on a shabby coach belonging to another company.

Before we left a rep from some company got on saying everyone should put their seatbelts on and then got off. The problem, there was no seat belts fitted and my wife and I were in the front seats.

The coach eventually set off and as we were all so tired expected to sleep on route to Alcudia, however this was not to be. First of all it was just like the driver did not know where he was going, breaking harshly before junctions and turning corners sharply. We certainly did not go the Motorway route we returned on.

Then there was a smell of smoke coming from the front and it turned out the driver was smoking but trying to disguise the fact by holding the cigarette inside a clenched fist. He then held this hand outside the window whilst driving a coach full of Thomson guests with only one hand.

Thomson Reps in Hotel

With getting in so late we missed breakfast and the "welcome" meeting (or the sell whatever they can to you meeting!!). However when explaining to them the reason, they suggested we should fill in a Report Form and should be compensated for all the hassle.

Even at this stage my concern was more of a H&S ISSUE and not about compensation, but unfortunately Thomson always think the paying customer is only after compensation.

Thomson Response

Basically all Thomson have said is they apologise for everything that happened but under their guidelines cannot offer any compensation. They said they take all complaints seriously"¦. Bla bla bla, and that each aspect would be investigated thoroughly. However when I asked for feedback on findings, they said that was not possible"¦. In other words they would probably be doing sweet FA!!

Question

Does anyone think this is still worth perusing or should I just accept Thomson for what they are, a company who appear even worse since their merger with First Choice. ABTA have provided details of how to proceed if we wish, but as I said at the start of topic I am concerned at the cost to me.

Are there any other bodies who would be interested in this story, such as a Holiday Watchdog type program or newspaper? Or are these problems common and nothing compared to their usual type of complaint?