as long as your tour operator provided you with a hotel room and food at no cost to yourself then all you can do is claim for the delay of your holiday insurance.
if you had to pay for your extra food and accomodation in Cuba, then you will have a claim against your tour operator.
more details needed i'm afraid.
as regards your lost visit to your relatives, i'm afraid their is nothing you can claim for that as it was not part of the holiday you booked.

The TO would seem to have fulfilled their obligations. Possibly you could claim for food/drink whilst stuck in the airport. but that is all. Their obligation is to get you back to the UK.

Whilst I appreciate you may be doing other than going straight home that is not their problem. What sort of travel insurance have you got? Holiday duration or annual? It is possible that you could make some sort of claim against the insurance if an annual policy but not against duration type. That finishes as soon as you land back in the UK. If you were booked into a hotel on return and incurred cancellation or other charges because you were unable to use them then an annual policy would most likely cover you.
Best suggestion I can make is give them a call.

fwh

So they put you up in a hotel, made sure the aircraft was fixed correctly and got you home safely but you would like to know if you can claim compensation

I'm sorry for being this blunt but an aeroplane is a form of transport and things go wrong, would you rather airlines just started taking risks in order to avoid compensation claims because people will be late home.

Yes its incovenient but try feeling sorry for the people in the UK that would have been waiting for your aircraft to take them on their holiday!! You gained an extra day and a half and if Thomson couldn't subcharter, they may have lost a day and a half of theirs!!

You are home safely from what I assume was a good holiday??? Is that not enough

Mark757, think you're being a bit harsh there. OP merely asked a question and with your reply, will probably be reluctant to come back to HT for advice in the future!

OP - as jimd-f and fwh have suggested, you may be able to claim on your travel insurance for the delay itself - I think our policy is £20 for every 4 hours up to a maximum of £100 - I guess that will vary from insurer to insurer, I know such a small amount won't compensate for your disappointment at not being able to see your family as planned, but it's something....perhaps you can put it in the kitty to go towards your next visit?

I think Mark757 makes a vaild point. The aircraft had to be fixed to make it safe, OP was accommodated, fed and watered and returned home safely. Surely that's the job of the tour operator/airline. Things go wrong and OP was treated fairly. Why the immediate need for compensation? And compensation for what exactly?

Elsewhere in this section of HT I have posted a topic " It Pays to Complain". I have already said that I was not seeking or expecting any compensation.

Perhaps the OP might consider a polite short letter (not an email) setting out their problem to the TO. I and others have said that as far as the TO is concerned they have fulfilled their obligation and therefore have no reason to compensate for the disruption to your plans. But, as in my case, they may decide to do as they did in with me and send you some vouchers for future use as a goodwill gesture.

Much as people may castigate TOs they are people just like you and I and will understand your disappointment in having your plans disrupted.

fwh

Sorry to hear about your long delay tonsberg.

There is good piece on this subject on 'Money saving Expert' I believe, but I'm unable to post the link. It's in another thread in this section section of the forum (maybe somebody could oblige and post the link).

There is more you can do, and I'd have a read of the link, it's very interesting.

I suffered a similar delay to yourself recently, and found the insurance company to be very good, paying out minimal amount of £100 almost straight away.

Next for the airline. Interestingly, they are liable for a £5,000 fine for every passenger they don't compensate who has a legitimate claim for delay.

The December 08 test case also makes good reading.

Good luck.

I wouldn't have thought they'd be liable for compensation as it was beyond the airlines control, surely they will use 'Force Majuere'. Would the passenger rather Thomson have taken off despite a technical fault? They have been put up in a hotel, food paid for etc, if all that has been met then what is the need to claim more?

With respect to mr farrell and any other posts that suggest invoking legislation, whilst technically it would be possible to go down that line people do need to consider the consequences. There is also the viewpoint "is it worth it?"

Legal action costs money. There is no guarantee that you would succeed in the action. It has been pointed out that the TO has abided by the rules. Airplanes are just like the family car. They do break down from time to time and the law is not there to punish the TO/Airline for such occasions.

How much are we talking about? A few hundred pounds if you are lucky but possibly tens of thousands if you are not successful and costs are awarded against you. Even the no win/no fee people might blanch at the prospect.

People need to consider that reputable operators do comply with the rules. This was an unfortunate happening that nobody could have foreseen. FC did what they were required to do.

As an example during the world cup someone threatened to jump off a bridge on the M62. This caused massive delays and people on their way to gatherings to watch/celebrate the world cup were prevented from getting there. An unforeseen event. Do you sue somebody for compensation? If you did do you really think you would get anywhere with it except making some lawyer even richer?

The best advice has already been given. Talk to your insurance company and perhaps a letter to the TO.

fwh

Can i just say the smell of fuel when starting an engine is also very common and would not have been the problem, it is very common for the B767 aircraft, the problem would have been with the electrical, just to clarify for future reference.

tonsberg
Mr farrell is referring to the compensation to which you may be entitled under EU regs. This is far from clear cut and you would have to deal with the agencies in Cuba to try to obtain this.
To try and prove your case could, as fwh has said, quite possibly cost you far more than any compensation you might hope to gain.
Your tour op/airline did what they were required to do. As you said, it was great having another day in resort. I agree with Mark, why does everyone automatically want monetary compensation, because it certainly cannot make up for personal disappointment.

Is THIS the topic you are referring to Mr Farrell?

It's a very long topic at 32 pages, but look for posts by CityBoy as he is the fount of all knowledge on the subject.

luci

Thanks luci.

This is the one meant.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays

We were delayed a couple of years ago, due to depart Gatwick to Skiathos and the flight left on time.
Over the Alps, the pilot turned back as the plane had developed a technical fault and was unable to land at Skiathos because of the nature of the airport at Skiathos (short runway).
When we landed, we were told that the windscreen has shattered.
It had, we could see the crazing as we left the aircraft.

The stewardess 'welcomed' us to Gatwick Airport (OK, it may be part of the standard spiel but not received very warmly under the circumstances ) and said that they had no information about what was to happen next.
By the time we were on stand, a represenative from Monarch came on board and said that there was no alternative plane to take us straight away on to Skiathos and windscreen repairs take many hours (to bond?) and as flights don't go into Skiathos at night, they would be putting us up at the Gatwick Hilton (connected to South Terminal) and flying us out at 06:20 on 9/5/09.

The low point was that it took 2 HOURS to offload our luggage - maybe this was due to the electronic handling systems as the luggage was labelled JSI (skiathos code) rather than LGW.

Of course there was a massive queue to check in at the Hilton but full marks to the staff who had 4 people on special check-in just taking passport numbers and handing out keys.

The rooms were OK and as the meal was between 19:30 & 21:30 we opted to go back into the airport to the Wetherspoons landside before eating (good choice as it turned out, the drinks at the Hilton were apparently VERY expensive).
When we got back to the Hilton at around 9pm, a lot of the food had gone but we were satisified with what choice we had.
They opened check-in at 04:30 to do a quick re-issue of boarding cards and also provide a letter from Monarch, explaining the reason for the delay (technical) and the revised departure time/date - presumably suficient information for insurance claims.

We departed on time - finally - 18 hours late.

Although it was a bit of a 'bummer' to lose almost a day of our holiday, we did feel that Monarch dealt with the situation pretty effectively, and the Hilton moved pretty quickly too.

We sent the Monarch letter to our insurance company who paid out according to their T&Cs. Amounts will vary depending on your policy.

We didn't expect 'compensation' for the inconvenience or for our 'lost' days holiday.

I'd check out your travel insurance and also do as fwh advises and write a BRIEF, UNEMOTIONAL & TO-THE-POINT letter to First Choice and see what they say.
Don't mention the fact that you were planning on visiting relatives after your holiday - it is irrelevant.

Thanks for the info everyone I was just looking for a little bit of advice.
The fact we were looked after was just part of what i would have hoped for and appreciated.
It costs us hundreds of pounds to get of the Shetland Islands so it will be another year possibly till we can visit relatives again.
Any financial assistance would go towards that nothing else.

MARK257 & AHV thanks for making me feel stupid and embarassed, I will not be bothering you again.

tonsberg
I wanted to say welcome to Holiday Truths.
Please don't be put off by a couple of negative posts. On the whole HT members are more than willing to help with advice for all sorts of holiday questions/problems, I have received very valuable information from members in the past. I hope you were able to glean something useful at least from advice given.

Judith

tonsberg
I'd echo what Judith says.

You've found this website because you wanted advice on making a complaint about a flight delay but there is a wealth of advice on here about which destination/resort would suit you best, flight advice and much much more.

Re your actual situation, do write a letter as a number of us have suggested.
All you have to lose is a little time and the cost of a stamp.

Good luck, come back and let us know how you get on - and hope to see you on one of the many forums.

MARK257 & AHV thanks for making me feel stupid and embarassed, I will not be bothering you again.

No doubt Mark 257 and AHV could have expressed their opinions a little more diplomatically and their view that you were unlikely to recieve any compensation for the missed trip to your relatives was unwelcome news but as others have also pointed out, that is the most likely outcome. The TO's responsibility is to get you home safely and ensure that you are looked after whilst there is any delay. As far as the legislation is concerned, had this happened on your outbound journey then you might well have had the option to cancel and receive a full refund but this was on your inbound journey and it happened for reasons beyond their control. Cuba simply doesn't have the same infrastructure as we have here and any parts needed would almost certainly have needed to be flown out - I very much doubt that there would be stock of spare parts held at Cuban airports. They might even have needed to fly out the engineers to fix it too as most Cuban engineers would be more used to eastern European planes than the types used by UK TOs.

As far as the legislation is concerned First Choice honoured their contract within the law to you - once they have you returned to a UK airport their responsibility ends and your own travel insurers are likely to take the same view. The hard fact is that unfortunately it is always a bit of a gamble making onward travel arrangements based on the assumption that you will land back in the UK when you're supposed to. Delays are always a possiblity and especially from Cuba at this time of year because of the way tropical storms can play havoc with schedules from airports on the northern coast especially.

If you had single trip insurance for this holiday then that expired the moment you landed in the UK (they rarely extend to when you actually get home) then there will be little chance of claiming anything other than something based on either a standard payout based on the hours you were delayed or for additional expenses incurred in Cuba. However, if you have an annual policy then you might get some joy from them but the problem will be that you were going to be staying with relatives. Had you been booked into a hotel then they might have paid any costs incurred but there is a good chance that they will conclude that you didn't end up out of pocket - that you lost no money paid out for accommodation and you could still return to Shetland on your original bookings.

I think that the best you can hope for is to do as fwh suggests - appeal to First Choice's goodwill via a short brief letter that stresses all the good aspects of the holiday and especially the way you were treated during the delay and you might as a good will gesture receive vouchers or something similar to use in the future but I think it extremely unlikely that they will be willing to offer enough in cash to pay for another trip to the mainland to enable you to visit relatives.

Now here is the really hard bit and I hope that you don't take offence but I do think that a hard luck 'sob' story to First Choice about how much it costs to travel to the mainland from Shetland will fall on deaf ears. After all, the fact that you could afford to go on holiday to Cuba is going to be to the forefront of their minds. I don't know whether you used the ferry/train or ferry/drive to get to your departure airport or flew down and I do realise that none of the options are cheap. I live up on the east coast of Scotland and have friends and know students who regularly travel to Shetland and colleagues in my Uni dept have to do this to for work related activity so I am aware that it can be very expensive, but some ways of doing it are cheaper than others, particularly outside of the main summer season. Couching any request to First Choice for compensation that is based on a realistic assessment of the cheapest that you could do this for is more likely to meet with success because regardless of how much you paid this time, they are likely to take the view that it was your choice to do that and that you would have had to pay for that as an additional cost to the holiday regardless of whether you were adding on a visit to relatives or not.

Please don't think me unsympathetic - I am and even more so because my own family live spread out over the whole of the UK and I have just paid nearly £500 to fly my two nieces up from Birmingham to Dundee and back (my nearest airport) for a visit. I won't go into the full story of why we decided that we had no alternative but to do this but it is inescapable that for those of us who choose to live up here, and even more so for anybody who lives on the islands, transport costs are often unavoidably high and as much as we might rail against this, in this instance that is no responsiblity or concern of First Choice, who do seem to have met their legal obligations.

SM

Tonsberg

Have a look at EC 261/2004 and the Sturgeon v Condor ECJ ruling as you do have a legitimate claim for compensation of 600 euros per passenger since you were delayed by more than 3 hours on your return flight.

To those who have advised otherwise, I suggest that you too read these references. To make it easy I have reproduced opertive part of the Sturgeon ruling below:

1. Articles 2(l), 5 and 6 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, must be interpreted as meaning that a flight which is delayed, irrespective of the duration of the delay, even if it is long, cannot be regarded as cancelled where the flight is operated in accordance with the air carrier's original planning.

2. Articles 5, 6 and 7 of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that passengers whose flights are delayed may be treated, for the purposes of the application of the right to compensation, as passengers whose flights are cancelled and they may thus rely on the right to compensation laid down in Article 7 of the regulation where they suffer, on account of a flight delay, a loss of time equal to or in excess of three hours, that is, where they reach their final destination three hours or more after the arrival time originally scheduled by the air carrier. Such a delay does not, however, entitle passengers to compensation if the air carrier can prove that the long delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken, namely circumstances beyond the actual control of the air carrier.

3. Article 5(3) of Regulation No 261/2004 must be interpreted as meaning that a technical problem in an aircraft which leads to the cancellation or delay of a flight is not covered by the concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances' within the meaning of that provision, unless that problem stems from events which, by their nature or origin, are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control.