<<"Which flight"?. I though F.F.S., is it every flight>>

How would she know which flight you were checking in for, without asking?

Thomas Cook do have their fair share of delays, as do most airlines, but it's got nothing to do with the age of the fleet, which on average is just younger than Monarch's, and years younger than Jet2's.

<<You do know that this flight is delayed by 4 Hours" said the check-in clerk, we all checked in our bags, jumped in a cab and went to the nearest pub for some food and drink,>>

Just curious, what would have happened if they'd managed to bring the flight time forward, and you were in the pub, or got stuck in security when you got back to the airport?

Delays are inconvenient, but we've all had them, and If you stopped flying with an airline just because of a delay, there'd be no one left to fly with.

I know it can take time to wind up companies and that some employees will often be kept on until a company is fully wound up but Swiss Air ceased operations in 2002 - 10 years before this reported conversation took place! Whichever airline your daughter's friend works for it is not Swiss Air and it does undermine the credibility of your account somewhat.

SM

Oh Dear
Must say I am dissapointed at the two responses

Let me answer these in turn.

1)Which flight"?. I though F.F.S., is it every flight>>

How would she know which flight you were checking in for, without asking?

Ans: I did not expect that response as I was already in the queue for Feuturventura and if you had accepted the flavour (think yourself lucky) you would not be asking.

2) Just curious, what would have happened if they'd managed to bring the flight time forward, and you were in the pub, or got stuck in security when you got back to the airport?

Ans: I asked the checkin clerk the chances of the flight being earlier, (I told her my plan) "It will not go earlier" was the reply, hey, but Sunaddict thanks for your concearn.

3). I know it can take time to wind up companies and that some employees will often be kept on until a company is fully wound up but Swiss Air ceased operations in 2002.

Ans: I will ask my daughter, but I think it's the baggage handling company.

In conclusion:, I do not care whether you beleive me or not, quite frankley, by accepting any airline that builds a business model based on cancellations, deferals and gives no information unless it is asked then it deserves to go out of business, however anyone that accepts that corperate behaviour deserves all the delays he/she gets, so dont make excuses on there behalf, If I experience the same behaviour elsewhere then I will post it here first. But I have not!!!!.
. As for most airlines behaving that way, I have holidayed all over the world since 1981, with my kids, then my grand-kids, and apart from 10-15 minutes delays have not experienced delays but have heard about them. Once on business in Hanover, my flight was delayed 45 minutes, the difference was we kept informed of the delay.

Although Swissair ceased operations in 2002 , there is Swiss international air lines that operates under the ownership of Lufthansa .
Or perhaps junger meant Swissport which is a ground handling company and operate in most major airports . I'm not sure if they do ground handling for Thomas Cook????
Shame that you lost the best part of a day from your week long holiday .

Yes Swissport do handle Thomas Cook, well they do at Gatwick. I have flown with TC many times and never had a delay on a flight. Must be lucky.

But this August Swiss Port kept us waiting over an hour for our bags, not impressed.

SMa wrote:

I know it can take time to wind up companies and that some employees will often be kept on until a company is fully wound up but Swiss Air ceased operations in 2002 - 10 years before this reported conversation took place! Whichever airline your daughter's friend works for it is not Swiss Air and it does undermine the credibility of your account somewhat.

SM

Yes sorry, it was swissport

Well although I sympathise, II must say that I thought that you were a little OTT for expecting Compensation or a refund for a four hour informed delay,,, I think that your experiece was "jaundiced " after that...

My family once had to sleep on a turkish airport floor due to a five hour delay...

ATB,J.

Sorry, I thought this forum was to share a personal experience, thats what I did, did not expect opinions and based on what?

junger wrote:

Sorry, I thought this forum was to share a personal experience, thats what I did, did not expect opinions and based on what?

BIB, if you post on an OTT, sarcastic rant on an open forum you can expect to receive some replies that you don't like.
Further, a lot of the members on this forum have many years experience in the travel industry or are very well travelled themselves so I think it is fair to say that they base their opinions on their knowledge.

If you are intending to make a formal complaint to TC please cut your letter to bullet points and remove all sarcasm, quoted conversations and personal opinion. You will be taken far more seriously.

Finally, 12 hour delay is the Terms & Conditions, I believe this to be a flight change, not a delay. Less than 12 hours is not classed as a major change so no canx no comp. It is in the T & C's that you agreed to when you made the booking. All airlines have delays and all airlines have scheduled flight changes and work the same way.

It makes me smile when I hear someone say they will never fly with such and such again, they will if the price is right.

Sorry, I thought this forum was to share a personal experience, thats what I did, did not expect opinions and based on what?

I think that you have misunderstood what the purpose of this particular forum on HT is for - namely to offer advice and, yes, at times opinions from others based on their experiences, of how to pursue a complaint and seek redress from a TO/TA. This is probably why Sunaddict, who works in the travel industry and has helped many people here with very direct and practical advide obtain refunds and/or compensation was asking for more information. Specific and accurate information is needed if others are to help you with any complaint.

If on the other hand you just want to let of steam and warn people against using a company that you ahve had a bad experience with then it would be better to post that information elsewhere. In this case there is a dedicated thread on Thomas Cook in both the Tour Operator/Travel Agent forum and the Airlines/Flight only one and if you weren't asking for assistance in poursuing a claim against Thomas Cook than either of those might have been more appropriate forums for you post.

But also, given that this was, as you put it, both your first and last flight with them, I don't think it's unreasonable for others to point out that this doesn't happen to everybody if they have had previous trouble free experiences of using Thomas Cook. I too have been flying both short and long haul for many decades (in my case since 1970) and if I wrote off an airline after a single bad experience I'd be starting to run out of airlines to use and there are some destinations I would never get to visit ever again.

I visit Cuba on a relatively frequent basis and to date have used Thomas Cook, Cubana and Virgin and have had both good and bad experiences with all of them. I could try BA, Iberia or Air France but invariably they have all been amongst the more expensive whenever I've been planning a trip so I haven't used them yet. But all of them here have been the focus for 'never again' posts and if I set out to never use any airline that somebody here had warned against then I'd probably never fly again at all. I certainly would never ever fly to Cuba again because apart from anything else, no matter who I've flown with I've never departed from either Havana or Holguin on time no matter which airline it was!

SM

You do know that this flight is delayed by 4 Hours" said the check-in clerk, we all checked in our bags, jumped in a cab and went to the nearest pub for some food and drink,>>

I wonder if the flight was initially delayed at an oversea airport because someone else did that, failed to get back to the airport and then their hold luggage had to be unloaded.

And why would you want to leave the airport for food and drink when there are facilities in the airport?
Surely the cost of the taxi would negate any saving you may have made over airport prices.

The nearest pub would I imagine be in Wythenshawe or Sharston and I would guess that a taxi both ways would be in the region of £16

Even with a monitored delay, I would gently suggest that it is unwise to leave the confines of the airport. Sometimes delays can be shortened or another solution to the problem found at short notice ... and by not being 'on the spot' you would not be informed of any change in your circumstances, which might even be to your benefit. You could also forfeit your right to boarding if an aircraft was made available or another company was prepared to take you (when arranged by your original airline ... they sometimes do talk to each other amiably) and you would be classed as a no-show, if you didn't turn up when called over the tannoy system.

Could somebody please explain to me the shorthand BIB? I looked it up on the net, got offered 15 choices none of which seemed to make sense in the context of this topic. Sorry to be a dinosaur.

I think that in this instance, BIB refers to "bit in bold" , the few words in bold from the previous post.

but I had to look it up too

Del!!! Thought you were the font of all knowledge!! lol xx

me and google together, Pat!