Goa Discussion Forum

Discussions regarding holidays in Goa.
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Dunk
What Tour Operator and airline is this with?
What is the flight number?
Is the departure date now 21st or 22nd December?
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its with Direct holidays or thomas cook as there also know and flight no is tcx67k from gatwick on sat 20 dec 2008 at 19.50 now

it was thurs 18 dec at 14.55 on flight tcx26k
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Have you tries First Choice or Thomsons (both same now apparently)

:)
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I'm (still) a bit confused about your dates.

When is the latest you can come back to the UK?
You said the return date is 6th Jan, but to my reckoning, if you're flying out on the evening of 20th December, you should arrive in Goa late morning on Sunday 21st.

You'll then fly back (probably around midday) on Sunday 4th Jan, arriving back in Gatwick that same Sunday evening.
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Thomsons go out on a Thursday, we are going with them at the end of November.
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Yes Polly we fly out Thursday 27 November but I see Thomsons also have another flight going out Saturday 29 November as well :think also First Choice airlines and departs at 18.00 hours.
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If you look at my post under "flights booked" you will see that is what i warned about.There is not one Goa flight confirmed yet,so alot of people will find their flights changed in the coming weeks.

John
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Glad I saw the first post on this thread. We were booked from Gatwick on 13th November with Thomas Cook Airlines. We already had to change our flight from Manchester as they had changed the day there. As we have an apartment booked, going out a few days later would have been a real problem. Got new flights from http://www.charterflight.co.uk on the 13th from Gatwick with First Choice at roughly the same time, and only £15 each more, which I will claim back from Thomas Cook anyway. I was told by Thomas Cook that if we changed our day to the flight on 15th November they would look at paying the cost of changing our flights to Gatwick from Scotland. Worth bearing in mind if you are in the same boat.
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Origanally we were to fly from manchester on 18th dec till 1st jan but they cancelled that flight so we cancelled holiday

then we booked with direct to fly from gatwick on 18th dec till 1st jan and now they cancelled that.

new dates given are sat 20th dec till 4th jan, problem is we booked our flights down to gatwick already and cant change them without losing money, we explained this to direct hols and they said tough luck basically :que
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Is the problem that you've booked domestic budget flights that you can't change?
Or is the change of date an issue with getting time off work?

It sounds like Sandyboy has had exactly the same problem with Thomas Cook as you.
If the problem is with the actual holiday dates, have you tried the link given to check if flights are available for the Thursday?
THe problem is that even if they are doing Thursday fligts, they may change this at a later date.
Have you tried First Choice/Thomsons?

If the problem is with the domestic flights (booked for 18/12), maybe you could go back to Thomas Cook and ask if they will offer the same as they were possibly willing to offer Sandyboy:
I was told by Thomas Cook that if we changed our day to the flight on 15th November they would look at paying the cost of changing our flights to Gatwick from Scotland. Worth bearing in mind if you are in the same boat.
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its not the dates we can still manage those its the domestic flights, i asked if they could help or even upgrade me to cover the extra cost but the answer is no, cancel if your not happy or get another flight, i asked them what other flights are available and the answer was none :que
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Dunk, Thomas Cook did not offer to compensate us for changing the flights, I insisted that they did so and the agent I talked to told me that they would look on this request favourably, which to me means that they would pay the cost. I suggest that you do not ask them to pay your extra costs but demand that they do so. I threatened an action against them in the Small Claims and that seemed to do the trick. I have looked through their terms and conditions and cannot see anyhting that gives them the right to change the flights and not pay compensation. If you wanted to change your dates they would charge you, and it has to be reciprocal. As I said try the link I gave, we got three weeks with First Choice, flight only for £594, and they are a much better airline anyway. This means that we can still use our BA Gatwick flights.
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As TC have made a 'significant change' (which a change of more than 12 hours to the time you leave the UK or your Holiday destination is classed as) but have advised you of the change more than 57 days before travel, I'm not sure that compensation is due (according to Dirct Holidays T&Cs).
They have offered you an alternative departure date or the option to cancel.

I would say it's worth trying the same ploy as sandyboy did, although as you're going over Christmas/New Year they'll be able to resell your holiday easier than one almost at the beginning of the season.

Let us know how things go.
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If you go on TC website they are still selling holidays for the 18th
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Then that's really naughty!

Can they (legally) offer holidays that they know they are unable to provide?
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found this on TC website this morning

Departs Gatwick 18 Dec 2008 at 13:30

Arrives Goa

Departs Goa

Arrives Gatwick 02 Jan 2009 at 16:00
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Dunk, if you have a look at the Holiday Complaints forum on this site you will find the number of Ros Fernihough. She's a lawyer who specialises in travel complaints and should be able to tell you if the holiday company can be made to pay for the changes to your domestic flights. She often gives free advice to HT members.
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they won't have to pay I'm afraid. However, we recently had to change flights( jet airways) and it only cost £20 I think. ( or less)
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TC have changed my daughters flight too......in March! Not too happy as she should have departed LGW on 19th, arrive 20th in time to have a relaxing and restful day for my OH's big "60" shindig on the 21st. (she is only going for a week). They offered an alternative date of the 21st which is no good as she will miss her Dad's big day. :cry I tried phoning TC and spent 20 minutes hanging on the line listening to their God awful music....so I gave up. Hubby has decided to change the date of his party instead now. :rage. I am travelling with TC in November and I will be cancelling if they change my flight which will mean I miss the wedding that I am going out their specifically for. They should withdraw these dates if they can't provide the flight - it is out of order big time :banghead: :rage
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