cancunman,

Welcome onboard
Sorry to hear about your delays. Was this flight number TCX324 on the 17th November that air-returned due to the need to shut down the starboard engine (RR Trent 772B) just to the south of Belfast? Did TCX then accommodate you once returning until they could get you away again? On your return flight, I assume you were kept in hotels and suitably accommodated until your return flight was ready? If that is the case, TCX may have done everything they needed to under the circumstances and will just refer you to your holiday insurance for delayed flight. Bearing in mind any excess on your policy, it may not be worth the hassle. By all means give it a go, but you may not get anywhere.

Darren

Thanks for the reply Darren. All the questions you have posed are correct - were you on this flight too? Not sure how to get in touch with any of the other folk, surely they must be trying to claim too.

You are right, the insurance pays a max of £100 less xs (don't know how much!).

So the fact remains we are out of pocket by £90 for my husband's day without pay from work, extra night dog boarding, loss of the first night £150 ish at our resort etc. Not our fault.

Are we expected to cop for this ourselves do you think? What about the claims on TC website that one can claim so many euros per 12 hr delay per person etc? Who would this apply to if not us!? Is this a trick to give people confidence to book with them? (Never again
The delay coming back of 48 hrs was not technical, it was an argument over money between airport & TC, dunno if this makes a difference.

Kindest Regards
Jean

cancunman,

I wasn't on that flight, no but I'm well verses in the aviation / travel industry (hence my status as a moderator here) and i've been in your position several times before with delays of upto 52 hours. Pure co-incidance, the aircraft that you were on on the 17th was the rescue aircraft that picked us up from Montego Bay after the DC-10 we were on decided it wanted to stay in Jamaica for a 3 week break and refuse to work (hydraulic failure)! That was back in the My Travel days though.

So the fact remains we are out of pocket by £90 for my husband's day without pay from work, extra night dog boarding, loss of the first night £150 ish at our resort etc. Not our fault.

That's where travel insurance comes in i'm afraid. If you provide receipts along with confirmation of delays from Thomas Cook (they'd normally provide a letter on request, if they haven't done so already), submit them to your insurance provider along with any relevant claims form and they'll assess it. The trouble lies with the excess payments and whether it's worth your while.

I think you're fighting a losing battle with the oubound flight. These things happen and TCX covered what they needed to under the circumstances. I don't have all the details about your inbound flight, but I find it hard to beleive it was only about an argument between the airport and TCX, there will have been more to it that that and it wouldn't have been 48 hours to resolve it. I know around that time, there was a technical issue, again engine problems I beleive, with an aircraft that created knock-on effects. Again though, TCX provided everything they needed to under the circumstances to cover you while you were delayed. By all means raise the issue and submit paperwork, but I think you'll struggle to get anywhere and just be referred to insurance.

Darren

Great, thanks for all the useful info.. you might just have saved me about another 72 hours!

QUOTE I find it hard to beleive it was only about an argument between the airport and TCX, there will have been more to it that that and it wouldn't have been....

Just for interest (yes we have the letters from TC re delays which were issued at the time) I can confirm that the return delay was "due to an unexpected dispute with the mexican authorities".

How the pilot put it was that the mexican authorities said that TC had not paid their airport bill (apparently the operator has to pay for tarmac space, petrol, ground staff & probably lots of other things that I don't need to know about!). I am guessing you know all the ins & outs.

As that weekend was a bank holiday in Mexico, (Sat 1st, Sun 2nd & Mon 3rd Dec) this could not be resolved until the offices opened again on that Monday & the authorities "have grounded the plane".

Anyway I will do a bit more work on it, I still have the CAA templates & procedures to use via Moneysaving expert.com (Martin Lewis you know?). But I saw one post where the claimer has been trying for 2 1/2 years! I won't be doing that.

As they say, you live & learn. I note that TC is top of the league tables for delays & problems in general - so it doesn't take a genius to work out who not to use in future (or anyone else I can warn about them). Also if I can be spared the awful food - bonus ..but that's another story & definitely not worth griping about
Once again thanks for your help & a happy new year to you & yours.

Kindest Regards
Jean

Yes you should be entitled to compensation under the EU regulations provided the delay was not caused by "extraordinary circumstances". I understand that a technical fault is not classed as extraordinary circumstances as it can be regarded as a maintenance issue.

If you pursue this it would be appreciated if you could update this thread.

Thanks Darren, do you know the procedure for this please?
Jean

Thanks Darren, do you know the procedure for this please? (As in how do I claim?)
Jean

cancunman,

In the first instance, you need to contact whoever you booked your holiday with as that is who your contract was with. If it's Thomas Cook, go through their complaints procedure and take it from there.

Darren

luci HT Mod wrote:

Yes you should be entitled to compensation under the EU regulations provided the delay was not caused by "extraordinary circumstances". I understand that a technical fault is not classed as extraordinary circumstances as it can be regarded as a maintenance issue.

If you pursue this it would be appreciated if you could update this thread.

Luci is correct in the advice given. The claim is aganst the airline, Thomas Cook Airways Ltd at:

Thomas Cook Business Park, Coningsby RD, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE3 8BL.

Since you were delayed on both outbound and inbound flights by more than 3 hours then you have a potential claim worth 600 euros per passenger for each flight delayed.

The airline will almost certainly respond saying that the delays were due to 'extraordinary circumstances' and therefore no compensation but technical issues cannot normally be classified as 'extraordinary' as the European Court of Justice has stated that "it cannot be ruled out that technical problems are covered by those exceptional circumstances to the extent that they stem from events which are not inherent in the normal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond its actual control. That would be the case, for example, in the situation where it was revealed by the manufacturer of the aircraft comprising the fleet of the air carrier concerned, or by a competent authority, that those aircraft, although already in service, are affected by a hidden manufacturing defect which impinges on flight safety. The same would hold for damage to aircraft caused by acts of sabotage or terrorism". Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia ECJ Case 549/07.