Feebee wrote:

then Premium were boarded last.

That's normally the case in Cancun as your embark via the L1 door and pass through the premium cabin to the rear cabins. You normally embark via the L2 door at other airports and hence avoid disturbing the premium passengers. It's a crew decision for the benifit of those sat in the front of the aircraft then you don't have 195 passengers trying to get past while you settle.

Feebee wrote:

why aren't we claiming off Thomson ?

Because that's what holiday insurance is for. If you were wanting compensation, that would be via the holiday company but they've provided everything they need to for a technical delay by then.

I believe there aren't any amenity packs available at the moment, until January. This is due to a supply issue.

Darren

Sunaddict wrote:

Presumably Thomsons fed and watered you and put you up in a hotel? If so that is really all they have to do.

A £10 voucher with a night in an airport hotel with canteen food and hugely overpriced beveredges is no compensation for the fully inclusive you have paid for

What a business model these travel companies have. Get a customer to pay top dollar for a product which they have no legal requirement to provide in full or compensate for. To cover this money grab, you the customer must shelve out even more money on insurance.

Long haul reliability for 2010 has been poor. When I think back to what Thomson used to be in their Britannia days......

As an edit / afterthought, TUI were one of the companies who pressed for the review of the ECJ judgement regarding airlines paying compensation for delays. Given their reliability issues, I can see why.

I hope the ECJ throws out the appeal, it will help such businesses focus on getting it right when it hits them in the pocket.

humanist,

What other alternatives are there? If an aircraft has a problem and it takes 24 hours to rectify it, there are no quick solutions. Airlines seldom have a spare £100 million aircraft sat on the apron fully fuelled with crew ready to step in just in case. They can only provide hotels and meals until a solution is found, as unfortunate as it is. It's less of a problem for those returning, you get an extra 24 hours in resort. I know what it's like having had a 52 hour delay following a technical problem.

Darren

Thanks Dazbo for the quick reply
Was hoping they would be flying the 767s but nevermind! I took a flight from LGW to Larnaca last september and we were on a flight with
2-?-2 combintion cant remember the middle! But it was lovely and had IFE so I thought as Egypt is that bit further it would have this. Maybe we were just lucky! I am just a terrible flyer and feel better by the window away from anyone else... I can be a right pain always assumed Egypt wouldnt be considered short haul.

If this is the case may just go from Bham after all as its a little closer!

Dazbo HT Mod wrote:

Feebee wrote:

then Premium were boarded last.

That's normally the case in Cancun as your embark via the L1 door and pass through the premium cabin to the rear cabins. You normally embark via the L2 door at other airports and hence avoid disturbing the premium passengers. It's a crew decision for the benifit of those sat in the front of the aircraft then you don't have 195 passengers trying to get past while you settle.

Darren

Unfortunately, we didn't get the same treatment!
We were borded first, then had (as you said) a 195 passengers brushing past - not nice!
The welcome boarding drink then happened about 30min after the seat belt signs were switched off, quickly followed by first (and last!!) drinks round!

shelli_williams1,

Egypt has always been considered a short (mid) haul destination unfortunately. The Wednesday (TOM626/7), Thursday (TOM396/7), Saturday (TOM632/3) and Sunday (TOM328/9) flights from LGW were 76W's last summer, but the rest (Monday, Tuesday, Friday) were 752's. That's not to say it will be for S11 though. I flew MAN-LXR-MAN on the 752's in March with a flight time of 6.5 hours on the inbound because of head winds and was fine with it. it's all personal preference though.

Darren

Darren,

Alternatives? I don't think for one minute they are doing it deliberately but engineering and technical support along with availability of spare parts at destination airports. Replacement of units if they are reaching the end of their working life. We do in the business I am in, we do not wait for it failing as it causes too much down time and disruption.

Due to the rigid inspection and maintenance regimes for aircraft the ECJ ruling did not accept mechanical failure as unforeseen circumstances with regard to delays.

Thomson are ignoring their responsibilities. They need to realise they are often dealing with large investments from people who have possibly done without to get that special holiday. Their summer advertising campaign does not mention long haul delays which ofter run into double figures.

Bring back Britannia.

humanist,

The problem here is you are dealing with a global situation. You can't have spares in every airport along with engineers. These things take time to organise and you may have to fly out parts / engineers to rectify a problem. The supply of aircraft parts and those who work on them is stritly controlled, you can't simply walk in to your local Airbus or Boeing dealer and get parts off the shelf!

humanist wrote:

Due to the rigid inspection and maintenance regimes for aircraft the ECJ ruling did not accept mechanical failure as unforeseen circumstances with regard to delays.

Things go wrong no matter how much maintenance or inspection you give something. Aircraft are very complex machines and safety is always the top priority, even if it's only a minor fault. Even a brand new aircraft off the production line have been known to have technical problems.

Delays are unfortunate and a part of flying unfortunatley. Every airline in the world suffers from delays because or any number of reasons.

Darren

Dazbo, I accept largely what you say re long haul delays and the necessity to put safety first, however I also agree with humanist - It's time that the major holiday companies understand what adequate customer service is, in such circumstances.
We were delayed in March by just under 24 hours outward bound on a holiday to DR; Yes, Thomson organised a hotel and food for the night on return to Gatwick when the plane had to turn round BUT 1. nobody from Thomsons was present on the ground when we had to collect our luggage to explain what was going on (just a very harassed member of the ground staff handing out a badly photocopied leaflet) or at the hotel,2.nothing was given to cover drinks in the hotel (which were ridiculously expensive - £ 9+ for a glass of wine!!),3.no transport was organised for the following morning even tho' we were rushed thru when we arrived at check in (I suspect to make sure that we just beat the 24 hour delay!!),4. nothing was given in terms of "compensation in kind" either on the rearranged flight or on the holiday even tho we had lost a whole day and finally 5. on return my letters were met with a "couldn't care less" attitude from Customer "Services??".
The insurance cover (as the delay was less than 24 hours) was an almost insulting £35 pp - not very much for losing a day of our hard earned break in the Caribbean and hardly covered the drinks bill in the Hilton!
As the planes are being used in an ever more "efficient" manner, delays are becoming regular - its time for Thomson to get their act together!!!

Hi Darren,

Any idea of what aircraft will be used on the Cancun/Gatwick flight this week?

Cheers.

SAEAGLE,

Which one? There are 3x flights to CUN each week; TOM022, TOM092 or TOM062? Assuming it's the 62 on Friday, I won't know until the day before. It should be back to the normal ex-FCA.

Darren

Cheers Darren.

It is Friday's flight. SAEagle asked me to find out (his Old Man here) for him.

I will let him know.

Thanks again.

A £10 voucher with a night in an airport hotel with canteen food and hugely overpriced beveredges is no compensation for the fully inclusive you have paid for

humanist
I was replying to feebee who posted about the delay coming back. So being fed and watered and accommodation provided was all they needed to do. They had had all the fully inclusive that they paid for.

If you suffer the same going out, then complain to the tour operator when you get back.

brewerdave,

My point exactly.

The tour operators do not care because they do not have to compensate people. Their staff seem to be immune to people, I suppose they are desensitised as it happens so often.

I have kept one eye on Thomson long haul this year and 24 hour delays have been a very regular occurrence.

I cant help but wonder how much Boeing are culpable in this with the 787 fiasco, given Thomson expected to have a fair few 787 delayliners in service by now and the 767's goen to the great tuna can factory!

Thanks for the reply Sunaddict, I'll wait till I get on the plane and get a surprise Hopefully the flight won't be delayed and does anyone know if there is likely to be any amenity packs in economy by the time this flight goes.

Thanks

Irene

IreneC,

I believe stocks of amenity packs are due in January.

Darren

Dazbo HT Mod wrote:

IreneC,

I believe stocks of amenity packs are due in January.

Darren

So staff lying to shut passengers up, is acceptable to Thomson.

Feebee wrote:

So staff lying to shut passengers up, is acceptable to Thomson.

Or staff not knowing the current situation. To say none were loaded is correct, just not the reason behind it.

Darren