Mermaid5

Thanks for your reply . I had heard about the virus and it worries me . Really like the idea of seeing the Eco system at La Restinga lagoon but worried about the mosquitos in view of the Swamps . Will indeed get strong repellent for Caribbean

Hi ! Has any one recently come back from cruise taking in Isla Margarita, please? If so, did you go to La Restinga Lagoon and take the boat trip? We are there in February and like the idea of the excursion there but I always get bitten so wondering if any one experienced mosquitos? Thanks. Help and advice would be appreciated.

Reading the success stories on here makes me even more determined to peruse this for as long as it takes . We are still waiting for a call back from the home insurance, if that is negative, we will try the CAA. We are in no hurry and they are not going to get away with the sarcasm they put in the last letter 'Thomson does not pay out on delayed flights, sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear'. If and when I get that cheque, I will take great delight in making them eat their words. This fight is all the more important to us as my husband has cancer and we paid to upgrade our seats and for the air port lounge which we were of course made to leave after a few hours, the vouchers were useless as we had already paid for food and drink with the upgrade, the whole flight had to be endured with no lights or in flight entertainment and as a result of this my husband does not feel up to any future long haul flights. Thanks for nothing Thomsons you haven't heard the last from us!

Hi Jay - pil Any news yet? keeping fingers crossed for you .

Thank you to all of you who have helped and advised us with the claim for our 8 hour delayed flight. After the first refusal from thomsons and hearing that others on here have received compensation. We sent the template letter once again with the additional information telling them that others have been paid.

 

We have again received a smarmy letter telling us that thomsons do not compensate for flight delays!!!! They say the cost should be claimed back through our insurance company!!!

 

They thank me for my feedback and assure me they are not complacent.

 

Is anyone still interested enough to help me with a strongly worded email or can give me the name of a no win no fee company who will take this up on my behalf?

 

I thank you all for your input on this and to those who have received the compensation cheque, well done for beating this airline into submission. I intend to fight this now, even if I don't get a penny. Would any of you be prepared to give me your details to pass on to thomsons to proove I know you have been paid? I do understand if you don't wish to do this.

hi Jay -pil , so sorry to hear that Thomson are trying to dodge this now. I suspect it may be because they have had a flood gate open!

I can only suggest that you write again to them pointing out

1) that they know full well that no insurance will cover for delays under 12 hiours .

2) that as they are well aware the delay was due to a 'knock on effect' of delays on previous flights and that the court ruling Easy -Jet v Jager clearly says that passengers on other flights should not be affected by the company having a 'tight turn around' policy

3) you therefore find their present stance totally unacceptable and unless you recieve satisfactory compensation within 14 days you will be taking the matter to court.

Reiterate that you are well aware of fellow passengers on both the Friday and saturday flights whom they have compensated and that as a result of their cynically trying to avoid paying out compensation to you, as dictated by european law courts, you are reporting them to the CAA - send a copy of your letter to CAA in any event- plus copies of all previous correspondence between you and thomson .

additionally tell them you have written to P&O advising them of the totally cavalier way Thomson have treated you and telling them that whilst P&O continue to charter Thomson to their ships you will not be cruising with them!

hopefully that will do the trick . if not Bott and Co seem to be the ones who get results - google them .

Good Luck

we were late applying . rang thomson who advised to send them an email, which I did on april 22nd. Received reply saying it would take 28 days to look into. 28 days later with no reply I rang again and was told it would take 56 days to sort. I rang again after 56 days and was told they had no record of my email so I sent it again and received a reply saying they were out of the office. I rang again today and was on the phone for 30 mins waiting to speak to someone before giving up. I will continue to pursue this now I know some of you have received your compensation. I was on the Friday flight with 8 hours delay.

Hi amcymru! don't give up !As they seem to not be acknowledging your requests I suggest you send a letter by recorded delivery (and copies -not originals of the relevant documents)so that they cannot deny receipt. I know this will cost more than an e mail but it will show them you are not being messed about!

State all the previous times you have tried to contact them and say this is completely unacceptable behaviour for such a 'reputable' company.Send the template letter from the CAA site or Which Magazine or Moneysavingexpert (properly amended to reflect your circumstances) and tell them you will take matter to court if satisfactory response not received within 14 days. You could add to the template letter that you are aware that several others on the two flights involved have been compensated ..... that should be sufficient to get them to ring you !!! Good Luck

Hi mermaid and others who have posted regarding this delay. We still haven't received anything from thomsons, they sent an email after receiving our second letter, saying it may take more than two weeks to look into this. Surely if others on here have received compensation from the same delay, we should also receive it. Any comments would be gratefully received. I am not hopeful about getting it.

Hi Jay -pil .Don't worry -as Kevinyork says they will have to pay out inview of agreeing the validity of other claims on same flights and the latest court cases. They haven't refused you -simply said it will take a few weeks to look into. We sent two letters to them and received a similar phone call (they did not have an e mail address for us~) but received our cheque before two weeks elapsed. Simply acknowledge their e mail saying you note they are looking into your claim and that you expect an early reply stating the amount of compensation due to you in accordance with the european ruling . don't give up and don't get despondent -my guess would be that they have many claims from fellow passengers on both flights to and from the ventura on those dates , not to mention many more following the recent court rulings ,which will mean their claims department is very busy right now!

Hi Jay pil

All it took for us was two letters- and then TUI phoned us to say they would send a cheque . We sent one letter according to the templates provided on the caa site and had first letter from thomson rebutting our claim. we then replied pointing out that there were contradictions between the original reason given by Thomson at the airport and their first refusal letter and that in any event we knew that the real reason for delay was because of a knock on effect from problems with another plane on another route, (see previous postings in this thread) and that because of Easy jet vs Jager they had to pay out compensation as delay was due to operational issues which do not come under criteria of extraordinary circumstances . I've now written since recieving cheque to thank them for acknowledging our claim. I think you will get compensation if you just stick to this as it is a valid claim .

Hi terry,

Have a look at the internet for court case Easy Jet v Jager which shows that airlines cannot refuse compensation for flights that are delayed where there is a 'knock on effect ' unless the same reason for flight delay is applicable to that later flight eg : if there were continuing worries about weather conditions at airport departure/arrival flight delays come under extraordinary circs and therefore no compensation but if delay to your flight was just operational issues they cannot refuse to pay . it would be wise to gather as much info as to why your flight was delayed and what happened to he earlier flights. keep at it and good luck.

Yes it goes a long way to restoring your faith in travel companies doesn't it? Hope your cheque in post soon. Thanks for responding . It's good to know and hopefully will give heart to those still waiting to hear . Enjoy any further cruises you may be taking.

Hi to all who 've posted replies in this thread. I have today banked a cheque from Thomson for the sterling equivelent of 600 euros each for my husband and self in compensation for the delay . I also know of one other couple (who were on the Friday flight to the Ventura from Birmingham ) who have recieved the same amount. :) Thomson admitted that our complaint fell within the provisions of the Euro ruling covering compensation.

I assume some of you have recieved the same amounts -if not hang on in there and continue pursuing your case . Good luck. thanks for all the earlier posts . It will be interesting to know if any of you have had replies by now .

Hi , We have sent second letter to thomson and will contact CAA if no joy. Reading other replies it may be useful if we all band together with one letter to thomson eventually ? will keep all posted on any replies and thanks for all the feed back . Keep it coming!

Hi jay-pii. Previous people on thread were told this by Servisair staff at Birmingham airport . Apparently it was a problem with a Dreamliner on the Gatwick to Cancun route which started the knock on effect . We have already replied to Thomson pointing out the discrepancies in the reasons given for delay and putting it to them that problems with earlier flights on different routes should not be counted as 'extraordinary circumstances ' hopefully if we all keep singing from same song sheet they may see the logic ! If we get a refusal again I will write back pointing out that we are aware that other people are also pursuing the question of compensation.

Hi John we understood it was £500 per person and so I'm applying for myself and hubby. Hopefully we will get there especially if a few more join the cause. Enjoy your up and coming cruises !

hi Cashango -we will be writing once more to Thomson telling them that we are aware that they knew of delay to our flight well ahead of the Saturday and pointing out that their letter at airport gave entirely different reason for delay so seems a cynical attempt to pull wool over passengers eyes and get around the rules. We will also quote recent court case Easy jet v Jager where it was ruled that 'knock on effect ' is not an 'extraordinary circumstance' If no joy then we will refer all documentation and correspondence to CAA. keep in touch - we may succeed before we're old and grey! In any event, if nothing comes from CAA there are always the 'no win no fee 'companies route to go down.

Hi pinktulipshopping . We will reply to thomson saying we do not accept their arguments and tell them we are aware it was a knock on effect which had been judged in a court to not be an 'extraordinary circumstance' to get them out of paying up ! Will come back to tell you any response ! WE totally agree this is not an acceptable way to run an airline ' tho guess others are equally cavalier in their attitude to passengers!

Thank you for your reply. we too will be pursuing as their letter was full of contradictory statements in an attempt to make a case to deny compensation. I would be interested to know how you were aware that Thomson knew a couple of days before hand that our flight would be delayed?. As you say, this being the case they had ample time to put a different plane into service.

Hi ,pinktulipshopping-we have today received a reply from Thomson (and to add insult to injury they did not affix a postage stamp so I had to go to post office and collect it and pay 1.53p!) but it's as expected a refusal to pay, citing various judgements and stating that the delay sits under the umbrella of 'Extraordinary Circumstances' for which airlines do not have to pay out ! We will look into all of this when we can get a grasp on the jargon. :mad:I suspect you will have a similar reply.

Thanks Brian , we have used the template letter but no reply from Thomson to date and we were wondering if any fellow delayed passengers had had any luck!

We were among the passengers aboard TOM 830 on March 1st which was delayed 6hrs at Birmingham on way to Barbados and Ventura cruise N405A . We undersatand that the flight the previous day from Birmingham to Ventura was also delayed for 8 hrs. We have written to Thomson to claim compensation in accordance with EU regulations but to date have not received a reply . Has anyone else contacted Thomson? and if so what response have you had - if any?