missed port fiasco

[okavango]

I completely agree with you and have never liked this airline compensation bill since it was introduced by the EU.

 

It will lead to unsafer skies and us all paying in the long term. If the UK does end up leaving the EU, this would be one of the benefits, having to give up this stupid ruling.

 

the main problem is the rate of compo, its too high, 400 euro for just over three hours, should be on a sliding scale of say £10 an hour, if the airlines had played fairer with passengers in the first place this ruling may not have come about, the airlines have always treated their passengers with contempt, they can do what they want but should the passenger err slightly they will jump on it and use you as a cash cow , im presently embroiled in a compo claim myself (9 hour delay), if the situation had been handled a lot better (it was a complete fiasco) i might not even have bothered to claim, nobody even said sorry properly or even attempted any type of goodwill gesture to get people back onside so i dont feel guilty at chasing whats due.

[csmjfmbe]

missed ports at very short notice are very common on all cruise lines and can happen for a number of reasons (mostly reasons of safety)

 

its written in the t&c of every cruise brochure that itineraries can be subject to change

 

I have found that thomsons will try to let pax know as soon as they can if they know that a change will occur, we have received emails well in advance, informing us of future itinerary changes, but yes, sometimes changes are made at very short notice

 

in defence of thomsons:

 

we were stranded on the island escape during the icelandic ash cloud aircraft groundings in 2010

 

i have nothing but praise for how thomsons dealt with that situation (which was well beyond their control)

 

the cruise was curtailed in tenerife (the last day of our cruise) thomsons decided they would sail us all home to falmouth in cornwall and bus us from the port to our original airports

 

imo they went beyond their duty

 

those that had booked cruise only with independent flights (easyjet) had accommodation arranged for them while waiting for their flights to be rescheduled (hard to find on tenerife with 1000s of stranded tourists from all over europe) and those trying to make their way back to lanzarote etc had transport arranged for them (thomsons didnt need to do that? but they helped people as much as they could?)

 

we picked up stranded holidaymakers from tenerife and madeira, the sail to uk took 4 days

 

during this time those on ai continued to enjoy free ai, we stayed in our original cabins no one was moved, the entertainment was stepped up to keep us entertained, the ship was packed to the rafters with relieved families, babes in buggies, worried 20 somethings trying to get back to college, and lots of holidaymakers who had never been on a ship before, everyone was looked after like gold, people were given free phone calls and internet conections..... i didn't hear a single complaint.... only praise

 

we were given personally addressed letters for our travel insurance ....imo we didn’t have any extra expenses to claim? thomsons looked after everything, many others said the same

 

they had reps waiting at the airport (when we finally made it home) to sort out any issues anyone had reclaiming their cars from the car park and saw to it that we weren't charged for the 4 day overstay

 

imo if there is some sort of major problem? thomsons do try to look after their pax to the best of their ability, i agree that thomsons do have their (administrative) foibles but generally I trust them with my holiday(s) and I trust them to look after us should we encounter any sticky situations?

 

Dear Geomagot

You are obviously one of life's lucky people.

During the Ash Cloud incident, our cruise with RCL ended in Venice and we and hundreds of others were literally dumped in Venice. After 4 days of self found and funded accommodation, we eventually managed to get on a coach (thanks to another passengers daughter) from Venice to Edinburgh, a very interesting 48 hours indeed

Thomsons are not faultless but at least they sort things out at the time on the ground, maybe the complaints after the event are not so well handled.

All the best

Mike

[geomagot]

Dear Geomagot

You are obviously one of life's lucky people.

 

yep...Its was lucks fault...luck gets the blame for everything;):)

[Sheila49]

My son and DIL were on Ocean Village when the ash cloud happened. They put them up in a hotel in Crete for a week then they were lucky enough to be on the first flight to fly in to Glasgow when the airport reopened!:)

[Malch_uk]

I think it depends if you have booked a package or not.

If you have booked a package, the tour operator is obliged to get you back to where the package holiday started. (Local airport if a fly-cruise.) ATOL regulations.

[FOD1984]

Further to my previous ramblings it is apparent that bird strikes may soon no longer be listed as an extraordinary circumstance. This is very bad news people. Birds can cause significant damage to delicate parts well hidden within an engine. Does anyone really think a £100,000 liability will do anything to improve safety? Instead of a full inspection planes may just be released to fly if there is no 'visible' damage.

 

Does anyone think that crews will not feel pressured into flying fatigued if refusing to fly would cost their employer £100,000. Incidentally, studies have shows that fatigued crews are MORE error prone than pilots under the influence of alcohol!! Food for thought. That's right, a tired pilot is more dangerous than a drunk one.

 

Despite a record safe year in 2014, for the first time in history I can foresee safety declining in the industry. Scary times.

[wales4ever]

Not all cruise companies miss ports without compensating their passengers.

We were on a Celebrity ship in november and missed out a couple of overnights in Bali.

Even though we stopped in Bangkok and Vietnam instead, all the passengers were given a huge amount of compensation.

For our outside cabin we were given $250 each on board spend - which as we had already pre booked our tours and had a free drinks package we did not use. We had the remainder of this put back onto my credit card a week after the cruise.....the only time I have returned from a cruise with more money than I left with.

Plus we were all given a future cruise credit with a value of 30% of the original cruise price.

Most probably because all the American passenger queued up to complain.

[davecttr]

A few years ago I took a Thomson Spirit cruise from Newcastle to Iceland and Norway. Embarkation was delayed because fog had prevented the ship from arriving on time. We all got OBC as a result, it was only £15 per person but it was a nice touch anyway.

 

It now seems thomson HQ has banned all such goodwill gestures :mad:

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

It now seems thomson HQ has banned all such goodwill gestures :mad:

 

 

Q : how do we show them we are annoyed with them ?

 

A : Not book any more cruises with them

 

 

simples.

 

 

 

.

Edited April 30, 2015 by P&O Lynn Knickers
Lynn is beautiful and kind. GO LYNN

[happy v]

A few years ago I took a Thomson Spirit cruise from Newcastle to Iceland and Norway. Embarkation was delayed because fog had prevented the ship from arriving on time. We all got OBC as a result, it was only £15 per person but it was a nice touch anyway.

 

It now seems thomson HQ has banned all such goodwill gestures :mad:

 

We were on that one too Dave. I think it was only £5 though, the captain said he would buy everyone a drink if I recall.

 

When we were delayed with P&O a few week ago for much longer we didn't receive anything.

[davecttr]

was it a fiver, worth a lot back then ;)