Flight delay Thomson airlines refuse to pay.
A recent investigation found that Thomson Airlines are:
• REFUSING to pay out for delays caused by broken toilets, staff shortages and other faults within its control;
• TAKING up to six months to reply to customers;
• LOSING paperwork and then forcing customers to resubmit their claims;
• DENYING passengers compensation — even when the aviation regulator has told it to cough up.
Under EU rules you are entitled to up to €600 (£460) if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late. You can claim for delays up to six years ago. The only exception to this rule is if the delay is caused by circumstances out of the airline’s control, such as bad weather or strike action.
Thomson’s handling of these claims is particularly poor.
Three in ten Thomson flights arrive late — double the industry norm.
Thomson’s record of paying out flight delay compensation appears to be even worse than its time-keeping..
The warning signs of a major problem are on Thomson’s website, which states that if you have a complaint about a holiday it will get back to you within 28 days, but it’ll take a minimum of 56 days — or six weeks — if the gripe concerns a delayed flight.
Jane Harding, 61, and her husband Stephen, 66, should each be entitled to €400 (£615 in total) after they were left waiting at Tenerife airport for nine hours last November. Yet after spending three months ignoring the retired couples’ letters, Thomson has thrown their claim out.
It says the reason for the delay — damage to the aircraft on an earlier flight — counts as an extraordinary circumstance, so it doesn’t have to pay.
Even after the Spanish aviation authority said Thomson should pay the Hardings, the firm has dug its heels in.
Jane, a retired council worker, says: ‘The staff at Thomson just fob you off. The 56 days they tell you to wait is just a delaying tactic while they come up with an excuse.’
Kenneth Melville, 66, and his wife Annabelle, 67, were returning from two weeks in Tenerife in January when they suffered a 21-hour delay. They were told at the airport that the flight couldn’t go ahead because the crew had worked for longer than they were allowed under aviation rules. Kenneth complained to Thomson within a week of getting home, but was told the delay was due to snow at Glasgow airport, meaning he couldn’t claim compensation. But Kenneth says an easyJet flight bound for Glasgow had left the same airport that night and not been delayed. He says: ‘They could have properly planned staff working hours, but they blamed it on snow. They just don’t want to pay out.’
Thomson are notoriously bad when it comes to compensating for delays. Their claims department does not respond adequately and all of the cases we’ve won against them have only been honoured due to the pressure of court proceedings.
Thomson says: ‘We are sorry for any customers experiencing delays with their claims. We remain committed to maintaining an excellent on-time performance. We will not process any claims submitted by unregulated claims management companies.‘ We would like to remind all of our customers we are not a claims management company – we are a firm of Solicitors who are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulation authortiy.
Let us fight your corner today and reclaim your flight delay compensation from Thomson Airlines.
