Thomas Cook Airlines UK
 

We were travelling home from Feurteventura already 1 hour late when we got on the flight we were informed that they were not taking us back to Glasgow Airport but to Newcastle Airport. We then had to get 5 buses for the whole flight and it took another 5 hours to return home by bus. There was nothing wrong with the aircraft, they just needed it for a Newcastle flight. No compensation or proper explanation was given. I will never travel with them again. They say they are within their rights as they got us back to Glasgow whether it was bus of plane.

If you arrived more than 5 hours later than scheduled you should consider a claim under the EU regulations. A delay of more than 5 hours means you would be entitled to claim a refund of your flight ticket.

The precise details of your complaint are unusual and you should in the first instance write to the company, making your claim under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. This law specifically establishes rights in relation to long delays. If your delay was greater than 2 hrs and less than 5 hours, you were entitled to refreshments. If they failed to provide these, you should submit a claim for reasonable refreshments with attached receipt.

If you get no joy, you can complain to the appropriate national body. In the UK (which would apply to this flight as you can choose either the point of departure or arrival) the competent body is the Air Transport Users Council (AUC), www.auc.org.uk.

I haven't memorized every bit of those EU rules regarding delays, Jim, but is there any difference if the flight was a charter? I know that most, if not all, Thomas Cook flights operate as charters.

No Phx, no difference.. the regulations apply to both. Thomas Cook are a predominantly charter operation, but the nature of all charter operations in Europe have changed considerably. In the past, flights and hotels were packaged together and were only available as part of a packaged tour. Over the last five years these have been unbundled in response to the "low cost" revolution and Thomas Cook, along with the other large scale charter operations, such as First Choice, Monarch, Thomson, etc now sell many of their flights on a seat only basis. Even so, the regulations apply to both anyway, so no problem there.

Thomas Cook Airlines
 

Thanks Guys for your help,

I will try again. Its not that im looking for compensation, i'm just so angry that they can get away with it. I have complained to them and they are not interested, they say they are within their rights as long as they return us to our original destination regardless of flight or coach. I will try and look at what you have told me. Will let you know how I get on.

thanks Fay

You are welcome.. I hope it works. The point of these regulations are not really about the individual compensation. It is meant to be a deterrent to the airlines to prevent them from creating delays for economic or operational reasons. This was specific and outlined in the law.. that the penalties are set at levels which should act as an economic deterrent.

Your story is a perfect example of this. The flight landed in Newcastle for operational convenience and perhaps for cost reasons. The alternative would have been to land you in Glasgow, take off empty and reposition to Newcastle. This may have caused a delay to the Newcastle passengers waiting which would have cost them more, or caused an overnight delay.

It is important that passengers claim their rights in this situation. If successful, it would indeed act as a deterrent to Ops to make these kind of decisions, which cause significant inconvenience to passengers.

Good luck

Airlines should never be allowed to get away with things like this. A passenger returning after holiday should never be made to take a 5 hour bus ride when he/she paid to travel by air. What if when you went to the airport to take the Glasgow trip, they instead had arranged a 24 hour ferry journey back? Would it be Ok as long as they got you back to Glasgow?

I was stuck in Juneau, Alaska for two days. The airport was completely fogged in. No flights in or out. We were happy to be taken by ferry to Ketchikan.

Hardly an analogous situation Phx.. in this case, Glasgow, is less than 30 minutes flying time from Newcastle. Driving can take hours as it is not motorway, but a nightmare drive up the A1 and through the borders country (beautiful, but not easy). Glasgow was not closed... it was diverted for operational reasons and for the convenience of Thomas Cook. Finding alternative means to bypass conditions beyond the control of the airline is good; inconveniencing passengers in excess of 5 hours for operational reasons is not.

I was only commenting on the remark which I indicated in bold type. Which is why it was indicated in bold type. Relax, Jim.