yep, very interesting. not heard the one about the banks refering back to the ombudsman LOL !

i was just going to say, different cases warrant different payments (if any) to a guest. badtouch may have had a completley different complaint to darren's, so i wouldnt be so quick to push someone into a court case when it could end up in them losing money cause they may lose.

how many further 28 days have you been asked for?? As for the behaviour of other guests, no tour operator can be held responsible for the actions of other guests. If you look in the booking conditions it will clearly state this. You might get an apology, but dont pin your hopes on a payment. I know thats not what you want to hear, but i am not going to try build your hopes up in any way.

i make no assumptions my friend. I have read the response from Virgin and deemed the neccesary information from that. The pax has stated in her letter that "In addition to a full refund of the ticket price ". This is incorrect as her daughter did NOT opt to cancel her seat on the flight and make her own way home. The airline arranged for another flight and got her home as per her contract. That is to say that the airline will get you from point a to point b and back again, but flight times and dates are not guaranteed. This is how it has ALWAYS been with the aviation industry. And no, i know nothing about this specfic flight in the slightest and do not understand what you are incinuating with regard to this. However, i do work in the travel industry myself and i know how these things work, but that should not make any difference to anyone on here except that my comments are educated ones.

the flight would have started off as a delay whilst they tried to correct the problems with the aircraft. When time was getting on and they realised that the flight would not be able to make it out that day then they would have changed it to cancelled. Surely however, the fact that they spent so much time in trying to repair the problem would be seen as doing all they could to avoid the cancellation.

Your all missing the main part. Look on the AUC website and READ what it says. All flights Overnight and more than 5 hours Meals and refreshments in relation to waiting time Two free telephone calls, emails, telexes or faxes Hotel accommodation and transfers Reimbursement of ticket (if passenger decides not to travel*) * If you decide not to travel you are entitled to a refund, within seven days, of the parts of the tickets not used. If it is a connecting flight and you have already made part of the journey and do not want to continue with it, reimbursement of the total price of the ticket (including parts of the journey not made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to your original travel plan) within seven days and a free flight back to point of departure. You are not entitled (under Regulation 261/2004) to reimbursement of any other components of your trip such as hotel and transfer costs. http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?categoryid=306&pagetype=90&pageid=4404 From the info given by war n pieces her daughter was on a flight TO an EU airport, from an airport OUTSIDE the EU on an EU airline. Therefore this is the section you should all be looking at. Addtitionally it also stated this on the AUC 6. My flight has been cancelled but the airline is saying it doesn’t have to compensate me because my flight was cancelled because of “extraordinary circumstances”. What are “extraordinary circumstances”? The Regulation does not define “extraordinary circumstances” but states that airlines do not have to pay compensation when an “event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken”. It lists examples of such circumstances – political instability, weather, security, safety, strikes etc. And with that in mind, i would advise that it is then up to you to prove that the airline could have avoided the delay. Beleive me, the airline would not have cancelled the flight if that was not a significant reason. It costs them a small fortune in fines to do this, as it does to divert to another airport mid flight. the decision will not have been taken lightly.

unfortunately, airlines do not guarantee flight times due to them having to apply for landing and take off times closer to the time of departure. With this in mind, they cannot be held responsible for missing interconnecting flights im afraid. Also, airlines are not like Tour operators who have timelines in which to respond as set by ABTA. As such, they could take forever to respond. I would also like to point out that the section you quote: - The rights recognised under the Regulation do not exclude the possibility of a passenger or third person claiming complementary compensation or compensation for damages (except in the case of passengers who voluntarily gave up their reservation following denied boarding), under applicable national law." it says claiming. it doesnt say you are guaranteed it.

I think you will find that was quoted in Virgins response, the flight was delayed due to technical reasons. As such, the flght could not take off on that date and had the passenger chosen to cancel the flight and rearrange another flight, then they would have received compensation. As Virgin fullfilled their contract to transport the passenger from Point A to Point B at no extra expense, and they also fullied the passengers air rights for delays over 5 hours by providing accommodation and food, there is no compensation due. beleive me, if Virgin had refused to offer any monies under the EU regs, they would be in serious trouble. You think ABTA have got power, they have nothing onthe AUC !!

can you give us any more info on why you wish to take them to court?

The EU Regulation ONLY relates to if the passenger chooses to cancel their flight due to a delay. If they accept the change of flight to a later flight then they are not entitled to a refund of their original airfare. The flight delays section of the new legislation states that if a customer experiences a delay of greater than 5 hours, they now have the right to cancel their flight and claim a refund. As your daughter travelled on the flight this particular section does not apply to her im afraid, but it is the section that has confused alot of passengers and airport staff and crew as well. The legislation does not make provision for compensation for a flight delay itself and you will very rarely receive compensation from any tour operator for flight delays. Nearly all tour operators cover this in the their terms and condtions which you agree to at the time of booking. You could however try seek recompense through your daugheters travel insurer.

ABTA are the ones that set the time frames for a response. They are 14 days to acknowledge receipt of the letter 28 days to respond or reacknowledge 56 days to respond so long as a reacknowledgment has been sent out. Theres no point in specifying your own timeline as ABTA are an independent governing body and its the same for any tour operator. All letters of complaint should be sent to the Bradford Customer Relations address which is Thomas Cook Customer Relations 2-4 Godwin Street Bradford West Yorkshire BD1 2ST You should think yourself lucky that its not a complaint regarding the airline as they are not goverened by any timescale and it could take months to get a response !

they are more than within their rights to send out a holding letter to you to advise of a further 28 days. When a response is sent to you the case is classed as closed as with anything really and should you wish it be relooked at, you must contact them again.

i dont think it lasted very long. A few months maybe. tbh, i had forgotten about it myself until i look at my statements. Well, my letter has gone off to Abbey in Bradford today.Ironic that i posted it and i can see their building from my office window!

Hiya, It was when they charged people who had a plain current account £3 to go into the branch and use the counter. I think it was to try make people use the cash machines instead of taking up staffs time.

I have a quick question to add to this as well. Just looking at some of my 2001 statements, i note that at that time, Abbey were charging £3 for all counter transactions on my account type. Anyone know or tried to claim these back as well? Thanks Sp00ks

Well, im new here and i am SOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to getting one back on shAbbey. I have had MANY problems with them over the years, from their mortgage, insurance services to banking. The best they have done on me is cancel the WRONG direct debit which ended up with me being declared bankrupt! it cost them £3500 to have it annulled and when my solicitor then approached them for compensation and an OOC settlement, they declined saying i should take them to court. This was obviously going to be their action knowing that i wouldnt be able to lay my hands on the 2k needed to begin proceedings. Anywho, my DPA letter is sat here ready to go to Antony Turbitt at Bradford, along with a cheque for £10 made payable to Abbey National PLC. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to this, its been a LONG time coming.