Bott and Co recover over £660 in flight compensation for a family whose memories of a great holiday in Kos were ruined.
Craig Derry, his wife and 12 year old son first heard rumours of a delay on their transfer to the airport. The rep informed them that there would be a slight delay but that passengers should check-in and go through security as normal.
The family waited for more information about their flight home to Gatwick on 13th August 2010. Little did they know, they wouldn’t be home until more than 24 hours after their scheduled arrival time.
Gradually, the “slight delay” rolled into hours, with no information forthcoming from Thomas Cook representatives. In the meantime the Derry family and their fellow passengers were becoming increasingly frustrated.
I couldn’t believe that in 2010, an age of digital phones, radios and the internet, they couldn’t tell us where our flight was.
Hours had passed when the passengers were asked to go to the reclamation area, where they were told their flight had been diverted to Rhodes. It was then they were given an ultimatum.
They had two options: a flight back to either Manchester or Newcastle. There was no opportunity to choose Gatwick at all.
Mr Derry said, “Everybody just looked at each other in disbelief; we wanted to fly back to where we were supposed to be going to”.
EU Regulation 261/2004 states that airlines must provide passengers with accommodation if they are forced to stay overnight due to a delay. Thomas Cook did send the Derry family to a hotel, but it was one without any available rooms!
Exhausted by their experience the family and their fellow passengers were forced to try to sleep in the hotel’s reception area instead.
When the holidaymakers were finally taken back to the airport for their flight to Manchester, they were told that this plane was delayed too. It was hours before they were eventually allowed to board, arriving in Manchester at midnight – 25 hours late.
Thomas Cook Wouldn’t Accept Responsibility
Back home in Ipswich, Mr Derry wrote to Thomas Cook who responded saying that despite everything that had happened, he couldn’t claim compensation. He didn’t have the money to take them to court himself and so felt as though he had reached a dead end.
Months later however, Craig heard about Bott and Co on a consumer programme. He got in touch and was delighted when he and his family received £660.30.
Craig heard about Bott and Co on a consumer programme. He got in touch and was delighted when he and his family received £660.30.
Craig said “I couldn’t fault the service I received from Bott and Co. Everything was exceptional; I was kept updated constantly”.
“I would have been happy for Thomas Cook to write back and apologise for the experience and compensate us. It was the fact that they were so brazenly arrogant that really got to me.
They ruined my son’s memories of his first holiday abroad.”
*Based on 10,211 court proceedings issued between May 2013 and February 2016.