Bott and Co recovers £450.54 flight delay compensation from Thomson for couple who were previously told they weren’t entitled to anything.
Steven Hodgkinson and his wife Helen from Stockport had been in Turkey celebrating a new chapter in their life; the start of their retirement in May 2013. Sadly, their relaxing holiday was tainted when they were delayed for 4 hours and 45 minutes.
“We woke up early for our 4.25am flight back to Manchester to be told by hotel staff that our plane was running late. Despite this, Thomson reps encouraged us to go to the airport and check-in at the scheduled time.”
“Once we were through to the other side, we were completely on our own. We were not kept informed at all and had an extremely long and uncomfortable night.”
Some passengers had to resort to sleeping on the floor
“We were confined to the waiting benches, which weren’t suitable for a long wait. To make matters worse, my wife Helen had suffered a fall in Turkey, but the airline didn’t provide her with a means of making herself more comfortable.”
The one thing these organisations have to be is reliable. The planes are reliable; it’s the people running them that aren’t.
The couple were given food vouchers but despite there being lots of different stores in the terminal, the vouchers could only be used in one place. “The food on offer wasn’t appropriate for so early in the morning.”
“We eventually got called to board and took off, but nothing could make us forget the way Thomson treated us during the delay.”
Once home, Steven saw on BBC Watchdog that passengers could claim for delays of three hours or more.
Journey to claiming flight delay compensation from Thomson…
“I wrote a letter to Thomson but received a reply from the airline telling me that we weren’t entitled to claim. I was confused because I thought the law is the law and they had to pay.”
“I decided that I wouldn’t be fobbed off by Thomson and so contacted Bott and Co, who were mentioned on BBC Watchdog.”
The claim was not made from greed; it was a case of ‘You’re making people suffer, you’re being greedy and not being careful, get it right.
“The claim was not made from greed; it was a case of ‘You’re making people suffer, you’re being greedy and not being careful, get it right’.”
Mr Hodgkinson’s advice to anyone in a similar situation would be to claim compensation: “It’s not in your control, you can’t help it – it’s up to the airline to get the plane there on time and do their job.”
“The service we received from Bott and Co was fantastic; we couldn’t thank them more.”
Mr and Mrs Hodgkinson generously decided to donate £50 of their compensation to the Nepal Appeal. Bott and Co have matched this donation.