Sleeper,

When it comes to travel, one thing everyone needs to accept is delays happen and things sometime go wrong with aircraft. While it's not an ideal situation for anyone, it happens. My car (new) has been in the garage today to have 4 seperate manufacturer recalls sorted and to have a leak fixed. The leek has yet to be identified so is booked in for the entire week next week. They are machines, they go wrong whether old or new. Aircraft are infinately more complex than cars and therefore have a lot more to go wrong and with greater consequences when you're at 37,000ft. They are hightly maintained but as has been seen this week, problems do arise that result in delays and knock-on effects within a schedule. ALL airlines experience this from time to time, Thomson is not exclusive. You are right, they should not happen, but no machine is perfect and faults occur from time to time. Just ask Boeing at the moment! From a passengers perspective, there is nothing you can do other than put your faith in the airline to get you away or home with as minimum a delay as possible and crucially, safely. When an aircraft is stranded in the middle of Russia, it's no mean feat to dispatch a rescue team, replacement aircraft and possibly a replacement engine at short notice while dealing with 300 stranded passengers. Couple that with another aircraft that had a technical problem in the middle of the Indian Ocean, you get the picture. A rescue aircraft was sent out to Russia, but with having another aircraft delayed as well, things soon mount up giving the ineviatable problems that are being experiened. Thomas Cook have been chartered to cover some flights at the moment while things get back on track. While I agree customer service can often be better, quite often the people on the ground don't have the information to give you. I've known more about a delay, as a passenger, than ground staff before now! Despatch rates of the aircraft and punctualitiy has been reasonable up until this. Delays like these aren't common and while it's not ideal, can't be avoided as aircraft go wrong from time to time, no matter how old or well maintained they are. The main thing is the problems are resolved as quickly as possible for passengers. The other things you mention are customer service related issues rather than airline and it's difficult to comment without knowing all the details. I agree customer service can and should be better at times.

Darren