There is no getting away from the fact that Thomsons flew these holidaymakers on 18 October into an area where a tropical storm/ hurricane (call it what you will) was forecast.

They should have been aware of the weather conditions in the area and either cancelled their holidays or, at the very least, flown them straight home again. The British Embassy in Mexico is reported to have instructed British Tour Operators on the 18th not to fly out any more passengers to Cancun.

They even flew out more holidaymakers the following day, on the 19th October, and evidently these passengers were told on landing by the pilot that they were flying into severe weather conditions....but that the crew would be flying straight home while the passengers stayed in Cancun!

How responsible is that?!

The only difference is that the holidaymakers who arrived on the 19th have been awarded a full refund....while those who arrived the day before have been given only 40% refund.

How can that be morally right when the hurricane was forecast from the 17th?

Those who travelled on the 18th should be looking for a similar refund to those who travelled a day later....or at least a replacement holiday to the same value. Maybe this option might restore those holidaymakers' faith in Thomsons, who, I am sure, will end up with far fewer customers as a result of this injustice.

PP you should run for prime minister as you seem to have all the answers.
you wer not there so how can you say the reps should have done this and that. Maybe they were stuck the same as all the other people.
I think you would have done the same.

Thanks for the info Stevie

Salsa1- in situations where even comp is given, the tour operator wouldn't arrange a replacement holiday, basically down to the fact that it would be a lot of hassile.

Kevin- your daughter should contact her travel insurance company, as she had no way of returning to the UK as scheduled.. however, the insurance company may have a clause preventing claims for situations deemed as"act of god".. should say for sure in the policy booklet.

PP- you are entitled to your opinion. I have no doubt that there are severe lessons to be learned by Thomson, however, I disagree that all blame should lie with the reps- As well as meeting traumatised customers at Gatwick- I also saw the traumatised reps- in particular the rep which was attacked several times- and not even by Thomson customers, but First Choice customers..

Firstly....to kmba....no, you're right...I was not in Mexico at the time, but I happen to be fighting the case of people I know who were there. They have told me in detail of their horrendous experiences. What exactly is your involvement with these complaints?....from the tone of your postings, I suspect that you are involved in some way with the travel industry. Why else would you bother to defend the Thomsons reps?

Secondly....to Helen1999....You seem to misunderstand the points I have made. I have never said that all the blame should be put onto the Thomsons reps in Cancun, though I stand by what I said about the reps being extremely ineffective in some cases. They were not around for some days in the case I am writing about, and certainly did not do a head-count of Thomsons clients, despite my being told, when I rang the Thomsons Emergency Helpline number on Saturday 22 October, that all Thomsons holidaymakers in the area had been accounted for and declared safe and unharmed. How did they know this when some of them at least had not been contacted by Thompsons reps?

I am putting the blame on Thomsons for not heeding weather warnings from as early as the 17 October when the National Hurricane Centre at NASA were predicting that Hurricane Wilma was likely to hit the Yucatan Peninsular within the following few days. On the morning of the 18 October, the situation was forecast as being even more threatening, yet Thomson proceeded to fly more travellers out there......and still more on the following day.

This information from the Hurricane Centre was available to anyone in the world who was interested....yet, for some unexplainable reason, a tour operator dealing with sending clients to the area and being responsible for their safety and wellbeing when there, chose instead to continue its flights into Cancun right up until the time when they were instructed to stop.

It is beyond belief!!

Helen1999....I am glad you feel that Thomsons have severe lessons to learn from this. I couldn't agree more!
But I am very surprised about your comments re replacement holidays for compensation claimants. You say that it would be too much hassle!!

Hey Guys have a look at this website..http://www.wilmathecow.com/
Regards Stevie

PP - I whole heartedly agree with your comments.

I was one of those people who travelled out on 18/10/05.

I contacted the Foreign Office today. They confirmed that on 18/10/05 Hurricane Wilma was gaining strength and heading for the Yucatan Peninsular.

I hold Thomson's responsible for flying us into this area when they knew that a hurricane was expected to hit the region within days.
Either the flight should have been cancelled or diverted.

Helen 1999 - How can you say it is too much hassle to offer another holiday? Surely this is the least Thomson's can do. We travelled out less than 24 hours before people that have got a full refund.
What is Thomson's reasoning behind that?

I will think twice before ever booking with Thomson's again. Maybe a replacement holiday would go some way to restoring my faith.


**Edited to remove potential libellous comments- Kath HT Admin**

Salsa and PP, I feel that I haven't made myself clear in with regard to replacement holiday- what I meant was in general- when compensation is offered or otherwise- it would not be in the form of a replacement holiday- I have never heard of a company offering compensation in this form, that is all I meant.

Regarding the decision to fly guests out- I dont know why that was made- I am not aware of exactly what point the weather centres advised that the hurricane was heading towards mexico.

Regarding not seeing a rep- the Mexican government put a lot of restricitions in place regarding movements, and holiday company staff were not permitted to go between shelters.

PP- you seem quite aggrieved of my comments, all I was doing was posting my opinion and with some points hoping that I was offering useful information. I'll not bother in future.

I have to say that this thread has degenerated into just what I was expecting, a how much do you reckon we're due match!!
My final thoughts on this are as follows
1/ I agree with helen 1999 on all the points she raised. Thomson holidays
would not be able to give everyone a free holiday, it would be too much
hassle and I believe they acted correctly. If they hadn't flown out on the 19th they would have been coming in for even more stick from the clients left in resort because the plane never came.
2/ I was a rep in resort and although I never faced a hurricane, I was physically abused by customers because I was not able to give them
information because I didn't have it. As i said earlier, if a rep gives incorrect info, they are liars, if they say nothing/do nothing they are useless in he eyes of the masses. And bear in mind that reps only do what their superiors allow within the company policys, they don't make their own minds up, so if contact was slow it certainly wasn't the reps fault.
3/Did at anytime anyone force you to go? No it was your choice, you booked Cancun in the Hurricane season.The Hurricane was nobodys fault, not even Thomsons, they happen, they are a fact of life, you should be relieved that you are here to post on this forum, not arguing about how much you are due for your ordeal.
I know that these views will be controversial, and everyone will probably have a go back, but this is a forum for everyones views, and these are mine. I wasn't there and wouldn't have been there either for the world, but
if we all thought the same these forums wouyld be pointless.

I WAS IN CANCUN WHEN WILMA HIT AND OUR REP WAS USLESS. YES I UNDERSTAND THAT SHE MIGHT HAVE BEEN SCARED BUT SHE WAS THERE TO DO A JOB AND THAT JOB WAS TO LOOK AFTER US. SHE FANTASTIC SELLING US EXCURSIONS AND MAKING HERSELF MONEY. BUT WHEN IT CAME TO LOOKING AFTER US WE NEVER SAW HER.

**Please do not post in caps as per the rules of posting. Any further posts made this way will be removed - Kath HT Admin**

Just a thought PP Justice, it might worth you ringing Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor on 01922 621114 to see if she can help you with the people you are representing.

Kath HT Admin

Peakta - I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I guess as a nation, we always come back to the same thing: £££££

It's a natural disaster - accept it.

What about the people who live out there, whose homes and businesses have been ruined? And the impact this will have on tourism in the area.

We are all very quick to want to travel to these exotic destinations, but even quicker to complain and seek financial recompense when it goes wrong.

Just my opinion

I dont recall asking for recompense.I only want to be refunded for the services i never received after paying for them. Stevie

and Stevie, from what I understand, that's exactly what the tour operators are paying: refund of unused accommodation!. From the posts on the locked thread above this one, it seems tour operators don't have to give you anything - so even these refunds are more than they should give

They are only paying 40%.IS THAT RIGHT...
So the next time you have cause to ask for a refund for anything. eg. goods or services and then they only offer you a 40% refund would you be happy??.I dont think so.
Regards stevie

If anyone is in any doubt re compensation for claims such as this then a quick word with Ros Fernihough on 01922 621114 should provide the answer. If one of you ring on behalf of the others then Ros won't be inundated with a general enquiry.

Stevie - I did notice from one of your previous posts that Thomas Cook are offering the services of a counselling service. Thomson also offer this, (In fact, I think we use the same guys) and we had 3 counsellers flown out to the Dom Rep. But obviously 3 people wouldn't have been able to speak to everyone who was there so, there is a telephone service provided by the same counsellers. I can provide you with the number, should you require it or not have already received it..

This is my last post for a while.I'll take a back seat from now on .Stevie

Stevie I believe they are using the same calculation as all operators - that being that 40% of your holiday cost is for accomodation, and therefore you are getting a refund of your accom cost - this is also in line with what ABTA say, in accordance with the guidelines they set out...

Just as a "jerrys final thought"....

Tour Operators have lost millions over this disaster. So I really dont think they flew people out to Cancun just to lose money.

Either someone wasnt watching the telly at the time and didnt realise a hurricane was coming or all the tour operators had a load of disposable income they wanted to keep from the taxman and thought they would send a load of people out to Cancun just to blow a few million quid.

Seriously though, I work for First Choice and I am still waiting to see what my customers are getting back so in Thomsons defence they have acted quickly. Its so sad that so many people were affected in Cancun, yes it could have been avoided but I guess the tour ops were hoping the hurricane would change course and resulted in them not having to cancel flights.

Im so glad there were no known injuries, I like many was not there so can only imagine the horror people went through. But what Im trying to say is tour operators are businesses. If they had forseen there was a problem they would not have flown people out and end up losing millions. But they did and now they are paying the price both financially and with their reputation.

Our Rep in the Moon Palace has received praise from our customers who were stranded there - but she to got met with threats and agression from some of our other customers - I appreciate people get frustrated but thats not the way to go about things. Despite her job, she is going through the same trauma as you.

Lets forget about the financial side just for one moment and thank god that you all returned safely and most of all, alive -there - even 40% is no comparison to that is it?