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Dear Legal Beagles
TAP Portugal has withdrawn direct flights from London (Gatwick and Heathrow) to Funchal, Madeira. They made this decision before Christmas but they are still keeping some customers in the dark.
Presumably the ‘not telling’ is to spread out the cost of claims and refunds and hold onto customer’s money for as long as possible. Their claims department is already in meltdown with some customers reporting FOUR MONTHS waiting for compensation with no response made to their repeated emails and phone calls.
If you call them because you want to chase up a refund you are asked to contact them by email. If you call them to make a claim they direct you to fill in a form on their web site. If you contact them on Facebook they just ask you for your eTicket or Booking reference and “say” they will get back to you (n.b. don't post these details online due to the personal data risk). You’ll get a similar cut-and-paste reply on Twitter too.
So what can you do? Well you’ll be pleased to know TAP Portugal has signed up to the Airline Passenger Service Commitment (the pdf is on their web site) which promises a refund for credit cards within 7 working days or 20 working days if you paid by cash or cheque. However it is very obvious that TAP Portugal is no longer honouring this voluntary code. Their commitment is as useful as a chocolate teapot.
And what about that cloak and dagger stuff, not letting people know? Well, those that are fortunate to find out about this can ask for alternative flights or a refund (see above). However alternative flights are likely to involve a stopover in Lisbon and a journey time of 11hrs instead of under 4hrs. Alternative flights they may offer you could involve flying out from a different airport to the one you originally booked. Don't be surprised if they split your party and ask some of your party to fly out from one airport and the others from another airport. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? This is what holidays are all about.
Another aspect you'll have to bear in mind is that rebooking with a different airline closer to your departure date is probably going to cost you more. A lot more. Perhaps 50% more than you paid originally. If you paid by card you are going to need to be careful about your authorised balance because not only are you probably going to have to fork out more but you also have to wait for getting your money back. So this may also affect minimum payments and the amount of interest you incur. But get in quick, because everybody else on your original flight is affected too, so seats are limited in availability. At the time of writing Easyjet are still flying direct to Funchal, Madeira.
So it makes you wonder... if TAP Portugal have a policy of telling people gradually does that make them liable for the extra money you have to pay to rebook. At least from a moral perspective it would be the right thing for them to do, after all, they are the ones that cancelled the flights, they have benefited from having your money since you booked, and it would be the right thing to do. However TAP Portugal is state owned and alledgedly has debts of 1 Billion
Euros so the best advice would be to put in a claim for compensation as soon as possible.
If you rebook and are flying at a different time of the day remember to check your arrangements for airport parking, airport hotels, transfers, baggage allowances, travel insurance and accommodation check-in times.
If you want to help others please retweet the post that you see below, and share this Facebook post. By far the biggest problem TAP Portugal is causing is the distress and avoidable extra expense caused by withholding information about their cancellations and only letting some of their customers know with short notice. They are knowingly making this problem worse. Unfortunately the only way these effects can be reduced is by raising awareness from consumer to consumer. Where possible you are encouraged to contact media, watchdogs and airline authorities, news and travel sites, friends and work colleagues.
Remember, sharing this on Twitter and Facebook is the best way we can help reach out to those that are completely unaware their holidays plans are at risk.
Legal Beagles, I hope you can raise awareness of this issue with your contacts as well. This situation warrants further investigation.
Twitter hashtags: #TAPPortugal #whatTAPsays #TakeAnotherPlane
https://twitter.com/greatspoke/status/568863152613527552
Alex Valter på Twitter
“#TAPPortugal has stopped direct flights to #Funchal #Madeira but they are only telling people gradually #whatTAPsays”
TWITTER.COM|BY ALEX VALTER
TAP Portugal has withdrawn direct flights from London (Gatwick and Heathrow) to Funchal, Madeira. They made this decision before Christmas but they are still keeping some customers in the dark.
Presumably the ‘not telling’ is to spread out the cost of claims and refunds and hold onto customer’s money for as long as possible. Their claims department is already in meltdown with some customers reporting FOUR MONTHS waiting for compensation with no response made to their repeated emails and phone calls.
If you call them because you want to chase up a refund you are asked to contact them by email. If you call them to make a claim they direct you to fill in a form on their web site. If you contact them on Facebook they just ask you for your eTicket or Booking reference and “say” they will get back to you (n.b. don't post these details online due to the personal data risk). You’ll get a similar cut-and-paste reply on Twitter too.
So what can you do? Well you’ll be pleased to know TAP Portugal has signed up to the Airline Passenger Service Commitment (the pdf is on their web site) which promises a refund for credit cards within 7 working days or 20 working days if you paid by cash or cheque. However it is very obvious that TAP Portugal is no longer honouring this voluntary code. Their commitment is as useful as a chocolate teapot.
And what about that cloak and dagger stuff, not letting people know? Well, those that are fortunate to find out about this can ask for alternative flights or a refund (see above). However alternative flights are likely to involve a stopover in Lisbon and a journey time of 11hrs instead of under 4hrs. Alternative flights they may offer you could involve flying out from a different airport to the one you originally booked. Don't be surprised if they split your party and ask some of your party to fly out from one airport and the others from another airport. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? This is what holidays are all about.
Another aspect you'll have to bear in mind is that rebooking with a different airline closer to your departure date is probably going to cost you more. A lot more. Perhaps 50% more than you paid originally. If you paid by card you are going to need to be careful about your authorised balance because not only are you probably going to have to fork out more but you also have to wait for getting your money back. So this may also affect minimum payments and the amount of interest you incur. But get in quick, because everybody else on your original flight is affected too, so seats are limited in availability. At the time of writing Easyjet are still flying direct to Funchal, Madeira.
So it makes you wonder... if TAP Portugal have a policy of telling people gradually does that make them liable for the extra money you have to pay to rebook. At least from a moral perspective it would be the right thing for them to do, after all, they are the ones that cancelled the flights, they have benefited from having your money since you booked, and it would be the right thing to do. However TAP Portugal is state owned and alledgedly has debts of 1 Billion
Euros so the best advice would be to put in a claim for compensation as soon as possible.
If you rebook and are flying at a different time of the day remember to check your arrangements for airport parking, airport hotels, transfers, baggage allowances, travel insurance and accommodation check-in times.
If you want to help others please retweet the post that you see below, and share this Facebook post. By far the biggest problem TAP Portugal is causing is the distress and avoidable extra expense caused by withholding information about their cancellations and only letting some of their customers know with short notice. They are knowingly making this problem worse. Unfortunately the only way these effects can be reduced is by raising awareness from consumer to consumer. Where possible you are encouraged to contact media, watchdogs and airline authorities, news and travel sites, friends and work colleagues.
Remember, sharing this on Twitter and Facebook is the best way we can help reach out to those that are completely unaware their holidays plans are at risk.
Legal Beagles, I hope you can raise awareness of this issue with your contacts as well. This situation warrants further investigation.
Twitter hashtags: #TAPPortugal #whatTAPsays #TakeAnotherPlane
https://twitter.com/greatspoke/status/568863152613527552
Alex Valter på Twitter
“#TAPPortugal has stopped direct flights to #Funchal #Madeira but they are only telling people gradually #whatTAPsays”
TWITTER.COM|BY ALEX VALTER
)