Our recent experience

[Highlander]

Jacqui and MSB - very many thanks for your offers.

The whole thing has descended into farce - I am fully expecting Brian Rix to reappear

[Lotty]

I was about to say that WOULD be a miracle but he's still alive and well at 91! 

Hopefully all will go smoothly H. x

[lissa]

Hi John,
There will be someone in the tourism office at Esnaf all the time, but at night, also at weekends and holiday periods, the cover is less. So maybe more of a wait at these times. I don't know if you have sorted wheel chair assistance out, or when your return flights are. I am at the airport Saturday morning so if after that I can speak to the Thomas Cook airport controller for wheel chair assistance.  You would have to let me know your return flight details. Her name is Karen, if you arrive at the airport maybe ask for her? If before this, I think your best hope is via the website or even to contact the Thomas Cook office in  Karagozler. The emergency assistance companies do not generally arrange wheel chair assistance unless you have missed your original return flight and they have arranged a new flight back for you.

[quackers]

Ask the Polıce at baggage checks ıfyou can go through and order a wheelchaır. Go through and turn ımmedıate left and there ıs a customer servıce desk and they wıll radıo for a wheelchaır for you. Usually takes about 15 mıns. I leave my daughter ın the car whıle I waıt for ıt.

[Highlander]

Thanks Lisa and quackery   

Our flight is this evening lisaa.

[kayakebab]

Good luck H, I'm sure the airport will look after you well.
Safe journey home, hope Brenda will be ok, and that you've still managed to enjoy yourself in spite of this, and the awful weather x

[Highlander]

The Outcome – Part 1

I am not sure I have the will to write all this but here goes.

We received the following unsolicited email from international assistance

Dear Mr Stephen,

We are the medical assistance company working on behalf of your travel insurers Saga.

We would like to speak to you or your wife with regards to arranging some assistance for her flight home, can you please give us a call on 0044 208 763 4878

and quote the reference number 2030134
Q: What would have happed if I had not picked up the email. Why didn’t they phone us.

Despite having very little money in her phone Brenda contacted international rescue (IR) as they soon became known.

We then received the following email from IR.
Dear Mr Stephen,

Since my earlier conversation with your wife it seems we are having persistent phone problems.

I'm afraid for us to accept the liability and perform your wifes medical repatriation we must arrange the 2 additional seats as well as the wheelchair assistance as our medical team have recomended this.

This means we are unable to arrange wheelchair assistance exclusively.

I am in the process of having the 2 additional seats and the wheelchair requested, but please be aware if you decline this assistance we cannot accept liability for your journey home.

I will try to call again later this afternoon to confirm this. As well please be aware the hospital have sent a fax to your hotel reception with a fitness to travel certificate.
The certificate categorically states that ther is NO RISK in the patent (Brenda) flying

please collect this from the reception desk.

What soon became clear was 1. If the 2 additioanl seats were not available on our flight and we decided to take or original seats then we IR would not accept ANY liability.

We asked who IR’s medical team were and on what basis they had made their recommendation. To date we have not received an answer

Despite asking, have absolutely no idea which hotel the fax was sent two.

The certificate categorically states that there is NO RISK in the patent (Brenda) flying

IR’s next email read

Dear Mr Stephen
 
The two extra seats have been booked for Ms Stephen on her original flight departing later this evening.
 
Thomas Cook                  Booking ref: JCS7YX
 
TCX3877         Extra Seats x 2                       Dalaman to Glasgow(TM)       2130    0020    23SEP                                                                                                (arrives 24SEP)
Cost per seat              £204.00 x 2
Total:                           £408.00

Needless to say this caused even more stress. We had to confirm that the cost of these seats would be covered by our insurance.

What happened at the airport to follow if you can suffer any more of this  

[Jacqui Harvey]

What a mess John and what stress this must have caused you both... We wait with interest for the next part of this sorry saga. 

[Highlander]

At the Airport (NB we had finally managed to contact Thomas Cook Airlines Customer services who confirmed that  wheelchairs had been arranged.)

I will keep this as short as I can.

Arrived at the airport in the pouring rain (not IR or TC’s fault to be fair).

Absolutely no sign of a wheelchair. Brenda managed somehow to hobble through the first security check after which we asked one of the security staff for a wheelchair. She made a phone call but no chair arrived.

Brenda bravely said that she would hobble over to check-in. A fair old way given her condition. There we found two Thomas Cook Reps.

I explained our situation but got absolutely nowhere. Their stock answer to my questions/ criticism was we are Package Holiday Reps – you are flight only so we cannot help. At which point I asked the stupid question of where the TC Airlines rep was.

Q:  What problems, other than flight queries, might a Holiday Rep expect to be asked to deal with at an Airport Check-In

To be fair we were shown to the Priority Check-in. Sadly, the young man on the desk spoke next to no English.  I explained that a wheelchair had been arranged but this was met with a blank stair. He did however summon a colleague who matter something before shuffling offer.
 
I then presented our Fit to Fly Certificate. Another bad mistake on my part. The young man had not the faintest idea what it was and even asked Brenda (in his limited English) if she was able to fly.

By this time Brenda was getting really sore so had to hobble over to some seating

Then went through the usual processes and were handed our Boarding Cards.

And NO  !!!!!  you are not getting a point for guessing that they were for our original seats with no word of the additional two seats.

At which point a gentleman arrived with not one but two wheelchairs.

I confess to losing the will to live at this point and told everyone involved with TC and Dalaman Airport, not in the politest of terms it should be said, to go and find something else to do and that I would sort it out on the aircraft if possible.

Unbelievably, the paperwork for the 2 additional seats WAS on board and shortly before take off Brenda was moved to her three seats.

There were a couple of issues on the flight but I won’t bore you with them.

Wheelchair at Glasgow available sometime after landing we were last off along with 4 other wheelchair users.

Brenda couldn’t manage the steps so had to wait for ambilift which had been diverted to an Easyjet flight.

And guess what – our cases were there when we got to baggage reclaim.

THE END

PS I received an email invitation to complete a Thomas Cook Airlines Customer Service Survey last evening.

[Toky]

That was a real muckin fuddle to sort out John. Almost unbelieveable that the "package holiday" reps were refusing to help you. T.C really need to look at the f4nnies they are employing!!!. You'll need another holiday now lol.