Monarch Volcanic Ash Payout

A question about : Monarch Volcanic Ash Payout

Has anyone been payed out by Monarch, they finally sent a cheque for Ј213.48 which did not even cover a 1/3 of the hotel bill. I would be interested to find out if anyone else has been paid Ј8.00 per person per night, and if anyone could tell me where I go from here if I dont want to accept this settlement.

Best answers:

• People have received or been offered lower amounts than claimed but if you accept it you will I presume be cashing the cheque as full and final settlement? Is this what their letter says, I would be interested to know?
  Those of us who have posted about Monarch have had the same rubbish letters about an average customer in our 'gateway' (unbelieveable tosh) costing Ј8 pp for accommodation and Ј12 for food! I had that in a letter and refused it, am now about to take Monarch to Court. They never sent me a cheque even though I asked them to settle in my Letter before Action mentioned on this thread:
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=2684387
  Basically if you want all your money go to Small Claims and tell the judge, I reckon. They have acted shockingly in this matter so bring it on, I say!
• That's just what the letter said, I have not cashed the cheque yet because I'm not really sure what to do next. Their must be so many people in the same situation, just what do we do next. Do you think small claims is worth it?
• I have come to the same conclusion. See my last few postings under "Cyprus Airways".
• Went to Lanzerote in April and got stuck there .
  When returned like everyone sent in the hotel room bills about Ј315.00 to the airline to reclaim as they said they would on there website .
  on Return we recived Ј720 delay money from the post office insurance Thats delay only they said you need to go to the airline for everything else
  And to recived a letter saying they are not paying out !
  Should i try and fight this claim ?
  The letter reads :
  27th Sept 2010
  Dear Mr ---------
  Further to your volcanic Disruption Claim, We have considered your documnets, and set out below proposals.
  as you will appreciate, the events in April and May caused by the icelandic volcano were unprecedented and beyond the control of monarch airlines. Although there is no question of fault on our part ,we will of course honour our legal obligations to our customers to refund reasonable expenses.
  Consistent with this, and having taken expert legal advise ,evaluation of all claims has been basd upon the 4 specified headings that are described in the legislation under which a claim can be made in relation to your "rights to care" during the period from your scheduled departure,until your actual departure.
  These Categories are accommodation subsistence (meals) , Communications 2 phone calls emails faxes) and a transfer (from the airport to your accomodation and back) , If you were at the airport to check-in and then had to return again at a later date to fly.
  In order to assess all claims on a fair and resonable basis, we have taken the average cost of 3 half board accommodation and the average amount claimed for subsistence in your gateway and used this to benchmark claims. The averages are based on the claims made to all passengers.
  on this basis ,from the documentation submitted , your enttitlement would be :
  Accommodation/meals Ј300 Allowance for 3 people for 5 nights
  Communications Ј25 Your entitlement is to 2 phonecalls or emails
  Although we estimate that a reasonable phone call,even from overseas ,should be no more than Ј3 or Ј5 we are nonetheless prepared to pay Ј5 per day for the days that we accept represent legitimate"rights to care" days.
  Airport Transfer : We cannot accept claims for additional car parking. ourobligation is only to cover the cost of an actual tranfer if customers have presented themselfs at the airport but have been obliged to return to a place of accommodation owing to cancellation of the flight
  i note from your correspondence that you submitted a claim to your travel insurance company ,and recived a payment of Ј720 already for the delay . On this basis that the payment you recived exceeds the amount of your claim with us , we will not be able to agree any payment to you in this instance.
  We regret no being able to offer you a more favaourable responce.
  Yours Sincerely
  Monarch Airlines
  ~~~~~~~~~
  Volcanic Ash Claims handler
• Thats what i was let to belive the airlines for hotels and meals were different cases as when i spoke to the post office insurance even they said on the phone that i had to contact them as you are only covered with the post office insurance as a delay . Ј20 for the 1st 12hrs and then Ј20 every 12hrs per person .
  Do you think Monarch are trying to pull a fast one on this ?
• I too was offered only Ј8/person/night for half board 3* accommodation at Easter in Cyprus. I rejected it and sent them the cheque back and now the AUC are taking it up for me. I don't know where they get their figures from but it is disgraceful considering the fact that they charged us nearly Ј1000 just to get a flight home! (which amount they have subsequently paid back). I did not claim for anymore than we spent and have receipts, so can't understand what the dispute is; I think they are just trying it on to see what they can get away with
• We're in exactly the same boat.
  Has anyone had any success yet with not taking their first offer?
  I'm also not happy about Monarch's - in order to calculate the value of your claim, use Ј1 = 1.25 Euro! The exchange rate was 1.10 in Cyprus during April. That reduced our claim by around Ј350.
  We eventually flew back with Cyprus Airways who were a delight, needless to say, Monarch will not be our choice again.
• I think most people are going through the pre-court protocols (Letter Before Action saying pay us or else Small Claim will follow) and checking if they have legal cover on their Home Insurance so that a Solicitor can represent them in the subsequent Small Claims cases. Or they are filing Court papers themselves in the absence of legal cover to pay for a Solicitor.
• I am in the same situation. I have received 2 cheques from Monarch, but I am still not happy with the amount offered to cover my accommodation - Ј8 per night is their offer. I don't know whether to try a legal route - is the Small Claims Court the way forward? Has anyone got more that Ј8 per night from Monarch ,and if so, how?
• Hi,
  We have only just discovered this site. We are in the same position as you. Monarch offered us Ј20 as full and final payment. We rejected this and returned the cheque. We wrote to say we were looking at taking it to County Court and for them to re-consider. They did . . . . re-considered, not paying anything !
  Seeing other threads, we checked our house insurance, and found we may be covered for legal cover. I hope so. Monarch have behaved atrociously, they clearly do not agree with the legislation. Many offenders disagree with legistation that they fall foul of, usually there is some means for the victim to seek redress. If this were about money, maybe there is (but aparently only through court action), if it's about changing airline policy (to care for it's passengers). . . . . well, the facts tell the story. That is the sad part.
  Their aparent policy on this probably makes good business sense, perhaps 90% of customers will give up/accept defeat. Then fight the remaining 10% all the way, hopefully losing some more on route. So what if people say they won't fly with them again. . . . What choice is there ? Sounds like most of the airlines are playing the same game.
• I am in a similar situation as many of you and I am not backing down. I have sent communications to the executive group at monarch and awaiting a further response from them. I will be going all the way with this one I am not backing down and will go to court if needs be without a shadow of doubt, they have outraged me beyond all comprehension
• We received a simmilar reply to everyone else.
  We only submiited a claim for Ј310 (all receipted and after we moved to the cheapest hotel we could find in Gibraltar) and after a long delay, we received a letter saying that the average price for our gateway was Ј40 per couple, per night, inclusive of food - absolute rubbish, furthermore on the basis that we received a Ј200 delay payment from our insurance company they would not be making any payment as the insurance payment exceeded their liability (our insurance di d not cover us any further).
  I wrote a further letter saying that we did not accept 1. their figures as being reasonable or realistic; and 2. that the insurance payment was for delay - not for hotel and other costs.
  I received a further letter from Monarch yesterday saying "On the basis that the payment made to you by your insurers caters only for departure delay benefit, I can confirm our agreement to make a payment to you in the sum of Ј135." - i.e. the costs clauclated by them with reference to average gateway prices.
  I still feel cheated by Monarch and will send a further letter of complaint - but if you get the same initial repsonse as us, i.e. in relation to insurance payments removing their liability make sure you follow it up and hopefully get some payment.
  best of luck
• coupon mad,
  in your earlier post #4, you mentioned another monarch flight being cancelled, but NOT as a result of the ash cloud. may i ask if this was one of the flights that had a '9' prefixed onto the normal flight number.
  if so, it would be intersting to chat with you, as my friends had the same situation if it is.
  HXDave
• Coupon mad, you have PM.
  excuse me, but i am fixing the toilet at the the same time, so popping on and off here......... lol