Time to bring bad airlines back to earth

From: Jack Kinsman, Stainton Drive, Grimsby.

I HAVE been trying since October 2012 to get compensatiion for a nine-and-a-half-hour delay by Thomas Cook Airlines.

I have made numerous telephone calls to them and each time I have been given a different number to ring or been told to “hold” before the connection is cut at their end (six occasions).

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I enlisted the help of my local MP Austin Mitchell and his staff have have exactly the same run- around.

Because of Thomas Cook and other bad customer care airlines, a new law was passed to introduce compensation for any air traveller who had to wait over three hours.

I don’t see the point of passing new laws to help the passenger if nobody in power is going to back them up.

Firms like Thomas Cook can just play around with customers’ flights as they seem fit.

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In our case our aircraft was deemed unservicable – not the customer’s fault – and another aircraft had to be flown from the UK. Once again, this was not the customer’s fault.

Thomas Cook admits to the flight delay but will not discuss recompense. Are there any other people in this area who have had similar problems with Thomas Cook and flight delays?

Airport chaos
after changes

From: Beth Black, Sicklinghall Road, Linton, Wetherby.

MAY I add my voice to the complaints about the new updated Leeds Bradford International Airport (Yorkshire Post, June 14). What a joke!

It is now the most user- unfriendly place – unbearably noisy, with a lack of seating and escalators that never work (the one at arrivals)

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Try getting a cup of coffee in time to catch your flight! This was in May, surely not a peak time

What on earth has happened? As a regular user of the airport, I really wonder where the management is as they do not seem to notice this chaos? It is time the “suits” got on the shop floor and dealt with the problems.

The only positive improvement is the covered walkway to the aircraft.

Private rail
on right track

From: Peter Neal, Oxford Court, Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire.

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I MUST recommend that the East Coast main line be returned to a private operator at the earliest opportunity.

It is difficult to comprehend the attitude of misguided Labour MPs from across Yorkshire and the North East of England who want the EML to remain under Government control for reasons of pure party ideology.

The customer requires a clean, reliable, punctual railway if confidence is to be maintained.

Expansion and future investment can best be achieved by a private operator with a 15 year contract allowing for the requisite planning.

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In order for the ECML to deliver the best possible long-term outcome for taxpayers and passengers, a private sector partner is essential to maximise the feasibility and operation.

As a Leeds United supporter, journeys to London King’s Cross from Doncaster using the ECML are very relaxing with first class tickets bought in advance competitively-priced, with excellent on-board service from staff who clearly enjoy their jobs.

The ECML has ample opportunity for expansion with a popular private partner the preferred option.

Call time on
pub changes

From: M. Toft, Windsor Avenue, Silsden.

Bradford Council planners recommend that the vandalism carried at the Cock and Bottle, Bakerend Road, should be approved.

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They say that keeping the pub open as a traditional pub is not a viable option in the area. Do any of the planners have any experience of managing licensed premises?

Around 100 yards away from the Cock and Bottle is another public house, the Corn Dolly, which is a perfectly viable award-winning business.

The Fighting Cock, Preston Street, and Haigy’s, Lumb Lane, both have loyal custom in areas that could not be described as the most salubrious.

I think the Bradford Council planners are repeating the same sort of mistakes which allowed the destruction of the Swan Arcade, Kirkgate Market and the Mechanic’s Institute.

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The present owner should be ordered to return the Cock and Bottle to its original condition.

Riding to
the rescue

From: Max Nottingham, St Faith’s Street, Lincoln.

BARONESS Tanni Grey-Thompson, the Paralympian, is doing a great job defending the disabled against coalition government harassment, while Iain Duncan Smith’s department is causing misery by making the long-term disabled face repeat examinations.

Someone said the disabled are being treated worse than prisoners. How sad that is.

No threat
to children?

From: Trev Bromby, Sculcoates Lane, Hull.

ON other-planet news we learn that Menston’s Geoffrey Bettley, a school teacher aged 36, who downloaded indecent images of children, is to be re-instated into his job as he “poses no threat to children”.

What is going on?

Orwellian times

From: JC Penn, Birch Tree Drive, Hedon, Hull.

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I HAVE just started to read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four again. “Big Brother is watching you”, the Thought Police and the Ministry of Truth all seem to apply to today’s headlines.

What is happening to our freedom?

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