Tui or not Tui – that is the question...

Q I WENT on a Tui holiday flying from the UK to Salzburg last summer. The flight was with Mistral Air, and on the outward journey there was a three-and-ahalf-hour delay.

I asked Tui for late arrival compensation but it told me to contact Mistral Air instead, as it said this was the plane operator, not Tui. But Mistral Air did not reply to my email.

I don’t like flying but booked a Tui holiday because its planes are modern. Mistral planes – in both directions – seemed older.

Can you advise me what to do next to claim compensation? I have been trying for a year. Jon B

A WELCOME to the world of wet and dry leasing. Companies who need more planes can hire them from other flight operators in two ways. With a wet lease it’s their flight with their (in your case Tui) flight number but using another airline’s planes, often when a plane is withdrawn from service for technical reasons. In this case, Tui remains responsible for complaints.

A dry lease is where travellers are informed from the start they will fly with another airline, whose flight number will be used, perhaps when tour firms won’t have enough passengers to fill their own larger planes. Here, the plane company is responsible, not the tour company.

This can cause confusion but where a flight is labelled “operated on behalf of...” it is a wet lease.

Tui says your holiday was always intended to be with another airline so it is a dry lease, even though you assumed because you had bought a Tui package that you would fly on a Tui plane.

It says the small print shows your flight was originally with Nikki Air, an Austrian operator. This went out of business shortly after you booked. Then Mistral, an Italian firm, took over the flight. Tui was correct in telling you to contact Mistral to discuss compensation.

The Civil Aviation Authority passenger advice and complaints team can help if you don’t get a response. Even if you do, you are still set for disappointment.

Tui says the delay was slightly under the three hours required for compensation. Even if it were longer, it seems the late arrival was caused by weather problems.

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