Many thanks TJ747 for your reply. Our replacement aircraft flight timings are as follows:
MON 3165 - Corfu to Manchester - 29 October 2005.
Actual departure time was 2200hrs (local time)
Scheduled departure time was 0445hrs (local time)
Delay 17 hours plus.
Monarch Airlines version of events in their letter to me.
The information you will need for insurance purposes is as follows:
• MON 3165 - Corfu to Manchester - 30 October 2005
• Scheduled time of departure was 0145 hours GMT on the 30 October.
• Actual time of departure was 1854 hours GMT on the 30 October.
• TOTAL DELAY OF 17 HOURS and 09 MINUTES ON THE DEPARTURE TIME.
The resultant events caused by this delay:
MON3165 inward 0445/0610hrs. This flight was diverted to Thessalonica allegedly due to adverse weather conditions, ie.fog at Corfu, we didn’t see any. This flight never arrived at Corfu but was flown back to Manchester from Thessalonica empty. We were told the crew had run out of flying hours, yet they can still fly the plane. All the taxis met this flight MON3165 at Manchester as no one had told them, not even teletext; there were no passengers on board, resulting in our taxi making a wasted journey from Bradford to Manchester Airport, adding extra expense. This aircraft carried the flight number MON3165. We were flown back eventually from Corfu by Excel Airways (which obviously indicated our original flight had been cancelled) this aircraft also carried the same flight number MON3165 why? This flight took off from Corfu at 2200hrs local time (2000hrs GMT) Saturday 29/10/2005 landing at Manchester at 2310hrs (GMT) Saturday 29/10/2005.
We had now been waiting in the airport departure lounge at Corfu a total of 7 hours, before a room and two meals were provided at a hotel in Dassia, 45 minutes from the airport. We arrived at the hotel 1200hrs local time and left the hotel in Dassia at 1900hrs local time. Not much time for a rest and the food offered was disgusting. We are both in our 70's and both disabled, my partner was in a broken wheelchair from our first arrival at Corfu airport in the departure lounge, until our removal to the hotel in Dassia, with no contact between ourselves and holiday representatives, causing us unnecessary discomfort and distress and we feel Monarch Airlines should make a gesture of compensation under the new EU directive.