Last night, Thomas Cook Group filed for liquidation. As such, all Thomas Cook Airline flights are cancelled as are all forward booked holidays.
The front page of the Thomas Cook site now.
Passengers are now being re-directed to https://thomascook.caa.co.uk/(a site operated by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority)
45 aircraft have been drafted in under “Operation Matterhorn” to repatriate UK Citizens from their holidays.
If you are aboard
If you are on holiday or down route at the moment, the UK CAA is providing new return flights to the United Kingdom. These may be operated by the UK CAA (or airlines operating on behalf of the CAA) or by using existing capacity with other airlines.
Timings for these flights will be near to your original return date, but you will need to contact the UK CAA here to commence the process of getting you booked in.
Different repatriation arrangements are being made for different locations, so please check your new flight back to the UK pages to find details of your new flight – check here.
In a small number of cases, passengers may be asked to book their own return flights on existing flights with other airlines and claim the cost of this back.
This repatriation programme will only be operating for the next two weeks (up to and including Sunday 6 October). After this date, you will have to make your own travel arrangements. If you are ATOL protected you will be reimbursed for the cost of your new flight.
Those scheduled to return to the UK within the next 48 hours who are having problems with their accommodation or need special assistance can ring 0300 303 2800 in the UK or +44 1753 330 330 from abroad.
If you are yet to travel
Sadly, your flights are cancelled.
- Do not head to the airport. Your flight will NOT be operating
- If you have an ATOL protected booking with Thomas Cook, that includes flights operated by the Thomas Cook Group your holiday is now cancelled and you should not go to the airport. The UK CAA is making arrangements for refunds to be made on these bookings as soon as possible.
- If you booked a flight or holiday with another travel company or travel agent you should contact them directly about your arrangements.
- As usual, if you’ve just booked flights, you will need to contact your credit card issuer to claim the money back (or through your travel insurance)
German Customers
Insurers are taking the lead for German passengers who are affected.
What remains operationally?
Only Condor Airlines (Germany – 42 aircraft) is still operating. The following segments have suspended further operations;
- Thomas Cook Airlines UK (34 Aircraft)
- Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics (6 Aircraft)
- Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (13)
- All high street operations
- All tour operating companies
A total of 117 aircraft across the group are affected, along with their pilots, crews and ground support.
Speaking of the crews, pilots and employees
Whilst an estimated 600,000 people are directly affected from the fallout of Thomas Cook Group failing (with them being stuck down-route, there are also the people in the front line roles in the shops, the tour operators, the cabin crews, pilots and ground support who today find themselves out of a job.
Please – don’t take your anger out on the front line employees for your holiday going belly-up.
As for the staff – I wish them all the best and hope they find new roles soon.
In quotes
Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said:
“News of Thomas Cook’s collapse is deeply saddening for the company’s employees and customers, and we appreciate that more than 150,000 people currently abroad will be anxious about how they will now return to the UK.
“The government has asked us to support Thomas Cook customers on what is the UK’s largest ever peacetime repatriation.
“We have launched, at very short notice, what is effectively one of the UK’s largest airlines, involving a fleet of aircraft secured from around the world. The nature and scale of the operation means that unfortunately some disruption will be inevitable. We ask customers to bear with us as we work around the clock to bring them home.
“We urge anyone affected by this news to check our dedicated website, thomascook.caa.co.uk, for advice and information.”
Keep up with thomascook.caa.co.uk
The situation is being managed, with repatriation flights kicking in – and extra airlift being delivered. However, if you are affected – head to thomascook.caa.co.uk to plan your next steps.
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Very sad. Watched the coverage on Sky News this morning, and as much as I hate to agree with the Boris Trump government on anything other than puppies (and even that’s a stretch), a government loan would just add to the unsupportable mountain of debt they already have, and a government bailout would probably have just been delaying the inevitable. Some Thomas Cook employees defended the current CEO as they left the headquarters this morning – I think he was trying his best, but just got dealt a rough hand and didn’t have enough time to change the business model.
I do think the government should front the administrators the money to make sure all staff are paid their final wages on time, rather than having to file with the administrator and possibly waiting for weeks, as Ian King’s show was reporting this morning. This would be a proper role for government, especially since they could claim the money back from the administrators.
Hopefully the employees are able to find new positions quickly – even if demand is shifting, total demand for travel seems stable, so competitors should be able to expand and fill the demand gap quickly.
Further – just saw how BoJo is now “questioning how directors could pay themselves so much money when the business is failing…” – a little CYA action there, eh Boris?
Seeing this unfold, we may need to rethink the laws around package tour companies, either make them pay hotels in full for a guests’ stays on the day the guest checks in or hold money in escrow until they’ve completed supplying the holiday they sold. Lots of stories of hoteliers not being paid for weeks now resorting to kicking guests out.