Thomas Cook

[Blue Mist]

I always found them and their staff to be ok.

I've mentioned this before but in brief, went in to a TC shop and boked a flight x 4 people to Spain last year. 10.30am Monday. At some point TC cancelled the flight and put us on a 05.15 Sunday flight They just didn't bother telling me. Bearing in mind I booked my own accommodation after securing the flight going the day earlier was not on. . When I found out I went back to the shop who knew about the cancelation but said head office had all the booking details and should have told me ! I asked how many people were likely to find out with only a few days notice when they were checking in, she didn't really answer.
As a note to that, there were 3 staff in the shop and I was the only customer on both visits but they wonder why they lost money.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

I would like to second Misty and say that I have found TC to be thundercunts, and unnecessarily so.

Edit. And no,
i didnt shit in the aisle

 

[bluethrunthru]

I misheard -its £338m to hotels overall but one Mexican hotel is owed £2.5m

https://news.sky.com/story/thomas-c...s-owed-in-collapse-with-one-due-2-5m-11819227

 

[SilverFox2]

Normal practice for some Companies to ease cashflow by taking time to pay what they owe yet insist on money upfront for their product. Continuing to trade with such Companies carries the risk of them never paying.,

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

Would it be right to think this will be good news for punters now as hotels are stuck with thousands of empty rooms they need to find punters for, hence cheap holidays?

 

[denislawsbackheel]

No, the hotels will be paid anyway.
And airlines are going to keep their prices sky high for at least the next two weeks, which is as long as the rescue mission is scheduled.

 

[M18CTID]

Mate of mine was offered 25k redundancy off them last year but said no. Now they're bankrupt i presume he'll get rock all?

Guessing the 25k offer was over and above the statutory package? If so, he won't get it all but he'll get the statutory part, which on top of the redundancy pay also includes any unpaid wages, accrued holiday pay owing, and notice pay. Obviously TC aren't in a position to pay it so he'd have to claim it from the government via the Insolvency Service

 

[hammocity]

It's a sad sad day for TC workers and all affected. I hope they get money owed unlike me when owed 5k subbing to a company 3 years ago when they went bump: (

In my six years of trading I’ve been bumped once for just £25, Rossendales of Ellesmere Port, thieving fucking scousers refuse to answer my emails requesting payment, it’s such a nominal amount but I send them an email every few months reminding them of their now four year old debt.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Normal practice for some Companies to ease cashflow by taking time to pay what they owe yet insist on money upfront for their product. Continuing to trade with such Companies carries the risk of them never paying.,

I flew Thomas Cook in July New York to Manchester return and they took the $900 3 weeks ago!

 

[dickie davies]

Would it be right to think this will be good news for punters now as hotels are stuck with thousands of empty rooms they need to find punters for, hence cheap holidays?

Extremely bad news for a number of businesses
I loved holidaying in Lesbos and Thomas Cook was the only UK airline servicing the island
An awful lot of the taverna owners in the resort we stayed at were already on the edge, so this could finish them

 

[M18CTID]

Extremely bad news for a number of businesses
I loved holidaying in Lesbos and Thomas Cook was the only UK airline servicing the island
An awful lot of the taverna owners in the resort we stayed at were already on the edge, so this could finish them

Hopefully someone fills the void and services that and other resorts that were exclusively served by TC.

 

[dickie davies]

Hopefully someone fills the void and services that and other resorts that were exclusively served by TC.

I know for a fact Easy jet were considering a route to lesbos but their demands were ridiculous. They pretty much wanted the Greek government to pay them to fly there

I hope that the Germans come in for TC airlines as that is a profitable business
They've already bailed out Condor

 

[denislawsbackheel]

TC only owned 5 aircraft.
The rest have gone back to the 38 different leasing companies that owned them.

 

[feedthegoat27]

Extremely bad news for a number of businesses
I loved holidaying in Lesbos and Thomas Cook was the only UK airline servicing the island
An awful lot of the taverna owners in the resort we stayed at were already on the edge, so this could finish them

There is indeed quite a sizeable knock on effect across the travel industry.
A number of tour operators would use TC aircraft for their holidays (Red Sea Holidays, Sunvil, Funway etc), so I can't begin to imagine the scale of their operations to sort this mess out. Someone like RSH might take this particularly hard.

And then as you mention, it will hit the local businesses on the ground in places like Greek islands, Caribbean etc who were probably quite reliant on TC bring them plane loads of customers.

There is a massive hole in the package holiday market and a load of landing slots available at various UK airports, interesting to see how it all pans out.

 

[Blue Mist]

@feedthegoat27
Quote 'There is a massive hole in the package holiday market and a load of landing slots available at various UK airports, interesting to see how it all pans out. '

it might be too simple but we are now internet led. If several Spanish hotels in the same resort got together and put up hotel deals on a website they could then link in the airlines who fly to that resort and actively promote themselves. It could be organised by the local tourist board. It could certainly work for the smaller areas like Almeria. If they also got the airlines to promote those hotels as part of their website it would be win win as the planes are full and the hotels get the business and importantly money up front from the customer rather than waiting months for a company to pay them.

(If this idea takes off I want 10%)

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

@feedthegoat27
Quote 'There is a massive hole in the package holiday market and a load of landing slots available at various UK airports, interesting to see how it all pans out. '

it might be too simple but we are now internet led. If several Spanish hotels in the same resort got together and put up hotel deals on a website they could then link in the airlines who fly to that resort and actively promote themselves. It could be organised by the local tourist board. It could certainly work for the smaller areas like Almeria. If they also got the airlines to promote those hotels as part of their website it would be win win as the planes are full and the hotels get the business and importantly money up front from the customer rather than waiting months for a company to pay them.

(If this idea takes off I want 10%)

Sorry to piss on your chips musty but the savvy tourists have been booking their own hotels plane seats and transfers for years. I can't remember the last time I booked a package holiday through a travel agent, many years ago.

 

[feedthegoat27]

Sorry to piss on your chips musty but the savvy tourists have been booking their own hotels plane seats and transfers for years. I can't remember the last time I booked a package holiday through a travel agent, many years ago.

Plenty of people, for one reason or another, still book through agencies. And it's not just the old biddies either, we get a broad range of clients in the independent agency I work for.
Granted, there are plenty of people who are happy to sort themselves out (I include myself in that, even before I got in the industry) but the demise of TC doesn't mean a general demise of high street agencies.

Our company is tiny in comparison to TC but it's growing (I also think TC had way too many shops which probably didn't help their situation)

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

November is the slow season in Orlando! Still Hurricane Season, and a major US holiday on the last Thursday & weekend of the month.

Flew to Orlando this summer...peak time....3.5k for three of us.....old 747, dirty interior...shit service on the flight, which arrived 2hr 52mins late....will never fly virgin again.

 

[Blue Mist]

Sorry to piss on your chips musty but the savvy tourists have been booking their own hotels plane seats and transfers for years. I can't remember the last time I booked a package holiday through a travel agent, many years ago.

No you are missing my point. The Almeria tourist Board get together with local hotels and actively promote their resort and hotel deals and at the same time stick on the website 'and you can fly with Jet 2 from M/cr Birmingham etc' they also get hold of Jet 2 and do a deal whereby Jet 2 promote the resort. Their is no tour operator like TC the tourist board/hotel become the focal point. The hotel help the punter sort out travel etc and they get paid up front. My point is, they can either sit on their collective arses moaning that TC's went bust and no one is staying at our hotels or they can actively do something about it.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

No ATOL protection in that plan.

if everyone booked holidays like that and the airline or hotel went tits up they’d be in shit street.