MSE News: Q&A: How safe are Thomas Cook holidays?

immoral_angeluk

I have a Thomas cook package holiday with my kids booked to Majorca in May 2012, now fully paid up.

Thanks for the Q&A as it answered my main question of whether I'd get a refund if they went bust (yes) or what would happen if they went bust while we were out there (other arrangements would be made).

On this knowledge I quite happily paid off the balance of my holiday today. I think people should not rely on panicking and rumours to judge their financial decisions!! Find out the facts yourself and THEN make a choice.

Alan_Bowen

Why on earth would you pay the final balance now for a holiday in May? Who told you to do so, Thomas Cooks want their money 12 weeks before departure, and that is longer than anyone else in the package market but if the staff insisted you paid now, I would be very worried indeed!

vicki+1

woolworths always comes in to my mind in ituations like this , i am still sobbing for the pic and mix

miamoo

indierocker85 wrote: »

I want to firstly make absolutely clear, I am not in the travel industry and have no connections with it whatsoever.

I went on holiday in May this year with Thomas cook, and have in the past and I am confident that they can get through this.

It is very likely that with the rising cost of living, cost of fuel etc less people are holidaying. Also there have been a lot of natural disasters and some man made disasters in some popular countries, such as Egypt uprise, Thai floods etc etc. This will no doubt have had a knock on effect on bookings etc.

Now being a plc, whenever anything goes wrong, suddenly traders panic and the media jumps up and says "Thomas cook in trouble" etc etc.

The fact is, it is very likely in my opinion the company can make it through this. All holidays are ATOL and ABTA protected and most people have insurance too.

However, the stupid idiots that are the British Media make the situation so much worse by scaremongering. Frankly, people will now be very wary of booking with the company, and if everybody chooses not to book for that reason, then TC won't have a way to see its way through this downturn. Which would be massively unfortunate, as we would potentially stand to lose what is the second largest tour operator in Europe. Meaning it would have a massive effect on the Travel Industry in the UK, huge effect on hoteliers etc elsewhere in the world, and massive job losses. We should be doing our best to ensure there isn't this ridiculous panic forced upon people, and thus they will continue to book with the company as they would of done before, the company will gradually get back on its feet, and will live on. If we did hypothetically lose this company, the effects really don't bare thinking about.

I can say for one though I would have no qualms about going into my local agent and booking a Thomas cook holiday tomorrow. In fact, we are looking at the moment for our honeymoon. I will say that due to previous experiences I would always choose TC over Thomson any time.

Lets all do our bit and help see that this company doesn't get into futher trouble, due to our pathetic drivvel pushing newspapers and news channels.

Great post. Also wanted to add if we dont support thomas cook, and keep booking, they could go under. That would be terrible for holiday prices, first choice/thomson would effectively have a monopoly and could charge what they liked.

Quentin

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Thanks for the Q&A as it answered my main question of whether I'd get a refund if they went bust (yes).....

When travel companies go bust, and your booking has been safeguarded by the ATOL scheme, although you do get a refund, it is not an immediate refund.

So if you want to book another holiday be prepared to have to pay again to get it (at whatever price might be being charged), then await your r efund months later.

As already raised, why have you had to pay for a May holiday in full today???

Quentin

This travel trade website reporting that insurers for Global travel group have withdrawn cover from Thomas Cook Airlines and they are removed from the ATOL permitted list with immediate effect:

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2011/11/24/38866/insurance+temporarily+suspended+on+thomas+cook+flight-only.html

bagand96

Quentin wrote: »

This travel trade website reporting that insurers for Global travel group have withdrawn cover from Thomas Cook Airlines and they are removed from the ATOL permitted list with immediate effect:

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2011/11/24/38866/insurance+temporarily+suspended+on+thomas+cook+flight-only.html

That article makes no reference to ATOL whatsoever.

One insurance company has elected to temporarily stop covering Thomas Cook flight only bookings under their supplier failure policies. However; they expect to reinstate cover for TCX by Monday or Tuesday. They also add “It is almost inconceivable Thomas Cook would be allowed to fail.”

It's also worth noting this insurance supplier temporarily stopped cover for American Airlines for a couple of days earlier in the year.

Finally, the other major supplier failure insurer is NOT suspending TCX cover, and considers it an overreaction.

Just adding some perspective

luci

Nothing on ATOL to say they have been removed

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=490&pagetype=65&appid=2&mode=detailnosummary&atolNbr=0020

dickydonkin

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

I have a Thomas cook package holiday with my kids booked to Majorca in May 2012, now fully paid up.

Thanks for the Q&A as it answered my main question of whether I'd get a refund if they went bust (yes) or what would happen if they went bust while we were out there (other arrangements would be made).

On this knowledge I quite happily paid off the balance of my holiday today. I think people should not rely on panicking and rumours to judge their financial decisions!! Find out the facts yourself and THEN make a choice.

It is worth remembering that it is not only the issue of whether you would get a refund or not.

Most people work hard for their annual holidays and the inconvenience, grief and upset also need to be considered if their travel company goes belly up.

Things may stabilise going forward, but at this current time, I would avoid TC like the plague.

You need to book with confidence that your trip will actually go ahead - however, that seems lacking at this current time.

Loyalty is one thing - misguided loyalty is another.

Quentin

bagand96 wrote: »

That article makes no reference to ATOL whatsoever.

This one does:

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2011/11/25/38888/thomas-cook-chief-overwhelmed-by-support.htm

Flight-only charter seats bought from Flythomascook.com are not Atol protected.