Thomas Cook - Winter Sun flights from Glasgow stopped

missellie74

We've been looking to change our holiday to Majorca in September to a week away in November instead due to hubby's holidays.

Was watching a holiday to Benidorm departing Glasgow on 24th November for 1 week, good price and was going to switch our existing holiday over to it this morning. However I discovered that Thomas Cook are no longer offering winter flights to Benidorm, infact the only destinations this winter departing from Glasgow are The Canaries and Egypt! Last flight is 17th November and the next one is 28th February 2013.

I phoned TC Customer Services and was told this was right enough although they didn't know why this was the case as they agreed that Benidorm is popular winter destination.

Does anyone know why TC have stopped these flights? Also noticed my local TC shop only had winter brochures for 2011/2012 in yesterday, maybe because winter 2012/2013 are being amended??

Very annoying as these were the only Scottish flights, really don't fancy driving down to Manchester.

bagand96

Thomas Cook are trimming back their programme at many airports and destinations, especially over the winter seasons. The financial woes of Thomas Cook have been well covered... the company needs to streamline to survive.

Bottom line is the flights/holidays probably didn't sell well enough to be profitable. Why operate the aircraft at a loss, may as well leave it on the ground all day.

zzxxcc1122

go with ryanair to alicante from prestwick or easy jet from glasgow just book it all seperate will be cheaper anyway

Lincoln_Imp

zzxxcc1122 wrote: »

go with ryanair to alicante from prestwick or easy jet from glasgow just book it all seperate will be cheaper anyway

Good idea but flights for Ryanair and Easyjet only go up to the end of October at the minute (unsure when they will release winter flights ?)

missellie74

zzxxcc1122 wrote: »

go with ryanair to alicante from prestwick or easy jet from glasgow just book it all seperate will be cheaper anyway

Thanks for that but we've already booked a holiday with TC and want to change it to a November break instead we're tied to using them!

I understand about them making cuts and trimming services but Benidorm is a really popular destination and I find it hard to believe that they would be struggling to fill planes.

Never booking with TC again, sticking to organising it myself!!

bagand96

I understand about them making cuts and trimming services but Benidorm is a really popular destination and I find it hard to believe that they would be struggling to fill planes.

Benidorm is a really popular destination... In the summer. Much less so in the winter, especially for package holiday companies. The popular destinations over the winter tend to be where people can guarantee a decent chance of sun, which is the Canaries and Egypt. Nearly all operators vastly reduce or altogether stop serving the Spanish mainland and Greece over the winter for that reason.

Never booking with TC again, sticking to organising it myself!!

with all due respect it is you that wants to move your holiday, not Thomas Cook. And just because you want to go to Benidorm in November from Glasgow, it doesn't mean enough others do to make it worth while for TC to operate it, unless you expect them to just for you

missellie74

bagand96 wrote: »

Benidorm is a really popular destination... In the summer. Much less so in the winter, especially for package holiday companies. The popular destinations over the winter tend to be where people can guarantee a decent chance of sun, which is the Canaries and Egypt. Nearly all operators vastly reduce or altogether stop serving the Spanish mainland and Greece over the winter for that reason.



with all due respect it is you that wants to move your holiday, not Thomas Cook. And just because you want to go to Benidorm in November from Glasgow, it doesn't mean enough others do to make it worth while for TC to operate it, unless you expect them to just for you

Thanks for your response. Yes I know it is me that wants to change my holiday but at the time of booking (July 2011) there was a much wider range of holidays being offered by TC. Now it seems there is the bare minimum, well compared to other tour operators.

Benidorm is a very popular Scottish choice of holiday, all year round not just in the peak months, particularly among the elderly and also for long stay holidays in the winter.

Lesson learned, package holidays are just too restrictive for us.

Caz3121

but you need to be aware that if you book DIY you often cannot move the flights at all so would need to buy new tickets for the new dates and you would need to book accommodation that is refundable too