Thomas Cook Repatriation after 6 October?

JTBasketman

My son was due to return to UK on 15 October with Thomas Cook. He booked the tickets 'flight only' with the trip originating in the UK, for a low cost holiday/short stay accommodated with friends in the States. He's presently looking around for a cheap way back as his tourist visa will expire on the 15th. He is struggling to find a ticket for anywhere near the same price. Surely other carriers are not profiteering from the misfortune of stranded passengers? Its a shame that the official help only seems to be provided up to the 6/7th October. Does anyone know of any offers out there to help him get home?

silvercar

Welcome to the forum!

Connecting flights may be cheaper.

If you want ideas, it would be helpful to know where in the US he is travelling from and what part of the UK he is trying to reach.

JTBasketman

Thank you for the welcome.

Its from LA to Manchester. He had a direct flight with Thomas Cook.

silvercar

I can see 15 October for £240 Norwegian Airways Los Angeles to Copenhagen, followed by easyJet from Copenhagen to Manchester.

I found that on Kayak, they also show a route via Paris.

Westin

JTBasketman wrote: »

My son was due to return to UK on 15 October with Thomas Cook. He booked the tickets 'flight only' with the trip originating in the UK, for a low cost holiday/short stay accommodated with friends in the States. He's presently looking around for a cheap way back as his tourist visa will expire on the 15th. He is struggling to find a ticket for anywhere near the same price. Surely other carriers are not profiteering from the misfortune of stranded passengers? Its a shame that the official help only seems to be provided up to the 6/7th October. Does anyone know of any offers out there to help him get home?

Please keep in mind that the ATOL scheme and the repatriation flights were never initially intended for those who purchased flight-only anyway. Your son would not have paid for ATOL protection or any airline failure cover when he booked his TC flight only.

In the case of both the failure of Monarch and now Thomas Cook, the U.K. government asked the CAA to include those unprotected passengers within the CAA repatriation plans.

I would however expect that if your son approaches other airlines he may find that other airlines are offering some special concessions on fares. There is however no obligation for them to do so, or indeed any automatic privilege for the U.K. government to make alternative flight plans for your son.

jpsartre

JTBasketman wrote: »

Surely other carriers are not profiteering from the misfortune of stranded passengers?

Of course they are, a massive amount of supply has been removed from the market overnight, that's going to push prices up on what's left. Aside from that, trying to get a cheap one-way long-haul fare on short notice has never been easy since many network airlines will only sell one-way tickets from the higher fare buckets. As silvercar says above, your son may have to piece together flights from low-cost carriers if lowest cost is the objective.

JTBasketman

silvercar wrote: »

I can see 15 October for £240 Norwegian Airways Los Angeles to Copenhagen, followed by easyJet from Copenhagen to Manchester.

I found that on Kayak, they also show a route via Paris.

Many thanks, have passed this on

EveryWhere

JTBasketman wrote: »

Many thanks, have passed this on

Of course no luggage fares. If he intends to have luggage in the hold, then he should go for the CPH option with the longer stopover. As he will have to go landside to collect the luggage and to drop off luggage to the next flight.

EveryWhere

If he's on a tight budget, he can fly direct to Gatwick and make his way to Manchester from there;



I would book direct via Norwegian for £164.90(or £209.90 with two meals and 20kgs of luggage in the hold, in addition to his 10 kgs of hand luggage). This would be my recommendation. Norwegian are quite good when you book direct with them. Any problems and they'll allow you to re-book, even half an hour before you are due to fly.

https://www.norwegian.com/uk/

JTBasketman

Have passed him the link to the thread! Thanks to you all.

budgetflyer

Has he actually contacted the CAA to see if they can help ?