Paying direct debit to Thomas Cook for Holiday am I Protected

[Jenasaurus]

I have been paying monthly for my holiday to Tenerife in December for 4 people. 540 a month over 10 months. Last payment will be in November. I can't get through to Thomas Cook to ask them but I wondered if anyone may know if I am protected if the company goes into liquidation as I paid via direct debit and not credit card. If I won't be refunded then I would at least want to stop the payments left to go which amounts to over half of the total amount and would be something. Does anyone have any experience of a similar scenario in the past. I woke to my daughter sharing a post about Thomas Cook likely to go under and it's made me worry about what I should do. Also the more travellers that feel this way and want to pull out will make it worse so I really don't know what to do.

It’s a lovely hotel and we went there last year and decided to go for 2 weeks

I only have the information on the online booking account thing should I request paperwork

You would need the ABTA number of the website and the holiday booking number. Probably wise to get the ATOL number too, all this should be on the website.

Thanks. I will get all this information ready just in case.

who goes to Tenerife for 5k :S

Thats where people go when they want a holiday for £300 max per person all inclusive.

BUT each to there own i guess

Ffs stop judging someone else's holiday! OP has been there before and has chosen to go again

thanks DementedDixie

Dvg It may seem a lot of money for Tenerife but its 2 weeks all inclusive over Christmas at a 5 star hotel , one that we have been to before and wished we had stayed longer as the staff, food, weather and whole experience was amazing. If I was to travel to somewhere further afield for £1000 (2 weeks all inclusive, 5 star over Christmas with brilliant weather) please provide a link as Mexico (also on our list) was £1000 for just one week at Christmas.

Average weather in Tenerife in December is only 19 degrees.

who goes to Tenerife for 5k

People who can see past the end of their nose that a fairly large island can offer so much more than one small that is well known as a cheap party destination.

OP, within your booking, you will have been supplied with an ABTA or ATOL certificate. This is the key to your rights if TC go bust. Package holidays are protected by law.

Don't worry about extra travel insurance. It doesn't cover you unless they go bust while you are away. If they go bust today, tomorrow or the day before you travel, it provides no cover - we learnt this when Monarch went bust 2 days before we were due to travel with them.

The following information was published by Moneysavingexpert went Monarch went bust, so you may find it reassuring:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2017/10/monarch-airlines-stops-trading---latest-info-and-your-rights/

We've been to Tenerife in December and we were on the beach and swimming in the sea every day.

OP, if you're still there on the evening of the 5th January, make sure you go to a Three Kings Parade, it's one of the biggest parts of Christmas in Spain and great fun.

If Thomas Cook go bust before your holiday OP, you might also be able to book the same hotel via another operator or direct, so you are likely to still get your holiday, although it could be flights that will be difficult, and I appreciate that if it takes a while to get your money back via ATOL/ABTA you might not be able to buy another holiday.

The saving grace for us with Monarch is that we have a credit card and I had the time and foresight to book new flights while I was watching the news emerge about Monarch, because within a couple of hours, alternative flights had gone up massively and then sold out. (look into a rebuilder one and just put a bit of shopping on it each month and pay it off each month and you could have a credit card with a decent limit in a couple of years or so - so so useful for situations like this).

But they haven't gone bust yet, and there is a chance that they won't so all this is just premature speculation that will be causing upset and worry for people like the OP.

Fuck me some people are arseholes. And it isn't the OP.