To think we should cancel our holiday to Tunisia?

[googlenut]

So holiday booked to Sousse with Thomas Cooke. Member of the party include two 84 year olds and a child with autism. Not due to go to the end July but reckon we should just persuade TC to refund or reallocate to different country.

[JohnFarleysRuskin]

I don't understand people pretending all holiday destinations are equally 'safe' or equally dangerous. That's just not true.

The Tunisians have a new and precarious democracy, comparatively liberal, comparatively west leaning- this unfortunately for them makes them a massive and yes, very easy- target for those who hate these things.

[Pantone363]

Googlenut yes! We've got 4 options

Go to tunisia as planned

Pay £900 admin costs and unknown costs of new holiday and pay again for extras on the planes etc

Walk away from the whole thing and lose just shy of £4000

Hope that the foreign office changes the travel advice and then our insurance will refund the full cost.

Expat, I've never booked with a tour operator before and always booked independently, we just wanted an easy beag holiday as youngest is only 11 weeks. TC seem the worst we could've booked with!

[googlenut]

£900 would pay someone on £10 per hour to work on it solidly for 2 weeks - rearranging one family holiday. I don't think so.

[ribbitTheFrog]

Yanbu. I'd cancel. I'd also avoid any other Muslim country in the region as well as Greece. I'd probably go to Wales or somewhere in the UK but maybe I'm over cautious.

[googlenut]

Also TC are not arranging extra holidays to sort this out - they are selling us pre existing holidays - so they are not negotiating new deals as someone down thread said.

[Pantone363]

Googlenut, I'm just praying the FO advice changes and we can get a refund. I'm not holding out much hope it actually will though. Apparently there will be armed guards on te beaches though which sounds very relaxing and nice for the kids.

[Pantone363]

^ yep agree, they are just getting rid off all the unsold holidays!

[notquitegrownup2]

Fair enough - £900 in admin fees does seem steep - though they shouldn't have loads of empty rooms in hotels around the world, waiting to be filled in a month's time. If they did they, have gone bankrupt a while back. Holiday companies work off pretty low profit margins - empty rooms/empty seats on planes cost them money. They will have to negotiate new rooms/seats on flights to accommodate people moving.

[expatinscotland]

Panatone, TC are such dicks. It's too bad but looks like you'll have to pay or lose the lot.

I went to Tunisia in the early 1990s and whilst we had a nice week, there's a reason I never went back.

[Pantone363]

Just seen the update on TC that there will be no admin fees if travelling before October 31st!

[googlenut]

TC made £362m profit last year

[googlenut]

Where are they putting the updates?

[BreadmakerFan]

I'd be cancelling.

DH is more relaxed than me and I told him after the accident at Alton Towers I don't want to take the kids to Chessington, he surprised me by agreeing. Don't care if strangers think I'm over reacting. Theme parks aren't life necessities.

I've just read that the Muslim hotel staff made a barrier between the gunman and the tourists and said he'd have to kill them first. Clearly was an attack on Britains and Europeans, no way would I be going.

[Pantone363]

Googlenut

Lots of people on FB saying there are no holidays left to change to though! And amazingly prices have rocketed over the last few days

[AssembleTheMinions]

They are now changing holidays up to 31 October 2015 with no admin fee.

This only happened on Friday, the immediate issue was getting people home and then concentrating on the customers going in the next few days.

Heaven forbid you wait a couple of days to find out what the longer term plans will be. It was always on the cards that things might change. And yes, it doesn't get any cheaper than Tunisia so anything else will be more expensive.

I'm utterly disgusted by some of these posts. 38 people died, a bit of perspective is needed.

[MrsUltracrepidarian]

I'm utterly disgusted by some of these posts. 38 people died, a bit of perspective is needed.
yes

[Pantone363]

And there are plenty of threads offering condolences to the families of those who died.

This thread is about still travelling to Tunisia after the tragedy. Nobody is handwringing about on money on a condolence thread.

[Only1scoop]

Assemble sadly agree.

[Buttercupsandaisies]

£150 is the standard charge for Thomas cook (pp) for a change of destination. This charge applied 48 hours after making a booking (my sister is a TC manager). Presumably TC initially followed current guidelines until they had meetings etc to discuss options- obviously busy at the minute with other priorities. I don't see that as a problem if charging for changing destination in other cases and obviously they have now changed that charge for people wanting to switch from Tunisia. Bloody hell give them a chance!


As for those saying attacks can happen anywhere I seriously think you are niave! Ok attacks can happen but rarely are they so focused on a resort or a particular group of individuals.

:(

[googlenut]

It's great that they have changed the £150 admin fee but not really hard to see that this is the right thing to do. Plenty of the other tour operators made the decision very early on to waive these fees. And according to Facebook the other operators were much quicker and more efficient to react in Tunisia as well.

[AssembleTheMinions]

That's simply not true Op. At the moment Thomas Cook are one of the few tour operators who allow free amendments until 31/10/15. Thomson and Jet2 to name a couple are only up until 31/7/15.

Don't let the facts stand in your way though.

[Only1scoop]

Please don't believe everything you read on FB
TC have repatriated tourists back here in a very intricate operation Bringing back many customers who have no booking whatsoever with TC. Other companies have just been bringing back their own passengers. It was not a TC property where the atrocities took place and the operation to confirm safety of all staff and pax downroute is I would imagine no easy task.

Confirm facts regarding your booking directly. Relying on social media hype is not a good idea in this instance.

[Pantone363]

I wonder why so many people are stepping up to defend TC?

Go on the FB page and have a look at how many people are still stuck in Tunisia with no contact from TC, waiting for hours on end on hold. Thomson and First Choice have managed to evacuate all their customers.

[googlenut]

And Tui group (who own Thomsons) have offered full refunds to end September at no cost. So not me who has to get facts right.
I think it strange too the number of people defending TC????

[Buttercupsandaisies]

To be fair Thomas cook didn't have any customers in the hotels directly targeted so presumably priority for flights has been for those customers staying in the immediate location. It was a thomsons hotel that was affected.