I'm not surprised Thomas Cook have gone under

[Burningcheeks]

Their service was shambolic. I actually got up & walked out mid-booking because they gave me no confidence at all. The staff didn't know their arse from their elbow. I was trying to book one of their packages to the Monaco Grand Prix & it was costing thousands. They were making a complete balls of it. If that was happening on the shop floor I wonder what else was happening higher up? I feel very sorry for all those let down & the enormous number of ensuing job losses.

bugger not bigger! bugger!

I landed with tc at 1030pm yesterday. I don't do package holidays, just flight only. The staff were superb, even though they knew it was likely to be their last tc flight.

So uncertainty over travel to Europe and a tanked pound making foreign holidays more expensive will have no impact on travel companies?

Even my parents, nearing their 70s, do everything online now.

.....awwwww, bless ‘em, we loves a feisty oldie.

@MarthasGinYard whether you have an idea it might be coming or not, it’s still a huge shock when it actually happens.

To all the people who’ve never been through instant redundancy with no hope of any money coming in, it sucks big time!

My daughter and her boyfriend had a fantastic flight out to Florida with Thomas Cook last week, she said it was much better than Virgin or BA. It’s a shame it looks like she’ll be flying home with Atlas Air 😣.

The thing is, many people are not too nervous to do things online, they just dont want to do the organisation of booking a holiday all themselves. It is quite time consuming for destinations that are not ' usual or standard' and I personally find it stressful though I have been booking holidays myself directly or over 25 years ( yes even before the explosion in online holiday services). In fact recently I have stopped booking so many holidays as I cannot bring myself to start the process of deciding and then booking or working out all the different stages myself, including transfers and then navigating all the variety of companies I need to engage with to (hopefully) make the holiday go smoothly
One good thing is hopefully people will start to use local agents for destinations where it is more difficult to do everything yourself because of local conditions/ infrastructure etc.

Sad day for all their staff.

I know it’s easy to book holidays online for most but my mums generation often prefer to deal with someone face to face so it will hit some people hard if that is the only travel agent in the town.

I am old enough to remember when Thomas Cook was the high end package tour operator and others like Thomson were the cheaper alternatives.
It's sad to see another traditional name gone and for Martha and anyone else affected.

On the numerous threads about this, a few bright sparks always chip in with "why would you go into a travel agent anymore" You do know you can book a package holiday online with the same company yes? With the magic internet button?

I don't know why TC have gone under when Tui haven't. Like for like, they seem pretty much the same- I've used Tui for the last few holidays but also perused TC. Jet2 holidays, easyJet etc have the cheaper end sewn up, but from the queues at Gatwick every summer it certainly hasn't looked rocky at the TC desks.

Why do people insist on picturing TC as a traditional travel agent?

Many people who have used them have never set foot in an agency, have done everything online, and booked a flight or a package holiday because it was the most convenient or the cheapest.

Many customers don't anything else than TC ONLINE. I find these comments so strange.

Don't you think it's somewhat crass having a vote about this? 21,000 people have lost their jobs today. That's many many families now wondering how the hell they are going to cope.

I've also got friends in tears because the one holiday they could manage to afford this year has been pulled from them. Other people are worried and don't trust our government to get them home from wherever they are stranded.

Having a vote seems very insensitive to me, especially this morning.

The failure of large companies is ALWAYS to do with poor decisions much, much further up than the shop floor. Always.

We were due to fly out to Greece in 3 weeks for our honeymoon I’m gutted and in no position financially to rebook to fit in with the time I took off work. Gutted for the staff too

We were going on a holiday of a lifetime in a few weeks that took years to save for. We will find a way to go another time but want to cry every time I think of the lovely staff who were so enthusiastic and friendly when we booked, and really helpful when I kept popping in with queries (first proper holiday).

I think the thread is really quite unkind and unnecessary at this time

(my comments about high street v online not aimed at the most recent posters btw but at the bright spark at the beginning of the thread finding it funny that travel agents on the ground are always empty)

AirBnB and cheap flights killed Thomas Cook.

Why do people insist on picturing TC as a traditional travel agent

I have no idea. We have been away with them three or four times, always booked online, always had great service from the cabin crew, ground staff and hotel reps. Have never set foot in a thomas cook shop in my life.

I feel sorry for Thomas Cook and their staff too.

I have been on two holidays with them, both long haul. One we were stuck in a Caribbean country for several days due to extreme weather, they paid for everything in our all inclusive, chartered flights to get us when safe and refunded the entire holiday For everyone. We had had our holiday so very generous.

The second just a couple of months ago, return flight was cancelled byTC, they paid for all expenses for another 24 hours, as they should for five of us. And we receive flight compensation.

I think they tried to do what was right, but sadly paying out huge amounts of compensation for badly organised holidays was their demise.

I am sure their hearts were in the right place, but their Senior management were crap.

Ps the call centre in Scotland were very helpful and lovely every time I spoke to them.

"Even my parents, nearing their 70s, do everything online now.

.....awwwww, bless ‘em, we loves a feisty oldie."

That was hardly the spirit in which my comment was intended, but if you choose to take it that way, fair enough.

"great service from the cabin crew, ground staff and hotel reps."

I don't even know what a hotel rep is, but assuming some service you get with package holidays, so yes tc is a travel agent, whether you booked online or otherwise.

Just a sign of the times. I book everything myself and use cheapest flights through flight scanner and book Airbnb accommodation. Done this for the last three/four years and works out far less that a package holiday. I suspect a lot of people do this.

Thomas Cook had almost collapsed a couple of years ago and the Bank of England strong armed the Bank’s into giving it emergency funding.

There were huge structural problems in its business model. I am sorry to see it go but I am not surprised.

"Booking online is great until it goes wrong and your left with no protection and out of pocket. My son book a hotel and flight separately and when he found out that the hotel had messed up booking he lost all the money on the flights as the holiday insurance didn't cover it."

That is not a terribly common scenario though, is it?

Not sure why he didn't just rebook another hotel and get a refund either.

"I suspect a lot of people do this."

Of course they do, otherwise companies like skyscanner and airbnb wouldn't survive, would they?

I don't know anyone who books package holidays any more.

We just flew long haul with them and apart from having to buy your own drinks apart from one free bottle of water. They were good. On time, plenty of seat room compared to the flight home with a different airline!
It's bad for those that work for them and those who have booked or are on holidays with them. Hopefully they are all protected.

Thankfully we don't have public stonings in the UK. If we did the Op would be front row with fists full.