Disaster Thomas Cook collapses, triggering largest peacetime repatriation efforts. - Consider the books Cooked.

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Thomas Cook collapses as rescue talks fail

The tour firm's failure means more than 150,000 British tourists will need to be repatriated.
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Thomas Cook has collapsed after last-minute negotiations aimed at saving the 178-year-old holiday firm failed.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the tour operator has "ceased trading with immediate effect".

It has also triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation aimed at bringing more than 150,000 British holidaymakers home.

Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook's chief executive, said the firm's collapse was a "matter of profound regret".

Commenting as the company entered compulsory liquidation, Mr Fankhauser also apologised to the firm's "millions of customers, and thousands of employees".

The tour operator's failure puts 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the company's collapse was "very sad news for staff and holidaymakers".

He urged holidaymakers to be "understanding with staff" amid the "enormous" task of bringing people home.

Mr Shapps has announced that the government and CAA has hired dozens of charter planes to fly customers home free of charge.

The emergency operation, codenamed Operation Matterhorn, is aiming to bring home Britons currently on holiday with the firm.

On Sunday, empty aircraft had already started to be flown overseas, ready to bring British tourists home on Monday.

One of the world's best known holiday brands, the business was founded in 1841 in Leicestershire by cabinet-maker Thomas Cook.

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How will holidaymakers get home?
All customers currently abroad with Thomas Cook who are booked to return to the UK over the next two weeks will be brought home "as close as possible" to their booked return date, the Department for Transport (DfT) has said.

Customers will be brought home to the UK on special free flights or booked onto another scheduled airline at no extra cost.

Flights will start operating from Monday, with details of each flight to be posted on a dedicated website as soon as they are available.

The DfT added that a "small number" of passengers may need to book their own flight home and reclaim the costs.

Customers have been urged not to cut short their holiday or go to the airport without checking the website for more information about their return journey.

The CAA is also contacting hotels accommodating Thomas Cook customers, who have booked as part of a package, to tell them that the cost of their accommodation will be covered by the government, through the Air Travel Trust Fund and Air Travel Organiser's Licence scheme (Atol).

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The CAA said in a statement: "All Thomas Cook bookings, including flights and holidays, have now been cancelled.

"We know that a company with such long-standing history ceasing trading will be very distressing for its customers and employees and our thoughts are with everyone affected by this news."

Tim Johnson, policy director of the CAA, told BBC News it has chartered "more than 40" aircraft, which are already in position, to bring passengers home.

He urged customers in the UK who were due to travel not to go to the airport "because very sadly your flight has been cancelled".

Mr Johnson added: "For those who have not yet started their holiday, we will be publishing details of how they can claim a refund on the website, no later than next Monday."

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom has said she will write to the Insolvency Service urging them to "fast-track" their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Thomas Cook going into liquidation.

The DfT said the investigation will also consider the conduct of the directors.

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Media captionTravel expert Simon Calder on the collapse of "the mightiest brand in travel"
Speaking to BBC News from Manchester airport, travel expert Simon Calder said Thomas Cook "wasn't ready for the 21st Century".

He said: "It was using a model that was great for the second half of the 20th Century where people would obediently go into their local travel agency and book a package holiday.

"Now everybody can pretend they are a travel agent. They've got access to all the airline seats, hotel beds, car rentals in the world and they can put things together themselves.

"Thomas Cook simply wasn't differentiating enough."

Mr Calder, travel editor at The Independent, added that planes at the airport began to be impounded shortly after 00:00 BST.

What went wrong?
Thomas Cook had secured a £900m rescue deal led by its largest shareholder Chinese firm Fosun in August, but a recent demand from its lending banks to raise a further £200m in contingency funding had put the deal in doubt.

Fosun said in a statement it was "disappointed" following news of the collapse.

It added: "Fosun confirms that its position remained unchanged throughout the process, but unfortunately other factors have changed.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to all those affected by this outcome."

The holiday company had spent all Sunday in talks with lenders trying to secure the additional funding and salvage the deal, but to no avail.

It had also asked the government for financial aid, a solution also urged by Labour and union groups.

But on Sunday Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC the government did not "systematically step in" when businesses went under unless there was "a good strategic national interest".

Customers on a package holiday have Atol protection - a fund paid for through industry levies - which will cover the cost of their holiday and repatriation.

Thomas Cook has blamed a series of issues for its problems including political unrest in holiday destinations such as Turkey, last summer's prolonged heatwave and customers delaying booking holidays because of Brexit.

But the firm has also faced fierce competition from online travel agents and low-cost airlines.

In addition, many holidaymakers are putting together their own holidays and not using travel agents.

What are your rights?
Benidorm, Spain
Image copyrightREUTERS
If you are on a package holiday you are covered by the Atol scheme.

The scheme will pay for your accommodation abroad, although you may have to move to a different hotel or apartment.

Atol will also pay to have you brought home if the airline is no longer operating.

If you have holiday booked in the future you will also be refunded by the scheme.

If you have booked a flight-only deal you will need to apply to your travel insurance company or credit card and debit card provider to seek a refund.

When Monarch Airlines collapsed in 2017, the government organised to bring home all the stranded passengers, whether they were covered by Atol or not.
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The world's oldest tour operator has gone under, it would be sad if they weren't so shit.
 
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Thomas Cook: 'They told me the money was safe'

Many angry Thomas Cook customers are still awaiting refunds for the holidays that never happened.
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Alan and Diane Holmes normally take a winter holiday


Customers of collapsed tour operator Thomas Cook have been getting in touch with the BBC to voice their frustration at delays in processing their refunds for holidays that never took place.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) originally said all valid claims made on the first day of its refund programme would be paid within 60 days, or by Friday 6 December. But now it says only two-thirds will be paid on time.

Retired teachers Alan and Diane Holmes from Ripon in north Yorkshire booked a two-week holiday in Egypt, but initially thought their money was safe because the booking was made through another firm, Freedom Holidays.

"My wife always wanted to do the Egypt Nile cruise. It's been quite peaceful there these last two years, so we thought we'd best do it before it all takes off again," Mr Holmes told the BBC, referring to the possibility of civil unrest in the country.

But as they later found out, the cruise itself and the hotel accommodation had been booked through Thomas Cook.

The couple had paid £3,200 for the holiday, but were then told they would have to pay another £2,200 upfront if they wanted the holiday to go ahead.

"They had told me the money was safe in a trust fund, but it turned out that Thomas Cook had already taken it," said Mr Holmes.

They decided to cancel and are now waiting for the initial £3,200 to be refunded.

"I filled in the CAA form and never heard anything back," said Mr Holmes. "Then two days ago, I got this email saying they wanted more information."

Mr Holmes has now provided details of the booking and the credit card payment.

"I realise the people dealing with it have got a lot of work to go through. It's just the poor communication," he said.

"Travel companies are very happy to take your money, then as soon as anything goes wrong, they don't want to know."

'We were in turmoil'
Bank employee Deborah Hulme and her husband Stephen, from Staffordshire, paid Thomas Cook £3,060 for "the holiday of a lifetime".

They planned to spend a week in New York and a further two in Las Vegas.


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As well as the package holiday itself, they had booked excursions and other extras with third-party companies, which made things extremely complicated.

"When they went bust, we were in turmoil," Ms Hulme told the BBC. "We would have had to cancel every single thing. It was a complete nightmare to even start doing."

As a result, they decided to pay out another £3,500 to re-book the same holiday with another travel agent, expecting to be reimbursed promptly by Thomas Cook. But they too are still waiting.

"We had no choice but to replace our holiday, because we would have lost so much otherwise," said Ms Hulme. "We thought we would get it back pretty much straight away."

'Christmas is looming'
Maggie Eveleigh of Highbridge in Somerset, who works at Asda, booked a £3,500 10-day all-inclusive holiday in Turkey for herself, her partner Terence Beasley and his son and grandson.

When Thomas Cook collapsed, she booked another holiday in Cyprus at a cost of £3,800.

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Maggie Eveleigh is angry that she has not yet been repaid


What annoys her most is that two days before the firm went under, when the extent of its problems had started to come to light, she spent another £50 to secure a late check-out at the Turkish hotel and the payment was processed the same day.

"I asked if there were problems and I was told it was just scaremongering," she told the BBC.

Now she is anxiously waiting to be reimbursed. "I can't afford to lose that money," she said. "Christmas is looming and I'm still £3,500 out of pocket."

'Everything was gone'
But not everyone has had the same bad experience. Vape shop salesman Jason Henderson, from Lancaster, booked a Thomas Cook package holiday to Cuba and paid for it in instalments on direct debit.


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Jason Henderson had no problems with his refund


As the news emerged that the company was in trouble, he continued to check with his local branch and was told that nothing had changed.

"Then I woke up on 23 September and boom, everything was gone," he told the BBC.

Fortunately, he was able to borrow money to book another Cuban holiday with a different firm.

"I ended up having to go via Amsterdam and staying in a different hotel at the other end of the island," he said.

In the end, his final direct debit payment didn't go through, because the bank stopped it when Thomas Cook collapsed.

But after he put in his claim for a refund, he received five separate instalments of £109.56 back within two weeks, while his initial deposit of £700 was refunded on Thursday, just before the deadline.

"I had no problems with them. The communication with them was great," he said.

"But Thomas Cook hadn't provided the correct information for a lot of people, and that's why some people are having so many problems."
 
TaimuRadiu said:
Why are British boomers the stupidest boomers?
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To be fair Thomas Cook has been around since the Victorian era, its a very trusted brand. They just didnt act fast enough to deal with the internet. Its like when Woolsworth collasped, normies just were not expecting it to happen with such speed.
 
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