Yahoo Finance Thomas Cook collapse: your questions answered
The collapse of Thomas Cook is the biggest failure to date of a UK package holiday company. It leaves approximately 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad – and many more with useless holiday bookings. If you are among the many affected travellers, what happens now?
Firstly, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has advised those affected to visit http://thomascook.caa.co.uk. For those overseas, the number to call is +44 1753 330 330. The UK Freephone number is 0300 303 2800.
If you are abroad on a Thomas Cook holiday, will you be flown back home?
The repatriation plan, which has been codenamed Operation Matterhorn, has already started and will involve planes chartered from other airlines including British Airways and easyJet. The operation will be a mammoth challenge for the CAA, on a scale significantly larger than the last major collapse, when Monarch Airlines was grounded in October 2017.
Related: Thomas Cook travel chaos: insolvency leaves 150,000 stranded on holidays – live updates
The CAA saidon Monday morning that the repatriation programme will only be operating for the next two weeks (up to and including Sunday 6 October). After this date you will have to make your own travel arrangements. Repatriation flights are only available for passengers whose journey originated in the UK.
If you are Atol protected you will be reimbursed for the cost of your new flight.
The advice is likely to be that holidaymakers should not make their way to the airport until notified. The aim is return people as close to their original return date as possible. Be prepared for possible delays and the risk you may be flown back to a different UK airport to the one you took off from, then bussed to your initial departure point.
However, the good news is that the Monarch rescue went relatively smoothly. Over the course of two weeks in October 2017, the CAA chartered 560 flights from 24 airlines, and 98% of Monarch passengers were flown home on the same day they were originally booked to return.
The hotel you are in wants you to pay extra. What should you do?
Hotel groups are generally paid by the tour companies 60 to 90 days after the travellers have already taken their holidays. Some hotels have been asking holidaymakers either to leave or pay extra to remain in the hotel.
The CAA said holidaymakers experiencing difficulties with their Atol-protected hotel – including if the hotel is requesting payment – should contact its call centre on +44 1753 330 330. The CAA said it may take a few days to secure these arrangements. Do not make a extra payment to your hotel unless instructed otherwise by the CAA team, it said on Monday.
You have a booking with Thomas Cook for a holiday next few days. What happens to it?
Your holiday will not be going ahead and is cancelled. You should not go to the airport but you will get the money back that you paid for the Thomas Cook holiday.
The CAA is making arrangements for refunds to be made as soon as possible and said it aims to finalise refund arrangements by 30 September 2019.
The CAA will set out how to make a claim for a refund – go to caa.co.uk/atol-protection/
In some circumstances, Atol may appoint what it calls a fulfilment partner to provide the holiday instead, although this is more likely for holidays booked further in advance.
Are you covered if you have bought a flight-only deal on Thomas Cook Airlines?
The government made clear on Monday morning that flight-only customers – about half of Thomas Cook bookings – would be flown home even if they are not Atol protected. Atol normally applies to package holiday customers only. “Everyone on a Thomas Cook holiday with a return flight to the UK within the two weeks will be brought home,” said the Department for Transport. However, if you are flight-only, are abroad and due to fly back more than a fortnight from now, you will have to find and pay for your own flight.
You were due to take a Thomas Cook flight-only holiday. Will your travel insurance or credit card company pay up instead?
It depends if the policy includes cover for scheduled airline failure insurance (Safi) or supplier failure. If it does, you’re covered. But most cheap travel policies, including many that come as part of a packaged bank account, generally do not include this level of cover. If you have booked a flight on your credit card you are covered by the so-called section 75 cover under the Consumer Credit Act. To be eligible, you need to have paid more than £100 for your flight and used your credit card to book direct, although some card companies extend the cover to bookings via agents.
Is there a chance that Atol itself will go bust and you won’t get a payout?
As of 31 March 2018 the Air Travel Trust fund, which finances Atol payouts, had a surplus of £170m, and a £400m insurance policy of its own in place to handle events such as the collapse of Thomas Cook. But it will still be a major test for the fund. The good news is that Atol is run by the government-backed CAA, so should it be overwhelmed with Thomas Cook claims, the government would be under intense pressure to step in.
