Bankruptcy?

[carpenta]

It is reported some Thomas Cook travelers are being "held hostage" in Tunisia and requested to pay their hotel "fees" to be released and allowed to travel on. It is reported Thomas Cook company is in financial trouble. Can't imagine anything scarier when you travel. As some have already posted some major companies are not as financially sound as we had suspected.

 

[sayhello]

Wow!! Thomas Cook has been around *forever*!! You just never know! SO important to get trip insurance (and try to get a policy that covers your provider going out of business!)

You might want to edit your title so that people don't have a heart attack thinking it's ABD!!

Sayhello

 

[starry_solo]

Apparently it filed Chapter 15 bankruptcy a few days ago

 

[Eastridge]

This is one advantage of booking an ABD trip instead of with another company. If Disney ever decided to shut down ABD, I have complete confidence that they would refund booked trips and would not strand people currently travelling.

The bad publicity just wouldn't be worth it since Disney is a household name.

 

[Cousin Orville]

As many of you know, our family was victim to Heritage Tours’ bankruptcy thankfully before we left for Morocco. Heritage Tour was a top rated agency. It sucks. I feel for these travelers. Even with insurance, it still disrupts and ruins an important trip.

 

[sayhello]

I saw an article where they were talking to people in London yesterday who were still getting on planes so they could still have their holiday, and worry about getting back later. That sounds a bit risky to me, but I guess it's easier if you're on that side of the ocean.

Adventure Guide Jennae was in Germany, and her flight home on Thomas Cook was cancelled! She got on aer lingus, so I guess all is well. But that has to be disconcerting!!

Sayhello

 

[MakiraMarlena]

not sure how it relates to ABD, but Thomas Cook abruptly ceased operations several days ago, when they were unable to find emergency financing to stay in business and were denied a bailout by the UK government. Unfortunately they didn't allow time to get their guests home if it did happen. the British government is arranging for all of their citizens to return to Britain. Don't know what the deal is if you're not a UK citizen.
There was one report of a hotel or resort owner in Tunisia (which I believe is a popular destination for British tourists) who was not allowing guests to leave unless they paid, because they feared Thomas Cook would not pay the bill.

The company has been around for many years, but they have been in financial trouble for some time, apparently they believe it is because people are now taking charge of booking their own holidays through the Internet and are not using package deals from travel agencies. at least that's what they think.

 

[sayhello]

The company has been around for many years, but they have been in financial trouble for some time, apparently they believe it is because people are now taking charge of booking their own holidays through the Internet and are not using package deals from travel agencies. at least that's what they think.

Well, that actually makes sense. Booking used to involve calling the airlines and the hotels and wading through the options they gave you & making a choice. Agencies like Thomas Cook did all of that for you. Now that every airline has a very robust website, and sites like Tripadvisor and Kayak and Booking.com, etc let you peruse any and all options, you don't necessarily need a package deal unless you're looking for a discount.

There are also locals or expats who set up fb pages and say "For a fee, I'll give you all the ideas and details; all you need is to book it!"

Like libraries and brick & mortar shops, they are definitely being impacted by the Internet!

Sayhello

 

[AquaDame]

Oh that's awful! I now know firsthand the panic of being stranded abroad due to British Airways cancelling our flight home (dealing with that from rural Kenya with no phone or internet access cost me some grey hairs). I can't imagine going on holiday KNOWING you may not have a way back! UK stepping in or not I have a healthy amount of skepticism. We were also told BA would take care of us but here we are over a month later (August 23rd to now) and I have yet to hear a peep from them about our cancelled flights and now our submission for costs incurred last week. We made dozens of calls that were never answered, I never received a response via DM on Twitter (I was desperate) nor have they responded via email or to our official request via their website with all of our receipts. Not a great year for the travel industry IMO.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I don't think the UK government is going to refund people's holidays, or pay their flight costs, just get them home to the UK if they are stranded in another country.

 

[Lewisc]

I don't think the UK government is going to refund people's holidays, or pay their flight costs, just get them home to the UK if they are stranded in another country.

Read the articles. Google. UK is chartering flights to repatriate UK citizens.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

yes. but the UK will not be paying their citizens back for their aborted holidays or cancelled flights. Just getting them on a flight home.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

yes. but the UK will not be paying their citizens back for their aborted holidays or cancelled flights. Just getting them on a flight home. Yes I have read the articles. At least for those who had already embarked on their trips, someone is going to have to pay back all those who booked future trips. it's going to take a long time for anyone to get any money back.

 

[carpenta]

I thought I heard that it is going to cost 750 million dollars to re unite all the stranded Cook customers to their home ports and refunds while the company asked for 250 million bail out to keep it afloat. I guess all politicians are the same when it comes to business. What a disaster. Good thing ABD has a "sugar daddy" Disney Company to come to their aid if ever there is trouble.

 

[Woodview]

There are many other passengers from many other countries also caught up in this collapse .

Many passengers are stuck in Spain ,etc

over 169,000

 

[Donalyn]

I think that there were issues of them not adapting to the new realities. I heard that they were still maintaining 500 stores in the UK. Think of that overhead!

I can understand the government not wanting to get in the habit of bailing out companies because were does it end?

What an awful mess all around.