Thomas Cook

In addition to all the people who have had their holidays spoiled, I felt very sorry to read in The Times today that employees of the company are preparing to take legal action over the loss of thousands of pounds of pay. What a disgrace when the bosses have walked off with millions, possibly knowing the company would eventually go tits up in the way that it has.

My Fiance and I flew home from Turkey yesterday on our scheduled journey home. The day before we received a letter from the hotel requesting our presence at a meeting regarding TC going bust. As we had our ATOL certificate with us all was OK but had we not had this would have been expected to pay 800€ for our stay there and then! Luckily we had the document with us.
Our flight home was on a non-UK TC plane as all the UK ones are grounded. It was staffed by a TC crew who didn't know if they were going to be paid their wages but wanted to do their job regardless to assist bringing those home on repatriation flights. The staff were wonderful doing all they could in difficult circumstances and EVERYONE on the flight were truly grateful. A bag was passed round and everyone put in what they could as a gesture of thanks for their commitment and help. They were overwhelmed and there were tears and thanks from them all. Lovely people and I hope they all get their pay they were waiting for and all find employment doing what they obviously love.
When we arrived at Stansted a new crew were ready to take the plane back to bring more TC customers home. Absolute stars all of them.

But Jura the falling £ has affected all the other travel companies, as it has you and me, but they havent gone bust.
My grandson worked for TC and was doing very well but in 2011 he saw the writing on the wall and decided to move on so he wouldnt be caught if it went bust as everyone thought was going to happen then.
Am American friend was complaining yesterday that the British government should have paid
the £200M bailout and my reply to her was it would only be deferring the repatriation by weeks or a few months. It was a drop in the ocean compared to the debts.

Me neither EllanVannin who could get pleasure from watching someone begging as they do on these vile programs . Bailiffs and insolvency practitioners are in the same band of scum . Making money from misery .

I can't watch those bailiff programmes gillybob. So upsetting, so impressionable when you can lose everything in the blink of an eye before the vultures arrive.

Insolvency experts? What a joke ! How to make a very bad situation a million % worse. PWC will be gutted . Bye bye £300 -£500 per hour ... I bet the shares in KMPG have shot up ! I would laugh but it’s not in the slightest bit funny .

We lost ( a meagre amount to some) about £2500 a few years ago when one of our customers was forced into insolvency ( long story but they were victims too) . PWC have strung it out for over 3 years at a cost “so far” of several £100,000’s . Scum .

Appointment was made yesterday.
“Insolvency experts at KPMG have been appointed as special managers to Thomas Cook’s retail division and aircraft maintenance, after the UK travel company entered compulsory liquidation this morning. The Big Four firm will oversee the liquidation of the more-than-550 Thomas Cook high street shops while management consultancy AlixPartners has been appointed as special manager over the airline and tour operator companies.“
I am astonished at the number of shops and saddened that anyone would call those who go to sort out the mess scum.

The hotels have had emails from the CAA saying that they will be paid.

What I can't understand is when booking a holiday you have to pay the full amount 2 or 3 months in advance - yet the hotels are saying they haven't been paid. If that is the case why do tour operators insist on payment so far in advance and what happens to that money in the meantime.

I truly feel for those who now find themselves out of work and those who have lost their holidays. The reports of the huge bonuses paid to those who were supposed to be running the company are unbelievable.

I heard an independent travel agent who said that since the news about Thomas Cook has broken he is finding himself busier than ever and even before people were returning to high street travel agents rather than booking independently online. If this is the case hopefully at least some of the Thomas Cook staff will be able to find jobs with other agents.

That manager should be made to pay redundancy at least to the people who worked for him. They're the ones who deserve it, not him.

Hanging on to a company knowing it's steadily going down the pan but raking in as much as is humanely possible for your own ends instead of ploughing it back into the ailing company.
They're alright,Jack !!

I bet the likes of PWC and other insolvency scum are rubbing their grubby little hands together . Probably bidding for the contract as I type !

Gillybob, they've no conscience, legal or not. It's done all the time. They're sharks/shysters.

I think the hotels are concerned that they won’t get paid, which under the rules of insolvency they probably won’t . Not an excuse but just saying .

The obscene amounts that managers et al pay themselves is criminal. None of them could give a hang how people get home from their destinations. Children, babies without enough food/milk, one child who has to be tube-fed via her stomach is running out of formula-----a sheer disgrace, all stuck in airports having been thrown out of hotels by greedy staff demanding payment from these families.

That's the thanks you get for patronising their hotels !!

It surely cannot be legal either EllanVannin ? Paying massive bonuses when the company is effectively bust ?

I'll keep repeating this until I'm blue in the face. It's rank greed on the part of those who run these companies. GREED !!

Apparently the Turkish and Spanish governments were willing to help out Thomas Cook because obviously it will have a knock on effect on the tourism industry in those countries and many hoteliers and small businesses will suffer. Ministers are said to have stymied this idea. I think they could have used this help and added to it but placed conditions on Thomas Cook such as streamlining and cancelling the big bonuses. They could also say this was not setting a precedent because it was the result of the offers from Spain and Turkey. How much is all this costing in repatriation and the benefits which will now have to be paid?

The climate change hypocrites will all win eventually . When only the very rich will be able to afford a holiday abroad of any kind as the prices will shoot up and the cost of insurances escalate . But no worries they can plant a tree to offset can’t they ?

I cannot for the life of me understand how a failing business ( on such a huge scale) can legally pay bonuses?

Urmstongran However tedious you think Brexit is, this collapse is likely to be partly due to it. How can people confidently make holiday bookings, not knowing if or when they'll need (on top of the cost of the vacation) to pay for visas for each family member? That the Euro is collapsing around us? That their travel insurance is likely to be sky high? That different countries need different green cards for driving/hiring cars? It's all a damn mess. No wonder nobody wants to book ahead and tie themselves into a long-term commitment, travel-wise. Far easier to wait and see then hook up with Booking.com if everything turns out Ok.

So it's not down to bad management, massive debt and greedy bosses? (Shouldn't they pay their bonuses back now?) Silly me! They mentioned political unrest in Turkey, last summer's heatwave and uncertainty over Brexit (not Brexit itself) as reasons/excuses.

It'll be interesting to see what the official receiver says about it!

Yes can never understand "the bonuses", surely such a payment should be commensurate with a level of success not failure

Agree Terribull, this is the same with so many of the companies that go bust, whilst the ground staff get nothing. I feel so sorry for them. These huge salaries at the top should be stopped. It is sickening. Feel the same about footballers, paid way too much, just pull the plug.

Don't know whether it's been mentioned already, haven't read the whole thread, the salaries and even more staggeringly the bonuses of the top strata, given the company has been struggling for a while is truly appalling

We were on holiday when Thomas Cook collapsed. We watched BBC world news in our hotel room the night before last and a man from the CAA gave details of the website where we could access information. He was very informative and we were grateful.
We were brought home yesterday on an Atlas plane. One couple had been trapped in the manager's office at their hotel while he demanded payment.
We arrived home hungry and thirsty but very grateful to the CAA. Their organisation was impressive.