Thomas Cook Ceases Trading

Everything you need to know if you have a holiday booked with Thomas Cook

It has been announced that Thomas Cook has ceased trading after 178 years. This is of course a very sad time for the travel industry as 100,000’s of customers are now left without holidays and thousands of jobs will be lost. Our hearts go out to anyone affected.

The good news is that in most cases customers who have made a booking will be protected and receive refunds.

If you are either currently on holiday with a Thomas Cook booking or you are due to travel with Thomas Cook we have put together some information to help.

If you are currently away on holiday and booked a Thomas Cook package holiday

Firstly, don’t panic, your holiday is protected which means the CAA will ensure you are flown home. They will also ensure your hotel is paid. Therefore, there should be no need to pay any extra money.

However, the CAA will be making plans to fly you home on alternative planes. This means your flight times, transfers and other arrangements made also need to change. You will not get a choice, please support the local organisers and be available at the times required.

Check with local Thomas Cook reps or officials for the latest updates. Do not wait and assume they will contact you.

You can also contact your travel agency back in the UK as they may have additional information which may help you.

If you booked flights and hotel separately and are travelling on Thomas Cook flights

If your Thomas Cook flights are ATOL protected by Thomas Cook or any company in the Thomas Cook Group your flights are now cancelled. You should make a claim for a refund via the ATOL scheme.

If your Thomas Cook flights are not ATOL protected, your flights are now cancelled and you are not entitled to make a claim via the ATOL scheme, but you may be able to claim from your travel insurer or your credit card issuer or bank.

If you booked your flight through a travel agent, ask to see if Scheduled Airline Failure Cover was added to the booking. This is special insurance which may have been added and will give you extra protection.

If you have booked a holiday with another company which also includes Thomas Cook Flights

Your holiday should continue as normal, however, there will almost certainly need to be a change to your flights. The tour operator will communicate these changes to you once they have been confirmed. You will need to be a little flexible on the changes as they may not be the same as the flights you had before.

You have a package holiday booked but haven’t travelled yet

The main parts of your holiday including flights, accommodation and transfers, if booked as part of the package, will be fully protected. This means you will receive a full refund for these.

If you booked extras such as car parking, airport hotels etc, you should be able to claim for the cost of these through your travel insurance.

Your Thomas Cook holiday will now not be happening, therefore we recommend booking another holiday. You will have to pay again but remember you will get a refund for the Thomas Cook holiday.

We recommend rebooking your holiday quickly. There will be a lot of people looking to rebook holidays, therefore seats on other aircraft and hotel beds will fill quickly. If you find a holiday you like, we suggest booking it straight away, otherwise, if you come back later it may have gone up in price or sold out completely.

How do you obtain a refund via ATOL for your Thomas Cook holiday?

The CAA (who control ATOL) will announce the process shortly.

Typically, there is a form to be completed which requests full details of the holiday, which was booked, how it was booked, how you paid etc. If you booked through a travel agency, they will help you submit the claim form. The form will be submitted to the CAA who will in turn make the refund to you.

However, this process can take many months due to the volume of claims which will be made.

Once the claim forms are available, we will provide links.