News broke earlier this week about Thomas Cook – an established travel company which has ceased trading. Flights with Thomas Cook airlines stopped shortly after midnight on September 23rd 2019. Different Thomas Cook subsidiaries are facing different paths.
The German subsidiary Condor Airlines is being saved by a €300 million government bailout whilst new owners are sought. The Polish wing Neckermann Polska on the other hand is following its parent company in insolvency.
Questions can be asked about how such an enormous company can cease to exist with millions in debt, and thousands now unemployed whilst directors have paid themselves just under £50 million over the past decade, but alas, this is not a piece on the ethics of late-capitalism.
This is a piece highlighting the humans who are affected by this gross negligence of those at the very top of this former iconic holiday company.
Approximately 9,000 staff members within the UK woke up on Monday morning to find out on social media that they were now unemployed. And another 21,000 staff world wide, some may be lucky – as Condor airlines have received a bailout, and EasyJet, Virgin, Flybe and TUI have all offered to take on as many staff as possible to alleviate the job loss factor, but they still will not be able to accommodate 21,000 positions. Staff made redundant are in an unfortunate situation as they are only eligible for redundancy pay in the UK if they have been Thomas Cook employees for 2 years or longer, and that redundancy is capped at a weeks pay for each year they’ve worked there (capped after 20 years).
The company leaders made a calculated decision to pull the plug on operations late on a Sunday night, with little/no remorse about the staff and customers affected, with thousands waking up a few hours later (or in some cases, finding out mid-flight) that their jobs are no more.
In terms of stranded holiday makers, the UK government are funding the repatriation of 150,000 stranded holiday makers – costing upwards of £100 million, and sadly a 67 year old woman has died after collapsing whilst waiting for her return flight from Reus airport in Catalonia.
In terms of those who have booked holidays (myself being one of said people) – we are a bit luckier; ATOL protection has our backs. ATOL (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing Scheme) is a government-run scheme that was first introduced in 1973 to provide financial protection to travellers booking package holidays.
UK travel companies must be ATOL holders in order to create and sell package holidays, ATOL entitles holders to a refund, not necessarily the holiday itself, we have been in contact with both EasyJet and the hotel for our upcoming Croatian holiday and have managed to rebook it, and will rebook our later trip to Marrakesh through similar means once we have been refunded – the caveat being this may not be until December due to the size of this downfall. And sadly any additional purchases made (visas, holiday clothes, necessary vaccinations) will not be eligible for refund under the ATOL scheme.
There are dozens of testimonials from affected passengers going viral, including a groom ironically named Thomas Cook who’s wedding has been ruined, and I spoke to SyncNI journalist Niamh Campbell about this too about my own experience with Thomas Cook.
Whilst I normally wouldn’t book holiday packages, I thought the offers on hand from Thomas Cook were too good to turn up (lesson learned) – I will likely resume booking flights myself and then my accommodation afterwards. There are fears that this collapse will trigger a domino effect of similar companies going bankrupt, and hopefully this is not the case – but if it was, it could see a rise in the need for independent holiday bookers, or a need for services from frequent travellers to help people book their trips abroad.
Lastly, whilst this clean up is ongoing, I hope the root causes are analysed – and that the directors’ greed does not go unpunished, and said directors prevented from doing likewise in the future. Otherwise, if it doesn’t – what deterrent is there from this happening again? But I will not hold my breath.
