Thomas Cook

[AndyMichelle]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

TC airline has been on sale for 6 months already, and no one wants to buy them. Ironically, their slots are probably worth more than the airline!

Yep, Virgin recently bought Flybe(or some of it?) solely for the slots.

Andy

[Kendo44]

I sail out on Azura on 18th October from Southampton and fl back from Barbados on 2nd November and p and o are still taking seat reservations for the flight home with Thomas cook no doubt p and o will honour payments that passengers have paid.

lol lol lol 

 

[tring]

11 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

There have been several TAs who have gone bust over the years and P&O have always taken over the bookings and honoured any payments already made, I imagine the same will apply if eventually Thomas Cook goes into administration.

 

If you book through an agent, they are acting as agent for the cruise company, so P&O have to stand any loss.  That is a legal requirement so bookings are safe.

 

[rickpo]

I paid my balance last week through a travel agent and on my credit card account it says that the payment was made to P&O Southampton.

So if all agents do this then the money will not be sat in their accounts but will have gone to P&O directly.

rick.

[jeanlyon]

22 hours ago, Britboys said:

It would be sensible but I think the problem is that once a company goes into administration or bankruptcy, all their assets are seized/frozen.

 

You might be right Andrew, but I think the Administrators can give permission for the aircraft to be used.

[tring]

12 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

 

You might be right Andrew, but I think the Administrators can give permission for the aircraft to be used.

 

I was thinking that.  The administrators would have to reduce losses as much as possibly, so may be able to get some of the planes to work on routes that were previously chartered if they can get an operator to run them.  Effectively I assume it may need a quick rental or sale of some aircraft to another airline, who have been able to secure some of TC's charter contracts.

 

P&O would still have to stand the loss of any money already paid to TC, but at least there are planes around that could be used.

 

Otherwise it could be a bit tricky for 

[Eglesbrech]

Staffing might be the issue as the current staff  will presumably be looking for permanent jobs elsewhere ASAP if TC goes down. Anyone taking over routes may not want to end up in a TUPE situation and having to retain staff they don’t want / need longer term.

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, rickpo said:

I paid my balance last week through a travel agent and on my credit card account it says that the payment was made to P&O Southampton.

So if all agents do this then the money will not be sat in their accounts but will have gone to P&O directly.

rick.

Unfortunately not all TAs account for holiday balances in this way some collect it 3-4 weeks before actual payment to P&O is due. I know this as I queried a recent cruise balance on a cruise I had booked with them why we had to pay 15-16 weeks before cruise and was told it was company policy. By the way this is with a specialised cruise TA who are a major online and TV TA.

Edited September 22, 2019 by majortom10

[Hobson1754]

3 hours ago, rickpo said:

I paid my balance last week through a travel agent and on my credit card account it says that the payment was made to P&O Southampton.

So if all agents do this then the money will not be sat in their accounts but will have gone to P&O directly.

rick.

Checked my credit card account & states my balance was paid to ‘Thomas Cook Retail’!

[rickpo]

Looks like they all do it differently then.

Rick.

[jeanlyon]

My TA belongs to a group who hold the deposits in a different account from that of the TA

[daiB]

The key thing to remember is that P&O, or any other line, do not want to loose your booking and so will take it over.

[Les_ldh]

Well there it is. Thomas Cook have ceased trading 😔. All bookings have been cancelled, reports of aircraft being impounded when they land, and a repatriation operation is underway. A sad day. We’ll have to wait to see what P&O do, but I’m sure they’ll have some sort of contingency plan in place.

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, Les_ldh said:

Well there it is. Thomas Cook have ceased trading 😔. All bookings have been cancelled, reports of aircraft being impounded when they land, and a repatriation operation is underway. A sad day. We’ll have to wait to see what P&O do, but I’m sure they’ll have some sort of contingency plan in place.

Very sad Les. 

Friends of ours were supposed to be  flying to Lanzarote at 8am this morning, they are distraught, but did see it coming. 

My thoughts are with the employees who just don't know what they will do now. 

Andy

 

[SarahHben]

Very sad news. How awful for everyone involved.

 

This has been posted on the P&O Cruises website....

We will be contacting all guests who have current or future P&O Cruises holidays booked through Thomas Cook. All P&O Cruises holidays booked through Thomas Cook are ABTA and ATOL protected and will go ahead as planned. We will be contacting all guests booked on Thomas Cook aircraft on our fly/Caribbean or fly/Mediterranean cruise holidays once we have confirmed alternative aircraft.

 

 

[kruzseeka]

Thanks Sarah - looks like we just have to wait for them to sort things out. Main problem now I guess is for those away at the moment or just about to fly out.  Best wishes to those in that position.

[Hobson1754]

21 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Very sad news. How awful for everyone involved.

 

This has been posted on the P&O Cruises website....

We will be contacting all guests who have current or future P&O Cruises holidays booked through Thomas Cook. All P&O Cruises holidays booked through Thomas Cook are ABTA and ATOL protected and will go ahead as planned. We will be contacting all guests booked on Thomas Cook aircraft on our fly/Caribbean or fly/Mediterranean cruise holidays once we have confirmed alternative aircraft.

 

 

Yes they’ve also got a recorded message on their phone lines stating that they will be in touch and to ensure contact details on Cruise Personalisers are up to date.

[SarahHben]

13 minutes ago, Hobson1754 said:

Yes they’ve also got a recorded message on their phone lines stating that they will be in touch and to ensure contact details on Cruise Personalisers are up to date.

Thanks for that, I've passed that info on to my sister who booked a 2020 cruise through TC. 

[MX-Drew]

I wonder what they will do about seat reservations.

 

I still think it is a cheek to charge £140 (£35 per person each way) just to sit next to my wife!

Will they just give you seat for seat (where possible) or does the mad rush to reserve your seat start again I wonder.

 

i do feel for the staff as they wake up to this news. 

[Rupert2251]

52 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Very sad news. How awful for everyone involved.

 

This has been posted on the P&O Cruises website....

We will be contacting all guests who have current or future P&O Cruises holidays booked through Thomas Cook. All P&O Cruises holidays booked through Thomas Cook are ABTA and ATOL protected and will go ahead as planned. We will be contacting all guests booked on Thomas Cook aircraft on our fly/Caribbean or fly/Mediterranean cruise holidays once we have confirmed alternative aircraft.

 

 

Hi Sarah where about on the website is it as I can't see it anywhere?

[SarahHben]

3 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

Hi Sarah where about on the website is it as I can't see it anywhere?

Hi. It's right at the top of their Home page, in a grey info box.

[Rupert2251]

14 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Hi. It's right at the top of their Home page, in a grey info box.

Lol yes it's there now, had to clear cookies, can't really miss it can you 😀

[happy v]

1 hour ago, MX-Drew said:

I wonder what they will do about seat reservations.

 

I still think it is a cheek to charge £140 (£35 per person each way) just to sit next to my wife!

Will they just give you seat for seat (where possible) or does the mad rush to reserve your seat start again I wonder.

 

i do feel for the staff as they wake up to this news. 

It will depend on if they charter a new aircraft, or just consolidate on existing flights.

[Eglesbrech]

6 hours ago, Les_ldh said:

Well there it is. Thomas Cook have ceased trading 😔. All bookings have been cancelled, reports of aircraft being impounded when they land, and a repatriation operation is underway. A sad day. We’ll have to wait to see what P&O do, but I’m sure they’ll have some sort of contingency plan in place.

Radio chat in about it this morning and there was a chap who was on a flight back from Florida last night and the announcement was made mid flight, the staff just burst into tears. What a horrible way to hear that you have been made redundant. Apparently they waited hours to get off the plane, and over 2 hours to get luggage, presumably because the baggage handling company were worried about payment.

 

I am sure that P&O will have seen this all coming and have contingency plans in place as far as possible. At least it is a quieter part of the holiday season and the next really busy bit will be Christmas.

[Kendo44]

34 minutes ago, happy v said:

It will depend on if they charter a new aircraft, or just consolidate on existing flights.

 

35 minutes ago, happy v said:

It will depend on if they charter a new aircraft, or just consolidate on existing flights.

I would gladly pay £35.00 each way not to sit next to my wife