Thomas Cook turmoil: does it affect your holiday?

Motoring and Travel

Updated on 22 November 2011 | 0 Comments

The travel giant has seen its shares plummet amid concerns about its financial situation. Here's what you need to know if you've already booked or are thinking of booking with Thomas Cook.

If you’ve booked or are planning to book a flight with Thomas Cook, you might want to make sure you’ve got comprehensive travel insurance.

That’s the warning from industry experts after shares in the company plunged by more than 65% on Tuesday. The nosedive in the company’s value happened after Thomas Cook said it was going back to the banks to see if it could borrow more money.

The company has been hit hard by the political turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia and the flooding in Thailand, leading to a huge reduction in winter holiday bookings.

Package holidays safe

If you’ve booked a package holiday, your booking is covered by the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol) scheme. That means that even if Thomas Cook was to go under, your holiday is protected and you would be flown home at no extra cost.

If you had booked a holiday for the future, it would be refunded in full.

Take cover if you’re flying

However, if you’ve just booked flights with Thomas Cook, you’re advised to take out comprehensive travel insurance, including supplier failure. That’s because flights are not covered by the Atol scheme.

If the flights cost more than £100, you should also pay by credit card, as this covers you for a refund under the Consumer Credit Act. Check out How Section 75 can protect you for more.

If you’ve paid by debit card and the worst happens, you may be able to claim the money back via what’s known as the ‘chargeback’ system. But this depends on whether your debit card provider is signed up to the scheme.

So the message is take cover and pay by credit card, just in case. And that goes for any airline that looks like it might be heading for financial turbulence.

No need to panic now

Despite the massive fall in the company’s value, Thomas Cook’s CEO Sam Weihagen said, “We have all the protection in place as any other travel company and [customers] should not worry.”

More: Six ways to slash your airfare | Airlines defy ruling to stop charging 'unfair' fees

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