# UK's Thomas Cook shuts doors after 178 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 23, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694 "2019-09-23T12:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/1 "2019-09-23T12:34:39Z")
[Story here](https://apnews.com/e16341631fef4d018b4303eac161f372). This seems to be kind of a big deal. Hundreds of thousands of people stranded in other countries. Tens of thousands out of work. Hotels in countries across the globe not being paid. 4 airlines and 8 hotel chains closed. Even some reports of people being imprisoned by hotels until they cough up cash. > [@](#): > > Hundreds of thousands of travelers were stranded across the world Monday after British tour company Thomas Cook collapsed, immediately halting almost all its flights and hotel services and laying off all its employees. > > Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed Thomas Cook, a 178-year-old company that helped create the package tour industry, had ceased trading. It said the firm’s four airlines will be grounded, and its 21,000 employees in 16 countries — including 9,000 in the U.K. — will lose their jobs. > [@](#): > > Overall, about 600,000 people were travelling with the company as of Sunday, though it was unclear how many of them would be left stranded, as some travel subsidiaries were in talks with local authorities to continue operating. > > The British government said it was taking charge of getting the firm’s 150,000 U.K.-based customers back home from vacation spots across the globe, the largest repatriation effort in the country’s peacetime history. The process began Monday and officials warned of delays. > > A stream of reports Monday morning gave some sense of the extent of the travel chaos: some 50,000 Thomas Cook travelers were stranded in Greece; up to 30,000 stuck in Spain’s Canary Islands; 21,000 in Turkey and 15,000 in Cyprus alone. > > An estimated 1 million future Thomas Cook travelers also found their bookings for upcoming holidays canceled. Many are likely to receive refunds under travel insurance plans. > [@](#): > > In Tunisia, the TAP news agency said the tourism minister intervened after reports emerged that some Thomas Cook tourists in Hammamet were locked into one hotel and “being held hostage” as the hotel demanded they pay extra, for fear that Thomas Cook would not pay its debts. It’s going to cost the government a shitload of money: > [@](#): > > An earlier repatriation exercise following the 2017 collapse of Monarch Airlines cost the British government about 60 million pounds ($75 million). As I said, this seems to be a big deal. How much is this going to disrupt the UK, where the company was based? What will the ripple effects felt months later be like for the UK and for other countries where Thomas Cook was a large employer? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/2 "2019-09-23T12:38:15Z")
Are any Dopers affected by this? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/3 "2019-09-23T13:20:20Z")
How will this affect Watney’s Red Barrel? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/4 "2019-09-23T13:25:53Z")
I’m surprised that it lasted so long. In an age of easy internet booking the pressures on major travel groups must be immense. I’ve not used a travel company for nearly 20 years now and the last time I looked at one an equivalent holiday to the one I was considering was nearly twice the price. As people get more internet savvy I’d expect more of the same to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/5 "2019-09-23T13:44:44Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > How will this affect Watney’s Red Barrel? Shut up! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/6 "2019-09-23T16:23:59Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’m surprised that it lasted so long. In an age of easy internet booking the pressures on major travel groups must be immense. > > I’ve not used a travel company for nearly 20 years now and the last time I looked at one an equivalent holiday to the one I was considering was nearly twice the price. As people get more internet savvy I’d expect more of the same to happen. And yet hundreds of thousands of people were stranded while traveling under their plans on a single day, the day they shut their doors. Perhaps group tours offer something that is hard to get while scheduling your own vacation on the internet. I don’t know anything about the circumstances, but it seems like there might have been alternative paths available – instead of trying to keep up the facade of happy business as usual until the ax fell, they might have been able to survive longer and with less chaos at the end if they had gradually scaled back, like so many other companies whose business has been displaced by the internet. Newspapers come to mind as an example, many of which are still around, if not in their former glory. This kind of ending seems very irresponsible, and I hope the UK government investigates where all the money went. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/7 "2019-09-23T18:05:02Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > And yet hundreds of thousands of people were stranded while traveling under their plans on a single day, the day they shut their doors. Perhaps group tours offer something that is hard to get while scheduling your own vacation on the internet. possibly, I suspect it may be a shrinking market though and the big companies may struggle, clearly Thomas Cook has. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/8 "2019-09-23T18:18:26Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > This kind of ending seems very irresponsible, and I hope the UK government investigates where all the money went. [British PM questions Thomas Cook bosses’ pay](https://apnews.com/e857f7204adc41afa97d9ed38f6754b9): > [@](#): > > Prime Minister Boris Johnson says a “huge effort” is underway to bring home British tourists and passengers stranded by the sudden financial collapse of travel company Thomas Cook. > > He adds Monday that steps needed to be taken so “you don’t end up with a situation where the taxpayer, where the state is having to step in and bring people home.” > > Johnson asks “whether it’s right that the directors and the board should pay themselves large sums when a company can go down the tubes like that.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/9 "2019-09-23T18:24:25Z")
I better rethink my plans to visit [Hambech surface mine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hambach_surface_mine) before it fills up. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/10 "2019-09-23T18:25:46Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Perhaps group tours offer something that is hard to get while scheduling your own vacation on the internet. Our passengers on Friday night, an elderly couple, were on a group bus tour. The bus brought them to the hot air balloon festival to watch the launch as the last stop of the day & then back to their hotel for the night. Our passengers decided to buy a flight & therefore knew that the bus would be long gone after the flight so I drove them back to their hotel instead of back to the launch field. He stated that not only were his days of long-distance driving behind him but he likes that he gets on the bus & gets off _somewhere_. He doesn’t need to thing about where they’re going, how to get there, where to park, etc. it’s all prearranged for him as long as he can make it onto the bus by the designated time in the morning. Not my idea of fun but there is something to be said for being able to turn off your brain while on vacation. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/11 "2019-09-23T18:46:49Z")
As someone in a comment to an article pointed out, it seems super unlikely that they didn’t know they were going bankrupt _until today_, so the fact that they let all of these clients head off on vacations in the past several days knowing they could be stranded is really awful. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/12 "2019-09-23T19:19:48Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > And yet hundreds of thousands of people were stranded while traveling under their plans on a single day, the day they shut their doors. Perhaps group tours offer something that is hard to get while scheduling your own vacation on the internet. They also [del]run[/del] ran their own airline(s), with lots of flights to tourist islands like the Canary Islands and the Greek islands, so the number of people stranded is partly a reflection of that- hard to just arrange a new flight or hop on a train or coach to a different airport on a small island. Some islands’ economies are likely to be hit badly by this collapse, at least in the short term, though at least it’s pretty much quiet season now and the budget airlines will appear like jackals. May be worth it for the reduction in drunken English arseholes though. A lot of what they did wasn’t so much organised tours as all-inclusive type resort stays; still pretty popular, especially for families. I have been wondering for a while if it was really worth them (and some other travel agencies) having so many high street branches though, they never looked very busy, and there really were a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/13 "2019-09-23T20:03:32Z")
[Hedge funds win big from short-selling Thomas Cook shares](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/23/hedge-funds-win-big-from-short-selling-thomas-cook-shares) > [@](#): > > Other hedge funds are also set for a windfall from investments in credit default swaps (CDS), which are a form of insurance that pays out when a company defaults on its debts. Those investments would have been worthless if Thomas Cook had managed to clinch a deal this weekend. But as a result of the collapse CDS payouts are now expected to reach $250m (£201m), according to reports by Bloomberg. > > Thomas Cook’s last three chief executives also profited handsomely from the company, receiving combined pay packages worth more than £35m in the last 12 years. > > Manny Fontenla-Novoa, who led the acquisition spree that saddled the company with more than £1bn of debt, was handed more than £17m in just over four years as head of Thomas Cook, boosted by bonuses awarded for slashing 2,800 jobs following the merger with MyTravel. He quit in 2011 as the tour operator came close to collapse. > > His successor was Harriet Green, who was paid £4.7m for less than three years plus a share bonus worth a further £5.6m. She handed a third of that award to charities after the deaths of two children from carbon monoxide poisoning in Thomas Cook accommodation in Corfu. > > Green also claimed £80,000 a year from the business to cover her hotel bills at the five-star Brown’s Hotel in London, where she lived during the week. > > Peter Fankhauser, who was in charge when the company collapsed, was handed £8.3m, including £4.3m in bonuses. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/14 "2019-09-23T20:13:02Z")
from all the news stories thats being posted …seems like the effects of this will be felt for years throughout the world especially in tourist dependant places …and you know there’s going to be lawsuits and settlements and possibly new regulations coming from the government Boris might be a smidge relived tho that the UK news is off of him and Brexit for a bit … ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/15 "2019-09-23T20:19:09Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Are any Dopers affected by this? I could be affected by that. I’m in a club with 10 other guys that booked a vacation to Rhodos from TUI (the big competitor of Thomas Cook in Germany) that includes a flight on October 3rd with the charter airline Condor, which is a daughter company of Thomas Cook. Condor still hasn’t declared bankruptcy in Germany, but has already asked for a rescue credit from the German government to maintain their business. Maybe we’re screwed and don’t get that flight to Rhodos. ETA: we were in the same situation two years ago when [Air Berlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Berlin) went bankrupt and we had a flight to Fuerteventura with them. That time, the government granted them a credit and all went well, but it’s not granted that it turns out with Condor the same way (though the government set a precedent with the Air Berlin credit). ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/16 "2019-09-23T20:19:46Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’ve not used a travel company for nearly 20 years now and the last time I looked at one an equivalent holiday to the one I was considering was nearly twice the price. It depends on what sort of holiday you are looking for I guess. There’s loads of people who just want an all-inclusive resort somewhere - anywhere- sunny, and an individual is unlikely to match the bulk-buy pricing of the likes of Thomas Cook. Also, the big travel agencies allow things like paying by instalments, and that’s obviously valuable for people on lower incomes. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/17 "2019-09-23T20:32:56Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I could be affected by that. I’m in a club with 10 other guys that booked a vacation to Rhodos from TUI (the big competitor of Thomas Cook in Germany) that includes a flight on October 3rd with the charter airline Condor, which is a daughter company of Thomas Cook. Condor still hasn’t declared bankruptcy in Germany, but has already asked for a rescue credit from the German government to maintain their business. Maybe we’re screwed and don’t get that flight to Rhodos. > > ETA: we were in the same situation two years ago when [Air Berlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Berlin) went bankrupt and we had a flight to Fuerteventura with them. That time, the government granted them a credit and all went well, but it’s not granted that it turns out with Condor the same way (though the government set a precedent with the Air Berlin credit). and from what I’ve read there’s no mention of refunds at this point so you might want to see if you can change flights …but there’s reports of people possibly losing up to 20k mostly on honeymoon and wedding vacations that no longer exist … ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/18 "2019-09-23T20:41:55Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > and from what I’ve read there’s no mention of refunds at this point so you might want to see if you can change flights …but there’s reports of people possibly losing up to 20k mostly on honeymoon and wedding vacations that no longer exist … The legal circumstances for refunds are different in Germany, and I guess we’re (or the companies, respectively) well insured against losses like that (at least according to online sources and bits and pieces I saw on TV). Though that’d be only a financial consolation, but we want our Rhodos vacation we’ve been looking forward for half a year! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/19 "2019-09-23T22:29:32Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > (snip) I have been wondering for a while if it was really worth them (and some other travel agencies) having so many high street branches though, they never looked very busy, and there really were a lot of them. True, but you can’t beat a high street branch when you need [travel brochures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXZN7cKzCFE). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694/20 "2019-09-24T01:53:31Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > He doesn’t need to thing about where they’re going, how to get there, where to park, etc. it’s all prearranged for him as long as he can make it onto the bus by the designated time in the morning. > > Not my idea of fun but there is something to be said for being able to turn off your brain while on vacation. That is why mrAru and I like cruise ship vacations - he can get off and explore and shop [I know, a woman that doesn’t like to shop … :p] and I can hang out on the balcony people watching with a pot of coffee and a good book. If we want to do something on shore, like the captive beach at Labadee Haiti, we can, or we can pick up an excursion [loved the snorkeling, diving and parasailing excursions we have done in the past] and know that we get on their transport, get taken to where we need to go, and get taken back to the ship and all we need to worry about is tips and buying souvenirs. But we also like hopping a plane, renting a car and wandering around touristing. Unfortunately, with me needing a wheelchair and crutches, it makes some touristing difficult - rooms that are not handicap accessible can be a major issue, nothing like needing your husband to haul you off a too low toilet _sigh_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-thomas-cook-shuts-doors-after-178-years/840694.md?page=2)