‘They told me not to cancel my trip. Now I worry I won’t be able to come home’
THOMAS Cook customers who face being stranded abroad have slammed the travel company for masking the extent of its problems.
Worried Britons who flew to Ibiza on Thomas Cook package holidays said yesterday that staff had carried on as normal despite the likelihood of the 178-year-old firm going bust today.
It comes as dozens of British holidaymakers were ‘held hostage’ by guards at a hotel in Tunisia amid fears it would not be paid by the firm if it went bankrupt.
The growing uncertainty around the company’s future had pensioners worrying they would be thrown out of their Ibiza hotels and others fearing they would be unable to return home to work and family commitments.
Because the company is covered by Atol protection, package holiday tourists already abroad have been assured that plans will be put in place to bring them home and many tourists spoken to by the Daily Mail yesterday vowed to continue enjoying their holiday.
Jacqui and Steve Butler from Stoke-on-Trent arrived in Ibiza yesterday morning, leaving their grown-up children behind. Postman Mr Butler, 47, joked: ‘I’ve told the kids if we are not back by December they can get worried.’
Retired teaching assistant Pat Fleming, 72, said she visited a Thomas Cook travel agency on Saturday after reading about the company’s financial problems. She said: ‘I wanted to cancel because I was frightened thinking I wouldn’t
‘Who knows how long our holiday will last?’
be able to get back or the holiday would be ruined. But they told me to just act like normal. I am worried about not getting home. ’
On Ibiza, the mood was to continue enjoying the sun, sea and sangria for as long as possible. A Thomas Cook rep in San Antonio said: ‘It’s business as usual. We haven’t had any updates ourselves. I will be out of a job if it goes into administration.’
More than a thousand tourists still checked in at Glasgow International Airport over the weekend determined to go on holiday.
Sye Webster and his wife Denise drove down from their home in Arbroath, Angus, to checkin at Glasgow for their flight to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, having spoken in advance to their local branch of Thomas Cook. He said: ‘They advised us to travel as planned as they hadn’t been told anything to the contrary. At the end of the day, who knows how long our holiday will last?
‘We have booked for a week and we might have to come home early if the tour company goes under. We don’t honestly know, but even if we get a couple of days then so be it.’
His wife added: ‘It is the poor staff that I feel sorry for, working as normal and not knowing what the future holds. It must be very difficult for them.’
George Miller and his wife Grace from Glasgow, also jetting off to Fuerteventura, also sympathised with the Thomas Cook staff. He added: ‘We can always go on another trip but there are a lot of jobs at risk.’
Dean Torrance from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, and his son – also Dean, nine – were on the same flight. Mr Torrance said he had been anxious but had been reassured by seeing the plane ready to take off. He said. ‘We are going on holiday for a week and there is really nothing we can do other than enjoy ourselves.’
Wilson Howie and his wife Tracey, from Dundonald, Ayrshire, told how they had booked their flight to Fuerteventura only a few weeks ago.
He said: ‘The staff are working as normal and you really have to feel for them in the circumstances as it is their jobs. But they were full of smiles and wished us a lovely holiday, which was nice.’
The 35-strong Stewart family party had been planning its weeklong break in Dalaman, Turkey, for more than eight months.
John Stewart said: ‘We are going to have a massive party over there with family coming from all over the country – so you can imagine how pleased we were when they told us the flight was leaving on schedule.
‘We contacted Thomas Cook and they said everything was operating as normal at present.’