TEARS AND APPLAUSE ON THE FINAL FLIGHT
Thomas Cook staff find out in mid-air that their jobs are gone – but stay professional to the end
THE final passengers to ever step off a Thomas Cook flight have revealed staff found out they’d lost their jobs at 30,000ft.
Terry and Emma Mason, from Bedlington, Northumberland, returned from Orlando with their two children on Monday morning only to be greeted by video cameras after it transpired the flight would be the last in the firm’s 178-year history.
The couple were the last off as their 14-year-old daughter Ellie needed a special access lift.
But Terry has praised staff who wept as they realised mid-flight they would be returning to unemployment, stating: “The crew were pretty down, but they stayed professional all the way to the end. They were distraught and crying, but the pilot actually asked for them to be applauded.”
He said the flight to Manchester was “quite subdued” with the firm’s future still in the air at the time of take-off.
But as they crossed the Atlantic, last-ditch Government talks to rescue the firm failed - and Thomas Cook ceased trading with immediate effect.
“We later learned the crew found out about this an hour-and-a-half after we took off,” revealed Terry, 42. “Yet they still continued to do everything that was asked of them. You could tell they were down but they were still professional.”
Even back in Britain, staff were still hard at work. “I took a selfie on the plane when we arrived back, and the only person behind me was a member of staff doing a sweep for lost property,” added Terry.
Over 22,000 jobs have been put at risk. Around 9,000 of those are based in Britain.
The demise sparked the biggest peacetime repatriation in British history after the Government vowed to fly back all of the 150,000 customers stranded abroad.
Easyjet and Virgin are among the airlines loaning aircraft for the operation, named Operation Matterhorn, which will take a fortnight to complete.
“Thomas Cook’s collapse is very sad news for staff and holidaymakers,” said Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, who said people were “working around the clock to help people” get home.
“Our contingency planning has helped acquire planes from across the world - some from as far away as Malaysia - and we have put hundreds of people in call centres and at airports.
“But the task is enormous, the biggest peacetime repatriation in UK history.
“So there are bound to be problems and delays.”
Mr Mason said his mother-in-law - having not been on the flight which arrived into Manchester shortly before 9am on Monday - is now having to return on a Virgin flight.
But he said his family were “honoured” to have been the last passengers to have flown with a firm he said were first class with his family until the very end.
He added: “At the end, the pilot said ‘thank you for continued support of Thomas Cook.
“Hope to see you again with this airline - or another.”