Whip round for crew as final flight lands
helped, with planes redirected from as far away as Malaysia.
Last night the Department of Transport said all Thomas Cook passengers set to return over the next two weeks would be brought home “as close as possible to their booked return date”.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The Government and CAA is working round the clock to help people. But the task is enormous, the biggest peacetime repatriation in UK history. So there are bound to be problems and delays.”
Thomas Cook’s collapse left around 50,000 mainly British tourists on Greek holiday islands, with 21,000 in Turkey – where its culture and tourism ministry pledged to protect Britons from being charged extra or thrown out of hotels. The majority of the £100million cost will be borne by ATOL, which protects package break buyers when firms collapse.
But in Spain, Antonio Mayor, president of the Benidorm, Costa Blanca and Valencia Region Hotel HOLIDAYMAKERS on Thomas Cook’s last ever flight held a whip round for cabin crew who had lost their jobs.
The flight from Orlando, Florida, to Manchester Airport arrived early yesterday.
Big-hearted passengers, including Debbie and Michael Tucker, collected cash after realising the holiday firm had gone bust while they were in the air and pilots and cabin staff might not be paid.
Geraldine Cartwright, of Bolton, returning from her honeymoon with new husband Association, described Cook as a “corpse”.
He warned: “Hotels are going to treat tourists well, but the length of time they stay will depend on what the British authorities decide Thomas Adam, said: “The staff were very tearful, especially when carrier bags were handed round. But they still managed to wear big smiles and say thank you as we left.”
Another asked all on board to give staff a round of applause.
Nikki Thinkburn said: “The staff were all in tears when we left the plane. The ground staff were all lined up... all in tears, holding hands waiting to greet the staff off the plane.”
In Terminal One departures at and how far the ATOL cover goes.” Emergency meetings were taking place to discuss the plight of tourists who reached their holiday destinations just hours before the Thomas Cook collapse and are Manchester yesterday, light boards were littered with red “cancelled” signs and families arrived only to find they had lost their holidays.
Rebecca Shenton and Jane Clarke, from Crewe, were in a 16-strong family group including five children who were due to fly to Bulgaria for a week’s holiday. Thomas Cook collapsed just 10 minutes before they got to the airport.
Rebecca, 34, said: “The kids were so excited to go – now we’re having to head home.
“We saw some cabin crew in the airport terminal early this morning. We’ve lost our holiday, but they’ve lost their job.”
Meanwhile, many were left facing large taxi queues after a naked man sparked a security alert at the airport coach station.
An office building was evacuated and a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious object, later found to be harmless. Trams, trains and buses were suspended and several people missed flights.
Greater Manchester Police said: “The man ... has since been taken to hospital.” due to stay for up to another fortnight. Travellers who have not yet started their holiday will be given refunds, while those on flight-only bookings are advised to seek reimbursement from credit or debit card providers, or their travel insurers. Sports fans were also hit. Thomas Cook ran football hospitality deals and European travel packages for Liverpool and Manchester United, and cricket fans booking packages for England’s winter tour to South Africa will also suffer. SO many pressures in a rapidly changing market eventually overwhelmed a business whose long history and global brand could not paper over cracks in its finances which have plagued it for much of the past decade.
Once the debts started piling up, following a questionable acquisition spree including the tie-up with MyTravel, it was always on the back foot, lacking the spending power to really push on in new ventures such