Thomas Cook customers fear ruined weddings and holidays
Clients of the travel company voice concerns about their flight and holiday bookings …
Image copyright Reuters Thomas Cook customers are worried about their holidays and flights following news of the company being in financial trouble.
It is currently requesting £200m in extra funds from the government in order to stay afloat.
Customers have been contacting the BBC to voice their concerns.
Wedding worries
Chloe Hardy from Leicestershire is due to get married in Zante in October and booked the wedding package with Thomas Cook back in June 2018.
“We are due to fly out on Thursday,” she said.
“Our wedding is costing almost £12,000 with things we have bought here, the wedding package, everything we have organised with the resort wedding coordinator”.
Chloe and her fiancé will also have 33 family members flying out, with their trips costing more than £33,000 in total.
With the big day looming, Chloe is frustrated by Thomas Cook’s handling of their booking.
“I have emailed the wedding concierge and coordinator, neither has got back to me. We are unsure if we will be able to fly. Although, it’s ATOL-protected I have booked three weeks’ leave from work and there’s no guarantee that I will be able to get time off if I had to re-book.”
“We’ve had constant questions from our family that we are unable to answer,” she added. “This is causing great concern, worry and stress to all of us involved.”
Two bookings
Natalie Davies from Buckinghamshire has two holidays booked with Thomas Cook for next year, but has received no further information despite her efforts.
“Everything we know has been through various news sources online,” she said.
Natalie called the company for more information about her bookings.
“I called them this morning and had to spend 40 minutes on hold. When I finally got through, I asked them if further payments were needed to be paid for our holidays and when will they let us know what’s happening. I could hear the operator laughing and then they put the phone down on me.”
“As it stands we don’t know what’s happening. The lack of customer services is unacceptable in my eyes.”
‘Should I even go?’
Despite no official statement being released by Thomas Cook, the company are telling customers via Twitter to carry on as normal and that if it collapses, all holidays will be covered as they are ATOL-protected.
However. concerned holidaymakers like Lauren Fraser from Bedfordshire are worried that they may become stranded once they fly out.
“The holiday has been the only thing I was looking forward to after a week of suffering from injuries due to a car accident last Saturday,” she said.
Lauren is due to fly out to Turkey with her boyfriend on Sunday evening.
“I’ve been told to carry on as normal and still go and that I would be notified of any changes but it leaves you feeling anxious knowing that you could fly out and then be stranded in another country struggling to get home,” she said.
“I can’t get my money back either as Thomas Cook are still operating. I can’t do anything. I’ve looked at other companies but holidays are now double the price.
“It’s taken all the excitement from my holiday and just made me feel sick and anxious and whether I should even go. “
‘We can only hope and pray’
Matthew Moore and Aaron Kearney from Belfast say they are worried that their wedding may not go ahead in Cyprus.
“These past few days have been very traumatising,” Matthew said. “We had all the joys of having finalised everything and getting to relax to the lead up – and now we don’t know where we stand.
“We wanted to marry abroad because same-sex marriage is not legal in Northern Ireland.
“My heart just sank when I heard the news about Thomas Cook.
“We are all flying with Thomas Cook as it is the only company that have direct flights from Belfast to Larnaca.
“If Thomas Cook does go under we are left with 26 guests out of pocket.
“This was supposed to be the happiest trip of our lives where we would share the best day of our lives together on our wedding day.
“We can only hope and pray that the outcome is good, but if not we are left with are wedding destroyed.”
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