Will Thomas Cook’s financial troubles affect my flight in 10 months?

Got a question? Our expert, Simon Calder, can help

It is highly likely the airline will still be operating once the pensions issue is resolved (Thomas Cook Airlines)

Q I recently booked flights for July 2020 with Thomas Cook Airlines, direct on a debit card, and the next day learned of their financial troubles. I’m concerned this Fosun takeover might not go ahead due to the pension scheme issue, but how likely do you think it is that Thomas Cook Airlines might be affected? I can’t cancel or change the flights, and I didn’t use a credit card. I’m usually comforted by the protection offered by the travel industry but on this occasion seem to have been left exposed.

Jon S

A Thomas Cook, the travel firm with arguably the strongest name in the industry, has been struggling financially. Last month its 21,000 employees, and millions of travellers with forward bookings, were relieved to learn that the Chinese firm Fosun will inject £450m, with Thomas Cook’s creditors also pumping in £450m. But the trustees of the pension fund have asked for some assurances from the company before backing the plan. I can understand your concern about a flight due to depart 10 months from now. But I expect it will operate normally.

First, I am confident that a compromise will be reached over the pension issues. Even if I am wrong, Thomas Cook Airlines is a part of the business that is in good shape, with robust operations at Gatwick, Manchester and elsewhere. I cannot envisage circumstances in which it would close down. It appears the Civil Aviation Authority is satisfied too. Several years ago the regulator made the ailing Monarch Airlines provide Atol cover for its flight-only bookings, but there is no sign Thomas Cook Airlines will be required to do the same.

Were the worst to happen, you would not be covered for the mandatory refunds required by the Consumer Credit Act for credit card payments. But you should be able to claim from your bank under the voluntary “chargeback” scheme for debit card purchases. Of course, as with the Monarch collapse, the effect of an airline failure is to push up fares on other carriers. But I reiterate that this outcome is extremely unlikely, and I hope you can relax and look forward to your holiday.

I couldn’t be a part of New York, can I make a claim? (AFP/Getty)

Q Sadly this week I should have been in New York with a friend. I paid upfront for both the flight and hotel for the two of us. Unfortunately we had to cancel two days before our travel due to my friend being ill.

Should I go to the travel company to claim for flights and hotels for both of us, or we claim from our personal travel insurers?

Carol L

A In these unfortunate circumstances, the correct way to proceed is to inform the travel company as soon as possible that you are unable to travel, and to request whatever refund may be applicable.

Holiday companies will almost always refer cancelling customers to their travel insurer. But you may be able to retrieve Air Passenger Duty of £78 each – though travel firms often impose their own fees that could make even this modest sum difficult to claim.

Once you have done this and minimised your losses, you can then each apply to your individual travel insurer.

As a very minimum, they will want proof of the cost of the trip, with details of money you have been able to claim back from the travel company.

They will also demand medical evidence from your friend’s doctor about the illness – and need to be satisfied that it was not connected with a pre-existing condition that had not been declared at the time the policy was taken out.

The settlement you receive will be subject to an excess, if applicable – meaning that you may have to pay the first, say, £200 of the claim. In addition some insurers routinely withhold Air Passenger Duty, on the basis that the airline has not had to pay it to the chancellor and should therefore refund it to you.

Check-in queue of over two hours meant flight missed (Paul Sillers)

Q A family member who was flying to Faro in Portugal reached the airport two-and-a-half hours before departure but ended up missing the flight because the queues for check-in were so long. They said many other people also missed their flights. The airline rebooked them on another flight a day and a half later but charged them for this. Do you think they have any chance of compensation?

Richard M

A Airlines always insist it is the passenger’s responsibility to be at the airport in good time to allow formalities to be completed. Had your relative turned up with barely an hour to go, that might be seen as reckless. But I think most people would agree that arriving two-and-a-half hours before a standard short-haul flight is quite early enough.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, any company must perform its services with “reasonable care and skill”. For an airline, I think it is fair to contend that providing adequately staffed check-in facilities is an essential part of the service. At particularly busy times, an airline could also deploy “queue combers” to pick out passengers with imminent departures and fast-track them.

Your relative could therefore write to the airline with a timeline of the unfortunate sequence of events – with the arrival time supported with evidence such as a car park or taxi receipt, or a bus or train ticket. It is plausible they could seek not just out-of-pocket expenses but also €400 (£350) in compensation for being denied boarding under the European air passengers’ rights rules.

Expect, though, a robust response from the airline – whereupon I suggest writing a “letter before action” saying that unless the claim is agreed the passenger will embark on a legal route either via Money Claim Online or by engaging a solicitor. The airline may at this stage make an offer to settle, or wait for the claim to arrive.

Just to manage expectations in the event of a legal case, the carrier is likely to ask what the passenger did when it became clear the process was going slowly – whether they alerted staff to the risk they might miss the flight, giving the airline the chance to help? In addition, if there was a problem at the airport to which passengers had been alerted, such as a particularly busy day or an issue with baggage equipment, that could help the airline’s defence.

Finally, if a significant part of the problem was an excessively long wait in the security queue, then the airline might simply shrug and say: “We have no control over the security operation.” So your relative must decide how strong they believe their case to be.

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