Thomas Cook DD -- 150,000 travelers stranded

[Dan Druff]

What a fucking fiasco.

Thomas Cook, one of the rare travel agencies which actually booked people on its own planes, has gone under, despite having been in business since 1841.

It is now in liquidation. All flights were abruptly canceled, leaving 150,000 travelers around the globe stranded. Most live in the UK, but some live in other countries, as well.

The UK is attempting to assist these travelers to get home, but it's going to be a slow process. What a disaster.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...s-live-updates

Some have theorized that Thomas Cook failed because they were stuck in the 1990s. Rather than expand to provide "experiences", which many travelers using agencies want nowadays, they were still mostly booking flights and hotels, which most people do themselves online now.

[limitles]

What a fucking fiasco.

Thomas Cook, one of the rare travel agencies which actually booked people on its own planes, has gone under, despite having been in business since 1841.

It is now in liquidation. All flights were abruptly canceled, leaving 150,000 travelers around the globe stranded. Most live in the UK, but some live in other countries, as well.

The UK is attempting to assist these travelers to get home, but it's going to be a slow process. What a disaster.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...s-live-updates

Some have theorized that Thomas Cook failed because they were stuck in the 1990s. Rather than expand to provide "experiences", which many travelers using agencies want nowadays, they were still mostly booking flights and hotels, which most people do themselves online now.

I know it's easy to blame the whole show on incompetent management/stifling unions etc. but you have to consider what has caused the death of many similar age old enterprises. Free trade is great in a lot of ways but you simply have to sleep in the bed you made. Many copycats are willing and able to deliver a similar product but for the lesser price.

The whole game plan goes for Amazon, Walmart Uber etc. It's everywhere in this plastic society.

[Dan Druff]

From a Facebook group I'm in, which is unrelated to travel:

We are trapped inside the eftalia hotel in turkey and being forced to pay more money to the staff before we can leave! This is because thomas cook went bankrupt, they have security at the doors and we are trapped here! This making my anxiety super bad rn but I have to help my 7 other siblings 4 of which and younger than 10 years old and terrified, I dont know what to do we are being held hostage by the hotel staff and being forced to pay for what Thomas cook didnt, we already paid £10,000 for the holiday, ugh what can we do?

LOL Turkey

What an awful place

It's looking like the UK gubbmint screwed the pooch on this one. With 150,000 people on vacation, the government should have put up some emergency funding to operate the airline portion for a few more days in order to get everyone home.

[MrTickle]

Fuck Brexit and it destroying our economy

[GrenadaRoger]

From a Facebook group I'm in, which is unrelated to travel:

We are trapped inside the eftalia hotel in turkey and being forced to pay more money to the staff before we can leave! This is because thomas cook went bankrupt, they have security at the doors and we are trapped here! This making my anxiety super bad rn but I have to help my 7 other siblings 4 of which and younger than 10 years old and terrified, I dont know what to do we are being held hostage by the hotel staff and being forced to pay for what Thomas cook didnt, we already paid £10,000 for the holiday, ugh what can we do?

LOL Turkey

What an awful place

It's looking like the UK gubbmint screwed the pooch on this one. With 150,000 people on vacation, the government should have put up some emergency funding to operate the airline portion for a few more days in order to get everyone home.

tell your friend to keep records of how much paid to get out of the hotel...then file a claim in the bankruptcy proceedings...long shot to get anything, but it's probably +ev vs the postage and filing effort

re: government funding -- bailouts only go to the wall street elite, not to the middle class

[Belly Buster]

A few thing to clear up:

Thomas Cook's business model was great in the 70's - 90's but doesn't work today. They were asset stripped by venture capiitalists, raided by it's management and left debt-laden. They didn't invest in aligning with today's traveller's needs, which really is criminal because people are spending a fuckton more on holidays than 30 years ago.

The bankruptcy has very little to do with Brexit, and nothing to do with the current government, Boris Johnson or anything similar. No sensible government will bale out a failed private business.

Turkey isn't an awful place. The southern coast is stunning and the weather is great for a lot of the year. Yeah those hotel owners were arseholes but that's not unique to Turkey.

[MrTickle]

Turkey is excellent. I don't like the seaside resort style places but I'm a big fan of Istanbul and visiting the country in general.

[Crowe Diddly]

No sensible government will bale out a failed private business.

Sensible government might be a bar too high.

[limitles]

My heart goes out to the stranded Brits abroad. They're most likely grateful at not having to return
as scheduled. And let's not pretend they don't own some part of the place they're "visiting"

[Zap_the_Fractions_Giraffe]

[ShawnFanningsLimpDick]

It's looking like the UK gubbmint screwed the pooch on this one. With 150,000 people on vacation, the government should have put up some emergency funding to operate the airline portion for a few more days in order to get everyone home.

Druff you need take a deep breath here and go and read some Murray Rothbard. Thomas Cook is a classic example of a company run into the ground by greedy management who failed to adapt to changing circumstances and saddled the company with crippling debt. Yes the UK government will have to spend some money getting stranded Brits home but the last thing they should do is give taxpayers cash to Thomas Cook. Fuck them and their shitty package deals.

[Dan Druff]

It's looking like the UK gubbmint screwed the pooch on this one. With 150,000 people on vacation, the government should have put up some emergency funding to operate the airline portion for a few more days in order to get everyone home.

Druff you need take a deep breath here and go and read some Murray Rothbard. Thomas Cook is a classic example of a company run into the ground by greedy management who failed to adapt to changing circumstances and saddled the company with crippling debt. Yes the UK government will have to spend some money getting stranded Brits home but the last thing they should do is give taxpayers cash to Thomas Cook. Fuck them and their shitty package deals.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying the gubbmint should've done.

I was not talking about a bailout. I was talking about keeping it open for a few days simply to get people home, and then letting Cook crash and burn.

[MumblesBadly]

Turkey is excellent. I don't like the seaside resort style places but I'm a big fan of Istanbul and visiting the country in general.

I’ve heard that Istanbul has some fabulous scenery and history. Also, a friend of mine is from Izmir, which has ruins of the city of Ephesus from the time of ancient Greece, as well as some beautiful beaches.