Industry slammed for cashing in on Thomas Cook collapse

Holidaymakers have accused the travel industry of taking advantage of the company’s collapse to hike flight and holiday prices.

Those who are trying to book trips with other companies claim Thomas Cook’s rivals have increased prices of package holidays – and they claim that in some cases prices for flights have tripled.

While many travel companies have been working round the clock to find alternative holidays for Thomas Cook customers who have yet to travel, holidaymakers looking to make new bookings are fuming at sudden price hikes.

Potential customers have taken to social media to slam companies like TUI which, while claiming to be offering support to stranded holidaymakers, have allegedly pushed up their own prices for future holidays

When TUI tweeted that it had brought home hundreds of Thomas Cook holidaymakers as part of the huge repatriation effort, some users suggested that the company was at the same time profiting out of their misery by increasing holiday costs.

While some users acknowledged this was understandable behaviour due to the sudden reduction in supply versus the increase in demand – which, they pointed out, also happened after Monarch went under, others described the price rises as ‘disgraceful’.

When TravelMole asked TUI about the price hikes, a spokesperson said: "TUI uses a dynamic pricing model which means that our prices can go up or down. There are many variables which have to be taken in to account including peak dates of travel, regional airport differences and which channel our customers book through."

A Jet2 customer posting on social media claimed a Jet2.com holiday in Cyprus had increased in cost by £800 between 7.30am and 11.30am on Monday.

Another Twitter user accused Jet2 of ‘taking the p*** because of Thomas Cook’, after noticing a holiday he planned to book had increased by £248.

A spokeswoman for Jet2.com said: "Our pricing, as is common practice in the travel industry, is based on the principle of supply and demand.

"As supply reduces, an inevitable consequence is that prices increase. However, we are looking at adding more supply (flights and seats) to help customers at this time."

One holidaymaker told the BBC that a flight from Glasgow to Rhodes, Greece, was £280 on Sunday, but was now £1,000.

Analysts said the prices reflected high demand on routes with few spare seats.

"People aren’t sitting there rubbing their hands with glee. If sales come in rapidly on popular routes then prices go up," said John Strickland, an airline analyst at JLS Consulting.

Many September flights were already almost full prior to Thomas Cook’s collapse, said Strickland, pointing out that privately-run companies had to be commercially driven.

"Thomas Cook has failed because it had massive debts and it was making a loss. It’s a fragile industry. More than a dozen airlines have gone bust.

"If the airlines don’t make profits where they can on a minority of flights then they don’t stand a chance of surviving."

None of Thomas Cook’s 150,000 customers currently abroad will be out of pocket, however, as the CAA and the government have launched a massive repatriation effort to bring everyone – including those without ATOL protection – back home.

CAA chairwoman described the first stage on Monday as ‘a pretty good day for a first day’.

She told BBC 5 Live’s Wake Up to Money: "We ran 64 flights, we brought back just under 15,000 people. That was over 90% of those we intended to bring back.

"I’m conscious that we’ve got a huge job to do still, because that’s about 8% of the total, but a reasonable start.

"We’ve got 74 flights today and are hoping to bring back 16,500 people, but (have) 13 days to go and 135,000 passengers still to bring back.

While some in the media claim the repatriation will cost the taxpayers £100 million, the CAA said 60% of the total cost would be covered by ATOL. The remaining 40% of the bill will be for unprotected flight-only customers.
 

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