Thomas Cook angered by ‘Thomas Crooked’ campaign

Sunday, 24 Nov, 2011 0

Thomas Cook is threatening legal action against lowcostholidays.com for an online campaign asking if customers have been "Thomas Crooked?".

Ian Ailles, CEO of Mainstream for Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, said "It is shocking the tactics some will stoop to. This is totally unacceptable
and defamatory and we're taking immediate legal action against them."

ABTA has confirmed that it is also investigating the Google advert to see if it breaches the association's Code of Conduct.

Both companies are ABTA members. Its Code of Conduct says no member should make comments about another member's financial status or bring a fellow member into disrepute.

On its blog, lowcostholidays.com has a news story about Thomas Cook's financial restructuring.

It says: "Thomas Cook customers are worried about the security of their holidays, which has also led to a concern about the future of the ‘package holiday.

"The real question here is; are package holidays a dated way of looking at travel? We believe that there has been a shift in the way people book their holidays and that we have now moved in to the era of ‘do it yourself holidays’ and ‘dynamic packaging’.

"Gone are the days of having to leave the house to visit your local travel agent. Online holidays offer a much easier and cheaper alternative. Traditional package holidays are out, ‘dynamic packaging’ is very much in."

by Bev Fearis

Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

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