Hi MrsAniekwe,

Your holidays as far as im aware are safe

Thomas Cook have been in a bit of financial trouble recently and the closure of stores is just a money saving exercise, unfortunately its a sign of the times.

Cheers, Phil

Thank god For that was bit worried

Hope you have a good holiday
Don't forget to post a review on your return

This has been on the cards for some time and could turn into a self-fulfilling prophesy if people stop booking with them for fear of the company going out of business. Like so many companies their answer is simply to put up their prices, particularly for hotels, in the hope of raising their profits, which not only doesn't work but does absolutely nothing to help the economy of the overseas countries. I've only used them for flights for many years now as, like quite a lot of people, I prefer to put my holiday together independently rather than rely on any of the big tour operators.

Hi Aslemma,

That's always the end of the companies when people stop booking with them in fear that they will fold and lose their holidays. I've seen it so many times over the past few years particularly with flight operators that were put on stop sale.

Ive only ever booked a flights with them also.

Hopefully they will bounce back as it will be sad to see them go from the travel industry and I dont want to lose my shares

I too would be sad to see them go after so many years. Although many of us are now far more confident and happy to book holidays independently there will always be those who prefer what they think of as the safety of going through a tour operator and the fewer of these there are the less competition. It just riles me the way the prices they charge for hotels go up so much yet so little goes to the hotels themselves. When I think about it quite a lot riles me about the tour operators, including the fact that their reps (some of whom are excellent I must add) get most of their pay through selling excursions, and do all they can to dissuade guests from booking with local companies.

Aslemma wrote:

I too would be sad to see them go after so many years. Although many of us are now far more confident and happy to book holidays independently there will always be those who prefer what they think of as the safety of going through a tour operator and the fewer of these there are the less competition. It just riles me the way the prices they charge for hotels go up so much yet so little goes to the hotels themselves. When I think about it quite a lot riles me about the tour operators, including the fact that their reps (some of whom are excellent I must add) get most of their pay through selling excursions, and do all they can to dissuade guests from booking with local companies.

I feel a bit sorry for the reps though.

At the end of the day it is Thomas Cook et al who are not paying them a decent living wage. One of DD's closer friends worked in Tunisa for 6 weeks last summer as a kids/entertainment rep & was paid £50 for a 70 hour or so week.

These are Uni students who basically are doing anything to make ends meet as they will end up with tens of thousands of pounds in loans, so 60p an hour won't make a dent.

It's obviously stretching the truth when company's say they use trained & skilled professionals (what the heck does that really mean when you pick the bones of it?) to do this work - you just turn up, get on with it and are worked into the ground, you don't even get the chance to sell excursions as a kids rep !

There's no way I would leave kids in either of the two travel giants kids club knowing what I now know its run on a shoestring and I'm glad I didn't use them when mine were little. Training, what training ?

She has 11A*/A GCSEs and 3 decent A levels and really is an academic so no training with kids.

I think it's all a bit of a scandal really.

I couldn't agree more and it is a scandal. Moving away from reps and excursions, a friend of mine booked a holiday through one of the main tour operators and pointed out that both she and her husband had mobility problems, though at that time he was not in a wheelchair. They were assured the hotel suggested would be perfect, which proved to be far from true as it was up a very steep hill which they had to negotiate if they wanted to go anywhere. The main reason people use the tour operators is to avoid problems such as this but unfortunately so many of them have little knowledge of the areas they are selling.

Last week Thomas Cook were selling some of their holidays to Turkey for May at almost half the price they were last year.
I was very tempted to book but after having the most cramped flight ever on returning from Tunisia in December I decided against it as 4hours plus is too long to be sitting sideways in discomfort.

I never have that problem Jean as I'm a lot shorter than you. I'm flying with them next month as they're the only company which fly from Stansted to Enfidha and for once their flights were a decent price.

when the OH saw the news last night she said have a look they may have some cheap holidays for October,
so i ran a few destinations through their search engine, they came out considerably dearer than i would normally pay for the same accommodation [and less choice of departure airports]

Being a bit on the lanky side Jean I have the same issue! Last time I flew with Thomas Cook we upgraded to extra leg room seats was well worth the extra £40 each!

Its a shame they cant just get the pricing right but I guess they have upped it to try and claw back some of their debt. But with consumers being more savvy than ever a good brand wont help when you price your self out of the market!

I passed my local branch today and it was packed.
There were 6 desks and some folk were queuing.I was tempted to book my May holiday as they have always been excellent and the staff always give me the web price,but after the uncomfortable flight I decided not too.
I would still book with them but one of their Flexitrips where they use a different airline than their own.
Phil,I cant pay for a leg room seat as I have a bad back and they say you have to me 100% fit but I must admit I have thought about not mentioning my back and just book the leg room seats.I am only 5ft 10ins so how do some men over 6ft manage.

Hopefully people take the news in a positive manner and they will be rammed like you witnessed today
Ah yes sorry I forgot about that. Yeah its very uncomfortable for me if im cramped in behind someone else who then preceeds to slam their seat back into my knees! lol

On my return journey the young girl in front of me reclined her seat so it was resting on my knews,I politely asked her to put it upright as she was resting on my knees and I was already sitting sideways.
Fortunately she did but I would have stood in the aisle if she had refused.
I have heard that the cabin crew refuse to help if any one asks who are in genuine discomfort.!
I used to know how to block the mechanism of the seat in front of me to prevent it reclining but it appears the seats have changed.

My grandson is 6'6" and usually sits behind someone who keeps moving in front of him he really struggles. I've booked my cruise in November with Thomas Cook I was going to book direct with Fred Olsen then changed my mind wish I hadn't now.

Has he booked leg room seats?
There is no way he will fit into a seat and as I previously said I am only 5ft 10ins and had to sit sideways.

Aslemma wrote:

I couldn't agree more and it is a scandal. Moving away from reps and excursions, a friend of mine booked a holiday through one of the main tour operators and pointed out that both she and her husband had mobility problems, though at that time he was not in a wheelchair. They were assured the hotel suggested would be perfect, which proved to be far from true as it was up a very steep hill which they had to negotiate if they wanted to go anywhere. The main reason people use the tour operators is to avoid problems such as this but unfortunately so many of them have little knowledge of the areas they are selling.

It's so annoying when those like your friends get this poor level of service, as this is where a decent high street travel agent could really come into their own.

Sorting out issues for those with mobility problems is a specialist area and the very people that if they received a good service would probably go back again and maybe even recommend the agent. What a missed opportunity for the agent and how disappointing for your friend and her husband.

Many us on HT will no longer be using agents I guess as we are more or less experts in what our needs are. I booked a TC holiday last year and a Thomson holiday, both on their respective websites.

I think if they want to survive they must look to not only offer these kinds of specialised services but offer them to a high standard.

Many us on HT will no longer be using agents I guess as we are more or less experts in what our needs are. I booked a TC holiday last year and a Thomson holiday, both on their respective websites.

We rarely use an agent these days unless it is a slightly more unusual style holiday such as our Kenyan Safari trip and in these circumstances we tend to use the The Co-operative Travel.who we have used for years and have found to be reliable, anyway this morning I popped in to our local Thomas Cook (The Co-operative Travel.is not near us) and said to agent (the shop manager) that I was looking for a bit of inspiration for a special holiday, somewhere a bit different for a 4-6 week holiday next year for us.

Now some would see this as an opportunity for a sale of an expensive holiday however she played it cool, points to a worldwide brochure on the shelf and says 'take look at that there might be something in there' and that was the total extent of her input and advice

Thanks local Thomas Cook we will not bother with you then, just have to make time to head over to The Co-operative Travel.