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Old 24th September 2019, 17:33   #1
SCP440
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Default Returning home after Thomas Cook colapse

I nearly put this on the other thread about this subject but I thought it better to start a new one.

Last week I was lucky enough to have a fabulous week on Corfu booked through Thomas Cook, we were due to fly back on Monday evening at 9pm.

We awoke to the news that they had collapsed and we panicked as I needed to be back at work today.

I was greeted at the reception by one of the Thomas Cook Reps and she was assuring us that it was already in hand and we would be collected at the same time and should have a flight home with possible delays.

We got to the airport and was greeted by a government official in a fluorescent jacket with CAA on it. We were assured again we would get home with possibly some delays to same airport we left from.

After a few hours we were told our flight would be about 1am so about 4 hours late.

It arrived at 12.30 am and we were surprised to find it was a Thomas Cook aircraft with Thomas Cook staff . Once we were all loaded the crew explained they were doing this and were not getting paid but felt so bad they felt they had to do it, they were very tearful. We held a collection on the aircraft and I suspect there was probably a couple of grand in the bag as most people were putting in large notes in either Euros or £'s.

I have to say I feel the Government and the CAA have done a fabulous job in getting us back and considering how bad it could have been I got home only 5 hours later than I was planning on being.

I know there is lot going on at the moment but we need to stop being so negative and the people that have organised this need to be congratulated for what they have done so far and what they will be doing for the next couple of weeks.

I was amazed while we were waiting for our return flight there was a family from Manchester who were offered seats on our East Midlands flight with a FREE taxi transfer to get them home, this was no good and ''they didn't want to sit in a Taxi for a couple of hours''. They were demanding a flight to Manchester and were horrible to the CAA people. Eventually they were taken to a Hotel until a flight to Manchester was available. Is it me? We were grateful to be back in the UK and if I had been flown to anywhere in the UK I would have been relieved.

10 our of 10 to the government, the CAA and to the Thomas Cook staff who are working for nothing just to get there customers sorted.

I wish the BBC and other news channels would report positive news for a change, I even got in contact with the BBC today and because I was being positive about it the person was not interested in ''taking it further''. This is the biggest repatriation since Dunkirk organised in a few hours. It makes me proud to be British.
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Old 25th September 2019, 13:41   #2
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The jet that you flew back on although in TC livery is not owned by TC nor was it the operator. It is a jet which TC leased from Avion Express hence the reason why the CAA were permitted to charter its use for the repatriation exercise. Aircraft owned by TC are verboten re the exercise as their legal permissions to fly have been withdrawn, indeed some of them have even been impounded pending payment of outstanding bills. The CAA had been chartering and getting aircraft into position over the week before the official collapse announcement, it did not happen overnight and contingency planning will likely have been going on for some weeks at least.

Your repatriation aircraft will have been chartered from Avion Express by the CAA and ditto the crew under an ACMI arrangement. I would expect that the cabin crew would not be working for nothing and that they would be working on at least short term contracts given how the exercise is bankrolled. I'm not sure that rules and legalities would even permit any crew being used outwith a contract of employment and it is quite possible that the flight deck crew only might be salaried by AE and leased out with the aircraft.

If the on-board collection was to help TC crew who have been caught up in this while downroute then it does not seem unreasonable to me but I'm a bit puzzled as to the stated reason.
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Old 1st October 2019, 21:42   #3
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some more positivity (from the BBC! lol)
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Old 1st October 2019, 22:24   #4
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We've just come back from turkey, and I must say that I thought the Turkish airport officials did a fantastic job of making sure we got home - Albeit 14 hours late.
Now lets comment on what the british officials did for us at Antalya airport.
**** all. That's what they did. **** all.
They stood there in their high visibility jackets, with british government official printed on the front, with the union jack printed on the back of their vests.
Not one of them had anything to offer. They just walked around aimlessly, polishing the floor with shoe leather. An absolute joke. An embarrassment to the british flag. They served no purpose.
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Old 3rd October 2019, 20:02   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by damienp View Post
We've just come back from turkey, and I must say that I thought the Turkish airport officials did a fantastic job of making sure we got home - Albeit 14 hours late.
Now lets comment on what the british officials did for us at Antalya airport.
**** all. That's what they did. **** all.
They stood there in their high visibility jackets, with british government official printed on the front, with the union jack printed on the back of their vests.
Not one of them had anything to offer. They just walked around aimlessly, polishing the floor with shoe leather. An absolute joke. An embarrassment to the british flag. They served no purpose.
Well Damien, in spite of those useless Brits and the lost 14 hours I hope your holiday went well for you.--
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Old 3rd October 2019, 20:07   #6
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After reading post 1 and then post 2 I'm now totally confused as to what actually happened.---
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