Our rolling coverage of the collapse of tour operator Thomas Cook is coming to a close now.
You can catch up on all the latest developments in the story here.
And if you’re one of the unlucky travelers affected by the closure, here’s what you need to know.
Thomas Cook’s issues went beyond Brexit. But Britain’s complicated departure from the European Union, and its impact on the pound, may have been the final nail in the troubled company’s coffin.
The travel operator’s dramatic collapse follows years of mismanagement and a failure to keep pace with online rivals, writes Hanna Ziady from CNN Business. And Brexit didn’t help.
Analysts say it was one of several factors that led to the 178-year old travel company’s demise, which has left 150,000 UK holidaymakers stranded abroad and cost thousands of employees their jobs.
Read more here
A total of 46 flights in and out of Spain were cancelled Monday as a result of the collapse of Thomas Cook, a spokesman for Spain’s airports operator AENA told CNN.
The airports affected are: Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife.
Spain’s Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) said Thomas Cook and its subsidiary Thomas Cook Scandinavia had 525 scheduled flights in Spain over the next 15 days, with 70% heading to the UK, 12% to Norway, 10% to Sweden, 6% to Denmark and 2% to Finland
Meanwhile, the acting minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said “those who are in Spanish hotels can be calm,” because of guarantees from the UK Government.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has written on Virgin’s site that he is “saddened” to see the collapse of Thomas Cook.
“It’s upsetting to see so many people lose their jobs and thousands of holidaymakers affected by disrupted travel,” Branson wrote.
He said the tour operator “was the pioneer of organized travel and has been such a strong force in the travel industry,” adding that Virgin Atlantic “are doing all they can to find people jobs and bring stranded people home.”
A groom who shares the same name as the travel operator Thomas Cook has had his wedding plans ruined by the company’s collapse.
Cook and his partner, Amelia Binch, were due to get married on the Greek island of Rhodes on Friday.
Now they are stranded, and aren’t sure if the wedding can go ahead.
If it does, they don’t yet know whether any of their friends will make it to Greece in time for the ceremony.
“We found out today in the early hours,” Binch told CNN. “We were devastated and still are!”
The couple booked their wedding package with Thomas Cook last year. Binch said the operator promised a “special surprise” since the groom shares the company’s name.
They haven’t received anything, she said, explaining that the wedding package the couple bought included not only the ceremony, but also the flowers, wedding cake and entertainment. It’s not clear if any part of the wedding can go ahead as planned.
“We have some family out here but our friends are due to be flew out Wednesday (including best man) which won’t be able to come,” Binch said.
“We have no plans but to wait and find out when our flight home is.”
News of Thomas Cook’s collapse is the equivalent to a “7-magnitude earthquake,” for the island, Michalis Vlatakis, president of the Association of Cretan Travel and Tourism Agencies has told CNN.
“The size of the Thomas Cook collapse can be compared to a 7-magnitude earthquake – but sometimes the tsunami is even worse, and in this occasion what we’re bracing for is the tsunami,” Vlatakis said.
He added that the loss of Thomas Cook’s business could have a major impact on tourism on the Greek Island, where large numbers of hotels have contracts with the company.
Meanwhile, the Greek Tourism Association says the operator’s collapse will need “quick and effective responses.”
“Concrete measures should be planned and announced, as to how the problems that arise for tourism businesses as a result of the collapse will be absorbed,” it said in a statement, adding that the private sector “needs to remain calm and offer assistance to the thousands of Thomas Cook tourists currently in the country.”
“Our behavior and the treatment provided towards these people will shape the image of our country as a welcoming and responsible destination, on an international level.”
Around 600,000 travelers are affected by the collapse of tour operator Thomas Cook.
The countries where the largest numbers of tourists are stranded are Spain, Turkey, Tunisia and Greece.
Here’s what affected travelers need to know:
I’m currently on a Thomas Cook holiday. How do I get home?
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will arrange return flights for ATOL-protected travelers currently abroad who were planning to fly back to the UK with Thomas Cook.
What is ATOL? It stands for “Air Travel Organiser’s Licence” – it’s a UK financial protection scheme that safeguards most package holidays sold by travel businesses based in the UK.
Basically, it prevents travelers from being left without assistance or facing a financial loss if their travel company stops trading. Which is exactly what happened in the UK on Sunday.
For those currently abroad and due to fly back to the UK with Thomas Cook, the CAA is providing new flights to get them home.
What about hotels?
Now for the bad news: Travelers who only booked hotels through Thomas Cook and not flight-inclusive packages will have to foot the hotel bill themselves.
But if your Thomas Cook holiday included flights, there is specific advice about accommodation.
The CAA says that if you are currently abroad on an ATOL-protected package holiday with Thomas Cook – or any company which is part of the Thomas Cook Group – the authority “will seek to guarantee your stay directly with your hotel.”
The CAA says it may take a few days to secure these arrangements. In the meantime, do not make a payment to your hotel, unless instructed otherwise by the CAA team.
If you are not ATOL-protected, the CAA says you can’t make a claim for out-of-pocket expenses and additional nights of hotel accommodation – but you may be able to claim from your travel insurer, bank or credit card issuer.
I haven’t traveled yet. How do I get a refund?
Don’t bother going to the airport. All Thomas Cook flights were immediately canceled following the announcement of the company’s shutdown.
As for getting a refund, again, in the UK it all comes down to ATOL. If your holiday was protected, you should be able to file a claim via the ATOL scheme.
Now here’s where things get a bit tricky.
The CAA says if you booked a holiday with Thomas Cook but your flights are with an airline unrelated to the Thomas Cook Group, your flights may still be available.
“You are advised to check with the airline if you are still able to travel,” says the authority’s advice.
“If you wish to travel, you can do so and make a claim to ATOL for the cost of replacing your other travel services. You are not obliged to use your flights and can instead claim a refund under the ATOL scheme.”
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) says it is “despicable” how Thomas Cook employees have been treated amid the travel company’s collapse.
Read the full statement here:
The collapse of Thomas Cook, which has left 600,000 passengers stranded and tens of thousands of employees without a job, is an act of “economic vandalism,” according to Britain’s Unite union.
Speaking to CNN at the Labour Party’s conference in Brighton, the union’s Assistant General Secretary for Transport, Diana Holland, said: “It is absolutely devastating for people, and our first priority – in addition to obviously extending our message of support to every single person – is to make sure they get paid.”
Holland says Unite represents about 3,000 of the company’s 9,000 UK-based employees.
Wendy Willis, 57, was on board a Thomas Cook plane from Orlando to Manchester, which — according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24 – was the operator’s final flight.
Willis told CNN the atmosphere on the flight was very somber: “Staff were crying on the plane and ground staff were really upset and tearful.”
“They were so professional and will be a credit to anyone who employs them,” she added.
Willis said she learned of Thomas Cook’s collapse on Facebook before the flight took off from Florida.
“We only knew it was Thomas Cook’s last flight just before we landed, and it was confirmed by staff after we landed,” she added.
What’s Gatwick like right now? It’s not as chaotic as you might expect.
The UK Government issued lots of warnings to passengers not to turn up to airports today if you’re booked on a Thomas Cook flight.
As a result, there aren’t huge queues, or angry hordes of passengers flooding the departure hall at Gatwick, south of London.
Civil Aviation Authority officials who are on hand to help stranded passengers told CNN they have handed out hundreds of leaflets with all the advice that passengers impacted by Thomas Cook’s closure need.
The UK Government has defended its decision not to save Thomas Cook from liquidation, telling the PA Media news agency that doing so “would not have been a good use of taxpayers’ money.”
“We would have had to repatriate people later down the line and have lost more money in the process,” a Number 10 spokeswoman told the agency.
“It is obviously a very competitive market, and it isn’t the Government’s role to prop up companies when this sort of issue arises. Our decision was that injecting cash into the situation was not going to make it any better.”
The spokeswoman added there were “serious concerns” over bonuses paid to Thomas Cook directors. PA Media reported that questions over the bonuses would form part of the Insolvency Service’s investigation into the company’s collapse.
Martin Nowell and Pixie Flageul told CNN they opted to try their luck at Gatwick Airport this morning, despite news of Thomas Cook’s collapse.
“We thought we would try it until we hit the buffers,” said Nowell, explaining that the couple had been due to fly to Hurghada in Egypt.
“We were all packed and ready to go,” he added. “Pixie has been looking forward to this for months.”
He said the pair had booked their flights through the tour operator, and their hotel through another agency.
“I’m glad we didn’t fly because we could get stuck, and we only have limited means in terms be able to bail ourselves out,” Nowell added.
British railway companies have issued a statement saying they will refund any pre-booked tickets to Gatwick or Luton airport that were bought by customers affected by Thomas Cook’s collapse.
Southern Railway, Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Great Northern Rail said in the statement that they will also honor any rail tickets bought for passengers returning to the UK earlier, or later than planned.
Fiona Redding, who is currently stuck at Menorca Airport awaiting a flight back to Bristol says she found out about Thomas Cook’s collapse after reading a newsletter.
“I found out via the Guardian daily news email when I had already gone through security,” Redding told CNN.
“I’ve been here since 8am. It’s not clear what’s going on with flights at the moment, the times keep changing (to later and later). I’m flight-only so not protected by ATOL, unfortunately.”
Despite the delay, Redding says her first thoughts go to the Thomas Cook employees.
“I just feel for the employees – I’ll get home eventually but they won’t have a job to go back to.”
Michael Welham – who has been at Menorca Airport in Spain since 7am, local time – told CNN that he, along with what he estimates to be 1,000 other Thomas Cook customers, are still stranded, waiting for more news.
Welham had been due to fly back to London Stansted airport today, at the end of a one-week holiday.
He said his flight looks set to be delayed until 4:30 p.m., but that despite the bad news, the general mood in the airport is positive.
British low-cost airline Jet2 has warned that its prices may rise as a result of higher demand for flights following Thomas Cook’s collapse.
In a tweet, a customer reported that he had planned to book a holiday through the airline, but found the price had skyrocketed.
A representative of Jet2 replied, saying it was “saddened” by the news of Thomas Cook’s collapse, but adding that “our flights and holiday prices work on a live system which means prices can (and do) fluctuate based on various factors, including demand, availability etc.”
Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser spoke to reporters early Monday about the collapse of the company he has led since 2014.
He said there had been “huge efforts” and negotiations to try to save the travel operator over the past few months, but that they had ultimately failed.
Read his statement:
Liverpool Football Club has been hit by the collapse of Thomas Cook – which sells hospitality packages for its games at Anfield Stadium.
“We are currently assessing the impact of Thomas Cook ceasing trading and the impact for those supporters who have purchased packages from Thomas Cook,” the club said in a statement online.
“Once we have those details from Thomas Cook, we will update supporters.”
Rival travel groups and airlines got a boost from Thomas Cook’s demise in early European trading.
Shares in the region’s leading low-cost airlines Ryanair and EasyJet were up by 2% and 5% respectively.
EasyJet is making a big push into the holiday business with the aim of selling accommodation packages to millions of people who fly with the airline but currently book hotels elsewhere.
EasyJet is also working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority to support the huge repatriation effort required to bring stranded Thomas Cook customers back to the United Kingdom.
Germany’s TUI, Thomas Cook’s biggest rival tour operator, saw its shares gain more than 6% in Frankfurt.
