Thomas Cook

[pug]

There has been talk of contractual reasons for the delay

To be honest, I read that as DSA has made a good offer to switch their entire Yorkshire and Lincolnshire operation over to them. Similar to what Thomson did seven years ago. I agree with Aviador, but expect that if this is the case, only the very popular destinations will be kept, flown by Jet2 and the like. Thomas Cook are currently seeing a management reshuffle dont forget.

If that is true then you can look on the positive side. Any loss of a summer base from Thomas Cook will be more than made up for by the new routes that have been announced and that we already know are in the offing.

The leisure market is quite fickle.

 

[Aviador]

I've just sent Thomas Cook an e-mail asking why all other airports are available to book apart from LBA. I went on to say that passengers will not be bullied into using alternative airports, they will just book with a different company.

I suspect I will just receive the standard non committal reply but I've said my piece.

Pug, I'm not convinced Peel will have been able to offer anything better. DSA is still loosing millions of pounds each year so they're not in a position to offer anything better than LBA. Furthermore, wouldn't Monarch have announced flights from DSA if that were the case and wouldn't Thomson's be expanding further there as opposed to announcing new flights from Leeds.

 

[adam]

I was reading the Airtours 1st edition brochure and the flight table had flights from LBA to various destinations are these flights allocations on other operators flights such as jet2?

[ Post made via Android ]

 

[Aviador]

I was reading the Airtours 1st edition brochure and the flight table had flights from LBA to various destinations are these flights allocations on other operators flights such as jet2?

[ Post made via Android ]

Good question. Airtours is of course part of Thomas Cook. Has anybody tried booking with Airtours?

 

[tleeds]

Its the same story Aviador..

LBA is not on the drop-down list as a Departure Point.

The same story cannot be said for the MyTravel website! Leeds Bradford, Liverpool amongst many other airports are on the Departure Point drop-down list, however they offer no bookings for any destinations. :whiteflag:

 

[pug]

Pug, I'm not convinced Peel will have been able to offer anything better. DSA is still loosing millions of pounds each year so they're not in a position to offer anything better than LBA. Furthermore, wouldn't Monarch have announced flights from DSA if that were the case and wouldn't Thomson's be expanding further there as opposed to announcing new flights from Leeds.

I take your point Aviador, but I didn't mean it necessarily had to be directly financial incentives to move. If they do go then it would be for the very reason you highlighted in your email; that they probably believe that passengers will follow them where they go.

Of course it could also be a cost cutting excersise. They may not be looking at increasing DSA at all, but perhaps cannot justify the cost of basing their own or a third party aircraft at LBA for the summer.

I hope they do remain at LBA.

 

[White Heather]

If they really want to make savings then it is pointless moving their operation to DSA. They might as well remain at MAN and EMA and try to get everyone to travel to one of those. Both would be likely to attract more passengers than DSA, which (as other airlines have learned the hard way) represents a risk. Would a company take a risk when they are already struggling? Did they learn nothing from Thomson??

Having read today all the increases in capacity that Jet2 are offering for 2013, many of which are on routes operated by Thomas Cook, it wouldn't surprise me to find them flying from Leeds and taking an allocation on Jet2. For example Mahon on Friday has increased from a 737 to a 757 next year. I doubt the demand purely from Jet2 would justify that, but adding the Thomas Cook flight (also a Friday) would then justify such a move. We might just get the odd Thomas Cook aircraft coming on W legs to other destinations, but only time will tell.

 

[Aviador]

I've just sent Thomas Cook an e-mail asking why all other airports are available to book apart from LBA. I went on to say that passengers will not be bullied into using alternative airports, they will just book with a different company.

I suspect I will just receive the standard non committal reply but I've said my piece.

As expected, the standard non committal 'round the houses' reply but I am at least invited to talk to one of their live advisers to discuss what to do in the future. :nea:

We are really sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused. We try to give our customers a great variety of holidays to choose from, we have taken your feedback into account and we will do our best to diverse our holidays accordingly we can assure you. What we can advise you to do in the future when having trouble finding availability is to simply initiate a chat with our dedicated Live Chat Support team, they will be glad to assist you.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Why do organisations (not just airlines and tour companies) treat potential customers in such a condescending way?

I believe that standard replies such as this are extremely ill-mannered. No attempt is made to address the specific points raised.

They could easily have said that final plans for next year are not all in place and that a decision re LBA is yet to be confirmed, or they will be operating from LBA next year and details will soon be released, or they won't be flying from LBA next year.

If they really are still unsure by now about LBA it doesn't say much for the capacity of the TCX management unless negotiations are ongoing re airport charges etc, in which case they could have replied along the lines of the first part of my previous paragraph. It wouldn't affect them commercially any more than the uncertainty that currently exists.

Why insult the intelligence of people who take the trouble to ask a valid question by replying with such nebulous nonsense?

 

[paul.smith]

Good afternoon

I have just bean informed by a customer, who works at TCX in bradford that the LBA flights are now loaded into their system and that anyone booked from MAN can ammend booking back to LBA. When I asked about frequencies she said less flights but still with TCX.

 

[pug]

Still nothing available in the online booking engine. Are they just taking seats?

[ Post made via Android ]

 

[lbaspotter]

Yeah I have also heard the same that Thomas Cook Holidays summer 2013 programme will be released and on sale very shortly.

But it is expected that Thomas Cook Airlines will not be basing an aircraft at Leeds/Bradford next year. The good news I hear that Thomas Cook Airlines own aircraft will still be seen at Leeds/Bradford next summer operating doing w-legs on there most popular routes and services not currently served by other airlines. I also understand that they are taking seat allocations on some Jet2 flights as usual.

I guess we better watch this space.

 

[pug]

A shame to see the loss of their based aircraft, but if they are staying then good to see their commitment to LBA.

[ Post made via Android ]

 

[whoshotjimmi]

If Thomas Cook believe their best course of action is to not base at least one aircraft in the fourth largest population centre in the UK, then I say good luck to them. As I said good luck to Thomson when they pulled out.

Thomas Cook the brand is getting absolutely destroyed by various disasters and their inability to effectively manage the situation has brought them to the brink. If they continue to make rash, brand damaging decisions based on years of poor management they will, quite simply, cease to exist. The arrogance of the company in believing their customers will remain loyal in the face of a recession, high fuel costs and massive competition provided by other companies and the internet (lowcostholidays.com springs to mind) is mindboggling. In terms of their UK business, they should be adjusting their portfolio to counterract the problems facing Greece and the reluctance of UK customers to book in these places by scaling back certain options to the major points of departure and by increasing capacity from the regional airports to the more stable desinations as well as innovating to regions with a currency other than the Euro. They certainly should not be pulling out of airports where competition is large and relatively disloyal as they will simply lose that trade. What it sounds like will happen is that Thomas Cook will outsource most destinations to other, competing carriers whilst retaining their own flights to destinations that only they fly. In other words, the destinations that are currently loss leaders. It defies belief.

 

[SNOWMAN]

who as said tcx are pulling out of lba? is this a case of 2 & 2=5 ? lets see what comes from tcx in the next
2 weeks.

regards sm1.

 

[Seasider]

I don't think that the Airport will be too worried about TCX indecision as they will have a contingency plan already in place and maybe agreements waiting to be signed if TCX pull out completely.
From my viewpoint (never worked in the Industry but followed the airline industry for over 40 years) I think they will operate some 'W' legs on the popular routes and buy seats on Jet2/Monarch for the less popular ones.

 

[Aviador]

I sent Thomas Cook a tweet @ThomasCookUK "Why are S13 flights still not on sale for some airports, notably Leeds and Humberside?"

I received this reply today.

"ThomasCookUK Thomas Cook@Forums4airports We shall be loading our flights online very soon. Thanks for your patience. ^PMK"

 

[lbaspotter]

On a positive note i was told something totally different today compaired to what i posted on here friday regarding tcx at LBA next summer.

If its true I would expect a few suprises come later this week ot early next when all is reveled and announced. What ever happens it looks like its going to be interesting up at LBA next summer.

[ Post made via Android ]

 

[pug]

Lets hope your source is correct and there is some positive growth from Thomas Cook next year at LBA.

 

[lbaspotter]

Its worth pointing out right now that Thomas Cook Holidays are currently performing routine maintenance and during the period there website is unavailable.

It just maybe one to watch out on when the site comes back online later this afternoon.