Member update following Thomas Cook news

23 September 2019

Following the announcement of the collapse of Thomas Cook today we wanted to offer advice to any members affected by the news.

The vast majority of travel policies including our own within the Group Insurance scheme, do NOT cover financial failure for the main reason that the protection is provided under ATOL, the CAA and by booking through Credit Cards usually provides sufficient protection to ensure members get their money back.

• If you are currently abroad, the Government is arranging for return flight as close as possible to your scheduled return dates/times. Information should be made available locally in-resort
• Package Holidays booked with Thomas Cook are protected through ATOL, and you should receive a full refund or another booking. Claims may take up to two months to process
• If you booked flight only, the best course of action is to approach your Credit Card provider for a refund. They hold reserves for this eventuality and are reported to hold £50m in reserves for Thomas Cook
• If you are due to travel in the next few days, the current advice is NOT to travel to the airport. You should however to check with your provider or airport to see if this advice is up to date
• Travel Insurance will generally NOT provide cover for Financial Failure due to the industry protections already in place.

The CAA website for dealing with Thomas Cook claims is:

More information can be found here or here