Thomas Cook passengers’ woes added to
Computer breakdown adds to Thomas Cook passengers’ woes
Thomas Cook passengers say:
A British tourist stranded in Menorca says matters have been made worse by the fact that check in systems have crashed.
Harry Apostolakis, was due to fly back with his partner to Gatwick today after a holiday, but has been waiting at Menorca Airport for the last three hours.
Harry says Thomas Cook staff should be ‘given a medal’ for all of their help and support, who he ‘can’t believe are still working’ following the company’s collapse.
He says that he has been told that passengers flying to Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow have been given priority.
He said: ‘I’ve no idea about Gatwick.’
Harry added that Thomas Cook staff used the loudspeaker system to thank all the passengers for their patience and for flying with them over the years.
He posted a picture of long queues at the airport, with a Tweet: ‘3 hours in the queue now and will start checking in manually like the good old days! #ThomasCook #Menorca.’
Harry also said that he was saddened by the collapse of Thomas Cook and especially for the staff who had all lost their jobs.
The 31-year-old says he has now been told that arrangements had been made for them to fly back with Iberia airlines.
However, manual check in still hasn’t taken place, and has ‘no idea’ when his flight will be departing.
He added: ‘The delay now seems to be the airport’s problem as their computers are broken.’
It comes after the collapse of Thomas Cook was announced on Sunday night, leaving around 600,000 passengers, including 150,000 Brits, stranded.
The collapse of the 178-year-old holiday firm has triggered the biggest peacetime repatriation, with efforts underway to bring back British holidaymakers back home.
The jobs of 9,000 Thomas Cook staff have also been put on the line.
Only passengers with return flights booked within the next two weeks, between Monday and Sunday October 6, will qualify for a free flight home, as close as possible to their original return date.