Thomas Cook going belly up is insane...

[MrScorpio]

I wonder how much of this has to do with Brexit.

[elleng]

1. Likely coming for a long time,

hurt by brexit to some extent but competition likely got them (imo.)

[applegrove]

3. When i went on a trip to europe from canada my travel agent gave me Thomas Cook travelors cheques.

I asked for something that wasn't funny money. I had never heard of them before.

[mwooldri]

2. Part of it is they still have bricks and mortar travel agencies.

Some of it is Brexit - people putting off buying a package holiday. Most of this is just stiff competition.

I bought my first plane tickets via Thomas Cook (British Airways). It's a shame but they simply couldn't reinvent themselves quickly enough.

[customerserviceguy]

5. This. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

4. The travel industry

has been impacted by the Internet for quite some time now. Nobody goes into a travel agency to peruse brochures anymore.

[elleng]

6. Right, I meant to include internet in my reply above.

[customerserviceguy]

7. It's probably

the major factor. I don't know what effects Brexit will have on British firms, but my suspicion is that it will be less than most people think. The British never signed on to the euro.

[at140]

8. (((((((((( THIS )))))))))))

Couldn't agree more! I have done more than 30 cruise vacations and in every case, I found the best price on the internet, usually directly from the cruise line itself. The days of travel agents are gone.

[dalton99a]

9. 150,000 stranded

Civil Aviation Authority announces repatriation programme to bring holidaymakers home

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the government had asked it to launch a repatriation programme over the next two weeks, starting on Monday and running to Sunday 6 October, to bring Thomas Cook customers back to the UK.

The CAA statement said: “Due to the unprecedented number of UK customers currently overseas who are affected by the situation, the Civil Aviation Authority has secured a fleet of aircraft from around the world to bring passengers back to the UK with return flights. ...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2019/sep/23/thomas-cook-travel-chaos-insolvency-leaves-150000-stranded-on-holidays-live-updates