Holidaymakers have been hit with immediate price rises as Thomas Cook’s collapse prompted tour operators and airlines to push through big fare hikes.
Travellers scrambling to rebook holidays claimed that some airlines had trebled prices in the space of 24 hours. Flight websites predicted that prices, especially out of Manchester, would continue to rise significantly in the coming months.
Jet2, whose UK airports include Manchester, confirmed it was raising prices in the wake of Thomas Cook’s demise. A spokesperson said: “Our pricing, as is common practice in the travel industry, is based on the principle of supply and demand. As supply reduces, an inevitable consequence is that prices increase. However, we are looking at adding more supply (flights and seats) to help customers at this time.”
When an airline starts cancelling or delaying flights for more than three hours, passengers are entitled to compensation of €250-€600 (£230-£550) under EU rules.
The cause of the problem has to be under the airline’s control and not an ‘extraordinary circumstance’. Lack of planes/staff, flight overbooking, a strike by airline staff or an IT failure are all considered to be within the airline’s control – so compensation is payable.
Passengers on cancelled short-haul flights – up to 1,500km – are entitled to €250 or £230. For flights of 1,500km-3,500km, passengers are entitled to €400, and €600 for the longest flights (more than 3,500km).
Compensation is also payable if the plane is delayed. The payments are the same but only kick in when the plane has been delayed three hours for short flights or four hours for the longer trips. The delay is calculated against the time the plane was due to arrive.
Passengers are also entitled to ‘assistance’ under the EU rules. Short-haul passengers should receive food and water after two hours. Mid-distance passengers get help after three hours, while long-haul passengers receive it after they have been held in the terminal for four hours. If the delay is overnight, passengers should be provided with hotel accommodation but this often does not happen. This assistance should be provided irrespective of whether the delay is the airline’s fault.
The airlines have fought these compensation rules since they were introduced and passengers have had to go to court to get their money. The airlines frequently blame delays on events outside their control. Freak weather events or a last-minute strike by air traffic controllers are deemed to be outside their control. A lack of planes or staff is not.
The rules only apply to EU-based airlines or all flights that start in the EU on non-EU based carriers. What will happen after Brexit is not yet clear. Miles Brignall
One consumer tweeted that the price of a flight from Manchester to Menorca on Jet2 had jumped from £47 to £145.
Paid for two fights to Menorca with Barclaycard and they’ve told me to contact Thomas Cook.
— James Dunkerley (@dunkerley_james) September 23, 2019
Tried another flight with Jet2 and £47 yesterday £145 today.
How are they allowed to do this?
Another posted screengrabs showing a Jet2 flight from Manchester to Tenerife on October 20 increasing in price from £221 to £404 in less than an hour.
Absolutely disgusting from @jet2tweets @Jet2Holiday within the space of an HOUR they’ve doubled the price of flights following the news of #ThomasCook collapsing. Yet another Typical greedy airline. #jet2 pic.twitter.com/3xDTlq60mn
— Olivia Howat (@olivia_howat) September 23, 2019
Jack Sheldon, founder of flight price website Jack’s Flight Club, said he expected fares on some holiday routes to rise. “When a particular route ceases to operate prices do indeed increase substantially, but this generally occurs over a matter of weeks and months. I expect it will be similar in this case as the additional demand will increase prices on other carriers,” he said.
“Apart from easyJet and Ryanair, we expect you’ll see increases on long-haul routes to many Caribbean destination from London and even more so from Manchester, where Thomas Cook was quite dominant, in terms of direct routes to many holiday destinations.”
Thomas Cook had a substantial presence at Manchester and Gatwick, where it had 350 and 200 take off and landing slots respectively.
The company’s collapse is also likely to be a much-needed shot in the arm for Flybe, which operates flights to destinations such as Alicante and Málaga from regional UK airports. Its site is pricing flights from Malaga to Glasgow at £595 one way flying out on Wednesday this week.
Skyscanner, a popular flight price site, said in the medium term prices were likely to spike but then drop back. Lisa Tyndall of Skyscanner said: “We typically see prices increase for key routes when an airline ceases trading, before reverting back again soon after. We did see an increase in searches on Skyscanner in the UK over the past 24 hours, which may well be travellers searching for alternative travel arrangements.”
One major holiday provider, which preferred to remain anonymous, told the Guardian that it expected flight and package holiday prices to continue to rise through the winter, as Thomas Cook was also a major winter sun operator, but that prices would stabilise after that.
“This will be a short-term hit, with rises through the winter months as capacity is removed. But we expect to see other carriers take over Thomas Cook’s slots and once those are swallowed up prices should steady.”
