Thomas Cook redundancies

[Kendhni]

Very sad to see that they are cutting almost 1-in-5 jobs.
Story here and here

I have been wondering for a while if the era of the High Street TA has come to an end. We usually use a TA, but lately I have been wondering what value they are adding, given that you can easily book online.

[Manoverboard]

They have a role to play but in the good old days they, TA's that is, seemed to be the experts of travel ... not so much these days however.

But it is handy to have somebody to kick if there are problems, if at zero cost to me of course.

[Dancing Queen]

It wouldn't surprise me if the one in our town closes, there is never anyone in there whenever I walk past, I haven't used a High St TA in years it is just so much more convenient to do it online or over the phone.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Rightly or wrongly this smells bad to me. A couple of years back they "merged" with Co-op Travel, including Cumbria Cruises who had served us well, and promptly closed down the Cumbria base, made the excellent staff redundant, and kept only the name. We still get the old Co-op benfits, such as divi, but the service is not as friendly or good.

They also took over Co-op Travel shops, of which we have one in our town, which has also served us well. I guess a lot of the closures will be where there was once a Co-op branch as well as a Thomas Cook. Smart way to cut the competition - buy it up and close it! Thankfully we don't have a TC branch in town so hopefully our Co-op may survive this round of cuts.

[lioness]

The only TA near me has also closed, not a Thomas Cook, but obviously just didn't get the business.

[Kendhni]

It wouldn't surprise me if the one in our town closes, there is never anyone in there whenever I walk past,

I notice that ... whenever we are not interested in booking a holiday the place is empty but if we go down to book a holiday the place is bunged

[gfwgfw]

L do believe that Mr Thomas Cook was the very first with the vision of group travel in the 1840's

He came from a very humble back ground and lived in Derbyshire

Thomas first job was gardening earning six pence a week

I well remember his famed Traveller's checks were accepted in most countries, much as the US Dollar is today

This is going to be yet another blot on our high streets with more large premises being closed

Methinks another victim of the "t-internet"

In and around Poole Bay lots of large shops have closed, always refitted as Coffee Shops, fast food outlets and of course the current high street mega success Witherspoons

[karenandbob]

They have ony just done over our TA from First Choice here in Wellington to Thomas Cook, as there is also one in Taunton (7 miles down the road) I was wondering if they will close one of these. The one here in Wellington is so handy and the people in there are so nice, got to know them by their first names and they call us by our first names as well, it will be a shame if they do close it.

[Kendhni]

We have to go down the town centre to pay for a holiday today ... Co-op travel. It will be interesting to hear what is happening from the girl we usually deal with.

[Suekersh]

Rightly or wrongly this smells bad to me. A couple of years back they "merged" with Co-op Travel, including Cumbria Cruises who had served us well, and promptly closed down the Cumbria base, made the excellent staff redundant, and kept only the name. We still get the old Co-op benfits, such as divi, but the service is not as friendly or good.

We must have been lucky with the home worker our account was passed on to. She is called Katie Jade and she is both friendly and knowledgeable. She returns phone calls and e mails immediately and keeps us well informed of offers and any changes.
We were concerned when Cumbria went but wanted to continue to use Cumbria Cruises because of our free credit card status and co op divi. We needn't have worried and are more than happy with the new service.

Sue