International Rescue

I awoke on Monday morning like another 150,000 people on Thomas Cook holidays to find that I had not got a flight home as the company had sadly been placed into liquidation by its directors in the early hours.

This was not a total shock as the company’s financial woes had been widely reported for weeks by some reliable, and some less reliable media sources, but it was something I could’ve done without.

My predicament was not too bad as I was visiting my parents in Greece and staying in our family holiday home – so I was never going to be stuck without a bed, and I knew I would get home somehow.  That is in stark contrast to the 9000 UK employees who are now out of work, and the many thousands of families who were on foreign holidays in hotels and in some cases started to receive demands for payment from the hotel management.

Just a few days earlier I had arrived unannounced at my Mums house and knocked on the door to surprise her for her big birthday (I’m not going to say how old she is, it’s not the done thing!)  We had the obligatory hugs and tears, and a few glasses of wine and at some point the conversation turned to how I was getting home.

Thomas Cook was my answer, having flown over with Jet2.  However as the weekend progressed it became apparent that maybe I wouldn’t be ‘Thomas Cook-ing’ it home this time as the news from the crisis talks got worse and worse every time I checked it.

Back to my metaphorical hangover day, Monday morning.

TC had gone.

That was it, shut up shop, no more flights, no hotels, no more holidays.

Now, the government does have some recent experience of helping holiday makers in this situation after the sad demise of Monarch a couple of years ago. So over the weekend the CAA dusted off the repatriation plan, doubled it and, in preparation for the likely outcome started to position aircraft ready to fly home the ATOL protected passengers.

ATOL only applies to package holidays so I was more than a little thrilled to see that Grant Shapps – The Transport Minister – was committing to flying everyone home, including flight only customers. I was also impressed to see how quickly they had a website up and running with replacement flight information (although no way of knowing as an individual if you had a seat or not).  There was also the element of ambiguity in the statement that they would only be flying home people who’s journey’s had begun in the UK.

Did they mean with Thomas Cook? I’d flown out with Jet 2, so technically my TC journey was beginning in Rhodes.  I naturally worry about these things (although not as much as my Mum, or my Fiancé come to think about it).

Anyway full of optimism I dutifully headed to Rhodes Diagoras airport along with my parents, wondering what I would find.  As instructed I aimed to arrive more than 3 hours in advance, so at least for my part I had done all that I could to ensure that I would be on the plane.  If there was space.

Would the aircraft be big enough?

Would I be on the list?

Would there be anyone there to even answer these questions?

After parking up we walked to the terminal and I spotted a Jet 2 employee, and smiling, asked – “Is there anyone from Thomas Cook around?”

She shrugged and suggested I go and talk to the Servisair desk just inside the terminal, and then continued her cigarette.

Undeterred, I proceeded to the desk and asked the same question.  I was then directed to Terminal 1 (yes Rhodes has 2 terminals!)

A little more anxious walking later and I started to spot signs that read ‘Thomas Cook passengers’ accompanied by an arrow.

Encouraging.

We rounded the corner to enter T1 and saw a medium sized queue at check in. Four smiley people dressed in Hi-Viz vests adorned with the word ‘ATOL’ in large lettering descended on us and immediately tried to put us at ease.  A passenger manifest was produced and my name was taken.

A quick scan and my name was located and then I was instructed to check in.

Easy.

I have to say I was and remain extremely impressed at the speed of response from both ATOL and the CAA.  This has ensured that the vast majority of customers have been able to fly home from their holiday’s on time.

Unfortunately the rest of the flight back was something to forget.  D

Due to the flight being flown out to Rhodes empty I believe, it was late departing Manchester and didn’t arrive until after 00:30, nearly two hours after we were due to board.

During that time I watched disinterestedly as a poor customer ordered a coffee for the fourth time only to be unable to complete the transaction due to the power going down and then watching helplessly as the waitress poured the coffee away, again.

I don’t suppose they realised it would’ve only cost them one coffee instead of four if they’d just given it to him the first time. Hey ho, I’m sure there was some logic there somewhere.

It certainly did end up being a long evening wait of around 6 hours at the airport from the early check in until boarding.

Finally at around 01:00 we started to board, phew.

But oh no, who’s voice is it I hear approaching my row of seats?

Noooooo.

Yes, the annoying woman from check-in who sounded un-eerily like Jo Brand the comedian.  The woman who I noted immediately had no oral clutch between her mouth and her brain and who insisted on verbalising every thought that entered her ‘mind’.

Oh joy.

She is in the seat in front of me, asking where her two litres of vodka are…

But its ok, she turns around to reassure me ‘don’t worry love, I’m not that annoying’.

I’m sure the irony of that pronouncement was deliberate, right?

As a fellow passenger once pointed out to me when flying to Amsterdam.  At any point on an economy short haul flight there are 8 people around you who can ruin your day.  After a quick count up I reckoned I had 5 of them that night.  Not bingo, but not far off.

Directly in front, Jo Brand with her annoying lack of voice control.

To her left the crying/screaming baby – not the babies fault mind, but not conducive to any chance of sleep in my 30″ seat pitch ‘bed’.

On the aisle seat, the inquisitive child who questioned everything loudly and then watched her tablet, all the way back, WITHOUT HEADPHONES – why? Just why?

On my row I had the annoyed father of Jo Brand – to be fair I’d be annoyed if she was my daughter too – he didn’t like flying (I know this because Jo told the whole plane earlier on) – he then proceeded to get even more annoyed that someone was late for the flight and suggested that we should leave them behind.

Jo then joined in and said as much to the poor embarrassed passengers (and the whole plane) as they boarded.

So that was 4.

The 5th and final contender for the person I most wanted to throw out the window at 40000 feet was the man sat behind me.  The man who despite looking in good health, and not using any walking aids at all seemed unable to stand up to visit the bathroom, or come to think of it to simply adjust his posture, without grabbing the back of my seat and trying to project me into the front bulkhead – using the well known ‘ping the passenger in front manoeuvre’.

* apologies for the grumpy tone of the last few paragraphs, my counsellor is on holiday and I needed to get this off my chest

Still – at least I was on a flight.

We arrived back late/early the following day, after I had bid a tearful farewell to my fellow passengers (honest), and as I arrived home I noticed that most of my neighbours were making their way to work.

Needless to say, I didn’t.

However, I’d like to end this post by thanking the wonderful Thomas Cook staff on our flight who despite knowing they were out of work and having some very challenging passengers to deal with, were courtious, professional, helpful and did all they could to ensure we had a smooth journey home.

The cabin crew on that flight were a credit to themselves and I really hope they find new work soon.

Former Thomas Cook employees, I wish you all the best, and thank you, you were exceptional.

Copyright © 2019 Dan Roach