Help for Thomas Cook's Highland customers
Holidaymakers who hoped to fly from the Highlands to connect with a Thomas Cook holiday are being offered the opportunity to re-book or delay their holiday flights without incurring additional charges.
Scottish carrier Loganair, which operated a codeshare agreement with Thomas Cook allowing travellers to book through flights on a single ticket, says it will waive additional fees for any re-booking by holidaymakers affected by the collapse of the 178-year-old tour operator.
Although Thomas Cook did not operate any direct flights from Inverness or any other Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (Hial) airport, north fliers could use Loganair's Inverness-Manchester service to connect directly with Thomas Cook overseas flights.
In a statement on its website and social media, the Glasgow Airport-based airline wrote: "We’re saddened to hear of the closure of Thomas Cook. Our thoughts are with its dedicated staff who are at risk of redundancy. We recognise too that many Loganair customers will have holiday and travel plans made with Thomas Cook which will now need to be re-arranged, and we’ll do what we can to help."
Anyone who has booked a Loganair flight to connect with a Thomas Cook flight or holiday, should re-arranging the other elements of their planned holiday if possible, and than contact the airline with their Loganair booking reference.
"We’ll re-book you onto any flight on the same route on which we have seats available, and we’ll waive the change fee and/or difference in fare that would normally apply," the airline adds.
"If you need to fly on a different route to meet your re-arranged holiday plans, we’ll waive change fees and there may be only a small charge to reflect the difference in fare between your original route and the new route booked, based on exactly the same ticket and fare type.
"If you decide to delay your holiday as you can’t find a new deal which meets your needs or is affordable, we can also put your Loganair flights on hold for up to six months."
Loganair will allow passengers to make changes to their bookings up to October 7. To rebook flights, contact Loganair on 0344 800 2855.
Scotlands' new dedicated consumer advice service, consumeradvice.scot, is providing free advice for anyone affected by Thomas Cook's collapse.
Spokesman Colin Mathieson said: “The collapse of Thomas Cook will cause huge disruption for thousands of Scots holidaymakers.
“The UK government and the Civil Aviation Authority are working together to support passengers due to fly back to the UK, which will be a mammoth task.
“Anyone due to depart from a Scottish airport with Thomas Cook Airlines is advised not to travel to the airport as their plane will not be operating, and more information is available at thomascook.caa.co.uk.
“Consumers have rights in these unfortunate situations. For those already on holiday, provided their holiday was ATOL protected, an alternative flight will be arranged to get them home, which will usually be at the end of the holiday as previously scheduled. For those with future holidays, providing the booking is ATOL protected, they can make a refund claim via the ATOL scheme.
“Even if bookings are not ATOL protected, holidaymakers may still be able to get a refund.
“Our advisers can help individual consumers in Scotland with free, impartial advice.”