Thomas Cook: What are my rights when my flight is rebooked to an antisocial time?

Simon Calder answers your questions on awkward rebookings, what it’s like to fly with Oman Air and how Brexit is affecting your passport

Flying back from Mallorca at 6am is a dealbreaker for some (Getty/iStock)

Q I’m due to go to Mallorca with a party of six on 10 October for four nights with Love Holidays. We were due to fly back with Thomas Cook. After Thomas Cook collapsed, Love Holidays sent me an email stating that they would contact me via another email regarding alternative options. Five minutes later, I got an email from Ryanair saying that we had been booked on a return flight by Love Holidays. But our original flight was at 11am and this one is at 6am. We don’t want that flight, and Love Holidays didn’t consult us with the options as they said they would.

My argument is that we would have taken a later flight, and if that wasn’t available then we would want a refund. Can Love Holidays just do that or am I within my rights to request a refund?

Lee F

A This is aggravating in two ways. First, because you were never given options to consider, and simply rebooked without any further consultation. Second, because there is a big difference between an 11am flight – allowing you to have breakfast in your resort and perhaps set off for the airport at 8.30am – and one at 6am. That looks to me like a 3.30am departure to Palma airport, and is a flight I really wouldn’t want to take.

But I fear you have little choice but to accept it. Thomas Cook, heavily indebted, failed in the early hours of last Monday morning. Most of the travellers affected had booked Thomas Cook package holidays or flight-only arrangements. But Thomas Cook Airlines also did lots of “third-party” flying for dozens of holiday companies. When it collapsed, these firms were left scrabbling to find alternative seats for tens of thousands of customers.

In an ideal world, of course, your holiday company would have called you and said something like: “We can get you on a 6am Ryanair flight if you need to be back, but otherwise there’s easyJet at 3pm or a Jet 2 at 10pm.” But these are far from normal times, when a single planeload of people affected by a cancellation might have been treated individually.

In the immediate wake of the Thomas Cook collapse, fares were increasing by the minute, representing rapidly rising costs for your travel firm. So while it was poor customer service to be told you would be given a choice and then a few minutes later discover you had simply been rebooked on a disagreeably early flight, I cannot see that it gives you grounds to cancel. Moving a departure time by five hours is not considered a “major change” – however antisocial it may feel.

If you possibly can, treat this as a positive. Thousands of other people have been obliged to change their plans far more drastically. But I don’t suppose that will be top of your mind when the alarm goes at 3am.

Oh, man: Muscat, the Omani capital, would be a good stopover (Getty/iStock)

Q We have just lost our Thomas Cook Airlines flight from Gatwick to Goa in India for February 2020. Looking at other flight options, we have come across Oman Air. But I have a couple of reservations. Why is it a lot cheaper than other airlines (Air India being the main contender)? And as there are current issues in Oman, does that affect the airline and safety?

Laura B

A In common with a million or so other people, you have had your travel arrangements torn up as a result of the collapse of Thomas Cook. However, let me see if I can persuade you that the sad turn of events has a silver lining.

I’m a real fan of some smaller Middle East Airlines: notably Oman Air, as well as Gulf Air of Bahrain (which you might also want to consider). I would certainly choose them over Air India. Oman Air operate modern, safe aircraft and offer excellent service. They are a fraction of the size of the Dubai-based giant Emirates and its rivals Etihad of Abu Dhabi and Qatar Airways of Doha, and so their hubs are much smaller, more manageable and calmer.

Furthermore, a short stopover based in the Omani capital, Muscat, would be an excellent addition to your trip. It is a beautiful and profoundly historic city that is very different to its more glitzy counterparts in the Gulf. With a few days to spare, you could even join a trip into the mountains. I am not quite sure what you mean about “current issues in Oman”. Certainly, the country borders both Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which are engaged in conflict, but Muscat and the main tourist areas are many miles from the Yemeni frontier – indeed the Omani capital is closer to Pakistan than it is to Yemen.

The government has issue confusing advice on travel in the EU (Getty)

Q I currently hold a British passport with the statement “European Union – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” on it. It is due to expire early in 2022. Is it safe to travel on, or will I need to apply for a new one to allow me to travel to the EU and the rest of the world after 31 October 2019?

Steve B

A Your confusion is entirely understandable given the Brexit shambles and the mixed messages that have been sent out. The most important point, which remains true whatever the circumstances, is that your passport will remain valid after Brexit as a British travel document, both to the European Union and beyond. It just loses the benefits bestowed by EU passports.

So what exactly will the situation be? Well, over the three-and-a-bit years since the European Union referendum, travellers have been told a wide range of conflicting advice. When the withdrawal agreement was finalised, we were assured that nothing will change until the end of 2020 – your passport would remain valid for travel anywhere in the European Union up to and including the date of expiry.

But, as you know, the default is that the UK leaves without a deal on 31 October 2019. The government’s latest advice is: “You should have at least six months left on an adult or child passport to travel to most countries in Europe.” It gets more complicated still. If you renewed your current passport before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. Any additional validity in your passport over 10 years does not count towards the six months needed.

In your case, though, I calculate that the very earliest your passport could have been issued is 1 April 2011. Therefore, in the very worst case you will be able to travel to Europe on it any day up to 1 November 2020 (trust me with the maths). By then, the future relationship between the UK and the European Union may finally be clear, and you can make a more informed judgement.

Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder