
Thomas Cook Shuts Down - kamaraju
https://www.wsj.com/articles/thomas-cook-enters-compulsory-liquidation-11569206090?mod=rsswn
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amyjess
Other discussion on this subject:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21045550](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21045550)

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mmahemoff
Per The Guardian, it's largely due to changes in consumer behaviour - more
people booking city breaks directly, less people booking package holidays via
travel agents [1]. Global warming may have caused more people to prefer to
stay at home in summer. That may have been the tipping point along with Brexit
causing uncertainty and a lower pound.

1\. [https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/23/thomas-
cook...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/23/thomas-cook-as-the-
world-turned-the-sun-ceased-to-shine-on-venerable-tour-operator)

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RonaldSchleifer
When it comes down to is, the failure of Thomas Cook comes down to a single
thing, the inability to have any kind of forward looking strategy and ability
to adapt to changes.

This story has been told at least dozens of times now in the last two decades
in particular and ever time it is some combination of a scapegoat excuse and
... of course, climate change done done it! ... when in reality it was an
utter failure of leadership to not notice the shifting enemies on the
battlefield or being able to adapt to those changes ...

Sears/Kmart, WalMart (even though they are trying), all the book stores (even
though B&N is putting up a good fight), ToysRUS, Taxi services, etc.; even,
arguably, the whole US economy that is now realizing that "holy shit, maybe we
shouldn't have bet the farm and slaughtered that golden goose so the ruling
class or fools could get rich quick by selling their own people out to
China/India.

They are all cautionary tails of hubris ... nothing more, nothing less ...
regardless of how little people want to learn from them.

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LaundroMat
It's not only the failure to adapt to changes or hubris that is to blame.
Sometimes it's simply greed (see for instance
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16904564](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16904564))

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hartator
> Other government officials said the cost of the repatriation effort was
> lower than the cost of keeping Thomas Cook in business.

Not sure why it’s the government issue to issue flights to people.

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CodeBeater
It leaves a bad taste in my mouth too, but at least that's taxpayer money
going directly back to the taxpayer.

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callahad
Even better: it's not actually taxpayer money. The repatriation is funded by a
mandatory £2.50 surcharge on all package holiday bookings that's been in place
since 1973. [https://www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-protection/Consumers/About-
ATOL/](https://www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-protection/Consumers/About-ATOL/)

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CodeBeater
Tomato, tomato. At least it was put to good use.

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amriksohata
I remember going to travel agent branches in the town centre with parents, but
now it's all online. Thomas Cook are overpriced and aimed at older people who
aren't able to use the internet to shop around. Their business model was not
going to last.

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rvz
Well according to the current climate change crisis, that's one less airliner
heating up the planet. This sacrifice is perhaps a benefit to saving the
planet anyway.

Fantastic news for climate change activists I suppose.

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happyweasel
Fantastic news? I would rather concentrate on the other 96.5%

"The IPCC has estimated that aviation is responsible for around 3.5 percent of
anthropogenic climate change".

(Source:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviation#Total_climate_effects))

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busterarm
Sixth airline to shut down in the last 12 months.

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glofish
I wonder how many of Europe's super cheap airlines are losing money.

If more fail there might be a domino effect as so many places have come to
rely on tourism.

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HenryBemis
Ryanair and Wizzair are notorious to make profit out of every ticket. They
live to NOT lose money. Yes some tickets do sell for £5 and some sell for £250
or more, depending the date/time you buy it.

My shock is how companies like Thomas Cook manage to survive by constantly
selling below cost just to keep alive. In my mind this is just another Uber,
it only stays alive because people just keep throwing money at it. I wouldn't
be surprised if TUI, Itaka, and others follow suite.

I am always shocked to see their prices for a 5-6-7 day trip, at a fraction of
what I would have paid. I do know that scaling reduces prices, but well..
apparently not really.. like the PIIGS economies the moment lending froze,
Thomas went under.

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jonatron
According to Wikipedia, 20% of Ryanair's revenue is ancillary (not tickets)

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busterarm
Apparently people will pay a premium to be treated like a human.

United has been finding this out here states-side. Options that used to be
standard for a class of seating are now upsold-options for more than the delta
of the ticket price. Because fuck you, that's why.

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danb1974
They abruptly shut down overnight leaving a very large number of people
stranded away from home.

Now the government has to pay 150 million to bring them home.

Why not do a gracefull shutdown...???

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busterarm
European bankruptcy law doesn't allow them to do a graceful shutdown. The
company is forced to stop operations.

That's the major difference between American and European bankruptcies.

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labster
Wow, harsh. If we had that in the US, half of California would be without
electricity and heating fuel for months, given the current state of PG&E.

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Porthos9K
As a New Yorker, I had no idea Thomas Cook had their own airline. I thought
they dealt mainly with currency exchange for tourists.

