Online Refund Service for Thomas Cook Customers Opens

Photo source: CAA

Customers of UK tour operator Thomas Cook, affected by its collapse, can claim a refund through the Civil Aviation Authority’s website that opened on Monday, October 7.

Entitled to make a claim for a refund are travelers that had an ATOL* protected booking with Thomas Cook.

“This could be for a full refund for your forward booking or for costs you incurred completing your holiday if you travelled from the UK after 23 September,” CAA says on its website.

Thomas Cook customers should expect to wait up to 60 days after they make a claim for compensation.

The CAA has to refund some 360,000 customers. By Monday afternoon, almost 12,000 claims had already been submitted, causing the website to crash.

The authority wrote on twitter: “Due to the unprecedented demand to our website, some users are having difficulty submitting their claims. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you have received an error message, your claim has not been successfully submitted. Please try back again later today.”

For further information on the refund process, press here.

Thomas Cook closed operations on September 23, leaving thousands of holidaymakers stranded abroad. Yesterday, Sunday, October 6, was the final day of repatriation flights for Thomas Cook customers during which some 4,800 returned to the UK.

* ATOL (Air Travel Organiser’s Licence) is a UK financial protection scheme run by the CAA and protects most air package holidays sold by travel businesses that are based in the UK.