Thomas Cook: Stranger pays for sick customer to fly home amid operator crisis

A stranger has paid for a British woman on holiday in Majorca to fly home after hearing she would run out of heart medication if her return flight with Thomas Cook was cancelled amid the operator’s financial strife.

The man, named only as Colin, stepped in after he heard of Jackie Ward’s plight in a Sky News interview from her holiday resort.

Jackie, 58, and her daughter Amy, 24, from Newcastle, arrived there in the last week for a celebratory holiday after Jackie was given the all-clear from cancer.

But before Colin’s intervention, they said it had been “ruined” as Jackie has a heart condition and had only enough of her daily medication to last until Sunday.

They had been concerned their flights would not materialise as the travel agent’s crisis has worsened in recent days.

Colin contacted Sky reporter Sally Lockwood about the womens’ predicament and later confirmed by email: “I have booked them flights home regardless of the airline’s outcome.

“They will be home Monday as planned now and can relax and enjoy what’s left of the trip.”

Earlier, Amy had fought back tears as she explained her mother’s condition was “life threatening”, adding: “My mum’s on heart medication. If she doesn’t get that, there’s problems with her heart.”

Jackie added: “I’ve only brought enough medication ’til Sunday, thinking we’ll get home on Monday, I’ll take it Monday when I get home… I haven’t got anything.”

The mother and daughter are among around 150,000 UK holidaymakers who have travelled with the 178-year-old travel agency.

The firm has tried to calm customers’ fears, insisting all its holidays and flights were operating as normal.

Amy said they have had no word from the operator, and told Sky News the Thomas Cook rep “hasn’t even turned up. We don’t know anything”.

The £600 trip, the first time they’ve been on holiday together, was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime.

“It’s devastating. This holiday was supposed to be celebratory and it’s not that anymore,” Amy said.

Amy has even called their UK travel agent, Jackie said, but “they’ve said they know nothing”.

The women are insured, but their provider has told them they won’t do anything until it’s confirmed that Thomas Cook has gone bust, Amy said.

Jackie said that “if there was a flight home today, I would go. Cut the holiday short. I wouldn’t be bothered”.

The ailing travel group, which is understood to have approached the government for a bailout, is to meet its biggest shareholder and creditors on Sunday morning in a final attempt to piece together a rescue deal before it goes into insolvency.

With 20,000 jobs across the group at risk, including 9,000 in the UK, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, which represents workers at the company, said ministers should be ready to offer “real financial support”.

On Friday, the operator’s shares fell more than 20% after it issued a statement confirming it needed to find an extra £200m to plug a financial hole.

(c) Sky News 2019: Thomas Cook: Stranger pays for sick customer to fly home amid operator crisis