Airlines accused of price gouging after Thomas Cook collapse
Airlines have been accused of exploiting the demise of rival Thomas Cook after passengers complained of a huge increase in prices.
Holidaymakers looking to book future trips have complained of a surge in fares on the same routes served by the collapsed travel firm.
Read more: Thomas Cook: Former workers will not receive pay packets as usual on Monday
One disgruntled sun seeker said Jet2 had increased the cost of her flight from £442 to £808 in the space of an hour, branding the airline “absolutely disgusting”.
Another Twitter user said Ryanair had tripled the price of his fare after news emerged of Thomas Cook’s collapse.
Jet2 confirmed it was raising its prices following the demise of its rival.
A spokesperson said: “Our pricing, as is common practice in the travel industry, is based on the principle of supply and demand. As supply reduces, an inevitable consequence is that prices increase.
“However, we are looking at adding more supply (flights and seats) to help customers at this time.”
Further examples found by the Sun showed a return British Airways flight from Gatwick to Orlando soaring from £437 to £1,978, as well as a Tui flight from Glasgow to Gran Canaria that almost doubled to £620.
BA and Tui both said that prices were determined by factors such as travel dates and demand and denied targeting customers booking former Thomas Cook routes.
Roughly 150,000 people were stranded abroad yesterday following the collapse of Thomas Cook, which was the world’s oldest travel company.
The Civil Aviation Authority has chartered more than 1,000 flights in the coming weeks to bring displaced Brits home in what is thought to be the largest peacetime repatriation in history.
Read more: Thomas Cook: Watchdog mulls whether to probe collapsed airlines
In addition, the crisis is set to lead to redundancy for most of Thomas Cook’s 21,000 employees, 9,000 of whom are in the UK.
Earlier today it emerged staff will not receive their wages as usual on Monday, and will have to appeal to the Insolvency Service to be paid for work up until 23 September.
Main image credit: Getty