takeaways from the thomas cook collapse

If you’re following what’s going on in the travel industry, you know that the biggest story of the past week has been the collapse of Thomas Cook—the massive vacation company that operates primarily in the UK and Europe. Hundreds of thousands of travelers were either stranded away from home, or had paid for vacations that suddenly, and without warning, were not going to happen.

This isn’t the first time in recent memory that a travel provider has gone under on very short notice. Whether it’s Thomas Cook, WOWAir, or some other company that goes under—bankruptcy and sudden cessation of a travel provider’s operations is not the only thing that can turn your vacation into a disaster. Uncertainty around Brexit can make travel to and from the UK unnecessarily complicated. A sudden change in the Trump Administration’s policy toward Cuba meant that thousands of travelers’ vacations were upended. The grounding of the 737Max aircraft left dozens of airlines scrambling to adjust their flight schedules. Geopolitical tensions, terror threats, extreme weather, forest fires—there’s a lot that could cause your vacation to be suddenly scuttled.

So, what can you do to protect yourself? Here’s our best advice.

Purchase Comprehensive Travel Insurance.

We were recently following a discussion on social media where someone was debating whether to purchase travel insurance for a couple of upcoming trips. It was pretty clear that she was concerned about losing an investment in her vacation if she had to cancel. But what about protections that go beyond having to cancel because of a sudden work conflict or the illness of a family member? What about carrier default? The policies that we put in place for Huckleberry Travel clients routinely go beyond mere cancelation protection. They provide medical coverage (will your insurance cover you overseas?), medical evacuation, lost or delayed luggage, lost or stolen personal effects, missed flight connections, and more. With most of the plans that our clients select, if insurance is put in place shortly after the trip is put under deposit, the policy will even cover carrier default—which would have been incredibly valuable for travelers who got stuck away from home when their travel company suddenly collapsed.

Use a Professional Travel Planner.

We know that lots of travelers enjoy making their own plans. They like to research their destination, look for good deals on trips, and book them online, on their own. However. The average consumer doesn’t have relationships with hundreds of different airlines, resorts, tour operators and cruise lines. We do. Our company is part of a network of independent travel advisors, and we belong to one of the premier consortia available to professional travel planners. If a travel provider is in trouble, we’re going to know about it before you do. And even if the company’s not in danger of going under, if there’s anything — big or small — that goes wrong while you’re traveling, we’ve got the relationships with those companies to resolve any issues, before, during and after your travel.

Even if you’re the kind of person who has the time and enthusiasm for searching the internet for your next vacation deal, we can help you there, too. For a flat fee, we’ll gladly review the vacation package that you’ve found, and prepare a comprehensive report that can tell you whether you’re getting the best price, if there’s something that you’re missing, or if there are red flags (or even just question marks) with anything that you’re about to book. And, we can provide you a quote for travel insurance, as well.

Use a Credit Card—not a Debit Card.

We have a pretty strong view that it’s much better to use a credit card to pay for your vacation than to use a debit card. If you pay with a debit card, that money comes out of your account immediately, and if you need to dispute a charge, you’re out of luck. Plus, many credit cards provide a certain measure of cancelation protection or car rental insurance. It’s usually not as much coverage as an actual insurance policy, but it’s better than nothing.

And, if you’re concerned about running up a balance on your credit card, keep in mind that when you book with a travel advisor like Huckleberry Travel, you can usually reserve your space with an initial deposit and pay for your vacation over time. So, even if you don’t want to carry a balance on your card, you can pay for the vacation in installments.

So, if the inherent uncertainty of travel has you worried, just remember—you’ve got a line on some terrific professional travel advisors who can help reduce, eliminate or mitigate those difficulties. Just give us a call!