My Mother was scheduled on the Thomas Cook flight from SFO-Manchester-Paris booked back in August. When my Father told me the news I did not even think twice. I called CheapOAir(I will never use a third party OTA And book directly from now on) and they said they would reach out to Thomas Cook to cancel the flight. Right away I called Bank Of America Visa and asked for a Chargeback for Service not Received(note paying with a Credit Card is key).
Within two days we got a Chargeback and the letter from CheapOAir stating to call our Credit Card Company to do a chargeback. I knew how to do this from my work in Tourism . I told my Father to never deal with them again and he won't . During our time on hold I saw a flight on Norwegian Nonstop from Oakland-Paris for $280 with a seat at the front of the cabin, meal and luggage along with Priority Boarding. I booked it directly with Norwegian and my Mother arrives at the same time her Flybe flight from Manchester would arrive and she leaves Oakland at 8:20 PM.
Yes Norwegian could go under but I booked directly with them so if there is a problem they can work with me directly for a chargeback.
I looked over my options and the Norwegian nonstop was the best. Luckily the flight from Paris to Barcelona was booked on Vueling for $80. Her original flight to CDG was $330 so I saved $50 and got her nonstop to CDG. Other flights were $1000 one way.
The moral of the story is
1. Always book direct if possible
2. Pay with a Credit Card
3 Be Quick to ask for a Chargeback
4. Have other options in mind to rebook.
5. Ask for a refund and then rebook as opposed to taking the flights suggested by the airline unless the fare difference is high. I was not going to wait until October 8th to know the fate of my Mother's flight. I was lucky there was a nonstop flight on the date she wanted to depart to Paris to see her friend.
Hope this helps!