Thomas Cook... The Latest Financially Beleaguered Transatlantic Discount Carrier

According to the Condor website, they are part of the Thomas Cook Group.

I doubt that many people using this forum will be affected by this news (which was on tv here last week), so it’s mainly old news rehashed by the Guardian.

Thomas Cook is the major UK high street travel agency that sell package holidays to beach destinations and flights through their own airline. They are more prevalent at the smaller regional airports as they cannot compete on price with the likes of EasyJet and Ryanair.

I head to the Canary Islands in the winter using EasyJet from Gatwick. Some friends live north and take the Thomas Cook flight from the Midlands as EasyJet doesn’t fly this route. They are paying more than double our fare.

Brexit is causing the pound to tank and foreign holiday bookings are therefore falling.

The share price was over 150p not that long ago.

It is the high street travel side of the business that has been pulling it down. The airline used to just be an adjunct to the main package holiday trade but is now about 50% of it. They are more likely to take a minority investor into that if anything. It isn't just the UK where they have a holiday business; they have a good share in Germany for example - indeed for about 10 years they were German-owned.

I doubt that many people using this forum will be affected by this news

Condor, along with Icelandair, are the 2 big transatlantic discounters serving 15+ North American cities each. Here's the combined Condo/Thomas Cook Airlines destination map, the yellow dots are nonstop service, https://www.thomascookairlines.com/en/explore/where-we-fly.jsp
which is more cities than British Airways or Lufthansa, although it mostly seasonal service.

WOW and Norwegian have a comparatively small footprint (although both serve California and I don’t think either Condor or Icelandair does).

It appears Norwegian is currently serving 15 US cities, while Condor serves 11. For IcelandAir, it's 18 cities, while WOW is indeed in last with 9.

while Condor serves 11

I counted 16 with Canada, but add in the Thomas Cook flights (which seem to serve California) and it is more. I doubt that either serves Whitehorse, Yukon, as shown on the map.

For Norwegian I counted 15 airports in Canada and the US, but the NYC area is counted 3 times and the Miami area twice. I don't think either airline codes shares with American domestic airlines, but both Icelandair and Condor do (both with Alaska Airlines for example, and others like Sun Country) which increases their footprint.

Also, the only interior US cities served by Norwegian are Chicago and Denver and Vegas.

Edit: Condor flies Frankfurt nonstop to Whitehorse with a 767! Who would have guessed.

Second edit: Round trips Chicago to London for $400, wow.

That Condor Whitehorse flight is probably seasonal, like the Am homage one. Lots of German tourists visit alaska Nd the Yukon in summer.

I believe San Francisco is served by Thomas Cook branded flights, if not Condor.

My husband and I flew Condor home to Seattle from Frankfurt last summer in Business Class. Direct flight, on a near-new 767, very comfortable with good food and service. It was cheaper than a British Airways flight in business class using our Avios, with the cash supplement BA charges for reward seats.

My son’s family flew over on Condor to meet us in SwitzerlNd for the same trip. They flew Boise-Portland-Frankfurt with Alaska miles, Economy. My son reports that the flight was as comfortable as any Economy flight, and would happily fly Condor again. They chose not to pay extra for meals and ate the standard free one, which was pronounced “edible but not great.” They did pay extra for IFE for the two children.

Oh my goodness. So I was just talking about what great (cheap: $300) direct flight I purchased (SEA to Manchester). Other airlines (United, Delta, etc.) had similar deals across the pond, which Pomelo Travel and Scott's Cheap Flights alerted me to, but I chose Thomas Cook airlines because it was direct and I've never flown them before, so I thought it would be a fun little adventure to try them out. But maybe it's time to check my trip/purchase insurance in case I've just been a little too adventurous? =)

Buying tickets at "to good to be true" kind of prices from an airline in financial difficulty, makes me wonder if it is a desperate attempt to raise cash and hope they come up with the miracle that saves their business.

The other concern is they trim back operations, and your flight is one that gets the axe.

Good luck