Monday, October 28, 2019, 14:45/2:45pm
Repercussions for German travelers booked on TC brands
According to the Austrian Press Association hundreds of thousands of German customers will only receive a small share of financial compensation despite the fact that they hold a travel insurance document. The German newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” reported that Thomas Cook Germany (with its subsidiary brands of Neckermann, Bücher Reisen, Öger Tours and AirMarin) had 600,000 bookings in its system at the time bankruptcy was announced at the end of September, totaling over EUR 500 million.
Thomas Cook’s insurer is Zürich and is only required to pay at most EUR 110 million. This means that around EUR 400 million is missing in order to compensate all vacationers. The German Consumer Protection Association has demanded that the State must pay for the missing compensation to German vacationers. A total of 140,000 German tourists are hoping to receive compensation, and Zürich has stated that its insurance coverage will certainly not be sufficient.
In Austria the situation looks much better for vacationers. Thomas Cook Austria AG maintains coverage of EUR 22 million for packaged tours with the Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. This sum should be sufficient to meet all claims from cancelled holiday-goers.
Last year the German Ministry of Justice initiated efforts to undertake a study whether the EUR 110 million stipulated by the Europe Union was sufficient. The Ministry never made any inroads into this study and is now focused on finding a solution to the current issue at hand, namely settlement for Thomas Cook clients.
The story continues…
