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posted by martyb on Monday September 23 2019, @07:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the grounded dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Thomas Cook, a 178-year-old British travel company and airline, declared bankruptcy early Monday morning, suspending operations and leaving hundreds of thousands of tourists stranded around the world.

The travel company operates its own airline, with a fleet of nearly 50 medium- and long-range jets, and owns several smaller airlines and subsidiaries, including the German carrier Condor. Thomas Cook still had several flights in the air as of Sunday night but was expected to cease operations once they landed at their destinations.

Condor posted a message to its site late Sunday night saying that it was still operating but that it was unclear whether that would change. Condor's scheduled Monday-morning flights appeared to be operating normally.

About 600,000 Thomas Cook customers were traveling at the time of the collapse, of whom 150,000 were British, the company told CNN.

The British Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority prepared plans, under the code name "Operation Matterhorn," to repatriate stranded British passengers. According to the British aviation authority, those rescue flights would take place until October 6, leading to the possibility that travelers could be delayed for up to two weeks.

Initial rescue flights seemed poised to begin immediately, with stranded passengers posting on Twitter that they were being delayed only a few hours as they awaited chartered flights.

The scale of the task has reports calling it the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history, including the operation the government carried out when Monarch Airlines collapsed in 2017.

Costs of the flights were expected to be covered by the ATOL, or Air Travel Organiser's License, protection plan, a fund that provides for repatriation of British travelers if an airline ceases operations.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday September 24 2019, @06:42AM (2 children)

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Tuesday September 24 2019, @06:42AM (#897998)

    You know, it actually was one of the most fulfilling Christmas's I've ever had.

    When I took the eastbound load, specifically to get those drivers home, I knew my Christmas would be delayed. My company paid for approximately 250 out of route miles in order to get them close enough for friends and family to rendezvous without undo stress. Normally that many out of route miles would not only be unpaid, but would likely get you a seat in front of the driver manager to explain yourself unless you were an owner-operator, in which case you already were the one paying for fuel and wear and tear. I was a company driver, subject to far more stringent rules.

    I rarely have felt better about a decision. By delaying Christmas for my student and me, (I dropped him off on the return trip only a day late, as he lived in the central part of the country and I live in the PNW) we rescued two people stranded by one of the shittiest maneuvers by a corporation I had ever personally witnessed.

    That maneuver impacted many beyond just their drivers. By abandoning loads and trucks all over the country, they brought financial strain to corporations large and small on both the shipping and receiving end of the contracted loads. Along with over a thousand vehicles, many with full loads and a percentage of those loads being hazmat or heavy equipment requiring specialized handling or storage, that had to be towed somewhere before being returned to leasing companies with the accompanying storage charges and fines accrued from being abandoned while the mess sorted itself out.

    The driver whose truck was impounded for non-payment of his fuel bill had only just picked up his load less than two hours before, and that load had been contracted out only a few hours earlier than that. They fucked so many peoples lives during a time period of already high stress beyond just their drivers and those of us who stepped up to help out in the aftermath.

    Many of us donated money directly to drivers who couldn't find a ride to get bus fares and food while taking as many as we could to various points around the country.

    Of course, technically it was a minority of drivers who helped out, while the majority just ignored the situation and went on with their routines, but enough of us did volunteer time and/or money to get (as far as I know or ever found out) all of their drivers home within a few days of the holiday. A real case of people helping people without reservation.

    In some ways it was the best Christmas ever, we stepped up to help our fellow man in his time of need. What better celebration of the holiday could there be?

     

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    Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday September 24 2019, @02:36PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Tuesday September 24 2019, @02:36PM (#898143) Journal

    Thanks for sharing that story!

    --
    This sig for rent.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 24 2019, @02:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 24 2019, @02:37PM (#898145)

    Good sir!

    I have an ex-friend who was a local commercial driver, a retired long-haul trucker, and a friend who just completed their CDL on their way to becoming a long haul trucker, so I've had a little background on various companies and background on operations both local and cross-country. Most people don't realize just how critical you all are to the smooth operation of this country and take for granted the same day or few day shipping that has become the norm thanks to logistics management companies and the hard work you drivers put in getting it there on-schedule. That sort of shittiness shown by Arrow is becoming far too common and accepted in modern America and corporate culture, but it's those human moments where you take care of your fellow tradesmen, even if they are/were competitors, or just your fellow man with a random act of kindness that shows the best humanity has to offer. Perhaps someday we will get to a point where those in charge will show the kind of self sacrifice and altruism towards their fellow man so that situations like that don't have to happen very often.