AIRLINES and travel firms are STILL ripping off Thomas Cook customers as prices have now tripled.
Holidaymakers looking to rebook their holidays after having theirs cancelled have been left furious by the steep cost since the tour operator collapsed.
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Yesterday, customers claimed that prices had already doubled when thousands of Brits had their flights and holidays with Thomas Cook cancelled.
Prices have continued to increase since then with some holidays and flights now triple the price.
Pat Lawrence, 44, had his eyes on a week in Turkey with online travel agent OnTheBeach for his wife and 19-year-old daughter, but was stunned when the price rocketed from £1,500 to £44,000.
Danielle Quinnin, 26, whose quote for Disney World trip through Virgin Holidays leapt from £3,000 to £22,000 after Thomas Cook went bust.
Gaz Tottey was shocked to find £24.99 Ryanair flights to Gran Canaria had leapt in price, costing £82.99, while one man found his £3,700 honeymoon with First Choice had increased to over £10,000 since.
Colin Jelf, who feared Thomas Cook would go under, booked four back-up flights from Gatwick to Orlando with British Airways.
They cost him £437 each on Sunday but yesterday he found the same tickets priced at £1,978 each.
Colin, 49, of Maidstone, Kent, said: “It’s really bad form.”
David Kirkwood posted screenshots online appearing to show a Jet2.com Cyprus holiday’s cost had risen by £1,500 yesterday.
A £442 Jet2 return flight from Manchester to Tenerife soared to £808.
The First Choice and TUI website also went down briefly, being customers claimed they were charged thousands of pounds more when they were back up.
Matthew Comer wrote: “You’re website goes into ‘cleaning mode’ and when it’s back up? £1000pp more. Horrible.”
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Twitter user Lynsey found her Ryanair flights had jumped from £240 in the morning to £700 that evening.
Dale Cross added: “Wake up to the news that Thomas cook have gone under, jump on @jet2tweets website to book replacement flights and shock the prices have hiked up massively, f**k you Jet2.”
April found flights that were £200 yesterday had jumped to £800, calling airlines “greedy gits”.
Mandy tweeted: “@jet2tweets should be ashamed of yourselves….. same holiday I was looking at last week is now a price difference of bout £600 ever since Thomas cook announced news of going bust….. shocking.”
Sun Online Travel found a seven-night holiday to Crete earlier this year for £250 per person – compared to £406 per person now.
While a seven-night break to Albufeira that was £289pp now start from £367pp.
Many others have sold out.
They aren’t the only company accused of price hiking.
Anne-Marie Garvie also said: “@VirginHolidays Absolutely disgusting that you have doubled the price of a Florida holiday in just a few hours.
“You should be utterly ashamed at cashing in on the demise of @ThomasCook. How can you expect people who have lost holidays to pay your prices. Disgusting!”
Another social media user complained: “We are having to rebook our Florida flights after the collapse of Thomas cook and I am disgusted at @VirginAtlantic for the huge increased prices this morning, since I checked last night.”
Guy Anker, of MoneySavingExpert.com, added: “We saw this for the Champions League final in May where Tottenham and Liverpool football fans were fleeced going to Madrid.
“I don’t for one second buy that it’s just supply and demand.
“Where prices have rocketed overnight at a time when Thomas Cook collapses, I think it’s an outrageous piece of profiteering.”
Jack Sheldon of Jack’s Flight Club told the Guardian that there could be huge price hikes in the next few weeks as well.
He said: “We expect you’ll see increases on long-haul routes to many Caribbean destination from London and even more so from Manchester, where Thomas Cook was quite dominant, in terms of direct routes to many holiday destinations.”
Jack also added that Virgin would benefit on routes from Manchester while British Airways would cover long-haul demand from London Gatwick.
A Virgin spokesperson told Sun Online Travel in a statement: “We have not increased fares on specific routes that were previously also operated by Thomas Cook.
“We always want to provide the most competitive prices for customers wishing to book future trips with us, and as with all airlines, we operate a dynamic pricing system that is based on availability and demand.”
A Jet2 spokesman also added: “Our pricing, as is common practice in the travel industry, is based on the principle of supply and demand.
“As supply reduces, an inevitable consequence is that prices increase. However, we are looking at adding more supply (flights and seats) to help customers at this time.”
Up to 150,000 Brits have been stranded abroad with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) organising the largest repatriation since World War II.
Approximately 40 planes have been chartered for 1,000 flights in the next two weeks to retrieve holidaymakers who have had their flights cancelled.
Thomas Cook staff are continuing to work unpaid to help passengers, despite having lost their jobs.
Sun Online Travel has contacted Ryanair and TUI for additional comment.
