The last few days have certainly been quite a roller coaster for many of us within the travel business!
“As an industry we have just experienced what is being described as the biggest UK airline failure in history with the failure of Monarch Airlines and I must say I could not be prouder as I am right now to be part of this amazing company. “ said Katharine Cleall of Travel Counsellors for Business.
Sadly, Travel Counsellors have been through airline and hotel supplier failures before but are very well positioned for potential catastrophes as they are continually developing their technology so they are equipped with all the tools, knowledge and support in the event of a failure.
In advance of the news their head office made the decision to mobilise the crisis team, with 30 plus extra staff and more coming into the evening and throughout the night. Everyone was prepped and braced for the worst, making and answering hundreds of calls and emails, they got the company into the strongest possible position. Viable decisions were made early to protect customers, wherever possible, who were booked on imminent departures. Once the news came in, just after 4am, the Travel Counsellor network was immediately alerted. Due to their pre-planning and strong position, it resulted in many passengers being rebooked and sorted within minutes.
Travel Counsellors amazing team came together on Sunday without any hesitation, working throughout the night to ensure everyone could react quickly to support those customers at risk.
12 hours after the official failure, Travel Counsellors had almost 2300 passengers affected. “In times of crisis this business is awesome and Travel Counsellors comes into its own. The value of what we do for our customers is never more dominant than it is in situations like this or the BA IT outage which affected so many earlier in the year.” Said Katharine. “Travel Counsellors are pleased that we have been able to support all our customers during this difficult time and will continue to do so.”