Course?
 

Has anyone actually started with Thomas Cook in recent weeks? I have been through the process but no course dates have even been mentioned?

I wouldn't be too surprised. Training dept. is maxxed out big time.

Agreed the public won’t base their travel choice on strike-unless it were safety-related which it wasn’t. But passengers DO choose to fly with a brand they recognise with an experienced U.K. regulated operation and pilots. Would they have chosen to fly with a small airline in a former-Soviet republic operating far from its regulator with a business model which hinges on high turnover of very low-paid pilots?

LoL, if the small ex-communist bloc airline was five quid cheaper, yeah, you can bet that the majority of TC's clientele would be off like a shot. Even if the planes were flown by well trained gibbons! It's a razor sharp cut throat market out there, and to be fair to TC's board, they know it well.

In which case why don’t they fly under their own branding so passengers can make an informed choice? I’ve nothing against Smartlynx as such, but holiday-makers are being conned that they are flying on a Thomas Cook aircraft

It is because your average holiday maker knows that an aeroplane flies from one point of the earth to another (see note 1). Above that he/she largely has little interest in the flight other than the cabin experience. Almost all TC ACMI aircraft are branded as TC, have TC in-flight product and TC Cabin Crew. They have bought a TC 'product' and they have received it. On the TC website, if a holiday/flight is being flown with a non MT flight number, it will say operated by xxx airlines. In fact they go further, in the bowels of the website there is even a page which describes who is operating the ACMI a/c. All the info is there, but few customers will go looking for it, but they will always look at the price.

Note 1. It is not uncommon for passengers not to actually know where on the planet they are actually bound for!

You are correct in your assessment of passenger apathy.

Passengers remain indifferent even when 100% of the pilots and flight attendants are outsourced and have no employment relationship the airline. Unions in the US are demanding this information be disclosed to passengers at ticket purchase. No US airline operates with 100% outsourced crews, ACMI replacements are seldom used.

That's good to hear, usual own goals. As much as I deplore the attempt to reduce t&c's within the group by inventing TCBals, I'd far rather fly on a jet that had at least some oversight and investment from the main airline group, than the aforesaid ACMI's, which I would not fly on by choice. TCBals will struggle in the current recruitment climate, but I suspect it is the shape of the group airline of the future.

If you look at US market, all regional operations are in fact outsourced to Skywest and alike, who operating hundreds(!) of aircraft on the contracts which are a mix of ACMI and charter nature. Skywest alone is 400+ aircraft, Europe is a far cry compared to that.

Word in the galley is that Indigo Partners are going to take us over. Whether they WOW us or not is another story.
The uncertainty is the worst part, and the company don't tell us anything! Not even reassuring us.

Far as i'm aware, the payments being withheld are bookings made via thomascook.com or other forms of package holiday.

Direct bookings for flights-only on thomascookairlines.com are not having payments withheld, thankfully.

Alot of the media reporting is borderline hysterical and not helpful. However the company need to be a bit more active in correcting this before it takes hold. Airline sale needs to happen sooner not later.

Latest gossip is, TC won't sell their airlines after all.
Apparently found other ways of controlling their dept.

Just gossip. Nothing more. The airlines will be sold.

I heard there was a conference yesterday. Any news?