Thomas Cook is the oldest name in UK travel, and one of its cheapest package holiday sellers today. The original tour operator collapsed in September 2019, and the brand relaunched in 2020 as an online travel agent (OTA): it packages flights from other airlines with hotels, rather than flying its own aircraft. This guide covers what a Thomas Cook package actually includes, whether it’s any good, how its price match and deposit terms work, and how it compares with TUI, Jet2holidays, easyJet Holidays, loveholidays and On the Beach.
If you’re ready to browse, search Thomas Cook holidays to see current packages from your nearest UK airport.
What do you get with a Thomas Cook package?
Every Thomas Cook package bundles a return flight and a hotel into one ATOL-protected booking. Beyond that, the details depend on which airline you’re matched with, since Thomas Cook doesn’t own any aircraft of its own. It packages flights from easyJet, TUI, British Airways, Corendon and others, so your specific hold luggage allowance, seat choice and transfer arrangements come from whichever airline is on your booking confirmation, not from Thomas Cook itself. There’s no resort rep either: support is 24/7 by chat and WhatsApp rather than someone waiting for you at the hotel.
One notable exception is Ryanair Holidays, a dedicated section of the site that packages Ryanair flights specifically with a hotel. It’s an unusual pairing: Ryanair doesn’t sell package holidays directly, so booking through Thomas Cook is one of the few ways to get a Ryanair flight and a hotel on a single ATOL-protected booking.
Hold luggage is the detail that catches people out most, just as it does with loveholidays and On the Beach. There’s no fixed allowance like TUI’s 20kg or Jet2holidays’ 22kg. Check the flight summary in your booking confirmation for your specific airline’s allowance, and add extra bags directly through that airline’s website if you need more. Our hand luggage size guide covers cabin bag rules for every UK airline you might be packaged with.
| What you get | Thomas Cook | DIY booking |
|---|---|---|
| Flights | ✓ Included, via a scheduled airline | Book separately |
| Hotel | ✓ Included, thousands of hotels worldwide | Book separately |
| Hold bag | Varies by airline, check your booking | Pay the airline directly |
| Airport transfers | Not guaranteed, often an optional extra | Book separately |
| Resort rep | No, 24/7 chat and WhatsApp support | No |
| ATOL and ABTA | ✓ ATOL 11806, ABTA P8283, Y6720 | No (unless credit card) |
| Price match | ✓ 24-hour window | No |
Thomas Cook holds ATOL licence number 11806 and is an ABTA member (numbers P8283 and Y6720), which puts it in the same bracket as TUI, Jet2holidays, easyJet Holidays and On the Beach rather than loveholidays, which isn’t an ABTA member. Money is held in a trust account once your flight has been paid for, and Thomas Cook says it cannot access those funds directly until you’re home from your trip.
Is this the same Thomas Cook you remember?
No, not quite, and it’s worth knowing the difference before you book. The original Thomas Cook Group, including its own airline and high street shops, collapsed into compulsory liquidation in September 2019. The brand and the Sunny Heart logo were bought out of administration and relaunched as an online-only travel agent in September 2020, staffed partly by former Thomas Cook employees. Thomas Cook Airlines never restarted: the fleet was sold off, and today’s bookings fly with other scheduled airlines instead. As of 2024, the business is owned by the Polish travel technology group eSky, having previously operated under China’s Fosun group since the brand purchase.
The Thomas Cook name itself goes back further than any other operator on this list. The original Thomas Cook organised what’s widely credited as the first package excursion in 1841, a train trip from Leicester to a temperance rally in Loughborough, and built the business into international tours over the following decades. That history doesn’t guarantee today’s service quality, but it does explain why the brand still carries weight with UK holidaymakers who remember the high street shops.
Since Thomas Cook doesn’t fly its own aircraft, the same hotel can appear on your booking with a different airline depending on your dates and departure airport.
Is Thomas Cook actually any good?
Which? surveyed 12,119 holidaymakers about almost 20,000 holidays for its 2026 research and scored Thomas Cook at 72% for beach and resort holidays, towards the bottom of its 30-brand table, and 76% for family holidays, which was better but still mid-table. It wasn’t a Recommended Provider in either category. Transport scored just two stars in both categories, with one customer reporting flight delays and no transfer waiting at the other end. Accommodation also managed only two stars, with complaints that hotel rooms didn’t match how they looked online.
Where Thomas Cook does stand out is price. Which? found only four of the 30 operators in its beach and resort table could beat its £102 per person, per night short-haul average. Its own verdict was blunt: “Thomas Cook may be relatively cheap, but average scores and poor star ratings suggest you’ll get better value for money with a Which? Recommended Provider like Jet2Holidays.”
Review platforms tell a friendlier story. Thomas Cook is rated 4 out of 5 on Trustpilot from more than 12,000 reviews, badged Great. As with the other operators in this comparison, that gap isn’t a contradiction so much as two different measurements: Trustpilot mostly captures how the booking process felt, while Which? asks what actually happened on holiday, including whether the hotel matched the listing. On the evidence, Thomas Cook wins on price and is a mixed bag on delivery, which matters more for a fortnight in a hotel than it does for the five minutes it takes to book.
Where can you go with Thomas Cook?
Thomas Cook’s biggest sellers are Mediterranean beach holidays: Spain (including the Balearic and Canary Islands), Greece and Turkey, especially Antalya, dominate its cheapest packages. It also covers Africa, and long-haul destinations across Asia (including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka), the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Mexico, the Middle East, and the USA and Canada. For city breaks, it packages trips to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Dublin, Disneyland Paris, Krakow, Marrakech, New York, Prague and Rome.
Beach and resort packages typically run seven or 14 nights, in line with the rest of the UK package holiday market. City breaks are usually shorter, two to four nights.
Thomas Cook’s price match, deposits and cancelling
The Price Match Guarantee is narrower and faster than loveholidays’ or On the Beach’s equivalent schemes. You have 24 hours from receiving your booking confirmation to email pricematch@thomascook.com with your booking reference and a screenshot of the cheaper quote. The competing price has to match your booking exactly, including party size, dates, flight details, room type and cancellation terms, and it must come from another ABTA or ATOL-registered online travel agent rather than a tour operator. Thomas Cook aims to respond within 7 working days, and any refund is paid within 14 days once your claim is approved.
Low deposits are advertised from around £19 to £39 per person depending on the offer, and Thomas Cook says its monthly payment plan carries no extra fees, which is a genuine point of difference from loveholidays, where every instalment carries an admin fee of up to £4.95. Cancelling a Thomas Cook booking costs a flat £75 per booking cancellation fee, on top of whatever charges the airline or hotel supplier applies separately, which can add up quickly on a package with a scheduled airline and a non-refundable room rate.
Thomas Cook vs TUI vs Jet2holidays vs easyJet Holidays vs loveholidays vs On the Beach
| Company | Own airline | ABTA | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Cook | No | Yes | Cheap short-haul beach holidays, and the only way to package a Ryanair flight with a hotel |
| TUI | Yes | Yes | Long-haul and worldwide destinations, widest hotel choice |
| Jet2holidays | Yes | Yes | Family beach holidays with a resort rep |
| easyJet Holidays | Yes | Yes | City breaks and independent beach trips |
| loveholidays | No | No | The cheapest headline price, if you’re comfortable without a resort rep |
| On the Beach | No | Yes | Cheap beach holidays with ABTA cover kept in place |
Thomas Cook shares its no-captive-airline structure with loveholidays and On the Beach, but keeps ABTA membership that loveholidays doesn’t carry. TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays all fly their own aircraft and generally score better with Which?, but Thomas Cook is consistently among the cheapest on short-haul beach holidays, and its Ryanair Holidays section is genuinely unusual: no other operator in this comparison packages Ryanair flights with a hotel. None of the operators above fly long-haul; for that, Virgin Holidays is the closer match, flying its own aircraft to the USA and Caribbean rather than short-haul Europe. For the fuller breakdown of deposits, price-match and cancellation terms across UK package operators, see our package holidays comparison.
City breaks make up a smaller share of Thomas Cook’s business than beach holidays, but they’re worth checking against a DIY flight-and-hotel combination, since the savings vary more than they do on a bulk-negotiated resort package.
Thomas Cook vs booking separately
Because Thomas Cook is packaging a separately-bookable flight and hotel rather than a bulk operator rate, the saving over doing it yourself is often smaller than with TUI or Jet2holidays, and sometimes marginal once you’ve priced in luggage and transfers. It’s worth pricing the same flight and hotel independently before you commit, particularly for a light-packing city break. Where a Thomas Cook package still adds value is convenience and protection: one payment, one confirmation, ATOL and ABTA cover, and the price match guarantee as a short safety net if you spot the same trip cheaper the day after booking.
How to get the best price with Thomas Cook
Booking early and travelling midweek both bring prices down, as they do across the whole package holiday market. Because Thomas Cook packages many different airlines, comparing two or three date and airport combinations for the same hotel often surfaces a meaningfully cheaper flight pairing. If you specifically want a Ryanair flight bundled with a hotel, the Ryanair Holidays section is worth checking before you book the flight and hotel separately, since Ryanair itself doesn’t sell packages.
If you do book and then spot the same trip cheaper, use the price match claim within 24 hours rather than cancelling and rebooking, since cancelling forfeits the £75 booking fee on top of any supplier charges. Browse current Thomas Cook packages to see live prices from your nearest UK airport.
Greece and Turkey together make up a large share of Thomas Cook’s cheapest short-haul packages, alongside Spain’s Balearic and Canary Islands.
Practical guides for Thomas Cook travellers
Hand luggage size for UK airlines: check the cabin bag rules for whichever airline your Thomas Cook booking uses.
Airline Luggage Checker: compare hold and hand baggage allowances across eight UK airlines side by side.
How to get cheap flights from the UK: what actually works if you’re pricing a Thomas Cook package against booking it yourself.
Types of package holiday inclusions explained: the inclusions that vary most between operators, and where the hidden costs hide.
| Detail | Thomas Cook |
|---|---|
| ATOL licence | 11806 |
| ABTA membership | Yes, numbers P8283 and Y6720 |
| Hold bag | Varies by airline, check your booking |
| Low deposit | From around £19–39pp, depending on the offer |
| Price match window | 24 hours from booking confirmation |
| Cancellation fee | £75 per booking, plus supplier charges |
| Destinations | Europe, Africa, long-haul and city breaks worldwide |
Frequently asked questions
Is Thomas Cook ATOL and ABTA protected?
Yes. Thomas Cook holds ATOL licence number 11806 and is an ABTA member under numbers P8283 and Y6720. ATOL protects your money if the company stops trading. ABTA covers your right to the holiday you were sold.
Is Thomas Cook still trading, or did it shut down?
It’s a relaunched version of the brand, not the original company. The original Thomas Cook Group collapsed in September 2019 and its airline never restarted; the brand was bought out of administration and relaunched in 2020 as an online travel agent that packages flights from other airlines with hotels.
What luggage is included with a Thomas Cook booking?
It depends on the airline. Thomas Cook packages flights from carriers including easyJet, TUI, British Airways and Corendon rather than operating its own, so your hold luggage allowance is whatever that specific airline includes. Check the flight summary in your booking confirmation.
How much deposit do you need for a Thomas Cook holiday?
Low deposits are advertised from around £19 to £39 per person depending on the offer. A monthly payment plan is available with no extra instalment fees.
What happens if you cancel a Thomas Cook booking?
A flat cancellation fee of £75 per booking applies, on top of any charges the airline or hotel supplier applies separately. Contact Thomas Cook by chat or WhatsApp for the exact supplier charges on your booking.
Does Thomas Cook have a price guarantee?
Yes. Email pricematch@thomascook.com within 24 hours of your booking confirmation with a screenshot of an identical, cheaper quote from another ABTA or ATOL-registered online travel agent, and Thomas Cook will match it or refund the difference.
Is Thomas Cook actually any good?
Reviews are mixed. Which? scored it 72% for beach and resort holidays and 76% for family holidays in 2026 research, with two-star ratings for transport and accommodation in both. Trustpilot rates it 4 out of 5, badged Great, from more than 12,000 reviews.
How does Thomas Cook compare with TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays?
Thomas Cook has no airline of its own, unlike TUI, Jet2holidays and easyJet Holidays, but it keeps ABTA membership that loveholidays doesn’t have. It’s consistently one of the cheapest options on short-haul beach holidays, and its Ryanair Holidays section is the only way to package a Ryanair flight with a hotel.
Is it cheaper to book with Thomas Cook or separately?
Sometimes only marginally, since Thomas Cook is packaging a separately-bookable flight and hotel rather than a bulk operator rate. It’s worth pricing the same flight and hotel independently, especially for a light-packing city break, before deciding.
Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
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Kate checks the details that can change the value of a trip, including cabin-bag rules, airline fees, hotel location, seasonality, travel dates and booking conditions. She is especially interested in offers that look useful on the surface but need a proper reader-first check before they are worth recommending.
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