James and Rebecca Hyam could find themselves stranded in Cancun, Mexico and with no other option than to fork out thousands of pounds on accommodation and flights
A newly-wed couple could face blowing their house deposit to fly home from their honeymoon amid fears Thomas Cook will go bust.
If the company goes under, an estimated 180,000 people could be stranded abroad – including James and Rebecca Hyam, who are due to fly back to the UK from Mexico tomorrow (Monday, September 23).
The pair were all set to return to their Lichfield home a fter an enjoyable two-week honeymoon, but now fear they could be stuck in Cancun as the travel firm sits on the brink of collapse .
Thomas Cook has suffered recently as a result of mounting debts, reporting a £1.2 billion net debt in its half-year results in May.
And the husband-and-wife worry they will be forced to fork out – what could be thousands – to fly home and pay for accommodation should the company go into administration.
They booked their flights with Thomas Cook, but say they are not ATOL protected as they chose to organize their own hotel.
Mr. Hyam, who works in recruitment, told BirminghamLive: “We’re in that limbo stage where we’re leaving tomorrow, and we’ll have to go out and source another flight and pay for it.
“The flights are 25-30 hours because all the direct flights have gone, it’s the risk now, do we wait or leave it even longer and risk flights going up even more?”
He claims flights back to Manchester are around £900 per person for tomorrow – which could mean their plans for buying a house on their return would be ruined.
“We’re going to try and avoid buying new flights as we’re trying to save up for a house and we’ve just spent a lot on our wedding, so we haven’t really got that money lying around,” he explained.
“My wife is more concerned because we were going to go home and buy a house, now we could lose a couple of grand off our deposit, so that’s on her mind.
“That pulls back on our plans for future life.
“We’re guessing £900 on flights, probably another £250 on accommodation, so about £2,000.”
But it is not just the flights and accommodation causing unrest for the couple.
James added: “Other things come into it, like I have recently got a new job, and if I don’t get back in time, then I let them down.
“We could find out the company has gone bust a few hours after losing out a hotel room, we could get to the airport and be stranded.
“It’s not relaxing for our honeymoon, it feels like we’ve got to sort this out now instead of relaxing. It’s not ruined it, but it’s not the relaxing time we were looking for.”
The couple is planning to wait up tonight to see what happens as Thomas Cook makes a last-ditch bid for a £1.1billion rescue.
Thomas Cook is meeting with the firm’s biggest shareholder along with creditors at City law firm Slaughter & May on Sunday in a final bid to piece together a rescue deal.
The travel company is at risk of falling into administration unless it finds £200 million in extra funds.
It was feared the collapse would leave up to 150,000 UK holidaymakers stranded.
Source: bbc, mirror, express.uk
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