Thomas Cook has been bestowed the understandably unwanted title of worst package holiday provider in 2019. The UK based travel provider, which earlier this week came under fire for flight punctuality, has reacted strongly to the findings of a new survey by consumer watchdog, Which? which ranked it at a lowly 69 per cent satisfaction rate. Thomas Cook was ranked two out of five in the holiday rep category, in comments which were linked to a number of complaints, as well as a pretty average three stars in the majority of categories, including accommodation, value for money and organisation of the holiday. It also polled the ranking for customer service in the analysis of 4,000 holidayers.
It upped its game with four stars, in the Description Matching Reality category, but took aim at the findings stating only a pool of 300 respondents applied to Thomas Cook.
A spokesperson for Thomas Cook told Express.co.uk: “Many millions of loyal customers come back to Thomas Cook year after year.
“It seems they are not represented by the sample of fewer than 300 of our customers which was used for this Which? report.
“We take the views of our customers very seriously.
“Our own customer satisfaction scores – which incorporate the feedback of tens of thousands of customers – are significantly higher than those reported by Which? and this year, satisfaction is up in all areas, including our rep service and quality of hotels.”
“This weekend is set to be the busiest for travel as the schools break up and our 600-strong team of reps in destinations across the world are ready to make sure all our customers have an incredible holiday.”
Meanwhile, a Which spokesperson stated: “Which? Travel added: ‘While the gap between the best and worst package travel providers may not be huge, the survey sends a clear message that the big players must up their game if they are to compete with rivals doing a better job of giving customers what they want.”
Tipping the other end of the scale was Trailfinders with 91 per cent.
Budget firm Jet2, whose hand luggage allowance was recently confirmed, came second with 87 per cent.
This week, Express.co.uk reported Civil aviation Authority findings which placed the airline as the second least punctual, behind Vueling Airlines.
Thomas Cook Airlines’ flights were typically 24 minutes late from the original departure time, claimed the findings.
Spanish firm Vueling’s departures from terminals including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Birmingham, were recorded to be 31 minutes late on average in 2018.
Third place saw Wizz Air, with a narrow margin of a minute at 23 minutes, then Norwegian Air UK at a 22 minute delay.
Rounding off the top five was Eurowings at 22 minutes.
The firms fly into a variety of UK terminals, with Norwegian operating transatlantic flights from Gatwick Airport.
Thomas Cook additionally confirmed the closure of a number of its high street travel agents earlier this year.