Big failures, backlashes and fight backs…

From the failure of Monarch to operators fighting back against fake holiday sickness claims and social media backlashes, 2017 has been a busy year in the travel industry.

Here’s a selection of some of TravelMole’s most-read news stories of the past 12 months:

Company failures
At the beginning of 2017 Begbies Traynor warned almost four in 10 travel companies were in ‘significant’ financial distress’. That month, thousands of holidaymakers were affected by the collapse of All Leisure Holidays, run by Roger Allard.

In October a massive repatriation effort was implemented to bring back 110,000 Monarch passengers after the company went into administration, signifying an end to its 50-year history. 

Three weeks later A1 Travel ceased trading, blaming the knock-on effect of Monarch’s demise.

Flight delays
2017 ends as it began, with flight delays and cancellations due to snow and ice. One of the most-read articles on TravelMole in January was a warning by the Met Office of ‘blizzard-like conditions’ that were likely to affect travel plans.

Thousands of British Airways passengers were stranded when an engineer disconnected a power supply causing a massive computer meltdown that cost BA more than £100 million.

Ryanair blamed a ‘mess up’ over pilots’ rotas that caused the cancellation of 2,000 flights.

Compensation
Flight delays meant the subject of compensation for delayed passengers was rarely off the agenda.

This included a ruling in April that ordered Ryanair to compensate a six-month-old girl for a flight delay, even though the infant was travelling on her father’s knee. The ruling led to Ryanair attacking what it called ‘idiotic infant compo claims‘.

That story, along with one entitled: Police called to delayed BA flight after passengers ‘went crazy’, was one of the most-read on TravelMole this year.

On the subject of compensation, tour operators, ABTA and the Government fought back against the fake sickness claim culture, with a court case in October resulting in the first people to be jailed for their attempted scam.

Brexit
Brexit dominated the year once again. One of TravelMole’s most-read stories featured a warning by EU officials that UK-based airlines will have to axe their routes within continental Europe unless they relocate their headquarters to the EU and sell shares to EU nationals post Brexit.

How the UK will fare post-Brexit has been a recurring theme. In January, London reportedly lost its position as the world’s second most-visited city to Bangkok. 

In June, Heathrow lost its position as Europe’s largest airport for direct flights, after it was overtaken by Amsterdam’s Schiphol.

The power of social media  
In August, one of TravelMole’s most-read articles was about how Thomas Cook sprung into action to appease an unhappy customer whose complaints about her ‘boghole’ hotel room in Turkey quickly went viral.

By the time the issue had been resolved, the post had been shared by over 55,000 people – as far as Sydney – and had received over 10,000 comments, most of them disparaging towards the travel giant.

Spain 
Spain continued to be the UK’s favourite overseas destination. At the beginning of the year, Costa del Sol resorts dropped their prices for 2017, according to Post Office’s Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer.

In the summer, holidaymakers to Spain faced disruption as staff at major airports voted for strike action.

Trump effect
When Trump announced his executive order to ban nationals of some predominantly Muslim countries, long-haul operator Serendipity Tailormade temporarily stopped selling flights on US airlines to Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.

After a year of legal wrangling, the courts ruled the ban could be fully enforced in December.